My favorite month is upon us! I just love May. I always have. I remember my mom helping me to make May baskets for the first day of May. I loved putting the little paper baskets together and then leaving them on neighbor's doors. We would have great fun ringing the doorbells and then running and hiding in the bushes, waiting to see their reaction to the bouquets.

I guess I love May the most because of all the wonderful flowers. I enjoy all the seasons for each of their unique beauties, but this time of year holds such promise and day to day change. My second favorite flower appears this month as well; hint, hint. When I wrote my book, "The Fields of May," I so enjoyed writing the several scenes that took place this time of year when the lovely flower were appearing. Spirea are some of my favorites and when we get down to "second favorites" the list becomes clogged. Actually there are several vying for second place, spirea among them. I have a treasured picture of Clint and I in 1980 all dressed up and headed for the prom. We had our picture taken in front of his Grandma Sal's humongous spirea bush. I have always loved those flowers and the romantic memories associated with proms, graduation, and all that this season represents.

Yesterday I planted the last row of potatoes while Rhiannon mowed the lawn. Then I headed to the English garden and planted all the perennials I'd purchased over the last few days. I hope they will be alright out there. We had a warmish day today with almost constant rain. This should give them a healthy start. I did alot of weeding, placing of more rocks, and general garden duties yesterday and it's a good thing since today was not conducive to garden work.

I noticed yesterday after clearing the weeds from a few flower beds that I actually need more perennials! I have several in the beds, but many are identical and once they are done blooming that leaves holes and gaps in the entire look of the garden. I am overrun with shasta daisies and they are early bloomers. It's intersting how the face of the garden changes with each summer month. This time of year little flowers and pastels are predominant. Tiny wild violets and forget-me-nots give a misty appearance to the edges of the beds. Soon the shasta daisies will give the garden a predominantly white appearance broken up only by the lavendar irises. By the end of June or early July the garden will take on a carnival-like color with the oranges, yellows, and burgundies of lilies and purples and hot pink shades of phlox and other flowers. A few pastel roses will linger but the reds and purples of certain varieties will be ablaze with color then as well. I have never striven to create a garden of constant bloom, but by choosing flowers I love and accepting donations from friends, it has worked out that way. There are very few dull times out in the English garden clear til frost.

Soon it will be time to haul all the garden ornaments out there. I have benches, bent willow chairs, wicker tables, and lots of wire ornaments I've collected. I've got this thing for ornate wire stuff. I have a bird cage that sits out there, a few bird feeders, and even lots of broken or chipped china plates that I use to edge the beds or corral certain groups of flowers. The beautiful dishes sunken part way in the ground really give the garden a formal and elegant look, adding color and serving as a curioddity.

While I was down on my knees weeding yesterday I was reminded of the parable Jesus told in Matthew 13. He spoke of the weeds and wheat growing up together. The owner of the field said to leave the weeds until the time of harvest and then he would deal with them. Aside from other lessons this parable has to offer, I am reminded of the truth that if you pull certain weeds before they or the plants are big enough, you may uproot the plant as well. It's sometimes better to wait to pull weeds lest you damage the precious little plant in the process. I think it's that way with us sometimes. We want immediate change in our lives and the lives of others. We think that new Christians need to shape up immediately and sometimes we older Christians can be hard on them, not allowing them time to grow. We need to be careful not to uproot them while we're trying to point out and pull up the weeds in their lives. It is better to let the Holy Spirit deal with them and convict them of things that need "weeding" out of their lives. I learned this lesson from gardening. and each time I pull weeds I think of that. It's amazing how much the everday tasks of life can teach you.

Another favorite flower clue: Like the hollyhock, it has a stalk laden with several flowers. Blessings, LORI

The Favor of the Lord

"For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield." Psalm 5:12

I felt like this verse was appropriate for the kind of day I had today. It just seemed the favor of the Lord surrounded me in many very noticeable ways today. It was one of those days when everything seemed to go right.

My mother had a rather rough winter, health-wise this year. Yesterday her doctor prescribed a new medicine for her. It was very pricey stuff--unbelievably expensive in fact. But we found out today that she was able to get the medicine covered, Praise the Lord! That felt like God's favor right there.

I tried something new today that will just astound you! I drove in a city--yes, a city! For any of you that know me very well, you know I do not drive in larger cities. I did learn and had much practice driving in all kinds of places, cities included, during driver's ed years ago, but then did not ever go much of anywhere when Clint and I were not together. He was always driving and so I gradually got out of the habit of driving in places larger than the towns in St. Joe County. I know it sounds weird in this day and age, but it's true. It kind of scared me to take off alone to a larger city. Today I drove in a city, all by myself and had absolutely no trouble and to top it all off, I wasn't even sure where I was going. The place was a bit unfamiliar to me. That felt like God's favor to me! I'd try it again now--gaining confidence!

I went to yet another greenhouse today while I was with mom. She was having to do a long wait at the doctor's and so I decided to redeem the time with a trip to a market that has an extensive greenhouse and store. I found the plant I'd been looking for an hadn't been able to locate. It is a "santolina" or lavender cotton. I had seen it in the many garden books I'd been reading lately and thought it sounded like a plant that would do well in the conditions we have here. I had searched quite a few places and finally found about 8 little pots of it today. I bought only one because I think it spreads. I hope I will not be sorry I didn't buy more.

Mom and I got home early in the afternoon. I noticed that Rhiannon had made food for supper and had it in the refrigerator. That's always a blessing! I was able to get a little power nap in before Rhiannon and Clint arrived home. When Rhiannon came in she said she had a present for me. I followed her out to the barn where the present was waiting. I suspected she had purchased another perennial for me, but much to my delight and surprise, there were 8 bags of mulch for the garden! What a wonderful gift. We loaded it in the tractor and she helped me--actually she did the work!--put it in place out in the English garden. It covered about half of the pathways. What an instant miracle difference mulch makes for the looks of a garden! Suddenly the garden was transformed and much of the black plastic that was exposed after the hard winter was covered and the pathways now look so neat and orderly. I quickly weeded the paths as she placed and raked the mulch. That meant that alot of garden work got done in a short time. This was work I had not expected to do today. I did alot of weeding, replaced a few disorderly perennials and then she and I decided to try to haul more large rocks out of the fencerow. We got some beauties and put them in the tractor bucket. We placed them around the flower beds. What another big difference that made! That garden is getting the transformation that I never thought was possible a few weeks ago when I assessed the post-winter needs out there. I am actually well on the way to fixing all the problems that I was wanting to correct to make my dream garden! Thanks, Rhiannon!

I also got to do a little sewing on the 70's dress and it went together so nicely again. Working on the sleeves currently. While I was shopping today I noticed an interesting little book. It had lots of pictures. Lo and behold there was a picture of someone wearing the very style of dress I have under construction. It was a different color, but same basic pattern and from the same era. How interesting!

This afternoon I called the vet and found out that Daisy got through her surgery amazingly well. The doctor was able to fix her torn ligament and she woke up nicely and went back to sleep comfortably. I was glad for that blessing too!

Tomorrow we plan to get the lawn mowed and do alot of planting. I am so encouraged by the unexpected work we got done today, that everything seems do-able now instead of a big, never-ending project. My second favorite flowers are poking up through the black plastic in the pathways in places. I tried to pull them to transplant and they just snapped off--oops. They spread because they are a ground cover! Hint, hint.

Back to the verse of the day, God's favor surround the righteous as a shield. Wonderful thought to keep in your mind as your go through your day. But you may say, Lori, are you suggesting that you are righteous? Isn't that a bit proud and arrogant? Well, no, actually Christians are righteous--made right--by the sacrifice of Christ. Righteousness is a state of being for the Christian. It's our new identity. Check 2 Corinthians 5:21 "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Ponder that today if you feel defeated. Now that's real favor! Consider God's favor around you. Consider Christ's righteousness transferred to you as an act of His grace. As many of our parents used to say to us, "remember who you are."

Blessings, LORI

Updates on Lots of Projects!

