of God’s love.
of God’s promise of a good future.
of Hope.
of Joy.
of Healing.
of His blessing.
When I saw this picture for the first time, it brought tears. Not because it is a sad picture, but because it represents all the things I mentioned above.
God has promised us good things and this picture shows me……………….. I am surrounded.
Thank you Lord, and thank you Jake for taking this amazing photo of Tom and your son.
Thanks for reading : )
The first new thing I want to tell you about is my laptop. I’m typing away on it right now 
Pinterest. Heard of it? It is very cool. It’s like having everything listed on your “favorites” on your tool bar, pinned to a bulletin board. You can see stuff your friends like and they can see what you like. Click on the pics and it takes you to the website that gives you the DIY instructions, recipe, or where to buy stuff. There are other things too, but this is how I use it for now. I’m still fairly new to it.
Crafting – OMGoodness, I do not consider myself to be crafty/creative. I can make something look decent, but I’m not one of those talented people that sees something and thinks “oh, I could make so and so out of that”. But, I have gotten my craft on here lately. I can’t show you what I’ve been up to, because some of them are Christmas presents. However, I can show these. They are my favorite little guys’ handprints on Christmas ornaments. Would make great gifts for kids to make at school/church for their parents.
My favorite creative medium is food and I am focusing a lot on that this Christmas season. I’m giving a couple of homemade food items this year. The holiday season at the Jackson house will be Merry & Bright. Yes, we miss our boy so much and there will be tears. But we know that Peyton is with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords…………..can’t wait for our reunion.
I haven’t written much about keeping focused lately. The battle isn’t as hard. We’ve been trained and we are strong. If we don’t quit………….we WIN!!!!!!
Be Thankful and enjoy your families, and thanks for reading
I know the title has you wondering. I posted yesterday that I had a Peyton story about this gun.
When Peyton was 13 or 14, we went to Tulsa for a shopping trip. One of Peyton’s goals for the day was to talk me into taking him to Hooters, you know, the restaurant with the exquisite cuisine and modestly dressed waitresses. It wasn’t happening.
The grandpa of the people we were with, had a booth set up at the gun show in Tulsa. We dropped the boys off for a couple of hours. It was a reprieve for all of us. When we picked them up, Peyton had purchased this .22 pistol from the grandpa. He gave him a really good deal on it 
Here’s a closer look at the handle.
Do you see that emblem??? It’s an owl. Peyton called this gun his Hooters pistol. Dang kid.
Hope this made you smile. I am.
Thanks for reading : )
We had the shootout yesterday and it was a success. Several competitors, lots of friends & some good food made it a great day.
As people were eating and visiting, I heard Peyton’s name brought up several times. Makes me smile. I am thankful Peyton’s friends are comfortable talking about him. During these (almost) 4 years, I hope Tom & I have conveyed the fact that leaving this earth does not mean the end. It is the next step of our eternal journey. It is so important to talk about people who have gone to Heaven before us. They are part of our past, but more importantly they are in our future.
On a side note: God is in the details.
A few days ago, I was thinking about the pictures I wanted to take at the shootout. I wanted one of all the cars parked in front of the house. I then thought about how difficult it is to take pictures and visit with everyone. God provided the answer to my dilemma and He fulfilled it with excellence. I did take a few pictures, but Jake took the majority of them and he did an exceptional job, including the one of the front of the house …….that I didn’t even ask for……God is good like that.
Here are some more pictures. Evidence of a good time.
I’ve got a Peyton story about this gun. I’ll share it tomorrow.
Thanks for reading
I’ve looked over my last few blog posts and wondered what I have been doing since the last time I posted. I’ve been living life.
I’ve baked, cleaned, worked, cooked some great soups, had people over for dinner, etc. Life in the Jackson world is good and blessed.
I recently got a promotion at work. It has been a small rollercoaster with people adjusting to the changes, but has turned out right and I am excited. This new position will stretch me right out of my comfort zone and I AM NOT NERVOUS!! I know God is with me and He enables me to do what I cannot do. That excites me even more than the actual promotion. God is good like that. : )
Tomorrow is Peyton’s 20th birthday. Tom & I went to the cemetery today and changed out the floral arrangement. We have several of these stored in our attic from Peyton’s home going service. The one Tom chose has a cowboy boot and deer antlers in it. I don’t even remember seeing it before. It’s weird the things that stick in my mind about that time and the things that don’t.
We are having the 2nd Annual PDJ “Let ‘Em Have It” Shootout tomorrow. We’re hoping for a big turnout. I’ll post pics after the event.
Thanks for reading : )
On this blog, I hope I stress the fact that God loves us so much. He shows us everyday and if we will pay attention, we will see it.
This is an obvious example of His love for us.
A friend of Peyton’s (& ours) was having a bad day. She pulled up behind a white Dodge pick-up at a stop light. She took a picture of what she saw. It made her day better : )
Baseball was Peyton’s sport of choice while growing up……………7 was his number ………and he drove a white Dodge pick up. We never had stickers made like this and don’t know who these people are, but God knows.
He wanted to tell her He loves her and He cares about every aspect of her life.
He loves and cares about you too!!!!
Thanks for reading : )
p.s. This wasn’t coincidence.
A group of us from church went to see Courageous. I knew it was a Christian movie, but didn’t know much else about it.
It took me by surprise.
I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, so I won’t say much, but there was lots of laughing and crying going on in the audience.
I’ve seen Fireproof. The message in it is good, but my opinion of the acting………not so good. This show is much better in the acting department.
Have any of you seen it?? What did you think?
Check out the trailer on YouTube. I couldn’t get it to embed in this post for some reason, so I settled for the movie poster.
Thanks for reading : )
