my little garden

This morning, the rains are here and I don’t mind a bit. It’s helping the boys sleep in a little and it’s watering my little garden. Or, I should say He is watering my little garden. I keep telling my husband that it’s one of my most favorite places to be in the whole world. Summer is half over and it saddens me to think that my garden is coming close to its peak…well, I’m sad and excited at the same time. From a distance, it looks like a mess!

My messy little garden

But, if you look more closely, you’ll see the good stuff!

Butternut squash

Yellow crookneck squash

Almost ripe tomatoes

WATERMELON!

Sugar snap peas

Sunflower

God has blessed my little garden and I’m so thankful.

My baby boy, Elam, will be one on Monday! Isn’t that hard to believe? Looking back on a post from a year ago, time has flown and he’s changed so much.

Little Ezra is 3.5 and is saying the funniest things. Like, shoulders are “shirtles”. Gotta love it.

My Thrive ministry is taking off slowly. Check out my separate website for more details about that.

Enjoy the rest of the summer!

God loves me (and He loves you, too!)

It occurred to me (again) yesterday how much God must love us. We are His children. I love my children more than I could ever describe to any human. And God loves us more than we love our own children. So, why wouldn’t He bless us and give us the desires of our hearts? At the same time, He wants us to grow and learn lessons sometimes, too.

Up until a few days ago, I had been battling with a big decision in my life and I had no peace or joy. Well, I wouldn’t say “no”, but it was a lot less than it had been in the previous months and years. After praying about it and weighing all the options, I decided I had to make a change and now I have peace and joy again! Through the process, I feel like I’ve grown closer to God and now I have the desire to become even closer to him.

I get Rick Warren’s Purpose Drive Life daily devotional via email. The one I read this morning almost made me cry, even though it was several days old. The part that got me was, “How do you know when you’re letting God live through your life? When you embody the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” It got me for a couple of different reasons…I have the peace and joy again. AND, just a week or so ago, I blogged about my goals for this year and one of them was to study the Fruit of the Spirit.

God loves us. We’re his kids. He’ll talk to us if we listen.

Matthew 7:9-11 King James Version (KJV)

⁹ Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

¹⁰ Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

¹¹ If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

My sweet baby boy is 6 months old today!

He’s talking

Not long ago, I blogged about how God still speaks and He’s speaking to me. I get a daily devotion via email and I also pull up biblegateway.com from time to time to read scripture…everything that I’m reading tells me “Read your Bible!” So, even though I’m not reading my Bible as nearly as much as I should, God is still talking to me. Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that love?

My prayer life and Bible reading time are lacking and pretty much always have been. It’s easy to make excuses that I don’t have time with two kids, working, trying to cook good meals for our family, etc. But, those aren’t good reasons. What would it hurt to get up 15 minutes early to read some scripture? I bet I would feel better losing those 15 minutes of sleep to gain so much more from spending time with my Dad.

So, that’s my goal. Spend 15 minutes each day in the Word. I wonder what great things He will tell me…

hurting people

Here lately, I’ve come into contact with so many hurting people. There are just a lot of folks that are sad, blue, or very depressed. This used to make me very angry and in some cases, I still do get mad about it, but the older I get the more I have a soft spot for folks that aren’t happy.

I’ve said before that I’m just an abnormally happy person and it’s hard for me to understand depression; however, that doesn’t mean I can’t listen to and pray for folks when they need it. So, that’s what I’m trying to do. I really strive to take the extra time to listen and not be in such a big, darn hurry all the time. Sometimes, that’s all a person needs.

I must point out, though, that God does command us to be happy. As His children, we are supposed to have “joy unspeakable“, so let’s all really try to do that when we can!

i like rick warren

I like Rick Warren, and not in the sense of a Facebook “like” – I really just like the guy. I have read the Purpose Driven Life book and it’s very insightful. I’ve also signed up for his daily email devotional and I really love the points of view he has. He always backs things up with scripture, which is what a Christian person is supposed to do.

A while back, I got an email about this relationship study that you can get and I think I’m going to donate and get the study to share with folks at my church. I don’t have any serious relationship problems, but there’s always room for improvement, right?

Somehow I stumbled upon this video a minute ago and I agree with what he says 100%. It matches my views about homosexuality all the way. Take a few minutes and see what you think.

God still speaks

I picked up this new sign for my house a Wisteria’s Gifts in Fayetteville, WV on Friday when my husband and I spent the day ziplining for our 11th wedding anniversary (we had a really great time). When I read what it said, I just about cried it touched me so much. I just had to splurge and by the thing. It fits perfectly by the sliding glass door between the kitchen and dining room.

Recently, our preacher mentioned hearing the voice of God. I have to admit that I hear God talking to me on a regular basis. Just like with anything else, to hear something, you have to be listening for it. I’m not perfect and I don’t listen nearly well enough, but last week, I felt God leading me to go see our neighbors.

They are a  young couple that lost their 24 week old fetus about two weeks ago. The mom had to deliver this still born baby, which they then named and buried. I just had a burden on my heart to go introduce myself (I hadn’t yet met them) and take them dinner or something. Well, before I got to it, God sent them to me.

Yesterday, I was at my in-laws house when the couple showed up bearing a gift for our 3 week old son…a baby outfit. Now, isn’t that the sweetest, most heart-breaking thing you’ve heard lately? Here they are, bringing a baby gift when they just lost their baby (this was the second still born, by the way).