What a busy day! I rode my bike into town to go to my cleaning job and arrived at 7:50 a.m. This gave me the early start I needed because Rhiannon and I had plans to go to lunch and visit another greenhouse. She was home painting my mother's kitchen wall and doing laundry. She finished in time to come pick me up in town just before lunch time. She loaded my bike in the pickup and I got a free ride home! The wind had really kicked up considerably since I left in the morning and I wasn't relishing the thought of a slow-grade, uphill ride home against the strong west wind.

My old reliable bike needed a new tire a few years ago and we had an awful time fitting it. Clint offered to buy me a new bike and the story is pretty much the same as the tiller. I agreed to a new one only to be sorry later. (This same scenario happened with the best sewing machine in the world a few years ago! You'd think I'd learn!) The new bike looks just like the old one, but is the hardest riding bike in history. I like the old granny bikes (after all, I'm a granny now!), no hand brakes, no speeds, etc. Well, I can't count the times I've wished for my old bike back. Kori rode mine last spring and said it was the most awful riding bike she'd ever been on. She exclaimed how hard it was to pedal. Keep in mind I'm nearing 50 and she's early 20's. I was so glad to hear her say that!

Just as Rhiannon and I got ready to leave for lunch, Clint called from Centreville where he'd been working and asked to meet us for lunch. So we changed our plans and met him there. Afterwards we went to one of the large greenhouses and spent too much money buying big, healthy perennials. Actually we bought six pots of new stuff. Three of them were a birthday present to me from Rhiannon. Two cup and saucer delphiniums--pink and purple, dianthus--two shades of two-tones, bee balm--a color we didn't have--and a new foxglove. We decided not to plant them today since the weather report was calling for thunderstorms and high winds. No sense whipping them to death before they ever get a foothold.

Got home just in time to grab the morning's laundry off the line as it rained on me. Close one. Then I headed in to do a little sewing on the 70's dress. Wow, is it ever coming along nicely! I am not a champion at fitting and so I decided to just go with a certain size and call it good, although I'm terribly hard to fit. So far that plan is working and the dress is really nice. I did a little improvising because I didn't have the kind of trim it called for. A little creativity with some of my stash of lace created a pretty eyelet for the lace up front. I try to buy bargain lace and trims, ribbon, etc., even fabric when I see something that I like. This enables me to keep a drawer, actually several drawers full of stuff that I can dip into during a project. I rarely buy all that's needed when I start a garment. I rely on what I already have to design and improvise. I think it saves me in the long run. For instance, the dress that I'm wearing in the current picture that's on the blog was made for about $10. I bought all the fabrics on bargain tables. It was a rather complicated pattern, but turned out well through "make-do" techniques. I had intended it as a practice dress for one I was going to make in very expensive fabric. Turned out I never made the other one.

When I went out to gather eggs this evening, I decided to take my little combo hoe/claw tool and dig a few little places for hollyhocks around the chicken coop and in the English garden. It was quick work. I took the bucket of seeds we saved and planted several. I then grabbed two of the stalks we had saved and marked with bread ties and pulled the seed pods off them and planted them. They are marked with bread ties to indicate that they were a special color--something I liked or wanted more of. This rain we are expecting should come at the perfect time for the newly planted seeds. When I went to the barn I noticed that I had more potatoes to plant that I had totally forgotten. That's the problem with this time of year--too much to do at once! Tomorrow....

The idea of too much to do as regards planting stuff reminded me of the verses in Ecclesiastes that talk about time. "To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven; A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;"

That is so true. And when the time is here you must make the most of it. It's like that with lots of things. If we don't make the most of the "time" we often miss opportunities. We may miss a chance to witness of our faith, a chance to help heal a wound, a chance to make a difference in someone's life, a chance to plant a seed. We may even miss God trying to speak to us. I know I have. Many of you have heard me relate the vivid story of an incident that happened to me in Africa where the Lord spoke to me loudly and clearly and I failed to recognize it at the time. This weekend I've been asked to speak at a mother/daughter banquet, my first formal speaking engagement in a long, long, time. Please pray for me as I intend to relate that story once again and encourage others to a closer walk with the Lord.

Second favorite flower clue: The only colors I know that it comes in are white and pink, pink being quite rare.

Did anyone remember the dress pattern I described?

Blessings, LORI

The Time of Singing Has Come!

My beloved spoke, and said to me: "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. Song of Solomon 2:10-12

I wanted to start today's blog with those verses as I reflected on the beautiful weather we've had for the past few days, serving to drastically change the look of the land in Michigan. Things have suddenly become very green and everything is beginning to flower and flourish. We actually experienced a couple of days in a row that could almost be called, "hot." If it hadn't been for the wind we've had, a very stiff breeze, our temperatures would have been what I consider uncomfortable. I actually got pretty warm yesterday as I worked in the gardens. It rained rather hard midday and then the sun came out making the afternoon rather humid.

I was thankful for the rains that came yesterday since just a few days of sun and wind scorch my predominantly clay soil making it into pottery in record time. My poor exposed English garden, though largely made up of amended soils, suffers in that kind of weather, drying out very swiftly.

It's amazing how many things have begun to flower in the last few days. I have violets, paperwhites, daffodils, phlox, and several other flowers making their first debuts. As I was just now walking through the English garden, checking progress; I became a bit concerned at not seeing an abundance of my favorite flower--the hollyhock. This garden was once largely made up of hollyhocks. The same was true of the vegetable garden where I had sown three rows of them a few years ago and they flowered profusely last year. Yesterday I re-spaced the ones that had appeared this year, and it's only a fraction of what was there last year. Even the ones around the chicken coop did not reappear. This is disturbing to me and tells me that somehow the winter was very hard on everything. The same is true of other flowers in the English garden. Kori and I spent quite a bit of time splitting and replanting perennials last fall out there and many empty, desolate-looking spaces seems to exist in the beds where flowers once were. I am hoping that they are just late in poking up through the soil. Even my flowering pear tree that is a focal point at the far end of the garden appears to have succumbed. It's as if only the hardiest of the hardy made it through the awful repeated blasts of sub-freezing temperatures and heavy snow we had this year.

The last few days I purchased and planted several new perennials. I am hoping for the best with them. I can't remember the names of all of them, but they were inexpensive and healthy-looking plants. I think I'll be buying more to fill spaces here in the next short while.

After church today we went to one of the county parks and met with Kori's family. It was so lovely there in the low places where the river runs through and splits the land. The flowers were blooming profusely and the cool breezes were refreshing. An old 3-4 story mill is there and makes a serene picturesque setting. Sundays seem so relaxing and this was the perfect place to do just that!

JT is feeling better after a bout with strep throat and my mom got healed right during the church service this morning! She had been experiencing numbness in her left arm and one of the elders went and prayed for her and immediately it was gone. Praise the Lord!

I cut out a dress yesterday from fabric I got while on vacation in Tennessee. It is a yellow printed voile type fabric. Very light weight and flowing. It was on sale and quite a bargain. I decided it needed to be made up in one of the '70's style patterns I purchased when they were "revived" in the pattern books a few years ago. The pattern is almost identical to my favorite prom dress from 1979! It has a high collar in the back with a sort of "keyhole" front neckline that laces up from the high waist. I am making the sleeves long with a puff at the elbow that falls into a long, tight cuff (will make that out of lace). The dress is floor length with a flounce. One of my favorite patterns of all time! Can any of you remember the basic pattern I'm talking about? If I was more efficient at posting pictures, I'd post an oldie but goodie of me and Clint going to the prom and I was wearing a dress of this pattern! Let me know if you remember this very popular dress based just on my description. I recently checked on line and found several originals for sale in various places! Not being able to readily find laces to compliment the fabric, I purchased a light green lace curtain at a second-type store in Nashville to go with this. I plan to cut my laces and cuffs out of this curtain. It will mean extra work, but it should look pretty good. Wish me well on the construction!

What is my second favorite flower? Clues: They are just beginning to poke their green leaves up through the soil in my garden. I had a perfume in the '70's that was this scent--maybe you remember some of those older perfumes? The flower has a definite, recognizable scent.

I am thankful today for the return of spring. I loved the very poetic verse from Song of Solomon that describes this season. It's as if we are reminded of new life at every turn. There seems to be hope in the air. Well, there is. For the Christian, every day is a day of hope! Blessings, LORI

Eating the Good of the Land!

