My Mamma's Flowers

My own love for flowers and growing things was nurtured alongside my Mamma’s flowers and vegetables.  She has a knack for growing things.  And she learned from her mamma.  My Grandma is a tried and true gardener, and I know if I ask her a gardening question, her answer will come from years of experience. “You start broccoli seed by Valentine’s day.” says my Grandma.  I can remember that kind of gardening information.  The Early Girl tomato plant with the green tomatoes already hanging in the back garden came from my grandma’s early planting this year.

  This farm where I live now has beautiful perennial gardens with multitudes of flowers, shrubs, and flowering trees, and I love to soak up their beauty.  They aren’t extremely formal gardens, but there is definitely a bit of that feel.   Boxwood and Ivy, white Oakleaf Hydrangeas and Azaleas.  I think this is what I love in a garden.

  But then I go “home”, back to the place I was raised, on the side of a small mountain covered in trees making shade over the rocks and boulders tumbling down the slope.  This is where my Mamma’s flowers grow.  The rocks she’s gathered to hold back the earth simply fit into the pattern that makes a beautiful space for flowers.   There is a little stream with spots where birds bathe and two pools where the frogs croak and fish swim with the water plants.

  When I see this informal natural beauty with the wild and the cultivated living together it feels right.  It’s welcoming.  Not showy, not impressive or magnificent, but it is good. 

This old wheelbarrow was found in the riverbed after a flood.

Mayapples growing in the shadier spots.

Peas, Lettuce, and Corn all thriving together.

This rose that grows by the vegetable garden, has the most wonderful scent.
 It was started from a cutting from my Grandma.

Lilies growning in the vegetable garden.

Reba the mule isn't growing in the garden.  But I couldn't resist adding her picture!  This was the first time we got to meet her, and she's pretty cool! =)

Kadence loved her, and Reba loved Kadence!

He has showed you, O man, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

chamomile

Chamomile has come up all through the paths in the little cottage garden out back.  I decided earlier in the spring not to pull it out but let it flower.  And it’s doing so abundantly!  I told the girls they could pick the flowers so we could dry them in the sun.  I’m not sure what we’ll do with them, since I’m not so fond of chamomile tea.  But maybe I just don’t know a good way to fix it?  If anyone has a good method or other use for it, let me know!

I planted some vegetable seeds and plants while the girls picked flowers.

When I mentioned to the girls that they could pick some lemon balm, apple mint, and some of the flowers to brew a cup of tea, they were delighted.It was okay once we added sugar! J They loved it!

It looks pretty in the cup.  Bring on the sugar! :)

You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for you have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created.

Revelation 4:11

Dance, my dearies, dance.

THE LITTLE SHEPHERDESS TO

 HER LAMBS

   By Rose Fyleman

Dance, my dearies, dance, my pretties,

In a snowy ring; I will pipe the merry ditties

That the fairies sing.

Blackbirds, thrushes, linnets, starlings -

They will pipe them, too,

And the little winds, my darlings,

All shall dance with you.

 

Dance, my dearies, dance, my pretties,

On the daisied floors;

Only in the smoky cities

Folk are still indoors.

All along the meadow highways

Leap and skip and prance;

All among the elfin byways

Dance, my dearies, dance.

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Psalm 103:1

Hey Girl

My entry to the I Heart Faces challenge theme, "Hey Girl!"

To me this picture of my two daughters is overflowing with the excitement and fun of being a girl!  Life is full of joyful moments when we see through a child's eyes.

Go here to see more beautiful entries with the "girl" theme.

Lions in the House

Please take a little time to mull on this scenario for a moment before you go on:

Nathan and I were on a little anniversary trip a while back and he asked me an unexpected question.  “So, shall we start coming up with a list of dating rules for our girls?”  He was only kind of joking.   I’m glad that his protective Daddy instincts are already pretty strong even though our girls are only 5 and 3!  And I think it’s a good idea to put some thought into something like this before you’re in the middle of it.

My reply to his question was this, “I want the girls to make up their own rules for dating.”  And I wasn’t joking. 

The more I’ve pondered on this, the more I feel the weight of its truth so heavily. I see more and more that parenting isn’t dealing with surface issues.  It’s dealing with the heart. I want to do the job with the fewest regrets possible.  When our kids are in their upper teens and are making more serious decisions, do we want them to have to depend on us to know right from wrong?  Will they need us to explain to them which are the wise choices?  Please don’t take this the wrong way.  I believe that communicating, talking, and getting wise counsel about the situations we find ourselves in is essential, especially for a young, inexperienced person.  I also realize I’m the mother of a 5 and 3 year old and I’ve eaten words before!  But hear my heart!  My DESIRE, MY GOAL, is to raise these girls into women who KNOW GOD.  And this relationship with Him will guard their hearts as they are led by His Spirit.  I don’t want to teach them how to be good.  I want to teach them how to be Godly.

So, back to that Lion.  Think about it.  This is the system we use entirely too often.  Especially in families and churches.  We take the claws out of our Lions.  We bind the mouths so they can’t possibly bite because it seems safer.  We are capable of bringing those Lions into submission.  On the outside.  But inside?  IT’S A LION.  And a Lion wants to do what a Lion wants to do.  Consider this.  What if you could change the INSIDE, the heart, of that Lion?  That’s the kind of Lion I that I want living in my house.

 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away;

 behold, all things have become new.

IICorinthisans 5:17