John's Leaving tomorrow

Well John will be leaving tomorrow and I'm sooo not ready for it. He only has 5 months left on his deployment. So far 6 months of it has  flown by. So I pray the rest of it goes by fast to. I'm going to miss him. This will be the forth time I've said goodbye to him since July 2011. I really get tired of having to say it. But this is our life and I am so proud of him. I'm trying to be strong and show him that I will be okay. Before he came home alot had happen. Blubell died and we almost lost Dad. This being our first deployment it was very ruff. But I feel that it is down hill now. This 5 months is going to fly by. My love for him will always keep me going.

Here is a photo I took tonight of John and Crocket

Crocket loves being clean

He loves his rub downs after a hard day of napping.....
It's hard to believe that crocket is 5 1/2 months old and already weights almost 50lbs.

So Glad to be home...

Well John and I came home today, We stay in Union for a week and had a wonderful visit with our families. We got to plant 22 fruit trees, trimmed my trees and finally got my weeping willow tree. I've been wanting one for so long. John planted it behind Katie and bluebell's graves so it will be big and beautiful over their graves. I know I sound like I'm talking about real children. Well I guess they are to us. They were more then just pets to us.
 Anyway everyone was so glad to see John and he was to. It was an adjustment when he first got home and he is a little different then he use to be. But it is understandable. He did tell me things that had happen over there. I just listen and be very understanding. That's really all a military spouse can do. He did bring back some really great stuff he got over there. He knows I love writing in a Journal so he got me one that is made out of Camel skin it's paper is really different from what we write on, it's very pretty. He also got silk scarfs that he bought for my mom, his mom , grandmothers and sister. He got my dad a really cool camel skin hat and there were a few more things really too many to list.
Here are some pictures of the Camel Skin Journal he gave me. ( it was my late Christmas present)

This the front of the Journal it has a map of Afghanistan.

This how the paper looks and it is very soft.

This is the back.

Visiting At Home

Well we have been home for 5days now visiting our family in Union. John has been busy showing his photos of Afghanistan. Also we have been planting fruit trees. We planted pecans, Apple, Figs, peach, pear, and many more so we have been working hard on our land. We are doing it now so they will be grown and producing fruit when we come back to build our home. John plans on retiring in 15 yrs and after That he says he's going to live the good life working his land and selling fresh fruit. While I sit on the front porch shelling pea or cleaning corn. Man I'll be glad when those days get here. NO MORE MOVING! Yay!!! We have everything planned out and we just stand on our land an can already see our home and our fruit trees blooming Life is good. That's what John and I see when we look around our place.
We have decide it will have a sign above the driveway. It will say:

The Old Home Place
      Skinner
   Est: ( the year his Great grandmother bought the property)
That's how we plan to honor his family and all the years of work that went into it.
I believe it is good to know where you come from and how things came to be. I also believe that is whats wrong with the world today. People have forgotten the years before when Families mattered to each other, They worked to together and prayed together. You got your food out of the land and hand made your clothes , Line dryed everything. Homemade jams & jelly's to Homemade soap. I love those days. An if you ever see the inside of my home you will see I love old country and primitive stuff.

We got this Pie Chest When my Husbands Great Aunt passed away.It belong to her Mother In law , so we figured it's almost 100 years old if not older.  It was in awful shape. My father in law wanted to throw it out. So I took it and restored it myself. It is one of my most prized piece.  

Some of my old Collectibles

Going home for a visit, Soooo Happy!!!

