Lessons learned 28 Nov. 2011

Lessons I learned this last week.


Now we are going to start with Thanksgiving pictures because most of the week was spent cooking. Keep in mind that I used Rachel Rays Everyday Thanksgiving Recipes for most of the dishes.

Yes, I know this is not a great picture but look at how happy James is.

Damian is starting to love food almost as much as I already do. Here is a random lesson I learned If you use those super nice crystal glasses your saving for special occasion and beg your kids to be super careful with them don't break one in front of said kids. They will never let you live it down!

Kiss of Lemon Turkey. My husband loves to make the turkey and it turned out lovely.

Classic sausage stuffing. I cried on Friday because Rob ate the very last bite! I love stuffing and it loves to stick to my hips.

The best sweet potato dish I have ever made. Carmel Apple Sweet Potato Casserole.

Green Beans with toasted pumpkin seeds. I love fresh crunchy green beans.

Cranberry Raspberry sauce completely my own recipe and I should have made more! The kids licked their plants to get every little taste of wonderful that they could.

Turns out the boys love Turkey legs.

So we told them until they have little boys of their own they will get a turkey leg every year.

I loved doing this Thankfulness tree.

I am thinking about doing it all year by updating to different seasons. Changing these leaves to snowflakes and the ribbon to a pretty blue or red christmas ribbon. It is nice to be thankful.

This week we also sorted through a ton of the boys' things and found out out we do have a school room after all. Who knew?

The boys love this room more then they ever did when it was a toy room/library.

I love this room now too. We still do school work at the kitchen table in the mornings.

This is a miracle. I never thought I could organize anything.

Okay so I love that Damian loves to Read to his brother, but I was trying to show off our world map.

I saw a picture of a hat that my friend made. It was wonderful and she swore it was only the second thing she had ever crocheted. So I looked it up on Youtube (which is wonderful and truely evil) and began to make a hat. My first hat ever. It is not as easy as my friend claimed... Or I am not great at following directions. So here is my first hat ever.

Not bad. I could do better I am sure. I learned a lot about crochet while I worked on this hat. First I want to point out that it took me about three hours to make. I started over a million times. Really I lose count. Then I learned how to use a place marker and I didn't have to count any more. I think I missed something very important. Because look at the true size of the hat.

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Did you have to scroll down to discover my secret?I hope so.

Are you ready?

I am not

but here it goes.

That's right friends my hat fits this toy hippo and lots of his hatless friends. I think I had better try again. It seems that my idea of a great hat stayed the same size even as it was born. Lesson learned here don't be afraid to fail. Maybe next time you will get it right. I will let you know if I ever do.

I hope your week is filled with sweet lessons, happy music, Love and Laughter. Be well my friend.



Sorting, sorting, and more sorting

I did take pictures of our Thanksgiving meal which I will do a different post for later. Today I have been busy cleaning the boys' room and the library/toy room. First it was a mess and the only way it would get done is if I buckled down and waded in. I forced my poor husband (who is coming down with a cold so spent most of the time helping blowing his nose and complaining about it) to help me get it all done. We rearranged their room so all of their toys fit in their closet. Starting with James' dresser I went through all of his clothes and if it was a four or smaller it got donated or tossed. Then on to Damian's. All of his usable clothes replaced James' donated clothes but now I realize that he needs new clothes. Good thing Christmas is coming. Then we (I) sorted through Toys, Toys, Toys, broken toys, baby toys, new toys, loud toys, toys with wheels, toy soldiers and dinosaur toys all went either donated, trashed, or put away neatly (tomorrow all of the put away toys will explode I am sure). The there are the books. We have a library and we love books. Today for the first time I parted with the baby board books, the potty training books, the baby sign books, copies that we received as gifts, curriculum books that never got used, that we got from a moving sale(a giant box of great resources that the kids never found interesting I forgot about or the my kids or their kids lost some of the pieces to), and some books that we no longer wanted all went into one of the three categories. Keep in mind I only went through the kids books. I felt like one of those hoarders because it was hard to part with those baby books that both my babies played with, read, and shared with friends. My babies are big boys and we are out of the baby making business it was physically and emotionally hard to do. We are still living a Military life and we might move again in three years or four or five or next week(this last one extremely unlikely but you never know what the military will throw at you last minute) I can't carry these sentimental attachments around with us. I guess I am glad that we move so much so we always have to think about what we want to carry from place to place or else I might have stored all of this junk. Anyway We now have a functional school room/reading room(I am going to put a couple bean bags in there for the kids)/library. I feel better now that it is over with. Now if I could bring myself to sort through say my closet, or that one crazy closet full of random hobby stuff that I am not currently actively working on that would be a true achievement.

