Remember Me?

I guess I got out of the blog mode for a while.  But I'm back.

We've had a busy couple of months.  Cooper, now 3-1/2, is changing and growing every day.  Not only are his clothes getting too small, toys are being outgrown, and Mom and Dad are having to adjust to new attitudes and situations, deciding where to extend new freedoms to him and where to hold our ground while being constantly challenged.

We've had a fun springtime, getting outside once again and enjoying the sunshine.

And the mud.

Don's work schedule has been an adjustment for our family, mainly having him work every other weekend.  It was hard for me when I realized he had to work on Easter, but we got through it.  Hospitals don't stop for weekends or holidays.

We ordered a butterfly kit, receiving 5 live caterpillars, watching them turn into chrysalides and then into butterflies before letting them go.  This was an interesting project for all of us, and Cooper still talks about it.

I've been spending a lot of time working in my garden.  I have enlarged it once again and have it mostly planted now.  We got TONS of strawberries, which I planted last year and really didn't have to do anything to this year except cover them to keep the birds out, and pick them.  Now we're getting a few blueberries for the first time.  I planted them several years ago and just this year figured out that I needed to cover them too.  Apparently we've been providing quite a feast for the birds over the past few years.

Our Community Bible Study class ended for the year last month, and they had their usual end-of-the-year children's program.  As usual, it was more cute than anything else, except maybe chaotic.  Still, I'm thankful we can both be a part of this program.  Cooper has learned many Bible stories and songs, and it's an opportunity for him to be with other children from Christian families, and for me to study the Bible and fellowship with other adults.

Cooper went to his first baseball game recently, the Nashville Sounds.  It was kind of sentimental for me, as my dad used to take my brother and me when they first started playing in the 80's.  This is their last year to play in their old stadium, so I was glad Cooper got to see them there, and I got to see them one more time.  I'm not a big sports fan, but I do like going to games every now and then.

And now it's summer (well, not officially, but school is out, Memorial Day is past, and it's HOT, so I consider it to be summer).  We have joined the Y, and Cooper is taking swimming lessons this week and next.  He loves the water, and I enjoy it too.

We're looking forward to some visits from out-of-town family members and more.  Hopefully I'll stay in the blog mode and be better about writing more faithfully.

Thirty-Four Months Old

Summer has been in full swing, and we have been making this most of it.  We've spent time with friends, going to water parks and other fun places.  Cooper is shown here with my friend Laurie, at the Bicentennial Mall.

Don's parents came for a visit, and we spent a nice weekend with "Mimi and Granddad."

Cooper and I went to Memphis with my mom to visit her college roommate and longtime-friend, Alice.  While there, we went to an orchard and picked peaches, which Cooper loved!  We are still enjoying them.

My garden is giving us lots of goodies, and  Cooper's sunflowers opened up.  We have since cut them down and are drying them so we can hopefully eat some of the seeds.  We've gotten some potatoes too, squash and LOTS of tomatoes.  We've had so many cherry tomatoes that I am just having to let some of them rot because we can't eat them or even give them away fast enough.

Cooper is so inquisitive, learning new things every day.  He is going through a very sweet stage that we are enjoying (almost) every minute of.

Still no news for Don on the job front.  Prayers are appreciated as he continues to search and fill out applications, waiting for a phone call or e-mail.  He gets very frustrated and discouraged some days.

We are looking forward to starting back to Community Bible in a couple of weeks.  I am so thankful that Cooper loves learning about the word of God.  He goes around the house singing Bible songs and loves our Bible story time each morning.  We pray daily that he will grow to know and love Jesus and live for Him, and we are blessed to see that happening.

Thirty-Two Months Old

Summertime is in full swing, and we are loving it!  Besides taking swimming lessons, we've been busy doing other things too. 

Memorial Day brought a family outing to the Ellington Agricultural Center, a favorite place to go for a walk, enjoy nature and see the police horses.

We've had quite a bit of rain. One rainy day brought a turtle into our yard from some unknown place.  Cooper was very interested in this and still talks about it, weeks later.

The rain has been great for my garden.  I get such a "rush" from seeing the seeds pop up out of the ground, that by the time they had all come up, I decided to double the size of it and plant some more things.  It's been a lot of work, but we're starting to reap the rewards.  We have gotten lots of lettuce and radishes, and tonight we had our first sugar snap peas for dinner.  It's looking like we will soon have some green beans, cucumbers and tomatoes too.

Cooper's sunflowers are doing well.  They are now taller than he is!

Of course, we get really filthy doing all these things, and have to come in and take a bath.  But Cooper usually enjoys that too.

Don got laid off from his job a couple of weeks ago.  He got a pretty good severance package, so we'll be okay financially for a while.  Prayers are appreciated that he'll find something, preferably a good job that pays well and has good benefits, not too far away, and one that he enjoys, before his severance runs out.  It's been kind of nice having him at home, but it's a little stressful for both of us, not knowing what's next.  God is in control though, and for that, we are very thankful.

Little Pumpkin

My garden isn't doing as well as last year. We have had a considerably hotter, drier summer, plus I don't have a lot of energy to brave the heat and get out and weed it too often. So, we get what we get. So far we've gotten some green beans, peppers, sugar snap peas and broccoli, plus strawberries and various herbs. The tomatoes, potatoes, black-eyed peas and cucumbers are looking pretty promising as well.

An interesting thing that has happened is that I have three healthy pumpkin plants that I didn't plant. Apparently the seeds came out of my compost pile (one of them is growing in my compost pile and climbing my neighbor's fence). This little pumpkin, which has worked its way out of the garden and into the grass, is almost ready to pick.