Yesterday was one of those days when we accomplished so much around here that it about makes me tired to think of it! So thankful for a nice day. We tried hard not to waste it. After getting several loads of laundry on the line, Rhiannon and I set to work in the veggie garden. She re-tilled a few rows and we planted two rows of early potatoes and a row and a half of onions.



Later we went out to the flower garden and finished digging out all the irises that had gotten too thick. We cleaned the grass out of them and replanted a few. We also transplanted rose bush starts. I removed the little rocks that surrounded the borders in several places, tilled up the grass that had grown up between them and replaced the rocks. She had gotten the tractor out and we combed the fencerows for boulders that we could use instead. The boulders are more than abundant on our property. Getting to them is the trick. They are usually in a place where the undergrowth is thick enough that the tractor can't get to them. I refuse to pry and lift on rocks that are too huge. We leave that for the guys. So we got a tractor bucket load of them and filled in a little more on the borders. Every little bit helps. The larger rocks work best because then we only have to trim the edges of the garden every few mowings instead of constantly. The little rocks had settled in with grass growing up around them so they rapidly got swallowed, creating a real mess.



While we worked in the vegetable garden one of the chickens insisted on "helping" us. She escaped from the pen and wandered over to join us. She scratched in the garden, delighted at this new, exciting food source. I was trying diligently to keep her from digging up what we'd just planted. I also was trying to keep her out of the rhubarb leaves. They are very toxic and I don't know if they will be a problem for a chicken or not and don't want to find out. Does anyone out ther know? Let me know if you have info on that. But otherwise her presence there was kind of a country delight. After all, a chicken scratching here and there is what the farm is all about. Plus her little "by-products" here and there in the garden are a plus to the soil! I finally got her back in the pen and Rhiannon found a place in the fence where she suspected they were escaping from and plugged it up. That should solve the issue temporarily.



The chickens helped us again yesterday in a number of ways. Besides the little garden incident, I am thrilled with the latest batch of compost I dug out of the pile the day before. I mean to tell you it is the richest, nicest, soft crumbly black "gold" you ever saw. I used some to put in the hole when I planted the snowball bush. This is the first I've taken from the pile this spring. I just push the shovel in to the lowest level of the pile and draw out the finished compost while the remaining unrotted portions remain on top. The compost is largely a chicken by-product--actually about half. The correct proportions are half and half of green and brown organic matter.

I am convinced that if I had a large operation and could produce this stuff rapidly I could get rich selling it. Big city gardeners pay mega-money for this stuff!



This time of year life on the farm--even a little farm seems like a lot of hard work. I sometimes dread it and sometimes wish for hired help. But I realized a few years ago that I was actually living out some Bible promises through all this. In Genesis 45:18 Joseph tells his family to come to Egypt where they shall be treated to the best of the land, the choicest produce the land has to offer. In several places in the first five books of the Bible, the Lord declares a similar principle that He desires for His people to live and enjoy abundant harvests in a blessed land.Well, as I was drenched with sweat in mid-July, covered with mosquito spray and trying to avoid scratching, thorny, vines while picking the abundance of wild black raspberries on our property, I realized that I was eating the good of the land. Those raspberries that are so hard to get to are really like gold. Just like compost and other natural country products, people would pay big $$$ for a quart of those and I have more than I can deal with. It's the same for the chicken eggs. Those fresh, pastured, brown eggs are highly sought after. Yes, there's some work involved, but I have not just eggs, I have high quality eggs! The same is true of the vegetables that I so loathe tending. Once some folks from Chicago were here with friends of ours. We invited them to look at the vegetable garden since they are gourmet cooks. They were only too glad to accept everything we offered them. And this was the end of the garden. These berries and veggies were the leftovers that just happened to remain after most of the good harvest was gone. They seemed thrilled with everything we gleaned out of there for them. Even the rocks are valuable! We actually had someone call us when we first owned this property offering to buy the huge boulders that are here!



It's all a matter of perspective, I guess. Lots of rocks are one man's problem, another's delight. Tangly raspberry vines are weeds to some and gourmet food to others. Chickens are pesky, dirty critters to some and wealth producers to others! But I'm glad to be eating the good of the land! Praise the Lord! Blessings, LORI

Revealing of the "Favorite Flower" and other garden ramblings!

It looks like a fine day shaping up in Michigan! Yesterday turned out to be pretty nice after all, but when I tried to go out and work in the gardens in the afternoon, it was so windy that it was almost miserable to be out.

Clint tilled the vegetable garden and I certainly appreciated that. Saved me alot of time and allowed me to get some other stuff done. I dug up (with his help!) a cottoneaster plant that was a great, healthy specimen but encroaching on other areas. It had to go. I felt so badly about that. For a long time I let it go, but it was creeping into the pathways of the English garden and had grass growing at its roots to the point that the long dead grass was impossible to remove amidst the tangles of branches. Not quite being able to consign it to death, I put it in the wheelbarrow and filled it with water. I am hoping to put it out by the roadside today with a sign on it. Maybe someone will take it home an "love" it. It deserves a special place in someone's landscaping. I just don't have that place. I tried to transplant another one last year and it didn't make it. I don't want to kill this one too.

I also got a lovely snowball bush planted yesterday and transplanted a small lilac. Found a few salvia plants growing in the vegetable garden, leftovers from last year's landscaping. Rhiannon and I moved them to the flower garden. They are great plants. Very hardy and showy. I got them late in the season 2 years ago for about 30cents a piece. It was the answer to my landscaping vacancies. I had too many and some landed in the veggie garden for safekeeping. I think these will end up in one spot at the front of the house where I never finished the landscaping. I ran out of black plastic and need to finish one corner. They'll probably have to move again. But since they are so hardy, they won't care.

My daughter wanted to know why I didn't comment on the awesome praise and worship service we attended the other night. Well, I don't know why I didn't. But I will now. All of the family, except Emma, went down to Granger Community Church in Mishawaka and saw the London Hillsongs worship team on Tuesday night. It was very good. Such freedom and exuberance in worship. There was a huge crowd. I'd say the auditorium was packed. It was more than a concert, it was a praise and worship experience. Very enjoyable and lots of talent.

I am revealing my favorite flower today. It is the humble hollyhock! Thanks to those of you who tried to guess. I think I love hollyhocks because they are the ultimate cottage garden flower. They look so good in a country garden or against chicken coops and farm buildings. I have vivid memories of one of my favorite books from childhood that had the sunbonnet girls in it. It was an abc book and there were some pictures in it where hollyhocks were featured. My grandma raised hollyhocks, saving the seed every year. She said she had saved the seeds from when she was a girl and got them from her grandmother. I had the seeds for years and knew which ones were the "family heirloom" seeds. Lost track of them several years ago in the midst of other seeds I collected. I still know the particular color they were and so I assume the ones I have of that color are the family plants. I literally have buckets of seeds from hollyhocks and can't bear to part with them. They are great flowers in my book! Care to guess my second favorite? The hollyhock is very tall my second favorite is very small!

Have a lovely day in this beautiful weather! Blessings, LORI

WAIT, WAIT, AND MORE WAITING

So busy yesterday that I didn't get to post. It was another rainy day here in Michigan while we gardeners looked out the window longingly. I have surrounded myself with garden books while I WAIT for better weather. What's a gardener to do? WAIT. WAIT. WAIT. Gardening is all about WAITING. It's a subject and concept most of us don't like but it has to be done at one time or another in life and the sooner we learn to WAIT and be patient, the better off we'll be. I think gardening helps teach patience. Sometimes there's jut nothing more to do but WAIT.

I was thinking about the old homeschool days when both my children were with me all day, every day. I had run on to some advice in a a book or magazine encouraging mothers to instill the habit of quietness in their children. Yes, the habit of quiteness. WAITING and quietness can be a choice. Most of our world is running in high gear with a lot of noise and activity resulting. We are used to tv's and radios blaring, loud machinery, i-pods, calendars booked to the max; just a constant barrage of noise and committments. It really is not all that good for us to have our senses relentlessly assaulted with input. When we are so busy and our ears never get a break, how can we hear God? Look at the life of David in the Old Testament. The Psalms reflect his close relationship with God borne partly from a shepherd's lifestyle of quiet, lonely hours of WAITING in the wilderness while a bunch of sheep grazed.