So all of that hard work was so we would have a spot for our Christmas Tree! We will be picking one out next week, bringing it home and decorating. It is my favorite tradition and I am positively glowing with excitement!

I hope that your week is filled with achievements (big or small), the start of holiday cheer, Love and Laughter. Be well my friends.

Thanksgiving

So our dog came down with kennel cough and we did not want to take him up to see my mother in law because she has three dogs of her own. So to make sure that we do not get her dogs sick we are having Thanksgiving at home with our little family. That also means I get to plan the meal, which I am sure that you know I jumped in to wholeheartedly. I love food, especially special occasion holiday food. Are you ready? This is our Holiday Menu, I got it from a Everyday with Rachel Ray Magazine. I am planning on changing a few things to make it my own like making my own bread for the stuffing and casserole, also I am going to make my own cranberry sauce, the pumpkin pie is my own and knowing me I might change a few details as I see fit as I cook. Not because I think it is better but because sometimes a little of this and a little of that makes the difference between good and wonderful. That and I sometimes forget I am supposed to follow the recipes.

Kiss of Lemon Turkey
Old-Fashioned Pan Gravy
Classic Bread Stuffing with Sausage
Cran-raspberry Sauce
Carmel Apple Sweet Potato Casserole
Sauteed Green Beans with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin pie
Pinot Noir (for the grown-ups)
Sparkling red cider (for the kids)

Maybe one other desert because this morning my boys(husband included) asked about more desert items. I do not want to go back to the store! Have you been there lately ever day closer to Thanksgiving the crazier it gets. Really! The only thing that would make this Holiday any better would be to have you and your family at our table.

I am going to post pictures later. If it all turns out and I hope it does.

I hope that your Thanksgiving is full of Love and Laughter and you leave with sweet memories to carry with you always. Be well my friends.

Lessons Learned 27 Nov

Lessons I learned this week.

First I spent the week reading and then rereading Dante's Inferno. There are eight circles in Hell and each one more depraved then the last.

College makes me feel dumb. The reason I reread Dante's Inferno is because half the time I did not know what was going on.

Everything becomes clearer the second time around. I do not have to fight the language while reading because I laid the ground work for my poor brain to get it the first time.

Printing out a map of the Inferno is a great help to process what is going on where. Dante was an extremely brilliant intelligent man.

Sunday I opened the bible to Matthew 5:43-48 and began to read Jesus telling the people to love there enemies.
 “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Then Mass was about Matthew 25:40 and 46
"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." and "Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Of course we read through the whole story in church but for my purpose of sharing the best moment in church we will keep it short. (look it up in the bible it is worth the time) What ever we do for the least of the people we do for the Lord. After church Rob and I were talking about our life plans to homestead, or a small farm we talked about our vision for the farm. I want to be able to give to people in need. To give a box to a family in need so that they are able to receive healthy food for their children. We both agreed that we would not be going into the venture to get rich but to live comfortable within our needs. Rob loves the idea of working with a church or soup kitchen or another organization to help feed the hungry.

