Joy Through the Family ~ Simon

Simon, our every growing teenager.  How things have changed in over 14 years.

• always felt like a side kick, wants to come along for the ride, walk or whatever
• good sleeper ~ falls asleep quick and usually wakes up happy as a lark
• maturing into a fine young man
• goal driven to get his Eagle Scout Rank
• willing to try new things and will give a polite review (or outstanding review if he really likes it)
• loves to tinker with Legos or my dad's wood shop
• finding his own set of friends and learning how to maintain them (so thankful for free long distance phone calls.  He loves to check in with a friend in Kentucky about once a week for an hour).
• learning to be an overcomer
• has a goofy sense of humor 
• loves the group "Skillet"
• enjoys serving on the youth group tech team!

 What a great photo!

 Busy finishing up a Hardy Boys book

and drinking chocolate milk!

Good combination, right?

Joy Through the Family ~ Kevin

Made it through the alphabet and moving onto family now.  Kevin is first, lucky him!

• my best friend
• learned to recite Romans 8:28 from him as it is/was one of his favorite versus ~ " And we know that ^[a]God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."
• he's a man of few words, unless it's his passion ~ stringed instruments, baseball, work (sometimes)
• dedicated to making sure he reads his bible everyday
• helps around the house a fare amount and pitches in a lot when I'm not able 
• willing to take short walks with me, so I can "brain dump"; he understands how I need to process life 
• his humor can be off the wall or "dry" sometimes, think he gets it from his Dad
• thankful we've made it through 17 1/2 years (18 in February)!
• thankful first impressions are NOT always the best judgement of character.
• he has learned to do a lot around the house, that even he admits, he had no desire to learn to do (fixing toilets, sinks, dishwashers among other things); we're both agreed that ladders, us, and outside are not a good mix though!  :)

Taken during the "Courageous Ceremony" early summer!

He does where a jacket and tie occasionally and this is the proof.

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ A Summary

It's the end of the alphabet, but not the end of Joy.  The words joy, joyful, or joyfully are mentioned in the Bible 242 times.  There are pleadings, of the heart, for the joy to return, while others are shouting for joy at His blessings.  There are charges to be joyful in your circumstances.  So much to ponder when doing a word study on "Joy"!

While skimming through some of the entries, these verses seem fitting for where I am, found in Psalm 86:

³ have mercy on me, Lord,
    for I call to you all day long.
⁴ Bring joy to your servant, Lord,
    for I put my trust in you.

⁵ You, Lord, are forgiving and good,
    abounding in love to all who call to you.

I have been needing to call upon Him each and everyday.  The journey is far from over, nor is finding the joy.

In the coming days, I'll be sharing the Joy in family followed by the seasons.  This will be a short stretch and hopefully long enough to find another series to work through.  Suggestions are always welcome.

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ Z

Here it is, the last letter.  Been finding Joy for 26 days now.  Some days easy, some days harder.  Here is where "Z" is going:

• zipadee do da
• zone ~ so many different ways to go with this one
• zoo
• zest
• Zacheaus - yes, the short man who climbed a tree to see Jesus.  I hear the name and I can't seem to help sing the pre-school song about him!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/zest

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ Y

Number 25 of 26; the end is really near.  The time has gone quickly and I've been mulling over how to keep going.  That is another day and another post.  Today let's focus on Y things that bring joy, like:

• yams
• yes'
• you, the reader of "Joy Discovered"
• yarn
• yawns
• yeast

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ X

Down to the last three letters!  Will have to put some thought into each of these, possibly with a bit of help from help on-line.

• xylophone ~ who remembers playing one in elementary school or later in band.  It was one of the few instruments I could play while I had braces!

Given the difficulty of this one, if I add words ending with x the list grows a tad bit:

• mailbox
• relax
• fix
• wax
• faux ~ yes the x is silent, but love the faux painting :)
• Boraz ~ great cleaning agent

Can't think of all the good Borax does

around the house, but we always make sure to

have some for cleaning and deoderizing.

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ W

The letter W ~  starts some good words like we, wheel, Washington Nationals, and probably many other things as well.  This past weekend we spent the weekend with my folks and another came to mind which begins my list!