I remember in our homeschool days requiring the kids to take about 45 minutes and just spend a quiet time up in their room. It seemed like it was a beneficial thing for them and it certainly was for me! We didn't always discipline ourselves to do that, but for a time we practiced this and I think it helped them rest, learn to pray, and just be contented being alone if necessary.
As much as I long to get going on some of this garden work, I am held up by something I can't control right now. When the weather breaks, then the work will begin and in the meantime I've got to WAIT. I did buy some seed potatoes and mom cut them in sections for drying before planting. At least that's out of the way.

Yesterday I visited a couple of greenhouses thinking I'd purchase a second bag of "keeping" potatoes since the first I got were for early use. I remembered that last year I was too late getting to the greenhouse and missed the opportunity to get my favorite butternut squash. They were completely sold out before I got there. This year, determined not to let that happen, I checked on them yesterday thinking I'd purchase some and leave them there until time to plant. This time I was too early and the greenhouse didn't even have them started yet. So I have to WAIT.

It seems like my whole winter was one big WAIT. If you live in Michigan, you know we experienced one of the longest, hardest, winters in a while. It was not for the faint of heart, especially the faint of heart where patience is concerned! And still we WAIT. The weather looks iffy today and we are not sure what it's going to do. This is a phenomenon of Michigan, the weather can change very rapidly. Yesterday I started out for a walk and before I got back it was raining and windy, much colder than when I started.

Here's the latest clue on my favorite flower: I have to WAIT a while before it blooms! It tends to bloom in June and sometimes goes on for quite a while in the summer. It's color ranges from white to pink to black. But to me, it's worth WAITING for!

I will leave you with some "WAITING" scriptures to ponder while you WAIT for whatever you are WAITING for! Happy WAITING!

"Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait I say, on the Lord!" Psalm 27:14

"Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him..." Psalm 37:7

"But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

Blessings, LORI

Just News

Here we are going on our third day of rain and lower temperatures in Michigan. I am thankful for the rain because with our clay soil and my very exposed English garden, my ground turns to cement after only a few days without rain. These chillier temps may allow me to get a nice, soft, rain-drenched soil to work with while the weeds are held at bay for a few more days.

I need to plant a viburnum bush here in the next few days. I am trying to select a perfect place to put it. You'd think with 18 acres, that wouldn't be a problem, but I am still unsure after two days of thinking about it.

Gathered more gardening books from the library this afternoon. I was enjoying the ones I had so much that I thought I'd add to my reading. I bought seed potatoes and onion sets today. Once I can get the garden tilled, they're going in the ground. I wish they'd have gotten planted before, but I was waiting on my tiller. Now I'm waiting on the rain.

Today Clint took Daisy in for an x-ray on her leg. Several weeks ago she hurt her back leg while playing outdoors. After an initial examination and round of anti-inflammatory pills, she still was not using the leg. After her all-day stay at the vet's today it was determined she needs surgery to repair a torn ligament in the knee. I was thrilled that the cost was about 1/6 of what I had anticipated. She will go in next Tuesday for the surgery and there is about a 6-8 week recovery. She should be back to full speed before too much of the summer passes by.

Rhiannon taped the walls and woodwork in an area of my mom's kitchen this morning in prepartation for painting. We chose a bright, true red for the bottom half of her west kitchen wall. I bought a very small blue and white print paper from a discount lumber yard to put above it. I am hoping the guys will install a white chair rail between the two for me. Mom's kitchen is done in primary colors. Lots of white with red, blue, and yellow. I think this little inexpensive touch will go along way in spicing up the kitchen; no pun intended! The paper cost only $2, so I thought that was a good deal. If we can get away with the one quart of paint, it will be less than a $12 fix.

Favorite flower clue: Let's see, what have I said so far? It's name is thought to be derived from the Crusades, it is double or single, self seeds freely, and I can't remember what else I told you!! Here's today's clue: It is considered a "cottage garden" flower.

Enjoy the upcoming sunny days that are predicted for the weekend! Blessings, LORI

Today was another really nice day! Amazing-3 in a row! I took advantage of the weather and headed out this morning right after cleaning a cupboard and mopping a few floors. I prepared a wall for painting by washing it down and Rhiannon will do the taping hopefully before the day's over. If the weather holds, she'll paint it soon.

I got the flower bed by the driveway cleaned up last night and this morning. Hauled away all the brush and trimmed the flowers in the landscaping all around the house. Then I headed out to the English garden to tackle some of the many "big" projects. I started dividing irises and cleaning out the beds they are in. What a job! I did alot of that last fall, but truthfully it's such hard work, I couldn't get it all done. It was a job I had to force myself to continue. I put a box and pail full of irises out by the road and a friend came and took the pail. Just what I had hoped for.

Later the whole family headed for Coldwater and got some pizza for lunch. We had plans to photograph Emma at some parks, but didn't get to the one with the prettiest scenery before she fell asleep. She enjoyed feeding the leftover pizza crust to the ducks. Purchased the paint for the wall while in town. It's a real deep, true, bright, screaming red. Mom's kitchen here has all off-white walls but we decorated her kitchen with antiques and accessories of primary colors--yellow, blue, red. It is very 1930-40's. I plan to have Rhi paint the bottom of one wall this red and then I found two rolls of a fine blue and white print paper for the top. Hopefully I can talk the men into installing a white painted trim for chair rail and finish the decor with a few blue and white plates and a couple of red, white, and blue feed sacks.

We are planning to grill tonight for supper since the weather is so nice. Waited all winter for that. What a fun day.

Looks like my daughter changed the picture on this blog. If it wasn't for her, it would never get changed. The new picture is of me in the English garden before it was blooming on Easter Sunday a few years ago. I wish I had a picture that showed more flowers. Maybe this year!Thanks, Rhiannon.

Favorite flower clue: I transplanted two of them today out to my chicken coop only to have a few chickens escape the coop (fence needs repair) and dig them up. I had to protect them with shards from an old terra cotta pot until they get going or the fence is repaired, whichever comes first. This flower comes in a variety of colors and can be "single or double."

I read alot about gardening this week and one thing that most good garden books talk about is preparing the soil in any garden you are planning. It's the boring part, but it's essential to continued success. I am so glad I did that out in the English garden--truly makes a difference. Remember to prepare your heart on Saturday--actually all during the week--for Sunday services. Did you know that in times past Sunday was treated as a really special day reserved only for church services, resting, and reading devotional literature? We've really lost alot in our culture with our fast pace and constant busy-ness. We also learned from friends when we were younger that it is even wise to take it a little slower on Saturday night so you can prepare your heart and body for Sunday morning services. If you don't plan late nights and lots of tiring things for Saturdays, you are more likely to go to church in a happy frame of mind, having rested well by slowing yourself down the afternoon before. If you are tempted to miss church and haven't yet cultivated the practice of regular church attendance, limiting Saturday activities will help you discipline yourself in that direction. So prepare the garden of your heart for the preaching of the word by adopting some simple strategies that start on Saturday evening! Blessings, LORI

Another lovely, sunny day here. Yes, two in a row! How wonderful! Today was our 27th Anniversary and we decided to take the day and "wander." We left pretty early in the morning and went to Indiana. Before we got out of our own county, Clint visited a Western wear store and purchased a beautiful dress jacket for a very, very low price. It's very nice and fit him perfectly; no altering needed. That was a great bargain.

We went on to Shipshewana and by the time we got there, it was lunchtime. We ate at a local restaurant and then headed on downtown. We wouldn't have had to eat since so many places were giving free samples of stuff like cheese, bologna, kettle corn, even free pretzels at one establishment! But by then it was too late.