We got to go out and meet the Chickens that lay my eggs. Rob fell in love with the farm. I am so impressed by how The Hanson Family Farm is run. All of their animals are relaxed wondering around eating whatever green grass they can find. It is south Texas and the Grass is finally coming around with the cool weather. We talked about how hard it is to get non GMO feed for the animals. They are truly amazing and it is also exciting to see that it can be done. I am also glad that we get to help support their family. I hope that they liked us because Rob wants to work their on the weekends. I want to encourage you all to find a local small farm that you can support. Because for the first time I feel like how we eat makes a difference. It makes a difference to the farmers, and it makes a difference to my children. They get to see how our food is raised. If I could completely abandon the grocery store I would. Maybe in the future I will be able to. Living on local food means that you are more likely to buy healthy meat from people who care for the animals. It is nice to know that the Cows, chickens, pigs, and turkeys (they are not set up to sell their boiler hens or turkey yet but I am hoping they will be soon) all have/had a very happy life. Happy animals makes for a happy meal. Really you can support the factory farms that feed chickens arsenic and then feed the chicken poop to the cows, where these animals never see grass, or even the sun if it happens to be a chicken. Their is so much that the large factory farms should be ashamed of doing but we the people support it. I am telling you that can spend a little more and support a happy farm that you would be proud to be even a small part of. I could go on about how great grass feed meet tastes, and how good it is for you but I am going to step off my little soap box now.


I hope that your week is filled with unexpected lessons that fill you up with joy, Love and Laughter. Be Well my friends.

Faith

I watched a movie awhile ago called "Faith like Potatoes" and I have been thinking of that movie this morning. Well and faith in a garden. We all need faith in something God, our co-workers, our kids, our parents, our family, ourselves, a small seed to grow into a fruit bearing tree that can feed both a family and our friends and we need to believe in our parenting skills because otherwise we would go nuts. We look and we search for reasons to believe in something. I have friends who believe that there is no God, and even that is a belief in something. It is a choice an individual choice, a personal decision to believe in anything. So if we are all searching, why do we as humans judge others for being different from ourselves? Here is the thing you can be an Atheist, a Baptist, a Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim, Islam, Jehovah Witness, Jewish, Non-denominational Christan, Buddhist, or any of the other religions that I can not think of in this moment when it comes down to it we all have to believe in something that can not be known for sure until the very end of our lives. We can not base our beliefs on the crazy extremist out there because they do not represent the mass of people who believe in that religion, but we can not condemn them either. We are all part of the human species, regardless of your personal outlook we must try to reach an understanding and promote peace. We can only start with ourselves. Peace and change starts at home. Don't judge your friends and neighbors ability to parent, earn money, or just live. We all struggle with something bigger then ourselves, every one of us. More then likely you will not know what anyone else struggles with. So don't push your style of life on to others, don't put another person down, don't try and discourage the people around you. Because if you do you will be left alone. It is hard to be alone. I want to be honest with you. I struggle. I struggle everyday about being good enough, strong enough, smart enough, and my list goes on. I am doing the best that I can, but I think I am not. I want to be a better person. I want people to leave me feeling better about themselves. I do not want anything back. That means you too my friend. I want you to know that as long as you are trying to be the best you can be that you are doing great.

Believe it or not this post was meant to lead into the garden. So today my faith is like planting a garden it is a small seed that I hope will grow to feed my family, and one day maybe your family too. A seed is planted, my seed is HOPE.

This is my friend Big Red. He is very territorial to the point he attacks his reflection in the windows of the house and the car mirrors on a daily bases.

I love his bright color. This live oak is all his. I have never seen another bird in it.

This is one of our Olive trees. This little two foot tall tree will grow into a ten foot tall tree that will bare up to 45 pounds of olives in one season. Yeah I think faith is like and olive tree.

Last year we planted garlic. They did not grow very big so we replanted them and here they are trying again. I am hoping that I will be able to use them in spaghetti sauce next year.

This fig tree started out as a branch that Rob cut off of our original fig tree. This branch took root and wants to be a tree. Faith is like this Fig Tree. If you work hard you can grow and change.

My friends I hope that you can see the beauty all around you. Maybe it is a bird that hangs out around the house or maybe it is the frost you find on your windows in the early morning, maybe it is as simple as seeing your children smile. We all are capable of becoming the people we want to be. You are worth it, you are good enough, you are strong enough. Just believe in yourself and you can.

I hope you week is filled with Love, and Laughter. Be well my friends.

Lessons Learned Nov. 13

Lessons learned a weekly debrief

Yesterday I got to spend the whole day with James just him and I for the very first time. We had a lot of fun we went to Chuck-E-Cheese and played the games for an hour. We went for a long walk we started out running and on the way back Jame got to have a piggy back ride. We ate frozen grapes and watched T.V. and we also made a pumpkin cake. Yum! We ended the night with two stories, Five Little Monkeys, and We're Going on a Bear Hunt. After James told me he was going to have dreams of monkeys and bears. It was a stress free day. I think I might need to make more time to go out on one on one dates with my boys. I do love being a mama.

