Thursday, March 29, 2012

My Garden

So.... my friend Tammy (who is very much into eating "clean") and I had big plans a while back to plant a vegetable garden in her backyard together.  But, then we decided perhaps we would just put some plants in pots on our back porches, since neither of us really has time to maintain a large garden at this point in our lives.  So we headed to Home Depot and for the price of a couple of big pots, we both got these raised garden kits and some soil to put in them.  Mine is 4 x 4 (I think she went back and got another ) and I have planted squash, green beans, cucumbers, spinach, sugar peas, cilantro..... and.... I think that may be it.  Some of my plants I bought at Home Depot and in the rest of the garden, I planted seeds.  Oh, and I have a tomato plant that will stay for now in the container I bought it in.  I surely hope SOMETHING grows.  I will be highly disappointed if I don't get at least one vegetable to eat after all this hard work!  :-)

Here is the progress:


I put it up close to the house hoping to ward off creatures.  Of course, Rufus had to get in and start digging, so I went and got a little plastic fence to put around it- the picture isn't very good, but I took it at night so I could get this post written.  He is capable of jumping over the fence, but thankfully he is too stupid to know it.

If I ever win the lottery (which will be hard since I never play the lottery), I would love to have lots of pots of flowers on my back porch and some nice patio furniture and a grill.  And then I could entertain out there.  And grill the vegetables straight out of my garden for my guests!  :-)  We have to have dreams!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Highlights of our Recent Beach Trip

I tend to over-do on the pictures, but you don't have to look at all of them.  The pool at the condo was one floor below our balcony, which was convenient.

 Our view of the Gulf.
 Pictures of us at The Hang Out (cool, open-air restaurant with live entertainment).  (Also, very expensive!)

 Jacob playing on the beach.
 Jacob climbing while waiting on our table at LuLu's.

 The girls getting ready to do the rip-cord.
 Waiting to ride Go-Karts (Jacob's favorite part of the trip).

Never go to the beach without a variety of colors of nail and toe polish.

Jacob's Birthday

Jacob had a birthday.  It was March 20.  He turned 11.

Monday, March 26, 2012

My Yard

So many pretty flowers have been coming up in my front yard.  It's not any work that *I* did- it was the previous owners, and I wish I could thank them.  They did such a good job.



 And, even though the previous owners left me a lawnmower, for which I was very grateful and which got me through all of last summer, it is dying.  So I had to buy a new one.  And when a single girl buys her first lawn mower, she takes a picture of it and puts it on her blog.  :-)
Stay tuned for information on the little vegetable garden I am planting in the next few days.  Exciting things going on!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

God


Me at the beach last week. 

I've been thinking alot lately about God.  I've been reading a couple of books I found at the storeThe Sacred Romance by John  Eldredge (and some other guy) and A Place Apart:  Monastic Prayer and Practice for Everyone by some Monk.  And, of course, The Bible by Our Father in Heaven.  "Set your mind on things above", God says.  "Come to me at you will never be hungry again, believe in me and never be thirsty....", says Jesus, his son. And Paul says,  "For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace".

And then tonight.  Going through a box of tucked away memories- letters, stories, poems, pictures... from elementary school through college.

All through my life, I can see traces of WANT... of restlessness and seeking and an unsettled feeling, of HUNGER... of me chasing physical comforts like there is something out there that I am missing and if I could just find it, all would be well.  This is The Sacred Romance that John Eldredge speaks of.  It is God.  It is not food or sex or a person or a church.  God is absolutely the only thing that will ever fill that empty place of want.  And the surest way to God is to be still and invite him in.  Continually.  Daily, hourly, by the minute.  In a literal prayer closet or in the closet of your heart.

I know this.  When I read it, I think to myself, "This is truth".  When I hear it, I nod my head.  When I type it, my mind is satisfied with my own wisdom.

But.... why then is the place in my heart still full of want and restlessness and seeking and so unsettled and HUNGRY?

His voice, his presence, his breath and his very being surrounds us every day of our lives.  I just have to open my eyes to Him.  I'm convinced this is why people love the beach so much.  He is SO EVIDENT there.  The vastness of the water, the relentless waves, the warm sand.  It is easy to see and feel him there, even if you aren't consciously aware of what you are even seeing or feeling.  The beach is God in plain view.

But I cannot live at the beach.  I need to look for him in my every day life.  In the flowers blooming in my yard, in the kiss blown to me from a child walking toward school, in the sensation of my fingertips touching the letters on my keyboard.  I need to sit with him every day, in the early morning hours when the house is still and I can hear him... and I need to do this until I WANT to do it and until I cannot NOT do it.  I need to "taste and see" for myself- that this Bread of Life truly does satisfy forever.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Quick Update

Some recent highlights from my life:

This picture below is funny because it was taken at work and just a few weeks later (last Monday), I bent over to pick something up and ran one of those metal hooks I am holding right into my right eye.  I cringe even now when I think about it.  Don't worry.  It is nearly healed now and although very painful at the time, and very disgusting to look at, I was told I was "very lucky" that it only went into the white part of my eye, because if it had went in the middle, I'd probably be blind in that eye.  Praise God for small miracles and for Emergency Rooms and for my boss who remained calmed and drove me there and stayed with me AND let me have the next day off to rest.  And praise God for antibiotic drops and Advil and sunglasses!  Praise God for everything, really!
 Last week I took my very first exam in a real classroom without access to my notes or book in about 20 years.  As you can see, I did pretty good!!!  The two questions I missed were the only two that I looked at and said, "You know, I just don't know" and my guesses were, apparently, incorrect.  But I will take a 96% any day!

The kids are well.  Hockey season is over (although I'm sure clinics and practices will continue).  Soccer season is starting for Sarah.  And generally, life is good.

Oh, I have started writing a blog for my store, The Saving Way.  Click on the name and you will go there!  I look forward to having alot of fun with it.  It is a fun place to work.

More soon!!!