I actually only bought one piece of fabric today and that's really good for me after visiting Ship. I found a piece of muslin discounted to 50 cents. Wow! What a big spender! That's all for me today. No other purchases whatsoever unless you count a jar of honey and two cans of soup because they were grocery bargains. Not even a pop or cookie, which is pretty common for me to purchase at least every few days. I decided I wanted a coke midday and while I was in a store, Clint was going to go get me one out of a machine. When he walked up to purchase it, he noticed another kind of pop had been left there. Apparently someone couldn't get the machine to work and gave up before their pop can dropped into the slot. It was still cold and so I took that instead! How can you beat a deal like that? Happy anniversary to us!

Later in the afternoon we went home through Centreville and visited the Home and Garden show at the County Fairgrounds. We saw lots of people that we knew and did more visiting than shopping. We purchased nothing there, but got a little free candy!

On the way out of town we passed JT and Kori. Soon our phone rang and it ws JT asking us if we'd like to join them for a sub sandwich and trip to the park with Emma. We turned around, met them in Centreville, got subs, and followed them to the old little league field and park for a bite of supper. Emma was all dressed in some cute summer clothes and a little embroidered baseball cap. She looked really sweet. She loved the yard toys at the park and learned that sand is a really fun thing to play in. It seemed unusual to remember that not that long ago JT was a little guy spending alot of his time down at that park. When we lived in Centreville, our house was only a few blocks from the little league field. JT's summers were consumed with little league. He was an excellent player and his team went to state one year and finished very well. That was quite an accomplishment for a little town like Centreville competing against big city teams. He was the 2nd or 3rd place homerun hitter in the derby at state that year. He would have placed higher but some fan on the sidelines reached out to catch the ball he hit as it went by and it was knocked out of the home run range. Really a bad deal for JT. The judges would make no exception even though it was obvious that left untouched it would almost surely have been a homer.

After we arrived home I set to work with the last few minutes of sunlight and raked one of my flower beds. I got it all raked, but didn't get all the debris hauled away. I put much of it in the compost pile. I opened the chicken pen and let the chickens roam the yard til nearly dark. This was a big treat for them. They scratched around the compost pile most of the time they were out. They enjoy getting to eat green grass for a change and hunt for insects around the yard. If I wait long enough, they will voluntarily go into their coop when it starts getting dark and then I can just shut their door without having to "herd" them. Efficient creatures.

It was a lovely day and the commemoration of 27 very happy years. The day we got married it was a typically chilly spring day. If I remember correctly it rained all morning and most of the afternoon. We were married at 5 in the evening. Right before the wedding it cleared off nicely and the sunset was gorgeous. We had a picture taken after the ceremony out along the farm fence at the west end of the Locust Grove parking lot, with the sunset in the background. It's my favorite of our wedding pictures.

Still haven't heard from anyone on their favorite flowers. But here's another clue on my favorite flower: I have read that it derives its name from association with the Crusades. Blessings, LORI

Our 27th Anniversary and Garden Report

Tomorrow is our 27th wedding anniversary! Oddly enough, today while Rhiannon and I were running errands, I happened to look down at my less-than-two-year old engagement and wedding ring set only to see that one of the stones was missing! Having just passed the jeweler where we purchased the set, I decided to go back to get it checked. Turns out it will be a fairly inexpensive fix and I'm glad!

Upon returning home, I lost no time getting out into the beautiful day to work in the English garden. All the gardens need attention and it seems overwhelming this time of year. I was astonished at the amount of debris I raked and pulled away in the beds. This is only the tip of the iceberg. This flower bed is out of control. I don't know if I've ever seen it this "needy." This is even after Kori and I worked last fall on transplanting and I think I remember doing some clean-up then. It never ceases to amaze me how many stalks and leaves are leftover in the spring no matter how diligently you clean the garden in the fall.

I set to work and actually got all the beds raked. It was so tempting to jump from one area to another as I saw the desperate need everywhere. I barely knew where to start or where to end. I bet I worked more than 2 hours out there, hauling several wheelbarrows full of stuff to the fencerow. And debris is not the only problem. This winter was especially hard on the black plastic in the pathways and the mulch that covers it. It will need to be replaced. I finally got black plastic down in all the paths last summer and thought that task was finally over. After this afternoon's work I am seriously thinking of hiring a young person to help me put this all in order and get it over with. If I don't, with the other flower garden, the vegetable garden, the chicken coop flowers, and the landscaping flowers, I'll never be done. I'll be fighting a losing battle all summer.

After raking and weeding, I got the little tiller out and ruthlessly dug up a couple of areas where grasses and invasive plants have taken over. I have decided to transplant some of the beautiful old fashioned pink roses that seem to flourish and endlessly throw out shoots into these trouble areas. These roses were given to me and grow abundantly. I figure I might as well capitalize on that feature.

Part of the gardening problem in our area is the fact that once we get a nice spring day like today, you can hardly tackle all the stuff that needs doing. And when these kind of days start, they often come one on the other very rapidly and then so do the weeds. Before you can get the raking and arranging done, the weeds are already overgrowing everything.

I have worked for all the years we've been here on amending the soil in the flower garden as well as the vegetable garden. This soil around the house is a pretty heave clay. The flower garden was originally part of the yard, sown into grass seed. I took the large tiller and after planting three trees in that area I swung the tiller around those trees creating curved beds based on the placement of those trees, one of which did not live. What I really did was create a monster! Since it was already sown in grass seed, I have fought sod and grass in the beds ever since. And we're talking about a HUGE flower garden. It looked bigger to me today than ever before! Well, it is. Last year I added a whole new bed, the "rose section." Now I wonder why. The grass problem is no different this year and I actually think it's worse. Last fall I dug up huge portions of the beds and shook and pulled the sod away from flowers and replanted the flowers. Some beds did not get finished and that's what I'm up against again this year. In addition to that I've never been able to create a suitable border to the flower bed. I hauled small rocks from the fencerow and placed them around the perimeters. The grass of the lawn growing up around them is a continuous challenge. It should be trimmed with each lawn mowing, but that doesn't always happen and they get swallowed up. Today I removed some of the rocks and tilled up the sod and replaced them. It should be done on the entire perimeter. As I remember the abundance of flat limestone fences in England and the southern states, I am jealous that we only have boulders to work with here. I can see myself building a tall border fence of nice, flat stones if they were only available! I dream of "containing" this garden in a tall stone fence.

The inner beds are built out of a layer of wood chips, with chicken coop rakings over that and topped with pure compost of leaves obtained from a local composting site. They are very rich indeed, but that means the weeds love them too!

Isn't it amazing how something so beautiful can take so much time and work. It's like our lives. God is wanting to work on us to create something beautiful. We often can't see the results until we look back over time and realize how far we've come and how we've grown in certain areas. It's like my flower garden. All I can see is the problem spot in front of me as I kneel down to weed, or the massive-ness of the whole never-ending project. But then I remember that 5 years ago this entire property was a cornfield and now it has a nice house, barn, and gardens. That's an accomplishment! Like the garden, we are a work in progress. Let's be patient with ourselves; God certainly is. We are being changed from glory to glory! Favorite flower clue: It has a tendency to re-seed itself profusely. Blessings, LORI

Preparedness, Favorite Flowers, and So On!

Hi everyone! Greetings from sunny Michigan! Yes, sunny Michigan! It's amazing, but we are having a really pretty day lining up here. I intend to work in the garden today.

I've been reading and gleaning alot of information from garden books this week. It's been so enjoyable. I learned some things I can do to improve the flowers. May get started on that today, we'll see.

Yesterday I did a little laundry and straightening here. Pretty boring, but has to be done! Decided to "alter" the leftovers for supper. We had had a nice beef roast fixed in the crockpot on Tuesday evening. I warmed the leftover broth and meat to use in beef and noodles. Boiling up some potatoes for mashing provided an added flavorful, vitamin-laden boost to the noodles. Have you ever used potato water for gravy or noodles? If not, try it. It's one of the old-timey ways of re-claiming vitamins and flavor.

You may wonder why I keep referring to money-saving stuff and leftover-using techniques. Well, I have had to scrimp alot over the years as we home-schooled our children and lived on one income. I feel like I've learned alot and have never been able to share it much with others. So, I am sharing the tips now, hoping someone of you who read my blogs will be blessed by the information.

