Down the Garden Path

We have had a lot of rain in the last two weeks. The ground is so moist today, the weed popping is almost effortless.  I was glad because out front we had removed a lot of flag iris last year and it is trying to make a come back.  In the moist ground, the spikes coming up were easy to remove.  I don’t know why but I always relate weeds in my garden to sin in my life.  Weeding is a never ending job and you really need to stay on top of it or they will take over!  I have not done a whole lot of weeding this year yet, but I am tired of it already!  The truth is, I am weary of sin too.  In the Christian life as well as the garden, you just have to stay on top of it!  There is always some nasty sin rearing its ugly head in my thinking or actions, trying to poke up and find a place to grow in my life.  Sometimes when I try to pluck them out they are so stubborn to resist, aided by my own self will no doubt.  But as I was pulling up those stray weeds today I got this picture in my mind.  If only my heart was as moist and rich with the word of God like this soil is, those sinful patterns would also easily loosen and give way to His pull on my heart!  You really cannot afford to skip one day being in God’s Word. 

Here’s some flowers in bloom right now---

This peony bush is right by the front step…we always watch it come alive each spring as we come and go and anticipate the blooms opening…

This is allium.  We planted the bulbs three years ago.  Wally had seen them in someone’s yard while doing an estimate.  We lined the driveway with the bulbs and the first spring they were beautiful.  But last year only about half of the bulbs bloomed and this year there are only three that bloomed, though I can see five plants.  I’ll have to investigate this guy.

And I love my columbines, especially the Rocky Mountain Blue.  I am glad I got to see this in bloom.  We are leaving for two weeks this weekend, and I know I am going to miss a lot of the flowers.

Thankful Thursday

“It’s a thankless job!”  That’s what Wally says about our trash collector’s job.  Sometime last summer Wally started leaving a can of pop on top or our trash can for “garbage guy”.  I think it started one week after we had a lot of trash to pick up.  Wally was home when the truck rolled by and helped  “garbage guy” toss in the extra trash, then offered him a drink.  We’ve just kept it up.  It’s mostly my job now.  At Christmas I left him a bag of goodies and a gospel tract.  At Easter I left him some candy and I caught him on the driveway and asked him to go to church with us.  On Mother’s Day,  or two days after,  he wished me a Happy Mother’s Day!  He’s very nice.  He might not have the most sought after job, its truly a stinky job!  But we are very thankful for him.

Every week after the garbage is emptied, our garbage guy sets our cans up off the street and onto our drive.  I kind of chuckle to myself because all the neighbors have theirs still by the curb!  I think he does it to say thank you back to us. 

This past week we had rain all day long!  Our trash did not get picked up until late afternoon.  I don’t know if there was truck trouble or a change in routes.  I do know it wasn’t our “garbage guy” who came that day…our pop was taken, the can left on the curb, and the lids left hanging open----on a rainy day!!  I hope “garbage guy” is just on vacation!

Made it Myself Monday

“You Had Me at Craft” started something new last week, Made It Myself Monday.  Make anything “crafty” and you can link it up with her blog.

So, I made this card folio for my Mother-in-law.  I saw the idea quite awhile ago when I was blogging around and filed it away to make some day. Finally, I did.  It was designed by Diane Campbell Payne and you can download the step by step directions for it here.  I was pleased with how it turned out.

Here it is laid open with some cards I made to go inside

I made the cards using an idea from chicnscratch.  It is a 3x3 card on a square scallop.  I have used the idea many times for some “thank you” or “thinking of you” cards.  It is a quick and cute card and easy to switch around for any occasion.  I made four to go inside the folio. 

My Baby is Twenty Two…Whoo-Hoo!

