Obsessed With Growing

I've fallen in love with gardening over the last several years. 

Flowers, veggies, putting on gloves and digging in the dirt make my eyes light up.

On weekends where there are  no soccer tournaments or family events, 

we head to several farmer's markets, hardware stores and gardening centers

where I spend hours buying local produce, gardening soil, seeds and plants. 

My kids are sick and tired of hearing me say 

"What if we just bought a farm, moved to the country and acted like pioneers?"

To say the least, I am married to and raising city folk.

Sigh.

If gardening was fun four months ago, losing my little brother has turned planting things 

into a full blown passion.

The Hero tells me all the time that I am obsessed with growing things. 

I balked at this statement for a few weeks. 

But after several hours outside yesterday, I looked around to notice I have indeed become

somewhat determined to overflow bare dirt with things that grow. 

Empty pots, flower beds, vases, and bare ground better beware around the Andrews Casa lately.

It's the best therapy for grief I know. 

I am definitely a battle wounded warrior, as are so many others who have lost someone they love.

Living here, fulfilling purpose is about growing, not only ourselves but those around us so that there can be something beautiful, here on Earth and one day in heaven. 

So yes, perhaps I am obsessed with growing things. 

Not only in the ground, but in the hearts and lives of whom I come into contact.

So go grow something today. 

Every Good Thing

I love this time of year. 

The growth, the heat, the shades of green.

I started gardening two years ago. 

It's the most amazing communion with God's world I have every day.

From the first tomato on the vine yesterday,

to my first eggplant ever,

our first time growing sunflowers,

 dreaming about pickles soon to come,

the two teensy raspberries, 

and my favorite daylily plant.

All is grace,

All is good 

and it is our personal gifts from our Maker.

Daily changing. 

But worth exploring to discover. 

Every. Single. Day.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights..."James 1:17

What have you been blessed with this weekend?

My Rules

I think The Hero has acclimated nicely to being married to a justice junkie, spontaneously thinking crazy woman such as myself. He has very few rules that I must follow when developing a project, a plan or an idea. And while the rules are few, I still have a hard time following them from time to time. It's not because I am intending to break the rules, but most often it is because I forget.

Here are the rules:

1.) I cannot be led solely from emotion.
Allegedly, the rule doesn't allow for a reactionary response based upon my ability to be moved at a moment's notice. Like when I asked if we could become home base for all the animals and children displaced from Hurricane Katrina. He simply smiled and said "Rule #1".

2.) The decision I make cannot force us to move more than 50 miles outside our current location without prior notice. This rule was developed upon our first trip from Ethiopia wherein I announced on the airplane we were selling our home, cashing in his retirement plan with the fire department and opening an orphanage in Ethiopia for needy children.

3.) If The Hero is expected to be exert money, time or energy on one of my projects, I have to successfully implement and maintain such enthusiasm for a defined length of time. This defined length of time is also determined by The Hero, not me. This rule developed after reading Jen Hatmaker's 7 last year and advising The Hero I had hired a bulldozer to demolish our back yard and till up a garden plot that if successful would mean our kids' swing set must be demolished to make way for potatoes.

As I previously indicated in my last post, I love this time of year. As dominated the kitchen table a few weeks ago with growth charts, almanacs, seed catalogs and soil tests, The Hero tried to slink into his Lazyboy undetected. No dice.
"Hey did you rent the tiller for the garden space this year?" I batted my eyes his direction for effect.

"Uh...you're doing that again this year?" He was already looking for an escape route from the living room.

I stared out the kitchen window and daydreamed. "I grew tomatoes, herbs, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, cucumbers, leafy greens and peppers last year. This year I think we need to move the kids swing set to make room for a cut flower garden, garlic, strawberries, okra, black-eyed peas, onions and carrots. What do you think?"

I turned around to discover he was headed out of the living room mumbling something about Rule #3.


- Hugs n Love,

Lindsey

The Thing About A Garden

The thing about having a garden is that it is a lot like having another child.

The waiting.

Trying to remember patience.

Dreaming of the future.

Being diligent about weed removal.

Hoping for the maximum amount of growth.

Studying diseases and organic home remedies.

And while all of that sounds like a lot of work.

Trust me, most days it is just work.

Watching each individual plant mature and produce,

is such an amazing joy.

We are learning more about how God developed our world.

And yet, we are also learning about how He develops our hearts.

No wonder there is so much scripture about seeds and harvests.

The Angel calls this the world's smallest jalapeno plant.

But if you look close, you can tell there are at least two,

 just waiting to mature.