Well we are leaving today to head for home. Our home town is Union, Ms. Which is a very small town. No Red lights, 1 grocery store, and very few shops. It's a nice quiet place to live. Everyone we know there is very down to earth people who love the country life. John and I own land there. We call it the Old Home Place because it goes back to his Great Grand Mother.She was an amazing woman because her husband passed away and she made it on her own with help of her children. They worked the land by growing Cotton, Peanut, raised hogs, and general farming.
When John and I lived there we always had a garden, We could grow some of the prettiest vegetables you ever seen. We didn't have cattle or anything, but We did have one horse, 2 goats, 2 ducks, 4 dogs and 6 cats at one time.I also had the most beautiful flower gardens, people would stop and tell me how pretty they were. We loved it there and hated to leave it for the Military life of moving every 5 yrs. But we both made the decision it was the best thing for us. There's not a day that goes by we don't miss it. I don't know about everyone else but we miss having our hands in the dirt. I guess you could say I never out grew playing in a mud hole. (LOL).
  We do plan on going back when John retires. Our new house hopefully will be done by then and we can start all over on our land. It has grown up so bad with weeds and brush, my flower gardens are gone and it doesn't look the same anymore. It's amazing how you can put so much time and effort in a piece of land and let's not for get love. As soon as you leave it, it's like it feels abandoned and just dies. One day it will be alive and beautiful again. John and I look forward to that day.
These are some photo's of when we started working on our land:



My little pond I put bream in it that was caught in my husbands Grandfather's Pond.

My flower garden in the beginning



Some of the flowers I planted.

More of my flowers

My Daylily bed.

Busy Day

I've been up since 3am. and been going ever since. I decided to do some spring cleaner EARLY. It's something about the way a house smells when it is completely closed up during Winter and I couldn't take it any more. It is so pretty outside today an on top of it we haven't had much of a Winter in Mississippi. I open the windows, washed all my curtains, cleaned my carpet, washed clothes and the list goes on, an on, an on. John and I have spent alot of time together since he has been home for R&R. I wish him being home with me didn't have to end. It's so wonderful having him home. But he has a job he has to do and I support that, we will be able to be together soon. I look forward to it.
   He noticed that I have been depressed about him being gone and kinda shut down for a while. I have to admit I have cried alot and I don't get out of the house like I should. But us not being blessed with children and being in a place where you don't know anyone it can be hard. I made him a promise that I would get off my rump and get going again. That's what I'm going to do, not only for myself but for him also. It's amazing how one person who's love can be so strong that they never give up on you. I am so bless to have a husband like him.....


The love of my life.

The Adjustment....

John has been home for 3 full days now. It has been more of an adjustment for him then I realized. All he talks about is what is going on over there.( An when I say all he talks about, it's every word that comes out). Before he lift for deployment he always talked about our future together, all our plans for our house we are going to build , our land and just life in general. But it's different now. Then on top of it the T.V. stays on the military channel. Of course I love him and I listen to everything that is on his mind. He's also having a hard time sitting in one place for to long. I never seen him with so much energy before. I'm an old home body and he use to be so it's a little hard on me at times. He has seen alot over there and I feel like I'm in an unknown world and I don't know what to say about all of it. I'm just trying to be there for him and listen to whats on his mind and let him know I'm here in whatever his needs me for. I guess that's really all a military spouse can do. I pray for him everyday and with every prayer I ask God to give him the strength to make it thur this and come out in one piece. I know GOD is answering my prayers because it could be alot worse. I love my soldier, But I love my husband even more, and yes they are to different people. When he is in that uniform he is SSG. Skinner, when he's not he's the wonderful man I will spend the rest of my life with and always support him 200%......

Mom made this photo for me. I love it!!!

Poems I've written....

Date written May 9, 2011

Our Family Dogwood Tree...

Our Family Dogwood Tree started from a seed, God
gave it care and made it straight , tall and strong
enough that it would never fall.

One day this glorious man was nailed to our
tree, God spoke ," never again this can not be".

So he created another that was crooked and
strange to our sight, But the beauty inside
"Oh, what a delight"

It had beautiful green leaves that came out each
year with flowers shaped like a cross. A beautiful
sight , But what a cost.

There were blood stains on each petal to show
Gods power. So much to learn from this
little flower.

So everytime you pass our family tree lower
your head an remember "God did that for me ".


Date Written: June 19, 2011

When I Get To Heaven....

When I get to Heaven, Who will be there
for me, My family or will it be just me?
Will I kneel down before the Father as
humble as can be.

Will he wrap his arms around me and
say " walk with me". Will we talk about
my life and the choices I've made before
or will he simply say," I have loved you for
ever more."

You are my child you see, I have created you
in my own imagine and gave you free will
to make your own decisions.

I know your life was hard and I gave you alot of
lessons. But my child you succeeded them all, Thats
why your with me in Heaven.