• woodworking ~ my dad can create just about ANYTHING out of wood and it looks beautiful.  Pictures below
• Whatchamacallit candy bars ~ favorite when I was younger
• WMZQ ~ Country Station I listened to years ago

 Ipad Stand, pulled together in

a couple ours of active work.

My dad is truly gifted in woodworking!

Gap in stand is so that you can charge

while it is resting!

Back portion ~ chain so it doesn't slide.

I will eventually stain or paint this.

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ V

V is proving to be another letter of challenge for me!  For some reason, I set a bare minimum of three things as a threshold!  Woo Hoo, I met it today.  Maybe more will be added, but for now, this is a good start.

• vista ~ a good view
• vegetables ~ learning to love these things!
• vacations

This works for both vista and vacation.

We watched the sunset, across the Altantic Ocean, while in

Dayton, Florida many years ago.  Enjoyable evening.

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ U

Getting close to the end of the alphabet.  More challenging letters lie ahead.  A fair number of "U" words begin with "un", meaning the opposite, as in unkind, unfriendly.  Some words, like unicorn or underwear, don't bring a significant amount of joy to be put on the list.  If my list is short, at least you know I've been challenged to think and ponder.  Here begins another list:

• umbrella ~ at least some of the time.  Some days you just need to dance in the rain.
• underdog ~ like in the movie "Facing the Giants"
• "Up" ~ the movie

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ T

 Should Tuesday and Thursday be included?  For me, not so sure!  Come the school year, those are our busiest, out of the house days!  They can be tiring.  Otherwise, here's today's list:

• tree walker coon hound
• treats (whatever they are: food or something else)
• tea sets
• tea (check out "E" day for favorite!)
• turkey
• teteris ~ I could spend hours playing it!

This is Charlotte, our Tree Walker Coon Hound.

 Tea set behind the left door of the China Hutch.

Yes, the two tea cups with saucers are a bit more yellow

than the rest.

The tea set behind the right door.  The larger mug, got the set started.

The "little" mug & saucer as well as one of my teapots and the plate

all came from my Nonnie's house.  Very sentimental

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ S

Intro for "S" would sound like: 1, 2, a 1, 2, 3, 4 OR "check 1, 2, 3; testing; is this thing on" because the first s word I thought of was song, then sound check.  So here it goes and I'll explain the joy behind both of those words.

• Simon ~ 14yo tall boy
• song ~ there seems to be a song for just about any mood you are feeling or for something you need to hear
• sound check ~ my husband has played acoustic guitar, bass, or electric guitar with church worship bands for as long as I have known him.  To hear the band do sound checks, can be quit amusing at time.  Can bring a smile or covered ears when things get plugged in wrong.
• salads
• sandwiches
• Sundays
• Saturdays
• snow days with nothing to do but play, read, or back
• sunsets
• sunrises

Sunset from our deck

Another Sunset from deck

Sunset while driving south

Another sunset while driving

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ R

Finding joy in life by focusing on the alphabet, one letter at a time, has been easy some days and difficult others.  Yet some days, I just need to find those first few things and the list grows.  Feeling like the brain is a bit foggy and slow on the "R's"; I am confident it will get pulled together though.

• rainbow ~ God's promise to never flood the earth, completely, again
• red fruits and veggies ~ I've been craving them lately, guess I should go shopping
• rosemary
• "Remember When" by Alan Jackson

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ Q

Q without U would be difficult and you can bank on the fact that I won't have any.  So here it goes:

• quiet
• quiche
• quintessential ~ because it's fun to say
• quality
• quilts ~ have a few that have been given through out my life.  About 4 toddler/kid size were given to me by my Nonnie (see "N" day) and another by friends of my folks as a wedding present (same friends that gave the Goose on "G" day).   Love things things and are definitely a keep sake!
• Quinnipiac University ~ another word that is kind of fun to say and a good friend of mine and her husband went there!
• Qindar ~ Albanian currency (token Q with no U word)

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ P

 Peas, porridge, possibilities for p letter words.  Here are the p words I'm joyful about:

• Patsy Cline
• Poland ~ have a few visitors to this blog from there, so a thanks and shout out to them, whoever they are! 
• pansies
• pizza night
• popcorn

Pansies

Pizza ~ almost!