Damian and Rob went on a camping trip with the cub scouts. I am sure they had lots of fun too. They are not home yet so it is hard to know but with how excited they were yesterday morning I know it was a fun time.

It is state law to have your pets fixed in the state of Texas.

This week in News Stories have been horrible and sad. The Penn State (House of Horrors), The mother who left her two year old in the car (maybe), and finally all of the horrible child abuse cases and the death of at least three children that are being blamed on How to Train up a Child. I don't want to dwell to much on these things but I do want to mention them.

In the case of Penn State and all of the writers and supporters of the Coach, All of the people who witnessed any act of child abuse and did not report it or try to stop it are just as guilty. If a report was brought to the attention of another person they had a Moral obligation to turn it in. These people choose to cover it up and the abuse continued on for 15 years at least! So please I am tired of reading how we are human and make mistakes. It could have been your son. I bet you would not be singing their praises then. My husband and I sat down and talked to our young boys about Predators who are out to hurt them. About what was going on at this school and what they would have to do if anyone anywhere ever approached them. It is a sad world that we need to warn our children of these sexual predators. I want to encourage you to have a conversation with your children, so that they are armed with an idea of what to do. Have that communication open so that they know that they can tell you and you will stop it after then first time not after they can not take the abuse any longer. Arm your children. We told the kids to scream as loud as they can, to fight kick, bite, punch and run to us. We told them that by drawing attention to themselves that the predator will most likely stop because he knows what he is doing is wrong. It was a hard conversation but I am glad that we talked to the boys about it.

The Mother that left her two year old in the car so she could walk a mile with her four year old to the gas station. Never leave your child unattended. Even if she is just stupid, she may never see that little boy. Today I read that her story was very similar to a recent Law and Order episode. If that woman is lying I hope that our justice system is able to convict her of a crime.

Finally the book on How to Train up a Child. Before it was in the news I had never heard of it. The people who wrote it should know that they fed the fire with gas. Their book tells people how to beat a child. A child abuser might do it anyway but with fuel saying it is God's way, these poor children died hating God. They did not teach them to love God. Here is a good article on Spare The Rod and spoil the child http://www.religioustolerance.org/spankin8.htm. It says that it is not in the bible at all. In fact according to this article theses are the most commonly misqouted bible verses
 Prov 13:24: "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes
Prov 19:18: "Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying."
Prov 22:15: "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him."
Prov 23:13: "Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die."
Prov 23:14: "Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell
Prov 29:15: "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame

Hebrews 12:6-7: "...the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?"

I checked in my bible in order to verify these verses. All of these verses are about disciplining a child so that the child will learn from his actions, that the parent should not make the discipline less because it hurts their heart. I can tell you that when James is in time out crying my heart hurts. I do not feel as if God wants me to beat him in Gods name. I would also like to point out that Proverbs is in the old testament as Christians (this is what I am and not everyone but I have very limited knowledge on other religions) we believe that Jesus was the Messiah that he was born of the Virgin Mary and suffered and died for our sins and he rose again on the third day. Jesus came to teach us to love one another. Beyond that God gave us common sense. I was an a abused child and I never learned anything but fear, humiliation, and hate. Maybe I grew up fine but a lot of people don't. Abuse is not discipline, it is an over use of power over another human being. We do not hit our children but I my boys are well behaved (at least when we are out in public most of the time).

I am getting lost on a tangent, so it is time for me to step off my little soap box. The bottom line is that if we treat our children with love, and act in ways that try to protect them the world would be a better place. I am sorry to spend so much time on this but this issue has been on my mind. I know you my friends are good people so I hope you did not feel attacked in anyway.

What else did I learn this week. . . I read some African Folk Tales which are crazy! Many of them have violence against children but they are all rescued by a God or given special powers in order to teach a lesson on discrimination. Many of them were fun to read. They boys and I watched the one the of stories Anansi the Spider Man which turned out to be lots of fun. If you have the chance I recommend watching it.

