Canning!



Last night...

Caleb and Justin were gonna be working late.
Natanyah had some tomatoes she needed to put up.
+    I hate being home by myself at night (oops! cat out of the bag).
= I went and helped her can.

36+ quarts of blended tomatoes is a lot folks!

The BIG pot of sauce. That, dear people, is 78 pints of spaghetti sauce :)



 (btw, these were all taken with my phone and in some lighting's it just doesn't work very well. So I apologize.)

Some of the pints waiting for lids so they could go in the canners.

The canners. (First time in a looong while for me to be around a pressure canner=scary!)

The girls were real troopers :)

Enjoying some Cheerios

That is bright! Grace is the one covering her ears, not sure if she got tired of hearing the blender or what :)

Playing sweetly

I'm gonna get you!

You can see the steam on the windows.

Awww... All worn out!

I left shortly before midnight.

We had a successful evening if I do say so myself :)

Anyway, that's all for now.

Just thought you might like to see a little update and some new pix of the girls-even if they are blurry ;)

Mind blocks

I recently read a blog post of a dear friend. She is having a marathon this month and posting everyday. But in one of her more recent ones, she said that she has a hard time vocally expressing her thoughts and that its easier for her to write them down. I thought, "Hm. I have the opposite problem."
Anyone who knows me very well, knows that I almost never run out of things to say. Which isn't necessarily a good thing, it has gotten me into a lot of trouble :/
Also, my brain goes a hundred miles a minute and sometimes its so fast, by the time I take a breath, I've already forgotten the most important things I thought about. Very frustrating to say the least.
Say I'm talking to someone and they ask me a question and then proceed to explain their question. Lots of times, by the time they finish, I've forgotten what I was originally gonna say and have to come up with new wording. Tragic, I know, right?
Same thing with blogging. Throughout tthe day I'll think of things that would be really cool to blog about and it would be awesome if there was someone right there to discuss it with. But there's not so I just try to remember, lol, good luck with that!
Have you noticed? I have a terrible memory :/
Anyway, one of these day I'll blog regularly. Lol!
P.S. I'm blogging from my phone :)

My evening and deep thoughts

Tonight, after an awesome evening of fellowship, good food and games at our pastor's house, Caleb and I went to a job he wanted to finish this week and sprayed primer. I got to help! A first for me. I've never sprayed paint or anything. It was a totally cool experience! Right now its all over me. Lol!

Now on to deeper things.
Lately I've been doing some thinking. I am in a very unique stage in life. I am not a young single woman, nor am I an experienced wife and mother. Sometimes it feels like I'm suspended between those two. Most of my friends are single. The ones that aren't, like me, are too busy adjusting to this new life to connect much. Then there are my married friends, that are already moms. I've always tried to relate to everyone, but lately it seems like its gotten harder.
Right now, I am changing and evolving. Its something that happens to every newly married person. You change. It happens. You adopt some of their habits and they adopt some of yours. You come from two different cultures created by your parents. They know what to expect from their culture and you know what to expect from yours. Then the two come together in your home and the two of you have to search and figure out what from each culture will work in your home. This is the stage of life I'm in. Its a good stage. I love it. It means change and accepting that.
Sometimes I have a hard time being comfortable around my old friends. I still love them all dearly and miss them more than words can express, but wonder if when I'm around them they think I'm strange. I am not the single girl they knew. I am now a married woman, but am still an adventuresome girl on the inside. Can they understand this?
I want to connect with people and have friends. I am very much a social person, I thrive around others. I am content with where I am at in life, where God has me. But sometimes I wonder, "Have all the changes been for the better? Is God still the most important thing to me? Do I really serve my husband the way God wants me to? Would my parents be proud of the home we are creating for their grandchildren? Have I loosened my standards or is my relationship with God stronger?" So many things, and so much more. These things are important to me. I love the person God is making me to be with Caleb. But am I truly allowing Him to shape me or do I unconsciously rebel and do things my way? I want to serve Him and my husband with all my heart. But sometimes I feel like I don't know how to without myself getting in the way.
I know this is a very long, rambling, confusing post and probably boring, especially if you have never been in this stage of life. I must be way over tired because I cried a lot writing this post. Maybe that what you get when you stay up with your husband at work because you hate to go home by yourself. It is now almost 5 am so I will say adieu and I hope y'all have a great rest of your weekend :)