Wanted to share this picture of my sisters, Allison and I on stage at the 100th anniversity of the Northeastern Baptist Associations celebration.

Also one of Christi on stage....

College, volleyball and back to school.

Things here are WILD. I am working still full time. I have days that I love it and days that I would much rather do something, anything else. But all in all, my job has become pretty special to me. I am learning so much and I am also learning to balance my time a little better. Right now I am on something for depression. I really needed and know that it helping me deal with all the changes in my life. I miss my mom badly and feel like I still have a long road to go here.
Raelene is enrolled and doing well at Eastern New Mexico University. She is adjusting well and learning to do many things on her own. I think she is going to do okay. She and her roommate are very different people, but are starting to adjust to one another. We finally have most if not all the bugs worked out with Financial aid, so now it is just the every day life she will be dealing with.
John, Allison and Traci are doing good in school. John is off to a little of a rough start, but I am on top of it most of the time and we hope we don't have many more nights like last night..DON"T EVEN ASK!!!
Allison and Traci are both playing junior high volleyball. I think their first game is sometime in September. Junior high does not play as many games as high school, so their season does not get under way as early in the year.
Christi is staying with my sister during the day. PRAISE THE LORD! She has really grown and is talking all the time now. She is missing Raelene and calls her some nights and just cries and begs her to come home.
Frank is walking for an area farmer right now. It really helps and he likes it. He gets to be outside and he only has one person to answer too, so he does not have to "bring work home". He is still on the fire department and the school board.
Continue to pray for us, as money is still an issue and I am still dealing mom being gone.

Take care all,
Joanna

Sunday Morning

Getting ready for church here in a bit.
I have been down the past few days, struggling with some depression and sadness and missing my mom/
But too busy to stop too long to give into it.
Money is still an issue. I am working about 32 hours a week now, and Frank is still drawing unemployment. He has had some good job interviews lately, but most or state jobs and you have to wait for the whole hiring process. We shall see!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are busy with last minute details for our Associational 100th Anniversary. It should be great. I will have to post some pictures.
The kids are doing good. Staying busy, and helping out so much.
Raelene is getting ready for college. Eastern New Mexico is her choice and she is finishing up paperwork. I am sad to know that she is this old, but happy to know that she has done so well.
I will update more later on that..
I think that is most of the news here. I hope to get on here sometime and really tell all that is new.

Flag Day

Hard to believe that it is already the middle of June. Time really sails by.

Raelene had a really nice graduation and we enjoyed a lovely get together afterward with friends and family. I will have to post some pictures of graduation. John also promoted from the 8th grade that day, and will begin high school in the fall.

Allison will be in 8th grade in the fall, and Traci in 6th grade. Only one more year of grade school for us for a little while!

Raelene is working for the Summer Youth Program here in Maxwell. She is enjoying herself and learning a lot. We as a family are working with the summer lunch program. This is the 9th year for us.

I am still working at Village Hall, as finance officer. It is a good job, but lots and lots of work and the past employees were not the great at keeping up with stuff, so each and every day there are new things to find..Most not so good. SIGH.

Dealing with the loss of mom has been rough. This past week has been really hard. I miss her so much. I still have not had the good hard cry yet. I know I really do need it, but things are so hard and stressful as it is is, I just don't have the time to give into the loss. Continue to pray for our family as we deal with all of this.

Joanna

Wednesday Night

Thought it was about time I came and posted an update....
Things are busy around here. School is out tomorrow around noon. This will be the first year, that I have not been home when school was out. I do have a lunch break, so I might just stop by and pick up the kids when I go home for lunch. I don't like them being out on the streets the last day of school, because of the fights, and stupid silly behavior, so I have always just been there waiting in the parking lot...
I am busy at work, starting on the budget. I don't believe it will be hard once I get in the depths of it, just have not had the time to get in with both feet. I have been busy this week, playing catch up and posting deposits and filing and putting away lose ends.
Saturday will be 3 weeks since mom passed. I have good days and bad days, I think the hardest part is knowing that she is not going to be at the other end of the phone when I call the house. I really miss her so much right now. The past fews days have been hard. There are days I just can't believe that she is gone. I know, I know, she is in a wonderful place, but at times that really does not always heal the pin at the moment. Some days I would love to sit and cry for hours and feel sorry for myself. I think the other hard part is that it has changed my whole life, and it is hard to deal with the fact that I only have one parent left...OKay, now I am getting down, so I will close and think of happier things.
Raelene is excitied about graduation, she has practice tomorrow and they will decorate. Frank gets to sit with the school board and not with me, which is sort of a downer, but at the same time, he might get to to hand her, her diploma. So that would be neat.
Okay, I got side-tracked, reading blogs, so I will go now...You all have a wonderful night and God Bless.
Joanna

