Week 16 of 52 - A Charge to Remember

Went to a beautiful wedding on Saturday, then on Sunday, our praise team sang a song that was played at our wedding – Amazing Love.  I couldn’t help but reflect on how our wedding was just the beginning of our journey:

• Two beautiful children despite the odds
• God welcoming three beautiful women into His presence… W’s mom, Sandra Danielly, and Cheri Rutland. If not for their prayers over W, would our paths have ever crossed?
• Vacations and holidays and family
• Arguments that brought tears… and more importantly, laughter once we learned we’d better get over ourselves and find the humor!
• A beloved, mostly Australian cattle dog – rescued, loved, and left our lives.
• Unemployment, underemployment, and new jobs
• Family members suffering and surviving life-threatening illnesses
• More laughter at ourselves
• Recognizing more and more that apart from Him, we are nothing.

On our wedding day, W's brother-in-law read a charge given by W's father and he included these verses.  He did not know we had chosen the same verses for our wedding program:

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.  

Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.  Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful.  Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.  Colossians 3: 12-17

It's a charge we will strive toward all the days of our lives, coming up short time and again, relishing in the forgiveness that is promised, picking ourselves back up, and being thankful we do not walk alone.


Speaking of love, I discovered a new one this weekend - macro. 

And for anyone who is still reading, I've clarified a comment I made last week about G's photo, here it is.

Week 14 of 52 - Spring has Sprung!

Every Spring, I declare it my favorite season.  Then a few months pass, the beautiful fall colors and crisp days descend, and I waver in my declaration.  But as for today, I am delighting in the birth of new flowers and green leaves, the bees buzzing and the morning dew shining.

When we bought our home, there was nothing – this multitude of wild onions, some scrubby boxwoods, a poorly-placed star magnolia, and a handful of grass seed tossed over the builder’s shoulder as he spun out of the drive.

Our adventures in yard work were initially fueled by those beautiful second trimester hormones.  During my pregnancy with George, I tied ropes around those scrubby boxwoods and pulled them out with my Toyota Rav4… my mechanic brother just shook his head and said it’s a wonder I didn’t blow it up.

We’ve learned a lot since then.  Most importantly, we budget far in advance.  Spring comes every year – it’s no surprise the maintenance expenses will follow.  Here are the top lessons learned…

• *Invest in a  landscaping class.  We took a continuing-ed class and learned we’d spent $400 on trees, plants, and plant bed accessories that were bad choices (and time proved this to be true).  Just because Lowes sells it, doesn’t mean we should buy it.
• *Over-invest in top soil and compost.  We spent 3 years trying to till and coax this red clay with a few bags of dirt.  It wasn’t until we called in the dump truck from a local nursery that we saw a difference.
• *A Toro Dingo can make light work of digging holes for trees.  At first, we gasped at the $150 price tag for a ½ day rental at our local Ace Hardware.  Then we calculated how much time it would take for W to dig 25 holes that size and realized his time (and the health of our marriage) was more valuable than that - quite the bargain!
• * Local gardening stores are the bomb-diggity.   We’ve found plants and shrubs at 1/3 the price of our local big box store.  Just last night, I saw a particular perennial at Home Depot for $4.96.  I paid $10… for SEVEN of them.
• *Look around for freebies.  We have planted 3 Eastern Red bud trees and 4 Eastern Red Cedars just by looking in the ditch and property adjacent to ours.  I also rooted a fig tree from our neighbor’s magnificently huge tree.  Yes, I got permission from our neighbor first!  

 (Terribly harsh lighting, but sometimes it's just about capturing the moment).

We still have so much to learn.  We haven’t tackled growing grass yet.  We just mow our clover and hope all the green blends together.   My dad raises beef cattle and to successfully do that, you need be just as successful in growing grass.  He wisely scanned our yard and pronounced that we still needed a ton of lime.  He was being literal… back to the budget. 

 

Happy Spring!

Week 13 of 52 - Out of Focus

As I reflect on this week, there were days where I missed my focus completely…

A few days where I focused on the debris instead of the beauty…

Not sure what was going on. I could always blame the pollen clouds fogging my head. (or I could blame the lazy folks who leave their carts in the middle of the parking lot, but that would REALLY be a stretch).

I could blame uncertainty or busyness @ work.
Or perhaps it’s the clutter that invades my home often before the sun comes up. (yes, I fully expect I will miss this plastic-filled space in years to come).

Or my personality that can drive off a cliff researching the details of trivial things. But if I go there, I’ll be surfing products on Amazon into the wee hours of the morning and forget to finish writing this blog completely.

So my goals for this week are to be a little more focused, a little more in the moment, and find a few more opportunities to notice the beauty around me.

And if I don’t? It’s the pollen.

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As an aside, my grandmother gave me two photos this week of me at age 3 to show me how she thinks George favors me at this age. Hope you enjoy this seventies flashback - don't be hating on my pants suit!