Going along with this, I recently read something by someone who was suggesting we are beginning to experience or soon will experience the wrath of God and we need to keep a 30 day supply of food and toiletries on hand to offset the shortages, lack of cash, etc. that will come. I do not necessarily affirm the teaching that the "wrath of God" will fall on any given generation in the age of grace, so I am not condoning or promoting that teaching. But, I do know that when people or nations live unto themselves, they eventually reap the results of their own sin and decadence and sometimes that reaping comes in this life. Unchecked by salvation, a reaping will definitely come in the afterlife. It's a natural cause and effect, reaping and sowing factor. If we see shortages and economic collapse in our lifetime, it would likely be because we (or someone) was careless, exercising unwise behavior and making unwise policies somewhere along the line.

I guess this got me to thinking alot about preparedness. I remember well the Y2K scare that came to nothing. Most of you probably do as well. Yes, I filled my basement with canned goods and jugs of water back then. But, I did it all knowing that the whole thing could result in nothing, and that I could still use all the products for my family anyway. I even used the water for flowers.

I guess when I hear someone talk about keeping a 30 day food supply on hand, it kind of makes me chuckle. I honestly do not remember a time in my life (unless it was our first few months of marriage) when I didn't have a 30-day supply, maybe more. I remember my parents commenting on the amoung of canned goods that my grandma kept in her basement. There is a vivid picture etched in my mind of her basement lined with all sorts of fruits and vegetables that she had canned. I suppose that shaped my thinking early on. Even my mother had a large canned good cupboard that never seemed to empty. It always stay filled in addition to the shelves of things we canned that sat in the basement and the many items in the large chest freezer on our porch. Those who went through the great depression, my grandparents and parents, knew the value of preparedness. They simply were more comfortable with providing their own security in the form of food than assuming the grocery store would always have stocked shelves. Worse yet, nowadays many people have so lost track of the principle of providing for themselves that they assume it's the government's responsibility to take care of them should a crisis arise.

The best way to be prepared is to stay connected to the Lord. If you have a really strong and vital relationship with Him, He will alert you to any dangers that you need to know. He has the ability to warn you of things to come. As with all of life, living connected to the Vine, is the best policy. Maybe this is even more vital in these days. Read your history and see how careless, decadent living led up to the depression. Am I predicting such a thing again? No, not necessarily. But as Christians, we must be ready in any day to live for the Lord and give a reason for the hope that lies within us. Paul said he had learned to be content in all kinds of circumstances. Be wise. Stay connected to the Lord, the Vine, and He will see you through.

I haven't heard from you about the question I asked a while ago, "what is your favorite flower?" I will give a little clue of mine. It is a very unusual flower to be called a "favorite." More clues tomorrow or the next day....Blessings, LORI

Weather-wise it was a dismal day in Michigan. We are all wondering when we will get a succesion of lasting spring-style days.

I went out a few days ago and checked the gardens. Only a few more things are beginning to pop up. My gardens are just too wind-swept which keeps the temps lower out there. I am trying to combat that for the flowers by planting shrubbery around the garden in defense of the airy blasts. But that won't help yet for a few years.

I saw the peonies trying to make their way through the soil. A hardy little viola was blooming too. Violas are some of the best surprises in the garden. They will pop up anywhere since they are so hardy and prolific in their re-seeding efforts. I try not to destroy them when weeding although they show up pretty much anywhere, refusing to be corralled and tamed.

My English garden is a series of inner and outer flower beds laced with pathways. Violas will often appear right in the pathways. I suspect they cross pollinate as well since no two ever seem to be alike and there is an endless array of color combinations. Another wonderful thing about the violas is that they are the very best flowers for the basis of my pressed flower pictures. Most of you know that I love to make pressed flower arrangements. I have sold several over the years both at the church bazaar and privately. The tiny, flat-faced violas and pansies are the perfect size and color. Their flat characteristics lend well to pressing. I keep huge big-city phone books for the pressing. After the dew is off in the morning is the best time to pick them and arrange them in the pages of the phone books. Days later they are "paper-fied" and it's exciting to see their colors deepen or fade with time.

Joy, joy, joy!! My tiller will once again be in operation this year! This makes the veggie gardening almost sound like fun again. I had a really nice heavy duty tiller that I purchased at a very good price a few years ago at a rummage sale. At first I didn't like the thing because until I learned how to operate it, it operated me. I remember kicking it in a fit of anger one day and maybe that's when I offended it. The next year it didn't want to work correctly. Assuming it would cost an arm and a leg to fix, that's when I talked my husband into buying me the tiller of my dreams, or so I thought. It was a smaller one that I thought I could easily handle. It was inexpensive and did what it said it would do, but alas, one of the features of our property is an abundance of rocks and stones. It seems that my vegetable garden is where most of them are even after 5 years of consistent rock picking. (For the first 3 or 4 years I had the most awful backaches after this spring chore. Finally there are fewer rocks!) I literally picked so many rocks out of this garden in the first 3 years that I was able to completely fill the landscaping around the front porch from garden rocks. Then I ended up removing them all and putting down mulch. So I actually "picked the rocks" twice. All the others were dumped in the fencerows that were already brimming with rocks of all sizes. Anyway, the tines of this smaller tiller are the perfect size to grab most of the stones left in the garden. Sometimes while trying to till I would have to stop 3 or 4 times on one row, take a hammer and chisel the caught stones from between the tines. Needless to say, this got old in a real hurry. Gardening took twice as long as it was supposed to take.

Much to my delight, this spring Clint suggested hauling my big, old tiller to a nearby repair shop. He told the mechanic to fix it if it didn't exceed about half the cost of the machine. Well, I checked yesterday and it was all ready to go at a bargain price! What a blessing! I remember that Rhiannon told me the first year I owned it that the garden looked better that year than any other year. I was able to keep up with the between-row weeds so much better with this wonderful machine. I will never kick it again!

Yesterday I visited a nearby library and noticed a new book in the gardening section. It was about gardening in the hot areas of the midwest. I never would have thought that included us, being in Michigan, but as near as I can figure from the USDA charts, we are part of that region. This book described the challenges of gardening in this area. I had always wondered why I couldn't quite achieve the results that I saw in the lovely books about English cottage gardens. I can testify to the fact that the English gardens are everything the books portray. While Rhiannon and I were there last year in May, all the spring and early summer flowers were in bloom. It is the most beautiful sight. Even the tiniest houses and many apartments have small garden plots on the only available lawn. The flowers had an ethereal, misty quality that was indeed charming. This is the look that I had always tried to achieve. Now that I understand I am living in area considered "challenging" becuase of temperature extremes and frequent midsummer drought, I will be a little less hard on myself and take some of their planting suggestions even if that means more flowers that are not necessarily my favorites.

Having said all this, I was wondering what your favorite flowers are? I hope to hear from you and after I do, I will reveal my "flower of choice." There are so many; I'll have a hard time choosing one, but I have one front-runner that may surprise you. Blessings, LORI

What a lovely Easter weekend we had! My friend from Iowa and her daughter got here on Saturday morning. We promptly took off for the second hand stores. Had lots of fun shopping and found a few bargains as well. Her daughter and my two kids and the drummer from our church worship team spent five hours on Saturday over at the church practicing the songs for Sunday's service. It surely did show on Sunday morning as they led worship and featured several songs from this girl's new cd. They sounded so professional; it was as if they had been playing together forever!

There were a lot of visitors at church and that's always encouraging. After the service, we had breakfast in the fellowship hall. Our food committee outdid themselves this year. It was one of the best Easter breakfasts I remember. They got together on Saturday and fried lots of raised doughnuts for the breakfast. They were trying out their recipe as this year we will be "on our own" for the bazaar. The lady that has been in charge of the doughnut making for years and years is retiring from the job. They felt that Easter breakfast was a great time to perfect their recipe--it was wonderful!! As well as the doughnuts, several people from the congregation brought in egg casseroles. Hashbrowns and mixed fruit were served with those. The tables were beautifully decorated and the whole morning was just great.

