PART OF THE HARVEST

THIS IS PART OF THE HARVEST FROM THE GARDEN...

LOTS OF PUMPKIN IS PUREED AND IN THE FREEZER FOR CRANBERRY PUMPKIN BREAD IN THE FALL... YUMMY!

I HOPE MY NEIGHBORS ARE GETTING LOTS OF GOOD STUFF OUT OF THE GARDEN WHILE WE ARE GONE...

I LOVE GOING OUT TO SEE WHAT NEW THINGS WE CAN PICK... THE POLE BEANS ARE NEXT HOPEFULLY...

I MISS THE FRESH TOMATOES... STORE BOUGHT JUST NEVER TASTE THE SAME...

I DON'T MISS THE DAILY WATERING THOUGH WHILE WE ARE AWAY...

THE HARVEST IS STARTING...

I LOVE PEA POD FLOWERS... THEY ARE SO PRETTY UP CLOSE...

YAY... GREEN BEANS... THE KIDS LOVE TO EAT THEM RAW FRESH OUT OF THE GARDEN.

MY PEPPERS NEVER SEEM TO DO WELL... I AM HOPING THIS YEAR WILL BE DIFFERENT:)

THIS IS SO PAR FOR THE COURSE FOR OUR GARDENS... I HAD THROWN LAST YEARS PUMPKINS OUT BACK AND THIS IS WHAT WE ENDED UP WITH... A WHOLE SLEW OF PUMPKINS READY FOR CARVING IN JUNE... IT JUST MAKES ME LAUGH:)

YUMMY... BLACK BERRIES AND RED RASPBERRIES ARE MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE TREAT... I THINK IT STEMS FROM THE RED RASPBERRY CUSTARD SUNDAES I USED TO GET AS A KID FROM GILLES CUSTARD STAND IN MILWAUKEE... OUR RED RASPBERRIES ARE ALREADY DONE... WE HAVE A BUMPER CROP OF BLACK BERRIES AND THE BLUEBERRIES... WELL, I THINK WE WILL EACH GET ABOUT 3:)

I WILL POST MORE GARDEN PICTURES AS WE GET TO PICKIN' MORE:)

I LOVE HOW GARDENING GIVES US ALL A CHANCE TO SEE THE MIRACLE OF HOW GOD MAKES THINGS GROW INTO SOMETHING AMAZING ALL FROM THIS TINY LITTLE SEED... GOD'S HANDIWORK THAT IS FOR SURE... IT IS JUST AWESOME... NOT TO MENTION IT CUTS DOWN ON THE GROCERY BILL:)

SUPER SATURDAY

Jojo by the outdoor trains... he was loving it:)
Caleb and Josh

Annika and Anna

Ellie, the birthday girl and Jo:)

A busy Saturday it was. A neighbor of ours was part of the garden train tour in the city so we went over early and took a look. Jojo was completely enamored by the trains. It was pretty amazing all that they can do out in the yard... very impressive.

Then since the high was predicted to reach 100 degrees, yes you read that right, our sweet friends the Dinkelmans invited us over to hang out in their neighborhood pool... and that is what we did for hours. It was great. Our Jojo really took off today and actually was wanting to swim with out his life jacket. He did so much better than he has in the past. I wouldn't feel anywhere near confident to have him with out his jacket if I couldn't keep a REALLY close eye on him... but boy he is getting closer... he was so proud of himself...

I went a little crazy and planted some more squash... well really not more, like I said, what I thought was all squash is pumpkins... have any of you ever seen yellow pumpkins... some of them are starting out yellow. Weird. We also planted some eggplant and hot peppers. Atwoods had their plants 75% off, so they were a steal. We also picked up some pomegranate bushes to plant. We will see what happens with those. This family loves it at Christmas when the pomegranates are in season. We figured it was worth it for $2 a bush:)

Well, not too much else to update you on... I am looking forward to worship tomorrow and my Beth Moore bible study that starts this week. Yeah! She is amazing. I am hoping to maybe invite a neighbor gal to join me... we will see if that pans out. It will be another busy week, but I am determined to clean out the clutter for our garage sale in less than 2 weeks. Oh my, I don't even like to think about it, but it is needing to be done:) Praying you all have a very blessed Sunday :)

A FEW SMALL CHANGES AROUND OUR HOME...

