Well, I got this entry all typed up and zapped it into space.  I hate it when I do that!   I'll try this again!

July was a busy month here at our house.  The second week of July took us to Louisiana to visit my in-laws.  The visit with my DH's immediate family was the usual tension filled, basically unpleasant, visit.  I did enjoy the time I spent with my new MIL.  She is such a sweetheart!

We had a wonderful visit with DH's grandfather.  He is 84 and was disabled by a stroke 10 years ago.  He still manages to live independently.  He has been such an example of Christ in my DH's life.  He is a wonderful man.

Granddaddy was in the U.S. Navy in World War II.  He was on a submarine tender in the Pacific.  We got him talking about his time in the navy.  I wanted to kids to hear him tell about the history he had witnessed, hopefully to make this history more real to them.  He was in Tokyo Bay when Japan surrendered.  He went ashore at Hiroshima shortly after the atomic bomb was dropped.  He was in many other hot spots in the Pacific.  The kids were most enthralled when he told them about swimming in the middle of the Pacific ocean while some of the seaman stood on deck with their rifles to shoot sharks if necessary.  Here is a picture of my DH, DC and my dear Grandfather-in-law.

Last week, while driving out to my Tuesday morning bible study, I noticed that the wild grapes were ripe.  Thursday afternoon, I took the boys out there to pick wild grapes.  I'm allergic to touching the grapes, so I sent them to pick the grapes.  They were moving a bit slowly, so against my better judgement, I got out and picked some.  We quickly got 3 grocery bags full.  I went home, scrubbed down my arms really well and rubbed in benadryl.  Then I donned my latex gloves to pull the grapes off the stems and wash them.  Soon, my finger was itching.  Of course, I had ripped my latex glove.  I went a scrubbed down again, rubbed in hydrocortisone cream, then donned the big rubber dishwashing gloves.  It was a bit difficult to pull those little grapes off the stems with those bulky gloves on.

The grapes cooked down to slightly more than a gallon of juice.  Out of this, I got three batches of jelly.  16.5 pints of jelly.  I had enough to share with each of the ladies at my Tuesday morning bible study.  My dad will get some, and there will be plenty for us.

So far this year I've made peach jam, peach jelly, plum jelly and wild grape jelly.  I will probably make some blackberry jelly, too.  It is my favorite.  I have a recipe for mint jelly.  I've got a lot of mint in my backyard, so I may make some mint jelly, too.  I'll let you know how that turns out.

With all the rain this year, my flowers have been so pretty.  I have one lone spider flower (cleome is the Latin name).  My granny always had spider flowers in her yard.  The gardening books say it should grow well in this area, but I've not had much luck.  I have one this year, and it is beautiful.  Here it is:

The abundant rain has certainly been a blessing this year (except those who have been flooded out of their homes).  It is nice to see green in the summer instead of the usual brown landscape of a N. Texas summer.

I have a house full of boys this week.  My daughter cares for two school age boys four days a week.  This week she is having to teach the incoming freshmen in the band how to march.  She does this in the morning.  My sons are watching the boys she keeps while she is doing her marching band bit each morning.  The funniest thing is, the young boys carry on just like my teenagers still do, and my boys get on to them for fighting and making noise-but they do the very same thing.  I think I can get a lot of mileage out of this when my guys start carrying on with one another!

I've got lots to do around the house.  The yard was the focus last week.  The inside was neglected, so I'm having to make up for it this week.  I also have some new curtains to hang in the living room. 

I'm working on some new piano and flute pieces.  I've been making myself sit down and practice for about an hour a day.  My hands were really hurting last night.  I've neglected my flute playing for about 3 or 4 months.

My bible study was on forgiveness.  We went through Nancy Lee DeMoss's book "Choosing Forgiveness".  Forgiveness is a difficult thing to live out each and every day.  I must always remind myself that Christ has freely forgiven me, and I am to freely give forgiveness to those who have offended me, as Christ as done for each of us.  Sometimes I struggle.......

I hope you are having a productive and fun summer!

Blessings to you all,

Karmann in Texas