I am sure I learned more then this but it is getting a little long and I need to get myself and James ready for Mass.

I hope that your week is filled with sweet lessons, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

Planning a Holiday

Thanksgiving is around the corner and usually I am pouring over cookbooks, recipe sites for new ideas for a wonderful celebration meal. Thanksgiving has always been about celebrating our family and friends who often become family when you are as lucky as we are to be in the Military and far from any relatives. I love spending two or three days just baking, slicing, cooking, and roasting. I am not the only one who loves this, Rob loves to make the turkey each year, and the dressing. It is a warm family affair. This year we are going to My mother in laws too enjoy the holiday. My kids are super excited to see their Nana and ask him everyday what day we are leaving. They are making a list and asking me twice. Our we taking the dog? Me~Yes. Our we going to take the cat? Me~No. Mom, we need to get litter and more food so that Chole will be okay. Me~Okay. Mom should we make Thanksgiving Cookies for Nana? Me~If you want. Mom, should we pack our bags now? Me~No. These questions go on and on. They are excited to travel. They love getting to spend a few days with Nana and then they are happy to come home. I think that Thanksgiving question are all a secret cover up because they Know what Holiday is next on the list.

I also want to report on our Thanksgiving tree that my family is working on. I love asking what everyone is Thankful for. James is thankful for candy, cookies, cake, the cat, dinner(if it is good), and mom. Damian is Thankful for everyone he has ever met and will spend fifteen minutes listing everyone of them, he is also thankful for the same things as James. Rob is Thankful for his Wife, and good meals. I am Thankful for all the things mentioned (minus the wife plus a husband) and for all the little things that the rest of the family overlooked. To remind them that we have a lot to be Thankful for.

So here are some pictures of our tree so far.

I am not the best at tying bows but I like it all the same.

Well I tried to add a little color other than yellow.

I really like how this tree is turning out. I have twenty more leaves to add but they are hard to write on once they are tied to the tree.

I used pencil to write on the leaves. But if you squint a little you can see what James is Thankful for.

I love the ribbon. It has four word repeated on it so when it is tied it says things like Give Thanks, Family, Blessings, and Tradition. Which I think this tree will become.

My ceiling is a light green. I love the leaves. I miss having an Autumn show as the season changes.

I hope that your week is filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

Chaz-Updated

My dog has been found! The animal control center has him until Thursday. I guess it is state law that you spay and neuter your pets. I hoping that maybe his wondering days are over. Every other time he has been found and taken in and loved making new friends. This time he is in doggy jail and gets snipped. Even though I had to adopt him from the center (because it kind of scares me to go in front of a judge), I am happy to know he is safe and will be coming home soon. Thanks for reading my sad, sad doggy post earlier. Rob made it sound like it was a hopeless cause. Turns out that after three to five days in the shelter they will adopt the animals out or euthanize them. God does answer prayers! God is Good.

My dog, Chaz is missing. We have had him for eight years. He has been with me when Rob has been gone on deployments and TDY's. He sleeps in the boys room, which has always me sleep knowing he is with them. It is not the first time he has gotten out but this time he didn't have his collar on and he is very friendly and he'll come to any old name. It has been a running joke that you can call him anything as long as you call him. He is a very good dog and only barks when he wants back in the house or someone comes to the door. He got out on Sunday morning after we left for church. The door didn't latch all the way so out the front door he went. Rob feels terrible because he was the last person out of the house. Now it is Tuesday morning and it is starting to feel like he may not come home this time. My heart hurts at the idea. I can't stop crying. His collar is on his leash because he has a walking collar and we forgot to put it back on him after our walk Saturday night. One careless act that seems like no big deal can turn catastrophic. We got him when he was only a puppy, I picked him out of his litter when he was five days old. He laid next to me in the bed up until Damian was a year old. Then he wanted more space and wanted to be in the same room as the baby. He has been sleeping at the foot of James bed since we switched the boys to the twin beds. When ever I have been said he was always there with his head in my lap, or under my desk laying on my feet or laying under the table in between the boys hoping for a little leftover food. We got him July 2003 and Damian came August 2004, he was our practise "kid" because if we could train a dog we could have a baby. I miss him. I am worried about him. I keep praying that he will come home but what if he is the answer to someone else's prayer for a good dog.