After church we came home and took naps. Wow, was I ever exhausted. I guess everyone was. About two o'clock I got up and began preparing the day's chosen menu--honey barbequed chicken strips and pizza rolls. Yes, that's what the family wanted. No more ham. We did all we could with the ham last week! Some of you told me that you were enjoying the ham stories. Just a little update on that ham--the ham salad was all eaten with no leftovers--good stuff, and Daisy ate the bone! What a bargain. I used to think buying a ham with a bone wasn't as good a deal as one that was boneless. Now I see the value in so many ways--good for the dog as well by helping save on expensive veterinary dental cleanings!

After we ate, we all went outside and watched Emma enjoy the bubbles that Grandpa Clint (Papa) had purchased for her. She was so sweet as she tried to catch them. We took lots of pictures. Later she tried on her new eyelet dress that Granny(Lori) made her and it fit pretty well. She left for her other grandpa's wearing the new dress.

I ended up taking a long walk after the family had all left. I noticed that many people were out enjoying one of the prettiest days we've had in Michigan this year! I saw three or four other people walking while I was out. Also saw neighbor children riding go carts, people on bikes, and even woodchucks out sunning themselves. A certain woodchuck sunning himself on our back acreage made an interesting day for the gentlemen in our family. They have views on woodchucks and all the damage they cause on a farm! That little furry guy's presence was frustrating them!

It just seemed to me like yesterday, being Easter Sunday, a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus; that everyone was celebrating life--whether they knew it or not! Clint spoke alot about life in his really good sermon during the morning service. He cited several of the verses that Jesus spoke concerning life."....I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." John 10:10. "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'" John 14:6. God is all about life. Just read Deuteronomy chapter 30, verses 11 through 20. God tells His people to choose life.When you choose Jesus, you are choosing life. There is no day on the Christian calendar that is more about life than the day we celebrate the resurrection. With the sun shining all day yesterday, it just seemed like a celebration of life!

While I was on my walk yesterday afternoon, I passed a low, swamp area that is filled with stagnant water, slimy pond scum, and even garbage that people have thrown into the water. It reminded of one of my favorite passages of scripture that appears in Ezekiel. The prophet was describing a vision of the Holy City and the temple. In chapter 47 he was describing the river that flows from the temple. It is evident that this water represents life and the Holy Spirit since everything that it touches flourishes. But verse 11 describes the places that are outside the flow of the river. It says, "But its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be given over to salt." Isn't that interesting? When you are outside the source of life, there is no healing, no growth, no flourishing; just a return to salt. Lot's wife made a choice and she was returned to salt. What choice will we make each day in our lives? Will we celebrate life every day of the year by choosing life; choosing Jesus? Or will we resist the Holy Spirit's tug on our hearts, resulting in death and a return to salt? Something to ponder as we mark once again for another year the most joyous event in history and what Jesus did for us! Blessings, LORI

Whatever happened to the leftover ham and other environmental concerns!

If you read my blog yesterday you know all about the amazing, money-saving ham experience! But, there's more to the story! For all of you deretermined to economize, you will love what happened to the leftover ham. This morning I remembered that on Saturday I needed to serve lunch to a high school classmate that will be coming here for the weekend with her daughter. The young lady, a talented singer/songwriter will be giving several songs of special music for our church's Easter sunrise service. My kids are joining her with instruments and will be practicing tomorrow. This gives me and her mom, one of my best friends from high school, a leisurely afternoon of lunch and visiting. It seems there is never enough time to catch up on all the news with an old friend. When this gal and I get together, it is non-stop talking and it seems like we each have to talk as fast as possible to get everything said until the next time we get together (she lives several states away).

There were only little bits of the ham left and so I decided to do something I've never done before; make ham salad. I rinsed the ham off, saving the juice of course!, and patted it dry with paper towels. I put it in the food processor with a few dollops of pickle relish, actually Tennessee Chow Chow, and the same amount of mayonaise. Turned on the food processor and moments later I had the tastiest ham salad ever! Wow, was it good! That took care of the rest of the ham. I'll serve it on rye bread that I purchased at a discount from the day old bread rack at the grocery store. I took leftover green beans and potatoes and combined them in the ham juice that I had saved and they will make a great side dish for the next meal. Pinch those pennies! Then I promptly got in the car and went to my favorite fast food joint for lunch! Ok, you can't pinch pennies all the time! But later I found several bargains at a nearby second hand store to make up for lunch!

With all this talk of economizing, I just want to give a blue ribbon to my chickens. They are six of the best unsung heroes around. Heroines, actually, since they are all hens. Maybe Hero-hens is a better word! Besides providing me with great tasting eggs for almost three years now, even through a molt, they do so much more here on the farm. For all of you who may not know what a molt is, it is a natural slow down process that all chickens go through if they live long enough. During this time they lose lots of feathers and lay fewer eggs. Another benefit of the birds is that they pay for their keep in egg sales as well. We waste very little around here, and they are part of the reason why. They help us with good stewardship. The ham was all used up very efficiently, but if we ever do have leftovers that get old, most often they go to the chickens. The "girls," as we call them, are usually happy to eat anything. Makes me feel good that I didn't waste food. If the scraps are fruit or vegetable peels, egg shells, tea bags, apple cores, etc. they go into the compost pile which is made up of about equal parts of what I periodically rake out of the chicken coop (another valuable by-product of the chickens) and the stuff I just mentioned. About once a year this mixture that has rotted into the nicest, richest, black, soil-like mulch is placed in and around my flowers or on the vegetable garden. Sometimes late in the summer when the garden is mostly done I turn the chickens loose in that area and let them scratch. This helps both me and the chickens. They eat the leftover plant and veggie bits that remain after the harvest and fertilize the garden at the same time. It's a good deal for everyone. I have less to clean up and rake away and they get a good meal.

Why did I mention all this? It leads to something spiritual, believe it or not! We hear so much these days about "going green." I have long believed that those most equipped to comment about the condition of our earth are the ones living closest to it--the famers, ranchers, and rural folks on small acreage. After all, if you take your living from the land, wouldn't you be the most concerned earth-steward of all? If you weren't you'd be shooting yourself in the foot, so to speak. The annual earth day is coming up soon. We will hear all kinds of ideas for and emphasis on saving the planet. Alot has to be sifted through in all of this. I recently heard some of the most outlandishly ridiculous accounts of how certain policies affected and limited the lives of some folks where rather restrictive environmental laws were passed. So how should a Christian react to all this? Well, no doubt the Lord wants us to be good stewards of the earth He has created. We talk alot about being good stewards of our money and for the last two days I went on and on about pinching pennies. Just like I was saying yesterday, the habits of our ancestors were for the most part pretty good examples of good stewardship living. If you can garden; do so. If you can hang your laundry out; do so. If not, don't get down on yourself. Don't let it all make you into a legalist. The rewards are great but even I admit the veggie garden is not my favorite and there are days when I'd like to plow it all under.

But get a larger picture and view of stewardship. Jesus spoke of stewardship in a parable and indicated that there will come a day of accounting. I think the day when we will meet the Lord is getting really close. Take a look at current events and compare them to the Bible. Be the best steward you can be of all that concerns you: your money, your land, your time, your life. But in doing any of this, do it for His glory, not just because "going green" is a popular trend right now or because the economic slowdown forces you to tighten up your spending. Our goal in money-saving should be that we then have more to give to the ministries that glorify the Lord. Our goal in careful, earth-friendly living should not be political, but rather an act of worship, (1 Corintians 10:31) a way to be responsible in caring for what the Lord has given us.

Tonight we will attend a community service in commemoration of Jesus' sacrifice on the day He was crucified. I hope you got a chance to reflect today on His love for you. Blessings, LORI

Beating the economy with beans!

Wow, did we ever have a busy day here today! Some days it just seems like you accomplish so much. We have an ongoing family joke around here that some of us measure our days by how much we accomplished and others by how much we enjoyed the day! I am all about accomplishing. It was that kind of a day for me. I went to my cleaning job early this morning, spent an hour there and headed home to clean my own house. By shortly after 11, Rhiannon and I had it mostly whipped! It had been quite a while since I'd done so thorough a cleaning. I have been cleaning room by room as time permits and doing the whole house made me feel pretty good about my surroundings!