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ O

 A few places where "O" is good!  Great for showing understanding mixed a touch of surprise and you can't spell Oscar Myer without it, same for Orioles!  Here are my joyful O's:

• out takes at the end of the movie
• orange scones 
• Oompa Loompa ~ can you leave without singing now?
• Oak trees ~ we had a beautiful one out front.  Sad day when it died!
• oreos
  
  
  

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ N

N, the fourteenth letter of the alphabet.  The list that slowly grows.  

• nutcrackers, like in the ballet "The Nutcracker"
• nothing on the schedule
• Nonnie (my grandmother) and then my mom to my kids and all my nieces and nephews
• nonpareils
• nutmeg
• Noel
• Narnia series
• David Nevue
• NV Players ~ a home school theater group

Not that you can tell, but these are painted gold!

My Nonnie on the left, our oldest at about 11 months,
and my mom/kid's Nonnie on right.

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ M

 Introductions to my list are starting to get hard!  No witty sayings or phrases for M, just jumping right in:

• mom
• munchies ~ when satisfied
• moon
• memories
• marriage
• mangos
• moments
• mix tapes
• movie marathons ~ what's your favorite?
• M & M's (favorites are pretzel and crispy rice ones)
• moose (chocolate kind or the animal moose)

Ah!  The moon "in our back yard"!

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ L

let, loose, lost, later, lonely, lab, lip, lug, label, lung ~ Yes, they all begin with "L", but don't necessarily bring joy in their most simple form.  I'm thankful to have reasonably working lungs; Lab, as in the dog, are great animals to have around, but a lab for a dreaded science class or blood draw, not such a good/joyful thing.  What else begins with "L" that does bring joy?

• letters - the snail mail kind, needs a stamp, and a postman to deliver
• lilacs
• loaf of fresh bread
• Lego's ~ keeps the boys busy and makes a great theft deterrent if strategically placed all over the floor (Dyson should make a Lego vacuum)
• laughter
• (The) Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
• Little House on the Prairie
• laughter
• left-handed kids ~ got two of them! 
• Lorraine Hall ~ a grandmother to so many at CCM many years ago!

Lilacs

Aslan from "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe"

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ K

K ~ the eleventh letter of the alphabet.  Have now been blogging 12 days in a row.  On another blog, got up to 24; let's see how far this one goes.  Stick around and see what happens.

Onto the letter K:

• Kevin ~ his friendship and support
• knitting
• kneading
• key lime pie ~ as Kevin would point out
• keilbasa ~ for Simon
• Keith Clan & the Donnattar Castle (read more here if you'd like)

When my dad was stationed in England, we visited Scotland
and Donnattar Castle!

My brother Keith, me, Ann, Mom, John, & Mary!

This photo and the ones below, are not from our trip to
Scotland, still pretty though.

Not sure what the building was; best guess based
off of shape of doors and windows, their church.

Another building!  If you look at my top photo, think
this one and the building in the top photo are the same.

Liked the sunset and flowers!

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ J

Taking this "J" opportunity, as a shout out, to a number of my friends.  You see, we all share the same first name ~ Jennifer, Jen, Jenny, or whatever spelling you prefer!  Facebook alone, there are 11 friends with some variation of Jennifer.  Cool thing is that, a number of these ladies I get to hang out with regularly.  Our circles of interest overlap in several areas.  5 of us were in the same home school co-op last year.  We'd share "Jennifer" moments.  It's just fun to be with these ladies.

For today, just one thing for my "Joy Through the Alphabet" and I raise my cup of coffee to you, with a side of something sweet!

Okay, had to add a true post script that  happened after I wrote the upper portion.  Sitting in our church's foyer, while our boys were in Sunday School.  A friends husband husband sat down and I could not, for the life of me remember his name.  All I could remember was, is this Jennifer K.'s husband or Jennifer D.'s husband?  Wait, Jennifer D. and her family moved, eeek, what is his name, I should know.  When it all panned out, I laughed.  Saw Jennifer K. and she laughed hard when I mentioned what happened.

