Milestones

Some of the greatest milestones come in the tiniest of packages...like Josh's itsy bitsy tooth that came out today. It's his first tooth to fall out, and I think you can tell by the smile, he's pretty excited! I know I'm a little bias...but what a CUTIE!!

The Dog (aka Buddy, Paco, etc) came...and went....

We lived with Buddy for two weeks, and that's as much as we could stand. I'm sure Buddy is a great dog, and will be a great pet...to someone else. He successfully chewed through two collars, one leash, two plastic cups, a water dish, and almost destroyed our garden. Buddy needs to be on a sheep farm...somewhere in England. It's no secret that I was against the dog from the get go. Miraculously, it only took two weeks for my husband and both children to get on board. By the second weekend, Luis was pacing the yard, trying to figure out where we could send the beast, and the boys were being held hostage in the front porch, as we couldn't seem to find a device to restrain the dog effectively. Yesterday, the boys actually told me that they "hated that dog". Luis walked down to the neighbor's house, who was thrilled to take him off our hands. Good bye Buddy...and good riddance!

I Wish I May...

Tonight Josh had his first baseball practice of the season, and Jonathan came along with me. As often is the case, Jonathan becomes bored rather quickly just sitting and watching the practices (and even games, for that matter), but tonight, he managed to keep himself happy with the hundreds of dandelions that had gone to seed. Somewhere along the way, he learned that before you blow the seeds, you have to make a wish, so he was entertaining me and the other parents around with his interesting wish requests...he started out with "I wish I was a girl like Karlita" (one of the girls from church), and it deteriorated rather quickly. With each new flower that he brought to me, I cringed at the thought of what the next wish would be. Thankfully nothing was too embarrassing, and mostly it was about having lots of candy or going to the playground. At the perfect time, Aunt Marybeth came and he switched his attention to her, and all dignity was saved...this time.

Rain drops keep falling on my head...

It has been raining a lot lately, but I am so glad. We have been really busy, and sometimes watering the garden falls by the way-side...(Thanks for the help, God!)Today, the weather broke for a few minutes, so the boys and I took a walk out back to the garden. They ran from row to row, looking to see if there is any new life in their section of the garden. Today, we discovered that the pumpkins, watermelon, broccoli and onions are growing!! I have to admit, it gives me great pleasure to see plants sprouting up, because the only time I have ever attempted a garden of any kind was when Luis and I were first married. We lived in a little (lop-sided) house in Port Royal, South Carolina. It was a quaint, one bedroom house, that couldn't have been more than 600 square feet. I tried my hand at planting tomatoes on the side of the house. I must have planted about 15 plants. I was faithful to water every day. Luis brought me some miracle grow, so I thought...hey, if a little is good, A LOT must be better! So I added some to each plant, and eagerly waited for our luscious tomatoes to grow. Well, our plants grew....and grew...and GREW! The plants almost reached the roof eaves, they were the largest, greenest most beautiful plants I had ever seen...unfortunately, we never picked a single tomato. I guess too much of a good thing isn't really good at all...must be why they say, "all things in moderation"...and why they put directions on the packages!

Giving up

The weather was absolutely perfect today, so the boys and I ventured outside after school and spent about three hours making and planting another garden. We have had a great time watching the little seedlings sprout up out of the ground. In our first garden, we have about a hundred little radish plants, and 18 pea plants, along with some onions that are coming along. Today, we went all out, and planted green beans, more onions, broccoli, sweet corn, pumpkins and watermelon. We also planted a row of sunflowers along our fence line where there is full sun all day long. Jonathan is my diligent worker. From the first shovel full of dirt to the last sprinkling of water, he's right there with me. Josh loves to play and will find any excuse to get out of "work". I will say that he did plant all his own seeds today, so that was a step in the right direction.

A few weeks ago I planted a large circle of herbs that I divided into quarters...cilantro, chives, basil and oregano. I was watering the quarters today, and I was thinking about how a few days ago, I was ready to give up on my herb garden. I had been faithful to water everyday, and still I saw no life. Then one day, after we had two days of lots of sun, the oregano had popped up out of the ground, and I had about 30 little seedlings. I remembered how I was so close to just quitting on the herbs, but now, seeing the new growth, I was so excited that I kept watering, in spite of my doubt. And the Lord gently reminded me not to give up, even when I don't see anything changing. Don't give up on people, or tasks I put my hand to do, or even myself, because he is always working things together for good, even when it seems as though nothing at all is really going on. Today, the cilantro is coming up...I can't wait for next week to see what else will grow!