11 years

 I'm running a little behind. I'm not sure exactly where this weekend went... the grocery and the garage. Our favorite places! That is sort of sad really.

 Saturday was our 11th anniversary. We didn't have access to a babysitter on Sat, but our friends down the street were willing to watch the boys for us on Thursday.
 So, we celebrated early!
 There is a place down the street that has the most delectable fried pickles. I don't eat a lot of fried food, but those pickles are totally worth it! We sat and ate in peace, talked about everything from politics to college memories, and tried to remember where we were on Thursday, 11 years ago. It was two days before the wedding and the countdown was on. Several of the out of town guests had come already. I can promise you that my mom was in a panic.
 We had totally different memories. Amazing, the things that stuck out in his mind and the ones that were important to me. Although, I don't know that any of the memories he shared were really "important" to him. Just random facts that he remembered!

 Pictures, anyone?

I was 22. He was still 21. 

So many people would call that too young. But look at us now! 

I don't regret one minute. Not even the hard ones.

 The boys and I.

 Andy "Bond" and my sisters

 Abbey Road

Truly, this is a miraculous shot. In Rome today you would never find a pause in traffic. But 11 years ago it was quieter. Andy Andy wanted it bad enough to wait.

This is probably my favorite picture. Isn't he just precious? 

He isn't precious any more. He is handsome and protective. Honorable and dependable. Faithful and considerate. An amazing husband, father, follower of God and leader of his troops.  

But precious I think he might have outgrown! 

What he will never outgrow, (or escape) is my undying love for him. 

He is my best friend and the holder of my heart. 

I love you Andrew Ian.

Forever,

Imagination for sale

I was on Craigslist a few days ago, looking up yard sales. I love a good deal, and thought I would scout out what was going to be happening in the local area the next day. When I told the boys what I was doing, they decided they needed to create their own yard sale. 

See the guy in the red helmet? He is selling his stuff so he can afford to buy a new motorcycle. 

 Bobba Fett is planning to buy that entire rack of clothing. I think the boys said it was $500 dollars. Wow, what a deal!

This little cutie has discovered treasure in the box.

 A teddy bear! 

His grandfather, the man with the staff, bought it for him. One story said that he also bought the skeleton, so he could teach him about bones. Another version in this Lego world of yard sale-ing says that the skeleton simply walked away, never to be seen again.

 Either way, the man in the helmet made enough to buy his new motorcycle. I am fairly certain he and Bobba Fett have remained friends also, up in the (taking over their entire room) world of Legos.

 I ended up sleeping in on Sat. You never get the cool stuff if you sleep in. I never even left our subdivision. Of course, 5, all in our subdivision, I certainly can't complain!

Blessings, 

A few things I love

 Our wireless transmitter died. Again. I kept trying to breath new life into it. But we had to finally accept defeat and let it rest in peace.
 I am pretty sure this is the third one we have had in my blogging history.

 After just a few days without "full" internet I am always so glad to get it back. But I am always so far behind too. I already have a hard time keeping up with the blogs I want to read and comment on. And the blogs I haven't had a chance to write- well, those are lost forever. Because my brain only holds a thought for so long. Then it is gone. That is why I write a blog in the first place! So that those crazy thoughts can be corralled and organized. When I don't get a chance to write them down...

 Ah well.

 But, a few things I love:

1) That when we got home yesterday the first thing my boys did with our purchases from the thrift store was lay on their stomachs in the middle of the kitchen floor and play with them. Immediately. Anyone want to know what our purchases were?

 Books!

 2) Thrift stores in general! Large parts of our "curriculum" come from them!

3) When I open the peanutbutter, Daisy automatically thinks it is for her. That is both a love and a hate. We give her PB to cover the taste of her meds, which are a constant need, and will be always. But the fact that as soon as she smells PB she comes running: that cracks me up.

4) The fact that, although I am not sure where the money is going to come from, braces do exist and Canaan will be able to have them. There was a time when teeth that were so crowded that they wouldn't even descend were a humongous problem. Now the dentist simply gives a recommendation that you go visit their friend down the street. (or perhaps shop around and see who is cheapest?)

5) Cherry Tomatos straight from our garden. One of the few successes, making them even more delicious.

6) That beautiful art that can come from trash. Beauty is all around, as long as your seek it. My friend Casey has started using his amazing talent for more then just playing with his kids and decorating his own home. He is creating art for others and I can't help but pass him along to others. He takes paper, shredded and expected to have no further use, and turns it into beauty.  His art is amazing and it stands for one of the things I believe in most. Appreciating EVERYTHING around you and finding Joy in it.

 Please my friends, seek the beauty.

Blessings, 

A memorable Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend is full.

 Full of memories.

 Full of honor.

 Full of family and fun; parades and bands; grills and watermelon.

 For military families I think it is especially poignant. Always.

 But this Memorial Day weekend was special to me for a different reason.

 Sister #3, Kelsey, and her husband Travis decided to move to Puerto Rico. They leave June 18. They told me May 20.

