Spring!

Spring is here and I am so glad! I love watching our plants grow. I've learned about an encyclopedia sized amount about gardening in the last year. We ripped all the front bushes out and planted our own itty bitty plants and started a vegetable garden last year around this time. They grew some last year, but are really looking much bigger and happier this year. But what got me to sit down and post is the deal I landed today! I really scored because I am always yearning for one of those wedding veil spirea bushes that are in all the old neighborhoods. (I actually want a whole line of them) They bloom beautiful small white flowers that flow down and blow in the wind. Aah! I just love the site of them at this time of year. I think their payoff of beautifulness out weighs their ugliness in the winter. I couldn't seem to find them for sale at our local nursery, plus I couldn't afford a plant from them the size I want anyway. But yesterday I drove by a construction site that had just ripped down a building or two and right in the middle and around the edge were those bushes. Soooo today I went by and found some construction guys sitting in their truck. My heart a little pounding, cause I usually don't do things like this, but I wanted those bushes seriously! I tapped their window and nearly scared them to death. They were pretty nice and said come back after lunch and they would have them laid aside for me. So I went back with my minivan and two kids in my flip flops. Duh! Wear tennis shoes for dragging heavy plants into van in front of men and driver byers. I forgot. I felt like a crazy woman. One of the guys came to help me. Good thing too cause I was feeling weak and it was super heavy. It filled the whole van! Stella thought it was great having it all shoved up in her face. I think the construction guy was happy just for a change in the monotony of construction life. He liked the girls hair and eyes. And we made them warm peanut butter cookies, which lit up his face. I like that kind of a bargain. Now to decide where to put it and pray it lives. Last year

Backyard, this year. Soon to be blooming with peonies then flooded with roses!

This years Helleborn dark purple flowers. Bloomed in the snow :)

This year. Plants coming back bigger and stronger.

Last year on the side of the house.

This year on the side of the house. Slowly transforming to a great garden, I hope.

Tulips in the back beside the rosemary that made it through the winter.

Van stuffed with score of the day!

More stuffed van. See Stella peeking from behind?

Been waiting for a bleeding heart to bloom for years! Always squashing or thinking it a weed and pulling before it blooms. These three little flowers make my year of gardening :)

Cherished

Recently a dear friend of mine moved away. Which is sad, but the upside: She moved to Phoenix! Yes, a place I have always wanted to vacation to. I am plotting when to actually go and if I should bring the rest of the family. Here is our last play date. Stella and Mary painting nails. They are too sweet, working together, for the good of beauty. At their age they are usually vying to be in charge, but hopefully they can still grow to be good friends. Just long distance.
Here is Sarah Jeanne and her sweet, rambunctious baby boy. He doesn't ever stop! Maybe the heat will slow him down a little?
This is a shot of Stella that I thought was beau ti ful! She is in one of the many dress up clothes she has. Eating pancakes. For supper. We work like that here at our house.
Another shot of a beau ti ful daughter. This is daddy daughter date at flower girls. They had a great time. I know Naomi feels cherished by her daddy. Which is just the way he wants it!

Do you like the valentine decor the girls hung on the walls? Lots of orange, blue, and black hearts were posted all over!

Grace and Compassion in life

Ya know, friends, when my life feels heavy and I cannot figure things out, ie make a solid plan for what I will be doing in the next 24 hours to 3 weeks, I don't blog much. Nor do I read blogs, which I love to do! As you might infer from my last post being over a month ago, I am at that place. I just cannot get the words out. Here is my attempt to get it out there for whomever, but mostly for me. I think it will help.

Now it sounds like a bad place to be, but it really isn't. For I know God has been growing and stretching me. While I won't go into it all, I find He is teaching me in grace and compassion. These are good attributes to posses, I know, but I bristle at compassion. For me it sounds like lots of FEELINGS, which means CRYING, probably WITH people. Why is it that I move far away from that when I know the connection and realness it brings? And isn't that what I desire?

Yes.

Am I the only one who does this? I'm sure not. I know my dear friends will give me grace as I grow. And I am glad to do the same for you.