This week the oldest of these two crazy kids, is able to start attending youth group at our church.

All this week and next Louis is up at church all day for confirmation camp. They do a lot of class time, and then they also do some fun group building activities with the older youth kids. Can you pray for my heart... it is a mix of weird emotions. Our youth group is made up of kids 7th-12th grade. My personal opinion is that there is a HUGE difference in maturity and what kids KNOW when they are going into 7th grade (especially a home schooled 7th grader) compared to a young man or woman going to be a freshman in college....I am really thankful that they separate the kids for most bible studies and small group type things.

Please don't get the wrong idea, that I want our children to live in a cave:) Or to never be exposed to things... We just really want to expose them to them in our time... And truly that has happened so naturally, it has been a real blessing.

I know that there will be plenty of things that he may not get to participate in yet... and we have had a lot of discussions about the fact that just because it is youth group... doesn't mean that there may not be some possible bad stuff being discussed by kids, things happening etc. We are not naive to those things at all. We will be watching closely Louis closely to see how it goes... in fact in 2 weeks Greg is heading to Grenada with the youth group on one of their mission trips for this summer. We just really want Louis to be a light to hold fast to his convictions and beliefs and be encouraged in them. We are praying that will happen.

I am just thinking how did we get to this point so quickly... IT IS CRAZY! I had the most amazing experience in my youth group growing up. It was a HUGE time of faith growth for me. Truly the kids were fired up for the Lord. I am praying that Louis will be exposed to that same excitement about our Savior there, that I saw in my youth group growing up and that He sees in our home. I made some of the best life long friends in youth group growing up... dear friends that I am still close to today. I know I am biased, but he really is such an amazing kid... such a tender heart, and such a strong faith. He has had such a fun week so far, and I am really happy for him.

On another note, I decided to be a part of the advisory board for our local MEND chapter. (Mommies Enduring Neonatal Death) I was really honored to be asked and so thankful that Greg encouraged me to do it. I feel incredibly strongly in their mission. Without MEND I truly am not sure how I would have coped that first year. They were one of my lifelines in putting one foot in front of the other to keep walking and functioning that year... They were a HUGE source of encouragement and support. I can't wait to see how God will use me to give back in some way to this group and to new moms and dads that are grieving the loss of their children.

As far as sweet baby girl goes... we know that we will still have her until at least the middle of July. The agency will give their consent to our adopting her next week I believe... and our petition to finalize the adoption is on file with the court. YAY! We will have had her 6 months and have done all of our post placement visits and such. There are still a couple more hearings that need to happen... Can I just say OH MY GOODNESS!!! It is amazing how things can be delayed, put off, etc in our court system. When it is your heart on the line and the hearts of your kids... all 5 of them... it seems to take soooooo long. At that point next month we will have had her with us in our home for over 7 months. We are praying the judge will really take that into consideration... she is bonded...she is safe... she is fully loved... she is attached... Would you pray with us for no more appeals... that is my prayer! I do feel a great deal of peace about it these days and I am so thankful to God for that. I know that is His work...but at the same time... I know this is far from over... In July we will finally get to do the hearing that was scheduled for March... so I am realistic that it may still be awhile... We will continue to trust Him with each step of this journey...

Oh, and we figured out we really do have tons of pumpkins growing in our garden... my neighbor reminded me that we had thrown our old pumpkins out there after Halloween last fall... Yay for pumpkins! The kids are thrilled... I am just hoping that they will be good in fall not that we have all these pumpkins full grown in July... no actually that would be pretty par for the course for this house:)

HOW DOES OUR GARDEN GROW???