Hard to believe that my baby boy is turning 22 years old today!!  He came into this world late in the afternoon all those years ago, and was born here in Denver.  I can remember having contractions in the morning, but Wally kissed me and headed out the door to work saying to “give him a call when it got serious.”  I have a very vivid memory of taking Andrea and Kenny to the skating rink, getting out of the car, having a hard contraction and asking myself, “what in the world are you doing here?”   I’m pretty sure I just dropped them with a friend who brought them home later.  And later Wally got the call that it was serious.  I also remember driving through Denver rush hour traffic to get to the hospital.  (I think Wally always enjoyed that part of the kid’s birth stories!)  Anyway, at 5:49 pm, weighing in at 8 pounds and 20 inches long, Wesley Keith arrived!

Wes was a good baby.  Having an older brother and sister to wait on him and to entertain him, he didn’t lack for much.  I remember Wesley didn’t cry too loudly or for too long…he could almost be ignored.  And he had a cute grin…

I think it is a Mom’s duty, not to mention delight, to peruse the photo albums of their children on their Birthday each year.  The years slip by so quickly we need to be reminded of their milestones and silly days!  And just how cute they are!

When I think of Wesley coming into our family I am always reminded that he was unexpected and a total delight and God’s gift to us at a time when things were kind of tough in our life.  He brought joy and smiles to our little family 22 years ago and he continues to do so today.  Wes always makes me laugh.  He loves to have a good time and he brings that enjoyment to many days. 

In just a couple of weeks Wes will be leaving home…again…and heading off to camp.  I thought we were going to have him until the fall when he goes back to school.  So now my  heart is a little full and achy!  Wesley, you have and are continuing to grow into a fine young man.  Your Dad and I love you and are very proud of you.  Happy Birthday!

2 Timothy 3:13-15

But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you (Wesley) must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Spring Flings

As surely as the tulips and daffodils arrive, so do the graduation and wedding announcements.  Both are fun and exciting to receive.  In the past three weeks I have bought three Bridal shower gifts…boom, boom, boom!   Of course one of those, today, is for my future daughter-in-law, Becky.  Here’s a little something I like to make for the shower…it’s pretty cute.  I got the idea from my own bridal shower---years ago---and have repeated it many times throughout the years.  Feel free to borrow the idea, as long  as you aren’t attending the same shower I am! 

A couple of things that have changed since I was getting married…waffle weave dishcloths were pretty common and came in lots of colors.  I usually only find them at Wal mart now and usually in green.  I did find some in red that I made for Becky…red is Kenny’s favorite color.  I think I forgot to take a picture of hers though!

Two cards I made:

Looking at this now I realize the birdies have no eyes!  I hope I put some on before I gave the card!  Oh Bother!

This is Becky’s card, outside and in…

For one shower, I didn’t make it and I just went the gift card route.  But I jazzed it up in a gift card holder and gift bag.  I think one of the best buys I made was the Sizzix die for a gift card holder.  I use it a lot!

I really like how this card came out

And so far I have only given out one Graduation card…I really liked it also!

Enjoy what Spring flings your way!

Family Reunion

Last Sunday was kind of a strange day. It was Mother’s Day but I was not with any of my kids.  It was the Lord’s Day but we left church after Sunday School to drive to Monument.  It was a family reunion but it isn’t even summer! Oh well!

Our family reunion was for my Dad’s side of the family.  My Dad is 85 years old and he is now the oldest living member of his family.  There were eleven children in his family.  His three oldest brothers and twin sister have already passed away.  I had breakfast with my folks this week and I asked about some of my Dad’s growing up times----so many experiences during the Great Depression and war time.  We  are so spoiled in our present culture.  We have so much which we take for granted----material possessions, ease of living, even medical knowledge and care.  The greatest difference in my own experiences growing up and Dad’s as a boy is the the presence of the Lord in our home.  I feel so blessed to have had a Godly father growing up and still to this day!