I hope that you have a lovely week filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

Roses are red...

When we were picking out my roses and there was one red one called Love. I wanted it but the other red one ended up in my basket. I am in the middle of dinner and I looked out my window to see my husband planting my roses and I realized I do not need a rose called love. My heart and my life is filled with love.

I have a couple of rose bushes in the front. One that is blooming and one that is just happy to be alive. When we were headed out to go look at some olive trees my sweet husband picked a pretty flower for me. This one is called Easy living (or something very similar). I am feeling very happy and totally content.

I just wanted to share my flower with you. Smile my friend you are loved. If I could I would send you a pretty flower in a little vase just to see you smile, because it lights up the room.

I hope that you have a relaxing weekend filled with love and luaghter. Be well my friends.



Garden News

I am excited to show you what is growing on in the garden. First thing first the new additions to our garden. When we went to the local nursery to look for new trees, (we want to add a pecan, lemon, persimmon, and more pomegranates for our hedge row) for once Rob did not find anything he wanted and we came home with three half priced roses. I happily told him that they would add some beauty, and attract bees for the vegetables.

This has the sweetest smelling flowers!

This is an Olympian Rose.

This is a pink promise.

Let's just say I fell in love with this rose and I have never been so happy to receive flowers.

This is not where they will be planted, well maybe we will plant the pink one here so that I can open the window and have a sweet breeze to fill the house.

I hardly ever get flowers but when I do I am glad they are alive.

Sad news comes from the garden. Rob pulled out the melon plants. They were covered in aphids. Did you know Ants farm them? Once the ants brought them over to the melon vines they exploded. We planted them to late in the season. We learned a lesson and hopefully we will apply it next year.

Zucchini is still growing well. The squash are slowing down. I am incredibly happy with all the squash I have gotten to feed to my family.

I was surprised to find this lovely yellow squash this morning.

I think we will be able to have at least one more meal made from garden squash.

The boys may get an acorn squash before the growing season ends.

Jelly bean tomato, with a side of beets please. This little jelly bean tomato has flowers which means the boys may get a couple of tomatos after all.

I think these are called purple hull beans. Rob planted them with the squash. They are kind of sweet. So we have decided to plant a whole bed of these next year.

Butternut squash! It is a little bitty one but it will taste just as good as any. I am sure. We had two bigger ones but the boys attacked them and throw them over the fence to hide what they had done.

These are pie pumpkins.

I am currently dreaming of pumpkin pie.

Lots of pumpkin pie.

When Rob pulled out one our amaranth plants he shook out the seeds along our fence and two of those little seeds took root! God is good. I love a surprise.

I think that this a purple potato plant. We planted potatoes in the spring and we thought we had lost them but here they are making a wonderful entrance.

We planted more than a dozen different pepper plants and the Rats ate them all. These two some how came back. We may not get any peppers but it does add more greenery to the fence line.

Purple asparagus. This is another plant we thought was gone but it is a true picture of perseverance. It struggles because I often forget to water them but some how it keeps trying to grow.  

One day these little purple asparagus will turn into something truly wonderful. They may even make us a meal in a few years.

Pineapple pear flowers.

We have struggled with fire blight on our pear trees. The Bartlett pear is a lost cause.

Here is hope on a branch.

We spent the summer fighting the battle of tomato's. We finally gave up surrendering to the harsh elements.

We ignored these black cherry tomatoes

Now it is completely covered by little green tomatoes

Sometimes the lessons you can learn in the garden are not just when to plant. This year I have learned more about God's love, and his plan for us. I have no doubt that God is a loving God. I can see that he wants us to have hope, to persevere even when it seems as if there is no way to survive.



Miracles happen everyday, sometimes we don't see them because we are so busy doing what needs to be done. These small miracles are there and it is easy to see them in the garden but I have to wonder if I am missing some that happen in everyday life. I know God is with me and my family. I hope that I will continue to grow in his light.

I hope that your week is filled with small Miracles, Love and Laughter. Be well my friends.