A FEW ROWS OF BEETS, KALE, AND KOHLRABI

OUR FIRST TRY AT A BOX GARDEN... PEPPERS AND TOMATOES

CARROTS, ONIONS, SPINACH, LETTUCE, AND MORE KOHLRABI.

BEANS AND PEAS

NOW HERE IS THE CRAZY PART... THE PART I AM SURE MY NEIGHBORS LOVE TO LOOK AT... ALL THE CRAZINESS THAT GREW UP FROM LAST YEAR...NOW THAT IS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT...THAT IS THE EASIEST KIND OF GARDENING. THE KIND YOU DON'T EVEN NEED TO PLANT AND IT JUST STARTS GROWING:) IT LOOKS A LITTLE WOOLY, BUT I COULDN'T JUST CUT IT DOWN FOR THE SAKE OF A DECENT LOOKING YARD.

WE HAVE BEEN EATING LETTUCE FOR THE LAST MONTH OUT OF HERE. THERE ARE ALSO A COUPLE TOMATO PLANTS... MAYBE SOME EGGPLANT, SOME YELLOW SQUASH, AND FOR A WHILE WE THOUGHT ZUCCHINI, BUT IT IS LOOKING MORE LIKE THERE MIGHT BE PUMPKINS GROWING.

THE HILARIOUS PART IS THAT LAST YEAR OUR GARDEN WAS A TOTAL DISASTER... VERY SMALL AMOUNT TO ACTUALLY HARVEST. THE THINGS THAT ARE GROWING UP THIS YEAR NEVER REALLY GREW LAST YEAR AND LAST YEAR THEY WERE PLANTED IN A TOTALLY DIFFERENT PART OF THE GARDEN. BIZARRE...

SO THIS YEAR WE DECIDED TO TRY A COUPLE OF BOX GARDENS. IN MY HEART I THINK THIS IS THE WAY TO GO... A LITTLE COSTLY TO START OUT. BUT THERE IS NO WEEDING... AHH... THAT IS THE BEST.

SO WE HAVE ANOTHER AREA OF THE GARDEN WITH ASPARAGUS THAT WE WILL BE ABLE TO PICK NEXT YEAR. WE ALSO HAVE SOME RASPBERRY, BLACKBERRY, AND BLUEBERRY BUSHES. WE ARE ALSO HOPING TO GET THE CUCUMBERS AND POLE BEANS PLANTED TODAY... AND MAYBE SOME SPICES.:)

WE WILL SEE... I WILL KEEP YOU POSTED ON HOW AND IF THINGS KEEP GROWING. GARDENING IS SO FUN WITH THE KIDS. IT IS AMAZING TO SEE ALL OF THIS LIFE SPRING FORTH FROM A TINY SEED. WHAT A NEAT GIFT GOD GIVES US IN GARDENING.

HE IS THE ONE WHO MAKES IT GROW... NOW WE WILL SEE IF I CAN KEEP IT GROWING:)

BUSY DAYS

OKLAHOMA STATE CAPITOL

PLAYING ON THE HAY BALES



SWEET JO

WE'RE PLANTING A GARDEN:)

We have had a very busy week... but it has been nice. Normally I don't like being busy, but for some reason it has felt good and exhausting at the same time. With Spring arriving... there is so much new life budding out... honestly I just don't feel ready for it. I normally love to be out in the beautiful weather, but a part of me just isn't there. With all of the new life and excitement... my heart is still aching, it just doesn't seem to mesh well together. Don't get me wrong, I am not sulking and moping around. I try to put on a happy face and attend to all of the daily tasks of life... but deep down there is still such a great sadness. I think the kids see it all, mom being positive, yet there are still many tears that flow from me and them at times too. In fact I just got back from the Dr. I have an ear infection... honestly, I think from all of the crying. I have been saying since October that I am surprised that I am not dehydrated and that I haven't done permanent damage to my tear ducts. Well now my ears are on board. I have felt like I have been in a tunnel for a week, not much pain though thankfully.