 We had other plans for Memorial Day. "Home" is 7 hours away, and we were just there for Mary Faith's wedding. But when they said they were leaving, I begged Andy to take me home. And he did, because he is wonderful.

 While we were there...

 Canaan had talked about wanting to be baptized. He asked Jesus to live in his heart, well, I think it was several years ago now. But between the moving, and wanting family to be there - and wanting my Dad to be the one who baptized him, it just kept getting delayed.

 We personally believe that water baptism is a beautiful statement of your faith, announcing to others that you are a follower of Jesus. It is not a requirement of salvation, but is something that you should desire.

 And I suddenly realized that if Kelsey and Travis were going to be there, the whole family together, this was the last opportunity. So I asked Canaan if he was ready. He was.

 Buried in sin...

 Risen again in new life!!

Andy's parents are elders in the Presbyterian church. They both laid hands on and prayed for him also. 

And we celebrated! 

 My friend Amanda (since college!), her military man and adorable Emily.

He is withdrawing his commission and heading to Seminary soon. You never know where God is going to send you!

Four sisters, four husbands. 

First time we have taken a picture that way, with Josh as a husband, not a boyfriend. 

And of course, with six shots to sort through, this is the best one - and Andy is blocked by my hair. Sigh. 

I think he does it on purpose. 

 Z found this camo umbrella at a yard sale the day before and was fascinated by it. 

 Canaan's friend Noah, with the adorable missing teeth.

Even Daisy came! 

(has anyone ever seen Andy's face on here?)

 Two photographers, looking at the world through a lens, but seeing it as much as possible through the eyes of God. 

Although at that exact moment, we were simply looking at a sister and sharing a laugh.  

There was a very cool old merry go round and everyone got in on the action at some point in time.

 Canaan showing off.

 Noah and Zion pushed all the girls for a while...

 Then Papaw came and gave a super strong whirl.

 Isn't he amazing? Hardly even broke a sweat!

Zion sat on the sidelines for that one. 

He actually fell off a little earlier and got a goose egg the size of TX. No more twirling for him! 

Then it was watermelon time!

 Look at those eyes- studying it so seriously.

 You can almost see his face!

Water melon clears up tears after a long, exhausting, day of playing.

This was a Memorial Day that will be remembered. 

Blessings, 

My birthday repost

 It has become a theme now for me to repost this every year around my birthday. It was first written in 2009, which, although it was only 3 years ago, seems a lifetime ago. Andy was in Afghanistan. When he is gone, life is different. But...

 In all things, God remains good. The most recent verse I have had written on a note card next to my bed, always within easy sight, is Job 2:10b. "'What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil?' In all this Job did not sin with his lips."

 That is my goal. That "His praise shall continually be in my mouth"(Ps 34:1) rather then sin with my lips.
 There are lots of things I can do with my mouth. I choose to use the time I have to automatically; Pray. Praise. Bless.

 Automatically.

 Just like in this story:

A post from the road

We are somewhere in Louisianna, at a Comfort Inn. My parents and children are in the room next door. Two of my sisters and a friend are in the beds behind me. I should be sleeping, and preparing for another day on the road tomorrow.

But right this minute I am just so very full. Full of Joy. Full of Faith. Full of Hope.

I have to let some of it out before I can attempt to sleep.

A few days ago I was reading a devotional about Nehemiah. They basis of the reading was pointing out in the second chapter when the king asks him why he is sad, Nehemiah is terrified but his first reaction is to pray.

My absolute first thought when reading this was, "well duh!"

After reading through the encouraging devotional concerning this subject I was actually in some ways disheartened. I was so saddened by the thought that there are some people, God fearing Christian people who love Jesus with their whole heart, who would not have their first reaction be prayer. What a sad, sad, thing to focus on fear, or any emotion really. How very blessed I am that I was taught from my earliest memories to place absolutely everything at the feet of God.

So, I have been thinking about this scripture, and prayer, and my amazing family a lot over the last couple of days.

After spending a lot of hours in the van with my parents and Kelsey driving to TX, I have had plenty of opportunity to NOT like my family. But none of those little nitpicky things matter. Honestly, it may drive me a little batty the way my dad drives, or they way my mom fusses at the way he drives, but those things don't change what really matters.

We were raised right. That is just a wonderful thing to have!

Now, on the way back to GA, we have Mary and her roommate Lindsay with us, and a second car. The van is loaded down with all the girls stuff, my parents, and my kids. The car has the four of us girls. As we were driving down the road this evening a song came on about God being our healer, and our portion, and something about trust. For some reason I just lost it. I was suddenly tired of being sick, tired of asking for healing. Tired of waiting for my sister to be well, and have a baby. For most of my life my parents have taken me to healing services, had me prayed over by anyone with that gift, asked repeatedly for God to step in.

The answer has always been Not right now.

The healing has always been for my heart, and my attitude, and my ability to cheerfully be diabetic, willingly use my disease as a ministry. I have had plenty of healing, and I wouldn't trade it for physical healing - not for a minute.

