Garden Pics.

Walkway and path to the gate: Welcome to My Garden
Squash, Zucchini, Tomatos and Peas, oh and pumpkins
Looking over the beans to more squash and pumpkins and the blueberries are just beyond that.
Standing at the back of the garden looking towards the house and Hannah who was suppose to be inside.

Okay, so this isn't my garden but this is my really cool finger-knitted hammock. It is near the garden...

GARDEN!

The garden is finally planted!! It's beautiful and random and still just dirt with stakes marking out what is growing but the seeds are there and I'm anxiously waiting for them to grow. Hannah helped plant and it was fun...though I did have to remind myself that I didn't have to be in a hurry, it's okay to plant each seed individually in just the right spot. Even Clayton dropped a few seeds in for me. Ivan helped decide which tomato plant went where and then wasn't too interested. We finished planting right as it started to sprinkle, so I'll go take pictures when it stops raining. I can do this now (take pictures that is) because we just got a new digital camera. If you noticed the large picture behind my blog title, I took that with my new camera. That daisy is my Mother's Day gift, it sits on the front porch in one of the wire plant stands from my wedding. I'm going to go enjoy a cup of tea and relax, maybe knit and try not to complain too much about being quite sore and tired.

Tea at Twilight

The other night after all the kiddos were kissed and hugged thoroughly and tucked in bed Erik and I sat on the front porch, me with a notebook, pen and cup of tea and Erik with the guitar and we had a very pleasant evening singing, pondering and watching the fog roll in around the cellphone tower on the hill. (I never thought I would find a cellphone tower beautiful but you should have seen the fog around it!) And as I was sitting there I realized just how content I am...just in general and how comfortable I have become in my own skin; in who I am and where I am. It is a very peaceful feeling. It's not a comfortable-ness of laziness; I feel I'm busier than ever, chasing kiddos, trying to get my garden done, cleaning up the yard, making bread, keeping house and children clean etc. but it's rather a comfortable-ness of knowing who I am amongst all these things. I sat there on my porch pondering where I was 7 or 8 years ago when I was wondering "what to do, where to go, who to be" (from a song I wrote at the end of high school) and where I am now. I know that I don't have everything figured out and I know I never will but I know who does and I want to draw close to Him; to keep growing and learning. Heaven knows there are many areas where I need to grow.
When I was in middle school my sunday school teacher used to ask us who we were and we were suppose to have an answer picked out (from a list none-the-less) so that we would never forget where our actual identity is found. Mine was/is:
"I am not the great I AM but by the grace of God I am what I am."
So I am what I am and I really like it.

Today

It's only 9:50pm and I'm exhausted. I'm sitting at the computer in the dark and everyone else is in bed and I should be going to sleep. I moved rock and dirt most all day today and then I got the dishes done tonight and cookies made. Oh and right before dinner I jogged/walked around the block with some friends. So needless to say, I'm really tired. I don't have anything witty to write or momentous news to report I'm just noting for all that I am feeling really content and tired. It was a good day, it was sunny, I got a lot of work done, I love my husband, I love my kiddos, God is good (which he is no matter what!). Yep. That's it for now.

Friendly Neighbors

For those of you that don't know, our new associate Pastor and his wife bought the house next door to ours. My children are thrilled, so much so that Sunday morning when Erik and I woke up and asked where Ivan was (our children get up before us and sometimes reek havoc before we catch them) Hannah replied that he was "going to Pastor John and his wife Karen's* house". Sure enough Erik found him in our driveway heading that direction in his pajamas and rubber boots. We had to explain that he does not get to go there whenever he wants and that Pastor John and his wife Karen do not live there yet because they are doing some work on the house before they move in. I have a feeling that this is not the last time that I will find my children heading that way on a whim, especially when they finally move in.

*My children refer to Karen as "his wife Karen" or "wife Karen" or "Pastor John's wife Karen" but never without a modifier.

It's the keyboard's fault.

I know you all have been waiting anxiously for me to update my blog. Here is my defense...I had a faulty keyboard. This is a perfectly legitimate excuse as my space bar on the old one refused to space and I assume you did not wanttoreadeverythingIwrotewithnospaces... so I refrained from sharing.
Not that I have much to say now. It's been a busy week of little things and ordinary things. I went to an awesome garage sale the other day and picked up more knitting needles for 25 cents a pair and some fabric. On Sat. our friend came over with his excavator and we now have a drainage pipe running alongside our driveway. He then left the excavator here (what was he thinking?) and Erik has been trying his hand at it and Sunday afternoon moved quite a bit more of our rock pile. Today while Rolana stole the older two kiddos for school and the younger two were taking naps I smoothed the little piles of rock in the backyard into a path to my soon-to-be garden.
It is now raining and the younger two are sleeping again and Hannah and Ivan are resting while watching "Cars".
Thus you have been updated.