I wanted to let everyone know that my mom passed away tonight at around 5:30pm. I am still in shock and running only in slow, unsure of what is going on mod.
I do know that we have set the services for Wednesday at 11:00 am with just a grave side here in Maxwell. This is just plans that we have a family have made, and have not be able to hold it then. We meet with the funeral home Monday at 11:00 and I will be able to tell you more then.
Please pray for us as this is really hard for me and my family, I am so in shock.
Thank you all so much, and I will update you all soon...

God Bless,
Joanna

Monday Morning..........

I just wanted to pop in and let you know, that nothing new to report about my mom. I have not even talked to anyone yet today. The kids are off to school and the house looks pretty good today. I just finished a graph for the maintenance man at work and thought that it would be nice to post some more pictures and just to chat a little with my friends...

Christi is growing and talking all the time now. She is such a blessing...

John, Allison and Traci are looking forward to the end of school and the summer break. I think I am as well, just for the down time. Although I have a feeling that this will be a busy summer!!

Frank is still job hunting, not much luck, but still looking..

Work is good. I am enjoying it...

Okay, until I hear more, I will go for now and get laundry folded and put away...



Senior Pictures of Raelene...

Raelene and Christi at the Prom

Our Churches fellowship hall, during the pre-prom dinner..

Prom, Senior Pictures, and the Hospital...

I can't believe that it has been over a month since I came on and posted. So much as happened in the past month.

I am working, although only part time right now, school is days away from being out and Raelene is day's away from graduation. Prom is over and done with once again. It appears that spring is finally starting to spring here in Maxwell. And as I write this, my mom is in the hospital with an rapid/irregular heartbeat. PLEASE PRAY. She will be under going some more tests tomorrow and could be in the hospital up to 5 days. We are all sort of numb and just in a waiting pattern until we know more.

Raelene did have her senior pictures taken today. We have waited on this for ever and finally had a warm and sunny, although very windy morning in which to get her pictures taken, (my mom was already in the hospital, but had not been put into a room yet, so we got her pictures taken within an hour and headed right to the hospital.)


Prom was nice, our church hosted a dinner before prom and served chef salads. We fed close to 25, which for Maxwell is really good. Raelene took two dates to prom, as her boyfriend could not get home for college for the weekend. (he comes home for the summer in about 2 weeks). Both of the young men she took are in the 9th grade. One is a family friend, she actually used to baby sit for him, and the other is a friend from FFA and the son of the man that Frank does odd jobs for. They all looked really nice and had a great time, dancing and laughing and enjoying themselves...




Graduation is just around the corner. I can't believe that my little girl is that age!!! WOW.

Okay, again, please keep our family in your prayers and I will update as I can and know more..

SPRING, NEW JOBS? AND FFA......

Good Saturday Morning!

Yesterday was overcast and cool, but today is sunny and pretty. Raelene and Allison are at an FFA meet about 100 miles away today. John and Traci are vacuuming out cars, and Frank and I are enjoying a little down time. Christi is watching "toons" and kicking back on the couch...LOL



I worked last week at Village hall, as the clerk is on vacation. Not sure what will happen from here, but I am learning a lot and having fun. It is wild to work again after not working for almost 12 years.WOW. I am having to relearn so much!! Frank is doing some odd jobs and might even have a lead on a full time job as well. I think he is ready!!!

Spring is starting to spring here in Northeastern New Mexico. My tulips and daffodils are coming up and there are even some buds on the fruit trees on the yard. It is getting green and pretty out there.

I hope to pop in again soon...

SUMMER????