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ I

I ~ great letter and great word.  If we didn't have I, would make all four of our names a bit funny; Kevn, Jennfer, Smon, an.  On the flip side, learning to not use "I" to much in conversations; desire to be more mindful of the person I am talking with.  When dialoguing conflicts, though, "I" well used is better than "You" used to often.  Tricky letter and word it is.  Now, to dive right in to my list:

• iced coffee
• icicles hanging from trees and roof tops (when it first happens, can get old after a bit!)
• Ian
• ice cream
• "Incredibles" Movie

Still drink Iced Coffee, no matter the season:
just not in a mason jar anymore!

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ H

Sunday brings us to the letter "H".  Eighth day of blogging joy and/or gratitude.  I am finding that each time I update the "Joyful Things" page, I get excited to see how high the number has gotten.  Have you, or do you, keep a list?  Some days can be hard, especially when trying to stick with a theme, but it does get easier.  Here are my H's, some are more wishes, so are pure joy and gratitude.  Happy Reading!

• hot air balloons (though I don't actually want to ride in one, just pretty to see in the sky)
• hot air popcorn ~ yummy plan or with toppings
• hot tubs
• helicopter ride (this is a wish to ride through New England during the fall, Grand Canyon any time, and over the Hawaiian Islands)
• home
• hummingbirds
• hydrangea 

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ G

Still have Sesame Street running through my head, even after getting to the letter G.

Today is brought to you by the letter G.

And Cookie Monster trying HARD to not eat the cookie!

•  Goose ~ bridal shower gift from my folks friends.  The couldn't believe that I actually wanted one just like my folks;  I still would love to have my folks, so I'd have two then.  Being patient is easier when you have your own!
• Grose family ~ whole family is the kind of people you want in your life.  Even the wee, little guy is fun!
• Grace Group - our home school co-op
• games with the family
• Ghirardelli chocolate
• Grace for the day

My goose

Mom & Dad's Goose

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ F

Another letter that I'll be mulling over (as I write a day early) and seeing how many F's I can get.  For once it's not on a report card and an F is a good thing.

•  family
• friendship
• "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" ~ remember this being so much funnier first time I saw it.
• Foreigner ~ yes, the band!  Few songs I liked from them
• Fried Oreos
• Ford ~ first car I bought for myself was an Escort
• felted knit items
• flaky ~ when talking about baking!
• flannel on a chilly day
• fog (when I don't have to drive in it)
• Five Guys 
• Five in a Row
• fall
• fresh fruit
• 14
• doesn't fit in with the "F" theme, but 2 nephews sharing a birthday today; one 8/8/86, the other 8/8/88

foggy drive through Skyline Drive

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ E

E ~  I really thought would be a challenge as well, but then it just became easy (can that be on the list?)!  Here's my list of random things that begin with E that bring joy and a smile.

• eggs
• Easter
• Evinrude the Dragonfly from "the Rescuers"
• Edelweiss
• espresso
• engagement
• Earl Grey tea
• education
• eleven

Joy Through the Alphabet ~ D

So sorry about yesterday and C, did not set up the automatic posting correctly.  Think I have it figured out.  Some days I really feel like writing and might work a few days ahead.  Check out "C" if you like.  Below is today's official post ~ that sounds funny, in a way, OFFICIAL!!  Happy reading.

For D today, it will be total brain storming, seeing what pops into my head.  No thinking ahead, just reaction.  So here it goes:

• donuts (prefer homemade ~ yummy)
• dandelions when turned to seed (at Longwood University, there was a field of them that was cool to watch turning from yellow to white; in my yard, not so pretty)
• date night
• date walks (we leave the kids at home and take a short walk to chat)
• dessert
• dancing
• dogwood trees & blossom and symbolism behind the flower
• December and the magic behind Christmas (did you check out "The Christmas Scale"?)
• dreams ~ pleasant ones anyway
• dinner & a movie - doesn't matter if it's all out, all brought in, or home made dinner and movie we own; it's about hanging out as a family
• drives on non-busy roads with favorite tunes going or in silence; very peaceful
• dominoes, in particular Train Dominoes; during family get togethers, that is one of the games that gets pulled out; fun memories

Think I am running thin on D words that have brought joy.  If I think of more, I'll come back and add those later.

Ask questions about any of my items, would really like to see dialog in the comments!