But for some reason this new disorder, these blackouts, or atypical migraines, or whatever they are - they are sapping my ability to cheerfully "deal". Added to that my unbelievable hurt for my little sister's physical and emotional pain, and the fact that my hubby is gone and our adoption is still delayed...

I guess I was a walking timebomb full of tears.

But here is the amazing part. Kelsey reached over and grabbed one hand. Mary reached up from the back seat for another hand. And we poured out our tears to our Father. Fears and hurt. Hopes and dreams. Old and new. As a family, automatically.

We were missing one sister, but she was definitely included, and prayed for.

I am so very thankful for my family. I am so glad that our automatic response, to pain or joy, is to take it to Jesus.

Faith. Joy. Hope. Truth. That is what we have, as well as who we are.

 I adore having sisters.
 Obviously, in three years things have changed. But our Savior stays in the center of our hurts, and our praises.

 Kelsey Joy, Emilee Hope, Bethany Ruth, (so I get to be Truth) and Mary Faith

What a combo we make!

 We certainly don't stick inside the frame of what is expected of us! 

 1993? In our Easter finery.

1996 on our way to India.

2012 and a rogue bee.

   

Green, Greener, Greenest

This year we took on something new.

 We have always dabbled a little, experimented perhaps you would say, in gardening. Cherry tomatoes have been successful several times. We had a few straggling squash one year. Some volunteer potatoes after a science experiment.

 But this year we went all out.

 Found a raised bed at Goodwill. Filled it with organic soil. (definitely the expensive part!) Planted seeds.

 When Dane and Ellen were here in late Feb. we had the help of the masters. Dane is passionate about his garden. He helped the boys get their first few seeds in the ground, and gave me some pointers for scheduling the rest of the planting. 

 Just a few weeks later we had the first showings of peas

and spinach.

We were gone for the wedding at the end of March, but when we got back, it was time for some serious business. And when Andy takes a project on, he does not go half way. 

Ever.

So we added on. 

And I forgot to take pictures for the entire month of April. 

But things were growing! 

May 10th

Peas

 A view of our extended bed - and the "fence" we had to add to keep Daisy out. She thought that cucumbers and orange peppers were very comfortable. Smash.

 An additional bed. Potatoes and herbs. 

With another lovely "fence", and a slight sun shade so the herbs don't get too much sun. 

 Isn't Thyme simply beautiful, however fragile, and perishable, it may be.

Take that as you wish.

 Little green Cherry Tomatoes

 Our first batch of spinach was a flop, but crop number two, planted immediately after the wedding was looking good on May 10th. 

 However, when the boys planted their carrots, the packet of seeds was spilled in unexpected places. 

Off to the left in this picture, in what is supposed to be spinach territory, is a huge patch of carrots. 

I took some more pictures today, just to show what can happen in 10 days - 

 The tomatoes are going crazy, but more importantly, the squash and zucchini are huge! 

The poor little okra look dwarfed. 

 The cucumbers are blooming

 Andy found some onions in the back of the pantry that had started sprouting. He planted them. They keep sprouting. 

 I have had every intention of looking up if there is any point in them being there - but so far that hasn't been high on my priority list. I just let them sit there and sprout. As long as they don't take too many nutrients from my peas and cucumbers they are welcome to stay. 

 My beautiful herbs

 Potatoes pushing through with power.

 But that poor little spinach... It just doesn't seem to make any progress. 

 The carrots in the spinach area? Looking wonderful. 

Slightly haphazard (perhaps because they were spilled?!!) and definitely in need of thinning, but growing strong.

The carrots in their own place? A little slower to grow, but they are trying. 

 Last but not least, our beautiful peas. 

(I always show a picture of this one, partly because it is on the corner and easiest to get to with my camera, but as luck would have it, it seems to be the strongest and healthiest too!)

They gave us our first "crop" of the year. 

Not enough for a meal, but some really good snacking!

(Some sneaky hands that will remain unnamed may have snagged a few before the photographer could get a picture) 

Through it all, my love affair with "weeds" remains strong. 

The things that grow wild, and sneak through the fence from the neighbor's yard. 

 How much more can you ask for? 

These lovely little faces may not provide sustenance for my body, but what they provide for my soul cannot be measured. 

Especially when my boys come and find me with the specific goal of bringing me out to see these beautiful little pieces of sunshine. 

Green, greener, greenest...

Yellow and white too!

 I'll keep you posted on our adventure in organic gardening. I read that fish tank water was fabulous for them. All that natural nastiness was perfect fertilizer. So we gave it a try last night. It was the perfect inspiration to finally clean the frog tank. 

 But then I got to worrying if firebelly toad water was going to be a negative instead of a positive! So far, so good. From last night when we gave the water 'til today when I took the pictures no damage done. 

 Now I will just have to go wondering through the wide world of Google to see if anyone has any ideas about what, or shall I say who, is eating my okra leaves. And how to get them to stop - without poison. 

 What a grand adventure this is! 

 (and we have the peas to prove it!) 

I hope you are having a very green May also!

Blessings,