Watching the news this morning, I see that back east there is snow! Can you believe that here in New Mexico, northeastern New Mexico to be exact, it is suppose to be 74 today? That is so weird as, we normally don't have that kind of weather this time of year. I just can't get over the temps!
We had a nice, but busy weekend. We served at a funeral dinner on Friday, for a church member in her 80's who had passed away. Saturday was busy with events and a little grocery shopping and Sunday was spent with my family celebrating my fathers 70 birthday. We had a nice time and a nice dinner together. I posted some pictures of my family and the kids.

HOMECOMING 2009

Homecoming 2009 was tonight!!!

As I have shared before, both Raelene and Allison were on the homecoming court.

WELL, GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THEY BOTH WON!!!!!!!!!

RAELENE IS THE 2009 HOMECOMING QUEEN and ALLISON IS THE 2009 HOMECOMING PRINCESS!!!!!!!!!!

BUSY THURSDAY.................

We have a busy day today. We will be leaving this evening for Frank's school board conference, because I have to babysit until about 5pm. We are packed, except for the last minute things and I need to repack the diaper bag. But everything else is done and ready to be loaded. We will be home sometime on Saturday, as the conference ends around noon that day. Here is a picture of one of the rooms at the Hilton we will be staying at.

Frank asked me what I wanted for Valentines day, this morning. I really want the new Duggar book, and the one by the Gosselins, so that is what I am getting. I ordered them from Wal-Mart this morning. I had priced and priced and shopped and shopped and all in all Wal-Mart was the cheapest. They will be in the mail sometime next week. I know, I know, not too romantic, but I love books and I love to read, so that was and is something that I would not just buy for me, since they are not my normal cheap books.
I have been really down this week, I am having some issues with my sister, just younger than myself and it has really hit me hard. I think the only way to really get some peace and some closure with this is just to avoid her and to stay away from her, I know this is not the best fix to the problem, but she has really hurt me so much over the years, that I need to stay my distance and not continue to feel bad at her hands. Pray for me, this has really been rough for me and hard on me and it is really eating me up.
I hope that you all have a lovely Valentines day..We will go out to a nice dinner tomorrow night, since Frank's conference stuff ends at 5 pm tomorrow night. I really plan just to rest and relax and read tomorrow. I think I really need it, no fighting kids, no phone calls ( we will be roaming in Santa Fe, so I don't have to answer if I don't want too) and just a nice big fluffy bed to relax in and enjoy the quiet and the control of the remote....

NO SNOW YET, TUESDAY!!!!!!!!!

So far we don't have the snow that we were due to have. I was all ready. We did our running around yesterday and planned it to stay home today and be ready for that snow storm that was due us..Oh well, the day is not over yet, so we shall see.
My dad has the stomach bug now, along with my sister that is in college. My other sister and her husband and little boy had it really bad as well. I think we have finally gotten rid of it here. I bleached and lysoled everything!!!!!!!
The girls are getting excited about homecoming. I think I am too..I ran for homecoming queen here in Maxwell too,(did not win, but had fun all the same) so it is neat to be on the other end as mom this time around. We got dresses for the girls off of eBay. Alli's is short and cute and Raelene's is the same color as her class colors, not sure if she will wear that one to homecoming or save it for prom and then wear her old prom dress to homecoming. Frank's class is being honored that night so pretty neat night planned. I will be sure and post pictures and details. Allison is running for junior high princess and Raelene for homecoming queen at the high school level. This is Raelene's first time to run, she has lost out nominations by one vote and never got this far, so she is thrilled. Allison of course is up for the first time!!
Frank and I are getting sort of excited about this weekend and his conference. It will be nice to get away and stay in a hotel that we did not use coupons for..Not that there is anything wrong with coupons for motels..gotten some great deals and stayed in some nice ones, but this will be a treat and the rooms look so pretty!!!..LOL.. We will take the baby with us, just because the girls have ball games, plus she will keep me company during the day and she is pretty much my shadow anyway. His first board meeting will be the 19th.
My mom and I are on a committee to plan a party for our Baptist Association's 100th birthday. It will be here in Maxwell since we are right off the the interstate, plus we will be renting a building at the school to use. In the 100 years this Association has been active, our family has been involved in over 50 of it, so I am looking forward to this event.
Okay, I need to go and get the mail, so I am out of here..

