Family, church, writing, and gardening!

I am so excited to finally have my own blog! I have been a pastor's wife for 17 years now and love being involved in the work of the Lord. Writing is one of my hobbies, so my kind daughter set up this blog for me! Our church is a small congregation in the country. We have a contemporary worship style. Our children and I are both involved on the worship team. I play keyboards, my son, Jeremiah plays drums, bass, guitar, or pretty much wherever he's needed, and our daughter, Rhiannon also capable on a variety of stringed instruments, is our co-worship leader. I have taught Sunday School many times in the past and am currently taking a break. My husband, Clint, is one of the best preachers I know of! He is an evangelist at heart and preaches great, inspiring sermons.

I've been a Christian for over 35 years. I desire to see people come to a saving knowledge of Christ. Hopefully in the near future I can begin to branch out and be involved in ministry outside our church by doing speaking engagements for various events. Having written my first book, The Fields of May, I am excited about what the Lord has in store for the book and the sequels that are underway. The Fields of May is a Christian fiction story set in rural America. If you have read it, I would love to hear your comments and discuss the details of writing with you.

Today was mostly sunny and warm here in Michigan. The weather lately has been so wonderful compared to the very long, cold, and challenging winter we faced this year. Living on a farm and having chores to do made the winter extra difficult. I wish I had kept track of how many days in a row the temps were below freezing. It seemed sometimes like all I did day after day was hurry out to the chicken coop to gather the eggs before they froze and change the chicken's water to keep it from freezing. So glad that's mostly over for the year! I can't remember a winter this cold and snow-covered since my teen years.

Now with the weather showing signs of spring, the work of gardening will start. I always look forward to the first green shoots making their way through the still-chilly soil--the promise of new life and summer's glories. It is my practice to take a daily walk to the gardens and check for progress this time of year. The last few days it has been tempting to begin raking off the dead plant material in the flower garden, but something tells me it's a bit too soon and that waiting will be wiser. I can't help it, I'm anxious to see the flowers come up!

I love the flower gardening, but sort of dread the vegetable gardening. It seems to me like the vegetables are always more work than you bargained for. They're not done when they're done--there's still the canning and freezing to do even after you've done all the tilling, planting, weeding, and watering. I have to admit I enjoy the flowers more.

My favorite garden has been dubbed, the "English Garden." I've long enjoyed the classic literature of England and the history and pictures of the scenery. Rhiannon and I got the opportunity to travel there last May--a dream come true! Some of my favorite books from the library are books that picture the beautiful gardens of England, both the little cottage gardens and the huge ornate gardens of the large country estates. Consequently when I planned my most formal flower garden, I realized I had been influenced by these books. My "English" garden contains both the elements of a cottage garden and some more formal elements of ornate wire objects. I found a queen sized white iron bed frame at a garage sale for a very small sum and had my husband sink the posts down a few inches into the soil in the center of the garden. It now serves as a garden "room" in which a few chairs and a table sit. Morning glories climb the posts and crawl across the strings I placed across the canopy frame.

Currently knitting too many sweaters and hoping to finish some soon! Until later, Lori