Meanwhile, my other "little pumpkin" continues to grow and is apparently healthy. He is moving around a lot and, other than combatting the heat, having trouble sleeping and difficulty breathing, I am feeling pretty good. I am making progress toward getting the nursery ready, and we are doing what we can to otherwise prepare for his arrival. I'm not someone who thinks we have to have everything the market has to offer for babies, but there are a lot of things they really do need, so we are thinking about all of that and trying to pull it all together. People have given us a few things, which helps a lot.

We are praying each day for this child: for his health and ours, as well as lots of wisdom so we can raise him well. We pray for his salvation, for the country and world he will grow up in, and even for the wife that he will hopefully one day have, that God will protect her from evil and prepare them for each other. We pray for our finances, that God will provide for our needs so that hopefully I won't need to work outside the home and and can focus on being a mom, especially while our son is young. We know that these things are out of our control for the most part, so it has been a lesson for us in surrendering to God and a time of growing in our faith.

I am 23-1/2 weeks along now. Some days it feels like it is flying by, and at other times, he can't get here soon enough. At any rate, the time will come when it comes, and hopefully we will be ready.

Harvest Blessings

It's a beautiful Thanksgiving morning, a bit chilly, but the sun is shining brightly. Don and I took a walk with the dogs, and then I went out to my garden to see what was happening. Obviously, it is winding down for the year, but we haven't had a hard frost yet, so there's still a little bit going on.

Sugar snap peas are a cooler weather plant, so I planted those in late summer, and we're starting to get a few. As you can see, there are a lot of blooms, so I guess it's a race against the clock to see just how many we'll get before it gets too cold.

Apparently when I pulled up the potatoes, I left a couple, which grew into new plants. If all goes well, we'll have a few more pretty soon.The celery didn't do too well (I don't think our climate is quite right for it), but I got a few skinny little pieces for our Thanksgiving veggie tray. Our bunny Heidi has been feasting on the leaves. I found these green beans this morning, obviously not enough for a meal, and they probably wouldn't be too tender anyway, but they will make good seeds for next year's garden.I figured out why sage is a popular herb at Thanksgiving: it's one of the few that's still alive and kickin' (as we say in the south). Of course, there's parsley too, another hardy herb.I am thankful today, for the goods our garden has brought us for many months, for my home, for my family that will come to feast with us on this beautiful day, and for all the many ways God has blessed me this year.

Gardening Update #5

I haven't done a gardening blog in a while. I guess the excitement of it all wears off after things slow down, but our garden has given us plenty of fresh produce to eat all summer and provided us with good things for the winter as well.

I have been busy canning (pickles, jelly, apple butter, peaches (the apples and peaches aren't from my garden)),

freezing (tomato sauce, green beans, bell peppers, black-eyed peas, strawberries, applesauce, cole slaw, pesto),

and drying (herbs).

Of course, these things don't taste quite as good this way as they do fresh, but they're a whole lot better than store-bought, and free too, except for a few extra ingredients needed to can or freeze.

I did a second planting of green beans, lettuce, and spinach, so we are still getting those. I also planted broccoli again, one of the few things which didn't do well the first time and hasn't come up yet the second time either. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong on that. I planted some sugar snap peas about 3 weeks ago which are starting to come up. They're a cooler weather vegetable, so hopefully we'll have some of those soon.

I am so thankful for the bountiful season God has given us and look forward to enjoying it throughout the year.

Reaping the Harvest

My garden has been keeping me busy lately! I've gotten tons of cucumbers and have made my favorite: bread and butter pickles.

I've got some more cukes ready too so am trying to decide whether to make some more of those or maybe some dills.

I have been plagued by pests. Something is eating my cabbage, probably a rabbit or a squirrel.

I've picked what I could salvage and made some freezer slaw.

I've discovered if I don't pick my tomatoes until they're completely ready, birds begin helping themselves to them.

So I pick them when they're almost ripe and put them in my windowsill to ripen. I'm planning to make some tomato sauce today.

Some kind of beetle is eating my broccoli. I've been spraying it, which I don't like to do, but I really have no choice. Hopefully that will take care of it.

We had a storm Sunday night that knocked down some of my cornstalks. I staked them up like tomatoes yesterday morning. We have several ears of corn that are almost ready, so I'm hoping that will at least keep them going until those ears ripen.

I'm excited that, in spite of some setbacks, I'm getting my freezer and cupboard stocked with goodies. We'll be eating well for a while!

Gardening Update #4

We're getting more and more goodies from my garden. I've been picking a batch of green beans every few days (regular and Italian). We're getting too many right now to eat, so I've been sharing some and freezing some.

Some ears of corn are starting to form.

I just noticed these this morning. They grow really fast! I see some bread and butter pickles in our near future,

along with some cole slaw.

These are just about ready too.

It's so nice to be able to go out in the garden and pick our dinner. Tasty too!

You Say Potato, I Say . . .

Wow! I have never grown potatoes before, so I am learning as I go. I didn't think they would be ready for a while, so I haven't bothered to check, but I read the other day that you can begin harvesting them as soon as blooms appear on the plants. Well, that happened a couple of weeks ago, so I decided to take a peek.Wow!

Of course, the longer you let them grow, up until fall, the bigger they'll get, so I'm not harvesting them all yet. But we did have a couple for dinner the other night, along with a handful of green beans that were ready.

I've been thinning my carrots. Our bunny, Heidi, is happy to help me dispose of the ones I pull up. In fact, it's one of her favorite treats.

My cucumbers are getting blooms too. All the rain we've had has made for new surprises every day!