The young lady got to hold our new baby and she seemed so happy to do so. We talked about her two miscarriages and I was getting ready to tell her things are going to be ok when she said, “I know God has a plan for me.” Now, isn’t that something? I did invite them both to church since she said they don’t have a home church at this point.

The Sunday School lesson for this upcoming week is “Victorious Faith: God will strengthen and restore me.” It points out that “When you’re down and out, cliches are the last thing you need. (Hang in there, Roll with the punches, etc.) This lesson really made me thing of this young couple. One of the verses of scripture is “Casting all your cares upon him; for he careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:7.

I’m so thankful to be so blessed, but I have to take time to stop and consider those around me who aren’t. Then, reach out to them.

a new normal

Little Elam is 2 weeks old today and our family is settling into a new normal. Ezra is a great big brother. Yesterday, he shared his building blocks and asked “Can I touch his leg?” It was very sweet. Thankfully, my husband has had 2 weeks off work and still has one more before it’s back to the daily grind. I am off until the week of Labor Day, thankfully. Physically, I feel almost back to my old self again and my stomach is quickly disappearing. I took a 20 minute walk yesterday for the first time since Elam arrived and it felt good. I hope to keep walking a few times a week and incorporate some light strength training as well. Need to get some of this jiggly tightened up!

My garden is producing an abundance of tomatoes and those sunflowers are even more gorgeous. I’m so glad I decided to have a garden and that it’s turned out so well. I have a few zucchini still coming out and there are some butternut squash ripening nicely. I found a watermelon the vine that’s about 2 inches around, so we’ll see if it turns into anything. I found a recipe for crock pot spaghetti sauce I’m going to try with all these tomatoes so they don’t go to waste.

I’m so thankful for the blessings the good Lord has given me. It’s like the song my son has learned to sing…

This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made
I will rejoice, I will rejoice and be glad in it

Rejoice and be glad today!

One of the gorgeous sunflowers in my garden

Ezra sharing his blocks with Elam

Elam’s Sunday afternoon nap

The bumble bees love the sunflowers

praise God flow

I sing a song for my son that I think is referred to as a doxology. I’ve known it since I was a little girl. He loves it and says “Again” each time I sing it.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Amen

My garden is buzzing with bees this morning pollenating all of my vegetables. And the super full moon last night was something to behold when it was coming up. Too bad my camera doesn’t do them justice.

2014 goals – where am i?

So, it’s July 11 already. Isn’t that hard to believe?! That means we’re more than half through the year. I’d been thinking about blogging about my 2014 goals I set back in January when I ran across the print out I’d made. I’ve been cleaning my work desk all morning getting ready to be out on maternity leave. Here’s where I stand on what I had set for myself this year:

1. Spend more quiet time with God – So far, so good. I’m still not where I want to be, but I do believe I’m doing better than I ever have. I do MAKE (not FIND) time to read my Bible, but there’s always room for improvement. I need to spend more time in prayer, but I’ve definitely improved on my Bible reading.
2. Help lead at least one person to Christ – As of today, I can’t say anyone has been “saved” directly because of me, but I’m trying to be a better witness. I still have a LONG way to go with this, but I’m really trying.
3. Be more positive toward my husband – For the most part, I feel I’ve improved. I try to give out more compliments and praise. The funny thing is, he seems to be doing the same to me. Is it reciprocal or coincidence?
4. Gain no more than 30 pounds during this pregnancy – I’m less than 7 days away from my due date and I’m right at 30 pounds, so I feel like I have this one in the bag!
5. Get back to 155 pounds by the end of the year – I think I will be able to obtain this since I didn’t go overboard during this pregnancy.
6. Perform at least 1 pull up by the end of the year – I put that one on hold until I get back from maternity leave…
7. Win the weight loss competition – I did win round one earlier this year – my ladies were fantastic! We didn’t win the second round, but it was so close and my gals were really happy with their results.
8. Add 3 more regular personal training clients – I did pick up a new gal, but she’s fizzled out on me a bit. I think I can still pick up a couple when I come back from maternity leave.
9. Continue to improve my diet – I have to admit, I’m kind of stuck in a rut on that one. I’ve been eating too much sugar, but I try to eat well for the most part. Thankfully, my garden is doing well so I’ve been eating lots of fresh squash and lettuce!
10. Grow a small garden – Oh, boy! This has been the most fun for me. I’m so tickled with how it’s coming along. I have bunches of green tomatoes on which I’m waiting for. I’ve really enjoyed the garden and plan to expand it next year.
11. Potty train our son – He’s coming along (recent blog post talked about this one). I think by the end of the year, we’ll have this one in the bag.

Well, that does it for now! I’m on track, but we’ll see how the year finishes up.

heavenly sunrise

Just wanted to share this picture I snapped of my husband son yesterday around 6:30 am. Ezra had woken around 4:15 with a leaky diaper and I got him back to sleep for a bit. At 6 am, he was ready to go for a walk, so we all went for a Sunday morning stroll. My husband saw his dad driving the truck through the field and waved him down to pick us up. It was a great start to a Sunday! We got the boy back to bed for a nap before church, and I even got a short nap, too.