Hello, Summer!

      I can hardly believe it's summer! Wow! What warm temps we're having! It's been in the nineties for about a month! When summer hits the South, it really hits! From nice cooler weather and rain, to BAM! Heatwave! At least we've been having nice breezes! And the humidity hasn't been as bad on some days. We have been to the beach; celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary, and celebrated Father's Day. Not to mention Yasmine and Mother's birthdays! Now, we have 4th of July and my sister's birthday to celebrate.

      My garden is doing good, what survived that is. For some reason my two squash plants just killed over! I'm still trying to grow some in the grow bags. Almost everything is doing good in the grow bags. The tomatoes and pepper plants are flourishing, as are the cucumbers. The sweet potatoes and strawberries are as well. I've really enjoyed summer so far! I have harvested almost two gallons of blackberries! That was not fun, as I always get chiggers! Still have them! I'm sure there are more blackberries that need picking; I'm just not sure if it's worth getting more chiggers! The eggplant plants are producing eggplants! I haven't harvested one yet, as I want them to get just a bit larger.

      I've been suffering with a terrible chest cold this week. I hate being sick, especially during summer when there's so much to do! I hope this stuff leaves my body soon! But even with that, I am so blessed! I just have to stop and look at God's creation to realize it. Everything around me is so beautiful! The hanging baskets, daylilies, green grass and trees! There's beauty in them thar' hills! Thanks, ya'll for reading my blog! Have a healthy and safe 4th! Blessings from Bama! Update!: I just came in from doing chores and my chest feels so much better! I'm beginning to heal, Praise the Lord!

Love this view!

Randy in his new recliner for Father's Day/Twenty-fifth anniversary!

Randy and Gavyn in the old chair.

I made this for a friend.

These beauties rode with us all the way to the beach! What were we thinking?

Our favorite spot at the beach!

Randy and Riley with Winterlynn in background.

Me and Gavyn had a good time on the Sea Dragon!

The three younger pirates.

The little bit older pirate.

What fun at the amusement park!

A deer right outside the camper! They were so tame!

I love this picture! They are all asleep on the way home from the beach! I guess the trip wore them out!

Loving all my pretty plants!

These beauties are going into hanging baskets.

One of the eggplant plants. 

The grow bag garden. Sorry it's sideways! Taken from my phone.

Fun, flies and Father's Day!

      That's what we have around here! I can't believe all the flies! I kill them, but just as soon as the door is open, more come in! I'm sitting here dodging them as I write this! Do ya'll have a lot of flies at your house? The back porch is full of them and they are on the door. That's how they come in. I really need to get a bug zapper!

      We had a lot of fun and food on Father's Day! We decided to bake a ham since we had one in the freezer. I made baked beans from soaked beans I soaked Friday night, then cooked in the sun oven Saturday. They were just plain pork and beans, so Sunday, I turned them into homestyle baked beans, and cooked them in the sun oven again! I really like using the sun oven! The summer sun cooks things really fast! That way the inside oven can be used for baking the ham, and the augratin potatoes. The potatoes sure did taste good! I also made a pasta salad and a chocolate cake, both from scratch. They were delicious! Saturday night I made Randy a flan! He loves flan and really liked the one I made. He would like the texture not to be as thick. That calls for another recipe! I like the one I made, but I will try again later. We have had a lot of celebrations this month, with the best one about to come! Actually, it's not really a celebration but a vacation! I can hardly wait to write my next post because I'll be sharing about our trip to the beach! We always take our camper to St. Andrews State Park in Panama City Beach, FL every summer, so I'm really looking forward to eating sea food! There goes my diet, if you want to call it that! I'm taking my VitaMix, but it's possible I may not use it. I plan on eating healthy, but I probably won't work out very much. The only exercise I'll be doing is walking, hopefully, a lot!

      The girls are here today with their Mom and are taking a nap, so I am able to write this now. They are so cute napping! Hope ya'll are having fun this summer! Stay cool! Talk to you soon! Blessings from Bama!

Love these day lilies, just wished my camera made better photos.

Such a lovely color!

I really like the colors on this day lily!

The photo makes this day lily look fake!

The honey bees are doing good!

I love this trail mix I made with ingredients I have on hand.

Butterfly bush flower and day lily.

Lulu during nap time!

Win during nap time.

Yas during nap time!

It's cloudy finally.....

      So I've been outside picking blackberries and working in the new flower bed that isn't finished. It even rained a little, thus the reason I'm inside blogging right now. I've got frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot and pinto beans in another crockpot. We're having Mexican chicken over rice tonight, yum!
     I watched Joyce this morning and she's teaching on the condition of our 'hearts'. When I listen to Joyce's teaching, the Holy Spirit will check me, sometimes. She gave an example of Jesus life, that he grew as a tender shoot. "God wants our hearts to be tender, not prickly like a cactus," she said. Another thing she said that 'checked' me was that God sees an unbelieving heart as a wicked heart. I don't want to have a wicked heart! When we pray and believe God for something and it doesn't come to pass, sometimes we quit believing or doubt that God will answer us. Joyce had like a little vision where she saw a vault in heaven with lots of drawers in it. She asked God what that meant and He told her that the drawers contained prayers of the saints. When we quit believing and expecting God to answer, the drawers stayed closed. She said if there are any prayers of hers in there, to let them out cause she's believing and expecting God to answer. That may not be exactly the way she said it but I hope you get the message. As long as we're believing and expecting God to answer our prayers, and do not doubt, He will. It may not be in our time frame, or even the way we think. BUT GOD!!!!! will answer!!! The main thing is to keep our hearts tender before Him and expect Him to hear us. Have a Blessed Day!

Winterlynn loves to pick up sticks!

Beating on the 'drum.'

Loves little Jack.

"I want to show you my sticks!"

Loves the little container of water better that the pond!

Uncle Ran loves to ride her on the mower1

She loves to put the ball attached to the hat, in her mouth.

Left crockpot,chicken; right, pinto beans.

Sourdough starter from yeast, not wild.

Borrowed bread machine from 'sis'. Love the one-pound loaves it makes!

Mommy watching baby play with mower.

      We had a great weekend, celebrating Father's Day Sunday. In-laws from both sides were here as well as other family members. Ran cooked on the Primo and the burgers and beans were supreme! We enjoy sharing our blessings with others. Enjoy these photos.