We took a lot of pictures at this reunion, lots of flashes and talking.  So not everyone is looking the same direction and some of my relatives were so busy talking, they never did get a smile on with everyone else.  It was rather comical.  but here’s the best I got:

Here is Dad with his siblings----
Uncle’s Cutter, Weldon, Dad and Wayne
Aunt’s Beulah, Darlene, and Phyllis

Just the Boys---Wayne and Weldon are twins and the youngest

Just the Girls---

All my aunts and uncles, with their spouses---

All the first cousins that came, 24 of us----

We took a picture of each individual family, but I’ll just share us---

Scott, Aaron, Kyle and Krista and Nathan (Robin’s kids) Wally
Terry and Robin, Dad, Mom and Me

 

Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close knit family…

…in another city!

Getting the Garden In

Tuesday evening Wally fertilized the grass because we were supposed to get rain.  He went ahead and watered because he said “I’m not putting much faith in the forecasters.”  But that night it did rain, and it rained a good steady rain all night long.  Wally and Wes left early for AZ with two others from our church.  They were heading to Grand View Camp to do some roofing on the new buildings there.  They drove out of the rain and into 70* dry weather.  Here at home it kind of snowed, kind of pelted and mostly rained all day long…and on into the night and all of Thursday!  Those “forecasters” reported three inches of rain!  I guess that is more than our average for the month of May.

Friday the sun was shining and I finally got the garden planted.  I feel kind of bad because Wally tilled it three weekends ago.  But it was a beautiful day to garden all day long.  With the moist ground to work in, it was easy hoeing and digging.  I feel very accomplished and wore out!

Wally doing his part

Gypsy doing her part

Here’s my part

Every year I plant zinnia seed along the fence…I can remember doing that with my Dad along the edge of his garden when I was little.  These strings are my carrots, radish, lettuce and spinach. This year I’m going to try some thing different.  I only planted half of the row and then in a couple of weeks I’m going to plant the other half.  I think I’m going to try a fall planting too. Something else new for me, I bought one of those grape tomato plants.  I think they are about perfect for a salad!  I also put in three longer rows of green beans at the far end.  Last year I somehow bought pole beans instead of bush…they were awful and I had none to can.  I’m excited about that now, but come picking time, I’m sure my back will wonder what in the world I was thinking!

And to top it off, my lilac bush seems to hanging in there just fine!  They do smell so good!

Thankful Thursday

“For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.  The flowers appear on the earth;  the time of singing has come.”  Song of Solomon 2:11-12

I have had a lot of flowers around the house the past week so I thought, what a nice thing to be thankful for!  Wesley is a contract driver for a florist here in Denver.  It has been a good job.  For the Holidays, they are always looking for extra drivers.  In fact Wes got his job because Wally used to work the holidays.  Wally has held a record for the most flowers delivered in the shortest amount of time….until this past Saturday!  Wes has brought in his friends each holiday, who are working their way through college, to make some extra money. Anyway, having a flower delivery person in the house, we often have flowers, especially around the hectic holidays---bad orders, bad addresses, re-deliveries.  The week before Mother’s Day, I had a nice bouquet to enjoy for one of those reasons.  And they just kept coming. Monday after Mother’s Day there were three beautiful bouquets in my house.  I came home from BSF Monday night to a very fragrant house!  It was a little overwhelming to me though.  So on Tuesday it was kind of fun to knock on the door of some of my neighbors and share a vase full of flowers…who doesn’t like to get them?  And I gave one to my Mom.  On Saturday Wes had called me into the room and gave me this…

Aren’t they beautiful?

A five gallon bucket full of roses!!  (Love the vase!!)  These roses are the ones that could not be used to fill orders. They were going to be disposed of.  So Wesley and his two friends gathered them up to take home to “Mom” ! 

Outside the flowers are abundant too!  This past week I noticed the lilacs are all beginning to open.  My bush is finally covered in blossoms and fragrance.  And all of a sudden I have irises opening, and my flax is blooming (I love that little flower)!  My columbines seem to be be loaded with buds also!  It’s so wonderful!  I really do enjoy flowers!  Only trouble is, tonight, we have snow falling and the temps are dropping…and my lilac bush is kind of droopy.  Here’s hoping they can shake it off and pop back in the next day or so! 

“Earth laughs in flowers”—Ralph Waldo Emerson