DRIVERS ED, MAXWELL SCHOOL BOARD, AND WINDY WEATHER!!!

John started drivers ed two weeks ago. You know I was okay with Raelene and driver's ed, because number one she is the oldest and we knew she would be the first, number two it was a blessing to have another driver in the house, and finally she was already a little older and past 15. But I was just not ready for John to start drivers ed. It has really been a big step for mom...
I did not tell you that Frank is the newest member of the Maxwell School Board!! There was an election and we missed the dead line due to other things coming up, but it turned out that no one else put in for school board, so those interested were asked to send a letter of intent/interest to the president, (a friend of ours) and they would chose new members last week. Frank went ahead and put in his letter and the other night he got a spot. WOW!!!!!!!! We to this weekend to a training section in Santa Fe, and we get to stay at the Hilton. WOW, that is big time for us. We have to pay for the room and they will pay us back.
The wind is blowing..We had some rain yesterday and are due for snow tomorrow..we do need the rain, and snow, so I am not complaining, but wow...we had such great weather last week...lol

Sick, Sick and More Sick..

We have all had a nasty run of the stomach flu here. Started out last week with Traci and we are still battling it with Christi. Nasty stuff. I have washed everything in bleach water and sprayed the rest of it down with Lysol..Just plain nasty. I have even been boiling water to drink, since I don't know what is causing it. Not only have we had the stomach bug some of us have had head colds as well. Just ugly around here.
Pray we get over it soon, as we have not done much more than sleep and CLEAN for days now..
The kids said that there was a line of kids in the nurses office waiting to be picked up yesterday and that the home sick list is long as well..
I will post more later, as we I have other new passages in our lives, that don't involve vomit and Kleenex...LOL

SOME PICTURES..................................

Just had to post some Maxwell Bear pictures...

John in science class....

Raelene playing VOLLEYBALL.......

And last but not least Allison during track season...

Tuesday Night..........

I have been playing with this thing all day. I finally said, I better just leave it along and if it ain't broke don't fix it.
It is getting really cold out there tonight. We had a little snow this morning but it had stopped by like 10 am.
Some friends brought us some meat tonight, can't wait to use it. They butcher every few months and brought us some.!!!! What a blessing!!!!
Pray for our town..There are some things going on that are just not right, I am afraid that I have gotten myself maybe a little more involved that I need to be, so say a prayer.Things do need to change, but fear that things are going to get bad before they get good.
Okay, I think I might be coming down with what Frank and Raelene have, so I am taking a sudafed tonight and resting and taking it easy.

Until tomorrow!!

LAST TUESDAY OF JANUARY....

I thought that I would be better about posting than I have been, I am truly sorry about that I am working really hard to remedy that.
I have been playing with my blog some and adding some personal touches to my background. The purple you will note, is in honor of the Maxwell Bears. That is the school colors and since both Frank and I and now our children are all "MAXWELL BEARS", thought that would be a cute color scheme. I think I will look for some "bears" to add to my blog and see what it looks like. So if you have a good bear, send it my way.
Raelene is home sick today. I think she is not only sick but worn out from school, ball practices and all the stuff that makes up being a senior in high school. She and I have started looking at graduation announcements and getting some ideas on that is out there. Did you know that they are really expensive? I think we have a few more weeks before we have to worry about that, but it is nice to have some ideas and some places bookmarked. We have thought about making them our selves, and will sit down soon and price both ways.
Raelene is running for homecoming queen in February. She is excited. Allison is also on the homecoming court, but at the junior high level and will be running for princess. It is pretty neat!! Homecoming happens to fall on Traci's 11th birthday, so we are going to have to have a big celebration that day.
Okay I will get off here, as I am babysitting today and need to get busy.

Good Evening.
Getting ready to head out the door and go to the school, as Frank is in charge of the gate tonight for the game, I am just going with him to get out of the house and to take a break, plus see some friends and chit chat...
We have had nice weather this week, and warm temps. Such a treat.
The kids go back to school Monday, think that they are ready, as I know I am ready for the quiet. Love my kids, but this has been a really long two weeks...LOL