We were so blessed this week by members of our church. The "egg lady's" (as the kids call her, she is Jojo's Sunday School teacher, but she also gives us fresh farm eggs, the kids do really know her REAL name:) husband came over and dug up our yard for our garden. The kids are so excited... they have no idea the work that is coming their way shortly:) They are all revved up and giving all of their ideas as to what we should plant. So far we have raspberry, blackberry, and blueberry bushes, asparagus, strawberry, onion, broccoli plants, and tons of kohlrabi, corn, cucumber, tomato, squash(all kinds:), pumpkins, cantaloupe, watermelon, pepper, green bean and pea seeds. It is a really big area. I hope we are not biting off more than we can chew...literally. We are starting some seeds inside today so we will see how that goes. We also added some peach and another cherry tree to our "orchard" out back. The kids all picked out fruit trees last fall. I am sure it will be a while before we really get anything from them, but we will see.

Yesterday we spent the whole day in Oklahoma city at the Capitol and the History Museum. The only other homeschooling mom at our church invited us to go along with their Coop. It was lots of fun for the kids and me too. We knew NOTHING about Oklahoma history so now we have a start on that and finally understand what a Sooner is. It was a blessing to be able to sit and visit and get to know this other mom better.

I can't wait to get my hands dirty in Samuel's garden. We have an area all set aside for us to be able to sit and rest in the blessing that he was to our family. We planted lots of plants that were given to us when he died and lots of bulbs that were sent from my sister's friend who also has lost a baby. I will post some pictures when we get it all done. I think there will something healing for me with getting down and dirty during this season. I want Samuel's life to count for something besides just what it meant to our family. I am praying that the Lord is weaving together a tremendous story that can do nothing but bring Him glory. Please don't waste this pain Lord.

When I ponder what we have lost, and being in the season of lent, I am continually amazed at how God WILLINGLY gave His son for us. Do you want to hear something crazy... sad? Here come true confessions... Sara Hintz, warts and all. Greg sat down for dinner right around Ash Wednesday, in the beginning of Lent. He announced that he had decided to give up coffee and soda for Lent. He asked the rest of us what we wanted to give up for Lent. We all sat and thought about it... and after a couple of minutes, actually it was probably a few seconds... I blurted out, "You know I think I have given up enough already this year." Greg kind of laughed and said, "That was last year." I said, "Sorry I am going by a 12 month period." Here my husband was trying to be the spiritual leader and have some spiritual discussion with the family... and I hate to even admit it, but I put the Kabosh on that one real quick. The poor guy, he has been so patient with me.

The crazy thing is when we lost Samuel, our son, I didn't do it willingly, I had no choice in the matter. But God did do it willingly, for you and me. To save me, the lousy, sinner I am. Wow, I know how much I love my children, and for the Lord to let Him die for others who are so unworthy, it is sometimes too much for me to take in. I also think of Mary, Jesus' mother and all that she went through. She knew that her son would die to be the Savior. I wonder what she thought when she looked at him as a baby... knowing and wondering all that the future would hold. I can't imagine the pain she must have felt at times.

So there is much to be thankful for this Spring amidst the difficulties. Because of what Jesus did there is HOPE for the future... eternity. Some days eternity seems soooo FAR away. But I remember reading the book The Purpose Driven Life years ago, and I clearly remember how Rick Warren mentioned this life on earth as one little dot on an entire line... that entire line is eternity. This life is so short. When you are in the throws of it, it doesn't seem that way at all. But because of what Jesus did I can have that HOPE that I will spend all of eternity with my precious son. Oh I can't wait for the day:) And I want to take as many people with me... I know I can't take them with me... but maybe the Lord will use this vessel to plant seeds or be used by Him however He sees fit. When we lived in Texas 10 years ago, our church there had the best mission statement. I still remember it today, To build a bigger Heaven tomorrow, by sharing Jesus on earth today. That encompasses it all, I love it!