A passion for gardening

Every day I keep a little notebook where I jot down specific notes on what I'd like to put into the blog for that day. It helps me capture the details that I'd otherwise forget. Well, yesterday and today I took NO notes!!! I guess I'm a slacker! It's been a busy couple days and maybe that's why .... anyhow I'll do my best to recreate the highlights.

Yesterday was my Titus mom's group. It was very cool. We had 3 speakers all covering the subject of things to do with your kids that build character and faith. Two of the three mom's are on staff at our church for the Early Childhood Ministry. They were able to share many things which were helpful and some were things I'm doing which was good reinforcement. One of the most basic ideas is just letting your relationship with the Lord flow in front of your child. Things like praising God for a rainbow or a beautiful day you're enjoying. Thanking God out loud for something nice someone just did for you. Praying aloud for something you are struggling with (which your child has most likely picked up on). Some other ideas were creating faith traditions, using music, kids devotional books and serving with your kids.

We had some play time outside since it was another warm and beautiful day. It was supposed to rain but instead we had brilliant sunshine. After lunch, it was time for our sitter Dave to take over for me and I went to our women's bible study. It was good to get out and have fellowship time with the women in my study. The study itself was good too. I never did such an in-depth study of Mary before. We also took time to pray together which always ministers to me.

When I got home I could tell they had a good time by the amount of toys and books that were scattered around the living room. Then I took Julian on a field trip to our local garden center. To digress a bit, the other day I was out on our patio relaxing and drinking a homemade smoothie in the sun while Julian was napping. It was so nice and I realized it was the first time in a long time I was able to just sit and not have to do anything. But then my mind started going and I was studying my garden to see if there was anything I should add and I decided some creeping phlox for the rock wall would be great. So back to the field trip. We had to stop at two places to get the phlox colors I wanted. Then I ended up picking up the most beautiful flowering plant I think I've ever seen, a purple Columbine. I hemmed and hawed about it because I couldn't picture where I would put it, but it was just so beautiful I couldn't pass it up. Well, when I got home and was looking for a place it dawned on me that the garden is where I buried my cat Rio and the Columbine would be perfect right in that place. I felt like God led me to that plant and He knew the reason why. I was able to get everything planted while Julian was taking his nap. It hit me that I haven't done any gardening since 2007. For the last 10+ years, I've planted some type of garden. It's a way for me to feel close to God. I feel like I get to take part in creation; planting something, watering it and then seeing what God brings to life. I just love digging in the dirt. I got pregnant at the end of 2007 and then in 2008 went through an incredibly long depression. It is so good to get back to it. It was a reminder of God's healing how great it felt gardening and just having the desire to do it again. We have such a tiny yard here at our condo/townhouse but I've been able to do a lot with the space. In addition to the perennials I already have, I'm planting some herbs and in May some tomatoes. Nothing huge, but it'll be fun to get Julian involved. We went to the Y tonight since we usually go Wednesdays but were out to dinner. I continue to stick with the treadmill, walking and jogging mix.

This morning we went to the library for story time where we sang a few songs and they read a few stories to the kids. While we were doing the craft, I ran into a woman I had seen often at our church. Her son is just a few weeks older than Julian. We had a nice conversation and it turns out she's been looking for other groups and may join me at the play group we go to called Pal Zone. That would be fun. After that, we went to the Y so I could get in my 3rd workout which makes this the 2nd week of doing that. Again, I ran into someone I knew. This was a woman who volunteers at our church whose daughter was taking a ballet class at the Y. I had to thank the Lord since I've been desiring for so long to have connections to other moms in the community and I'm seeing how God has answered that prayer.

After lunch, we headed out on a couple errands and one was the grocery store. This was so cute. He was asking to get out of the cart so to keep him with me I asked for his help pushing it. He'd get behind it and push with me and then stop and help me when I was picking something out. He did stray a little at the end while we were checking out so he went back in the cart.

I was able to find a website where I create an Elmo invitation with Julian's pictures on it for his birthday celebration. I'm so glad my sister gave me this idea so I don't have to hand write over 30 invites. They'll print them and I can pick them up at Walgreens. Julian and I headed over there after dinner to pick them up. Before we went in Julian said "Julian walk". He wanted to walk instead of being in the cart so I thought I'd give it a try as I'd done earlier in the day. He ended up doing pretty well staying nearby and listening when I'd tell him he couldn't pick something up. We found a cool pair of sunglasses for him which I've been wanting to get. He always wants to wear mine and often in the backseat he'll have the sun in his eyes. When we got home, he was asking to go outside. It was getting dark and I was going to say no when he said "stars?" He remembered watching the stars the other night so I wanted to encourage that. Right away, he was saying "moon" and pointing to it and I pointed out the few stars that were coming out. It was a little cool, but a very clear night sky. This was daddy's night to put him to bed so after I gave him some goodnight kisses, daddy took over.