What I Know For Sure -29th Edition

1. Instagram has become my mini blog. Follow me at janiefox2.

2. I admit to loving a hashtag and constantly over using it.
#icantcare #getoverit #yourenotthebossofme

3. I was saddened but not surprised to learn of Kris and Bruce Jenner's impending divorce.
Over the last few years she has morphed into a media ho and he has morphed into an old lady.

4. I am not a Halloween fan b/c I don't like the scary part of it. However, I am a huge fan of fall pranking and dressing up.

5. When someone leaves their doors unlocked during prime pranking season, it is an invitation to enter and re-arrange their living room.

6. If we eat all your mini Butterfingers, I will make good and replace with a new bag.

7. Life-size silhouettes beg for conversation bubbles to be placed on them. #howudoin'?

8. When Annie and Jade have a Beachbody event outta town, Grandma Janie will pony up and spend the night with the kids. Pa Stuart will farm until 11p.m. then insist the need to stay in his own bed so he can rise every few hours and check his corn bin transfers.

9. I invited Caroline to spend the night with the gang because 4 spilled bowls of popcorn are better than 3.

10. I am not a fan of cats. Annie and Jade have a teenage house cat.

11. You know when a cat is a teenager because they are long and skinny. They are annoying, and want to stay up late at night and be loud.

12. Stella went to stay with Annie's family when we had a fire. She never returned home. It is better this way since she stole Everett's heart and she took her funky smell with her.

13. Letting the house cat out when you let the dogs out at bedtime is not a good idea. They head straight for the ornamental grasses.

14.Coyotes like the dark. And teenage cats.

15. Texting for instructions is key to retrieving the cat. Or waiting until it comes up on it's own.

16. Some people over react when things go off schedule at bedtime.

17. If you are the only one in the home who is allergic to cats, the cat will demand to sleep with you.

18. A cat's median body temperature is 212 degrees.

19. Moving your feet under a quilt doubles as a biting game for teenage cats.

20. When you give a 4 yr old  a homemade cookie and she lays down only to have a 2 yr old swipe it and you say..."you cannot lay food down where she can get it. She is a shark." ...your Animal Planet obsessed 7 yr. old granddaughter will add "well, actually sharks are not always aggressive. She is really more of a piranha."

Loved

Hey gang...

how are y'all?

Life is busy here with harvest and family.

Everybody is good.

I really appreciate the emails from you readers

asking me to blog again.

I want to, but I want to sit on the porch,

sit around a fire,

go to festivals and auctions with friends.

I have grands' soccer games to attend

and family to take pranking.  

There's leaves that need raked,

farmers that want fed and always chores to get after.

I haven't read blogs hardly at all.

but I did catch a few this week.
It actually inspired this post.

 I read a blog where the author was really struggling with hard stuff.

I hurt for her and prayed for her.

I thought about how blessed my life is.

I went as far as thinking...

"gee, I have such a great life.

I have hardly had any sorrows."

Then I realized uh yeah, I have.

To name  just a few...

our twins death,

my dear college friend died at age 37, from colon cancer leaving two young children.

Stu's uncle, that we adored, died in his sleep at age 51.

Maggie had a 4-wheeler wreck and had to have emergency surgery.

my mom almost died on a trip to Branson and had a heart valve replaced.

my good junking pal went into the hospital with pneumonia

and died of a heart attack while there

my beloved father-in-law showed up here at the farm same as always, bright and early,

only to fall ill, be rushed to the hospital and die by that afternoon of an aneurism.

our beautiful nephew was killed in a car wreck leaving behind a wife and two little kids.

a close friend hurt me so bad that our friendship never recovered.

a family member betrayed and cheated us.

my dad suffered from Alzheimer's

 while we watched his personality and health decline in a very ugly way.

Ollie was born with a heart defect and needed Open Heart surgery.

We had two fires this Spring.

First the house and then a few months later,

a hay field, and a truck and trailer while hauling big hay bales.

Did I forget those stressful things?

No.

The honest truth is God made it bearable.

He never left us.

He gave us strength.

He carried us on the truly hardest days.

I cannot imagine how those trials would have affected us if we were not believers.

His promises kept us strong.

Oh sure,

we have questions.

We wonder why at times.

But, I know when I walk in Heaven's gates

 those questions we will have obvious answers.

Our God has a plan.

His plan is always, always the best.

I have witnessed it time and time again.

I admit there are times I tried to do it myself,

only to realize I needed to give to God.

I'm far from being perfect.

I am the one who lays it down but then picks it back up.

Over the  years, I have learned that taking it back does not work.

I need the Lord and

his wisdom, his guidance, and his strength.

I don't want to live in this world without him.

The truth is our blessings

during/after those hard times

far, far outweighed the strife.

Our most precious blessing being the gift of his unfailing love.

With Jesus, life is good

even when it's not because,

God is good all the time.

He really, really is.