When it rains it pours. . .

Garden should have had it's final plow and potatoes should be in the ground.  But here I sit blogging, because . . . well, when it rains it pours.  

That statement has often been used to explain why we are stuck in a bad situation - life keeps overwhelming us with rain after rain.  We have so many good intentions; yet we find that we are inside huddled up waiting for the rain to stop.  God never intended for the rain, to bring doom and gloom.  It is meant to refresh, quench, and heal a dry and thirsty life.  How have we gotten it so out of whack?  Why do we dread the rain?  Why can we not see that God intended it for our good.  So we could huddle up inside his presence and pause while everything around us covered or even flooded with "healing rain".

Healing rain is coming down
It's coming nearer to this old town
Rich and poor, weak and strong
It's bringing mercy, it won't be long

Healing rain is coming down
It's coming closer to the lost and found
Tears of joy, and tears of shame
Are washed forever in Jesus' name

Healing rain, it comes with fire
So let it fall and take us higher
Healing rain, I'm not afraid
To be washed in Heaven's rain

Lift your heads, let us return
To the mercy seat where time began
And in your eyes, I see the pain
Come soak this dry heart with healing rain

And only You, the Son of man
Can take a leper and let him stand
So lift your hands, they can be held
By someone greater, the great I Am

Healing rain, it comes with fire
So let it fall and take us higher
Healing rain, I'm not afraid
To be washed in Heaven's rain

To be washed in Heaven's rain...

Healing rain is falling down
Healing rain is falling down
I'm not afraid
I'm not afraid...

words by Michael W. Smith

Gardening in a drought

Redo of yesterday. . .

Ok, it's not the blackbirds, grasshoppers, or hailstorms of "Little House on the Prairie", but gardening in a drought has tested the strength of my garden and my gardening skills.  I can give them city water several times a day, but nothing quenches a thirsty plant like water from the heaven's.  So you see it coming right. . . the sermon that can be found in this observation . . . we will now pause so you can preach it to yourself . . . let's recap - Only God's living water can keep me alive.

Spinach Time!

We harvested our first crop of spinach this week.

My wonderful husband (with the direction from my dad) turned my flower beds into garden boxes.  So all along my driveway we have the most beautiful food growing.  We have harvested a few radishes, but this spinach is our first major harvest.  I know it doesn't look like a lot, but remember we garden in our flower beds.  We grow to eat, not to preserve.

So this week - we will have spinach on our pizza, fresh salads with dinner, and awesome "lettuce" on our taco's.

Gardening!?!

I know many still have snow on the ground or like here we are experiencing a big freeze, but let's think about gardening today.

Do you garden?

If so, do you incorporate this into school?

We garden, kinda . . .lol. In Texas, you can garden year around, but we only garden the first of the year. We start about now with potatoes and gradually add the things we eat through the rest of the season. Last year, I had to have surgery on my hand and our garden went bust. This year I am hopefully for a bountiful harvest. Now don't get the wrong impression in your head. We do not live out the country on a couple acres, where I have a big track of land I can plow up. We live in town in a sub-division, with a very small yard. Where do you garden? - you ask. I use my flower beds. I have one in the front of the house and one on the side of the house, that get the perfect amount of sun and rain. I make sure I plant aesthetically, so that the neighbors do not even notice my beautiful flowerbeds are vegetables. Now with this kind of gardening, I only produce enough for us to eat. We don't usually get enough to can or freeze. During season, gardening is part of our school and chore list. The kids really enjoy being apart of the process. I have one who loves to plant and one who loves to harvest. I have also found they are more apt to eat what they work hard to grow :)

Tell me more about what you do for gardening. . .

I need some pointers. . .