Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Plans and Changes

Seems things are always changing here. Not by chance, we seem to seek these changes out. I think had we been alive back in the day we would have been Nomads or something. Three years seems to be our mark for drastic change. Most of our children are just about 3 years apart. We moved for my husband to get his Masters in Social Work after three years, then three years later moved across state again once he had graduated. Two years later we had our fourth child and then one year later picked up and moved again. Now less than a year of being at our current house we are changing again. Husband wants to go back to school, something he has been talking about since I met him over 12 years ago. I never thought it would actually happen but suddenly it seems that dream may become a reality. God is sending us down a path and while we don't know what His plan is we are looking forward to what it may bring. This one change is the first of many that we are actually not worried about. Though there is tons to worry about and I am sure there will be many hurdles and obstacles in our path this one just seems right. I feel peace when I think about it. Though it is technically Joe's path it happens to take me somewhere I never ever though I would be. Not somewhere actually but "someone" I guess. A title I would never imagine would be me.

Those of you who know me in real life know I am quiet. I like sitting back and watching. Standing up in front of more than a few people is enough to make my heart race and my stomach feel like emptying itself of the days contents. Once I get to know you I talk but being the "center" is not something I enjoy or pursue being. Suddenly I find myself there way more often than I like and I find people, many people, telling me that God puts me where I am supposed to be. At first it so irritated me when Joe told me how much of a leader I am, actually it still does. I am going to deny it all. Me? A leader? Ha, thats laughable.

I wish I could just continue to deny where we are headed sometimes. As the past few months have gone on it is becoming more and more apparent that I need to get over this and just do it because I know personally what happens when you tell God no. Submitting to something that is not MY plan is hard for me. I am a planner, I love my lists and my details so knowing that God has a plan for me and I just need to submit to his will and LISTEN is hard. But it also feels so right. Our journey will continue and I will keep you updated as things progress. I am not quite ready to share it all but I will as things unfold. In the meantime I welcome your prayers that Joe and I stay on the path God has for us, that we can grow in our marriage with Christ at the center, and that we can open ourselves enought to listen because ONLY GOD knows where we are headed.

Love and prayers to all!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

The Garden

I fear that the 2010 garden season is going to be remembered as the worst ever. It has been one problem after another and at this point I am letting it go to the weeds in places. Of course this year had to be the year I decided to actually sell our produce. Everyone is understanding but man I feel awful.

It started with the wettest spring ever. I vaguely remember a scattering of sunny days. Most of the early crops got root rot from too much water. I did four different plantings of things hoping the weather would start to cooperate. July came and actually brought some sun but by that time most of my crops were severely stunted. I replanted some and those are actually doing wonderful. The corn is coming along nicely as is the later planted squashes. The tomatoes are sad, sad, sad however. They were looking wonderful after being started inside. They grew and grew while I waited for the rain and cold night temps to stop and finally I had to plant them outside. They were too big even after repeated transplantings. So out they went, all 80 of them. Sadly the rain didn't stop. They are flowering but I fear they will not bear much, if any, fruit at all this year.

Creatures have been a huge issue this year as well. The wet created a huge slug problem, which an organic slug killer took care of for now. Not before they ate a 80plant row of peas though. There must have been hundreds of them out there. The moles seem to know when I plant a row of seeds. I have one garden row that never fails, I plant something and the next morning a mole has gone from one marker to the other with his little mole path of destruction. Its kind of funny that it is regularly this one row though. Last but not least is my mistake of leaving the gate open when I left for Church last Sunday. I came home to a deer eaten path of beans and cucumbers. An entire acre to choose from and he walked the entire row up and down both sides of the trellis. lol The beans are not lost though, they were just starting to bear beans and the deer only ate about 1/2 to 3/4 of the plants. The cucumbers only had minimal damage so that is good. I have high hopes that we will still get some later harvest crops and I am starting to plant the fall/winter crops.

I have been really busy and not blogging as much but I do miss it a lot. We have Skamania County Fair coming up and my daughter is excited to be showing her chickens again. My husband and I have taken on the roles of running the children's program and youth group at our church which is wonderful. Its something we both enjoy very much and keeps us pretty busy. We feel very blessed to have found such a great church family when we moved here. Still trying to figure out how to get photos on here without as much hassle as it was last time. One of these days I will devote some time to that as there are tons of photos I have to share with you all. Until next time enjoy whatever season your area of the world is in!

Just wanted to share this song

Wish I could share a youtube of this song but I can't so will just post the lyrics instead. I have heard this song several times and just love it. Its "More Like Falling in Love" by Jason Gray. There's a few differences in the lyrics depending on which site I look at but this is pretty much it.

Give me rules
I will break them
Give me lines
I will cross them
I need more than a truth to believe
I need a truth that lives, moves, and breathes
To sweep me off my feet
It ought to be

More like falling in love
Than something to believe in
More like losing my heart
Than giving my allegiance
Caught up, called out
Come take a look at me now
It's like I'm falling, oh
It's like I'm falling in love

Give me words
I'll misuse them
Obligations
I'll misplace them
'Cause all religion ever made of me
Was just a sinner with a stone tied to my feet
It never set me free
It's gotta be

More like falling in love
Than something to believe in
More like losing my heart
Than giving my allegiance
Caught up, called out
Come take a look at me now
It's like I'm falling, oh
It's like I'm falling in love

...It's like I'm falling in love, love, love
Deeper and deeper
It was love that made
Me a believer
In more than a name, a faith, a creed
Falling in love with Jesus brought the change in me