Had to make a run to town to mail out a copy of my book that had been requested by someone out of state and also to do a few errands. Stopping by my favorite fast food joint for a diet pop was a little break in my day. I ended up at the bargain fabric table of a major store where I purchased a loose weave linen for a summer jacket I intend to make. Before we ever left home we had washed bedding and hung it out to dry in the beautiful sunshine. As soon as I got home, I did up another load of clothes with the new fabric and then hung all that out. It dried in no time with the stiff breeze and the sunshine. After I hung that load of laundry out, I headed out for a long walk. I don't know how far I walked, but it was a major walk, not just a pleasure trip! When I got home I did the chores, watering chickens and gathering eggs. Went upstairs just in time to finish sewing the new summer dress for Emma that I had started yesterday. Got that washed and hung up and then it was time to head for church.

Supper had been prepared in the morning. We had ham and beans and cornbread. Let's say a few words about ham and beans. If you want to beat the sluggish economy, go back to the food of our ancestors. Serve ham and beans. I bought a ham with the bone in about a week ago and stuck it in the freezer. It cost around $11. I got it out the other day and cooked it in the crock pot. We had one supper from it serving 4 people. Everyone exclaimed that it was the best tasting ham they'd ever had. Next day we made ham and a few beans in the crock pot. We decided to go out to eat (not a good way to beat the economy) so only one person ate on that meal. So far this ham has served meals to 5 people. Today I took the bone and some of the leftover ham and added a partial package of beans that originally cost 68 cents and let it cook in the crock pot all day. Others in the family ate ham sandwiches for lunch. Four people ate ham and beans for supper tonight and there are leftovers. I still have used only about 34 cents worth of the beans and some ham is also left. All together this one $11 ham and 34 cents worth of beans has made 9 meals for people. Of course, I added a few other side dishes like about $2 worth of cornbread and some home canned green beans, (basically free) etc. No telling how many meals we'll get out of it before it's all gone. Cheap eating. Try it, you'll like it.

Saying all that to say this, some days are filled with accomplishment yet we can forget the most important things. When I got up this morning I had left my Bible upstairs and being in a hurry to get to work, I opted to just pray a little and read the scripture later. Well, later never came. I got real busy working and accomplishing only to find myself at the end of the day never having "eaten" the most important food, the "bread", the word of God.

Tonight was communion at our church in commemoration of the last supper. We celebrate this Christian tradition every year during the week of Easter. Clint opened the service with a version of "The Old Rugged Cross"(written by George Bennard) playing over the sound system while the center lights shone on a wooden cross. The first words of his sermon went something like this, "We can get so busy accomplishing things that we forget the cross." Ouch. That hit home. Pretty well described my day. And to top it all off, I was especially concerned today at things I heard on the radio and in various news broadcasts and other places that were more than disturbing. Each incident related the fact that Christians are losing ground in the public arena as more and more institutions exclude us from expressing our values and beliefs. Like you, I know people who seem to be "losing" their faith or backing away from what they once held dear as far as biblical beliefs go. It's time to ask ourselves what's important and where we stand. I don't want to be one who accomplishes much in other arenas of life only to lose ground in my Christian walk and finish poorly at the end. The Bible says we are to study to show ourselves approved (2Timothy 2:15).We are to be ready to defend the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3). The Bible is the undisputable word of God and it is truth. Will we stand by it in these difficult times or shrink back and compromise? Will the economy become our priority as we grasp for money or will we be wise with our funds yet realize they are really not worth worrying about in light of eternity?

Tonight as the hymn played I was struck by a line in the chorus that says, "...when my trophies at last I lay down." What "trophies" do we value most? The ones that the Lord bestows on us for serving Him, or the earthly "trophies" we think are so important? As I looked at the rugged cross on the stage during tonight's service I was reminded that we had better be in Christ when it all comes to an end or no trophy we have acquired will be worth anything. Nothing else will stand, nothing else will matter. The ultimate trophy is the cross that Jesus bore for us as He became sin for us. He allows us to embrace the cross and His salvation in exchange for our sin. This is a sobering thought for these days. Blessings, LORI

Hi y'all! Well, I feel like I'm back in the south with the beautiful sunshine here today. It's about time for Michigan to get its share of sun. Almost all of the rudely late snow has melted today. I actually hung some stuff on the line this afternoon. That is great since we are all trying ways to beat the slowed economy. One of my ways is to hang more laundry out than I dry in the dryer. But this is really just normal life for me after many years of living on a shoestring during early marriage and child rearing. There is nothing like the smell of fresh clothing that has hung on the line on a crisp day. A little extra work, yes, but well worth the effort in freshness and economy. Try it. Another tip: carefully laundered white linens can be sun bleached by placing them wet on green bushes or out on the grass in the sunshine. I have often been the privileged recipient of old linens since people know I save them for needlework, cutting the good portions out and using the lace and embroidery. This little trick of laundering them and then placing them on the grass in the sun has resurrected many yellowed treasures. Just make sure they don't blow away and don't let the neighbor's dog drag them off!

I checked the gardens again today and no visible progress has occurred. Can you blame the stuff? It is too late in the year for snow and yet we sure got it. I wouldn't have wanted to poke my head out into this cold yet either if I was a flower. I would put it off until major days of relentless sunshine were upon me. Putting things off.....hmmmm.......

This morning I was reading in Acts 24 about the Apostle Paul standing trial in front of Felix the governor. I noticed that Felix was convicted at one point when Paul was speaking. Make sure you read the 24th chapter and watch his response. When Paul was talking about righteousness, self control, and the coming judgement, Felix became uneasy. He sent Paul away and told him that when it was "convenient" he would call for him again. Wow! Is that ever the way we people are when it comes to spiritual things. Don't put off the promptings of the Spirit when they occur. You never know what you may be missing. If you have not yielded to the promptings of the Lord to receive His grace and salvation, what better time is there than today? Today is the day of salvation, according to the Bible. It is not worth putting off until tomorrow. There may not be a tomorrow. But that's not all. If you are a Christian already, do not put off those things that the Lord is telling you to do. The Lord is counting on you to represent Him in the world.

Got into sewing a little spring dress today for Emma. It turned out differently than I thought since I decided to use what I had in the drawers and stash of ribbons and fabric rather than purchasing anything new. It's cuter than I could have imagined if I had spent tons of money on new supplies. So, sew, rewarding, and another economy beater! Hope you all are having a wonderful day in the sun. Blessingss, LORI

We arrived home from our southern vacation last night at about 7:30. We had gotten a call from our daughter saying a storm had come through our area leaving thousands without power. We then decided that we might as well take our time coming home and even possibly stay one more night somewhere. So we drove rather slowly through Indiana, stopping to shop here and there. Later in the afternoon we got word that the power was back on and so we headed home only to find that Michigan had received several inches of snow while we were gone. What a sight to come home to after a week in the south with spring weather!

I had never been further south than Kentucky in the spring and what a delightful surprise this trip was! The beautiful redbud trees lined the highways in profusion. I thought we had alot of them in Michigan, but I think the south has us beat! As we traveled further south, the dogwoods were just abundant in the woods of Alabama. Breathakingly beautiful! I so enjoyed spending time outdoors for the first time this year. I felt almost rude as I kept trying to get outside when I should have been visiting with friends. I so miss the outdoors after a long winter and it's hard to describe how I long for spring.

We had many wonderful experiences while visiting friends in various places. One friend we visited has a cave on his property. Even though he and his wife weren't home when we arrived (we just popped in unannounced for a short visit), some people working at their house invited us to explore the property. We did and took a short walk back into their land. A pleasant little creek that runs through their yard seems to originate in the cave. How beautiful! The day was sunny and the woods surrounding the land were filled with the flowering trees of spring.

When we arrived in the Nashville area, it was like coming home. Having visited there so many times, it's becoming familiar. We met my cousins from Kentucky and stayed at a wonderful guest house in one of the smaller towns. It was a great time for renewing friendships and just relaxing. We went into the city a few times and went "antiquing" and out to eat. We also walked the mall right before going to the Opry. As usual, the Opry was loads of fun.

Back to the cabin in Eastern Tennessee for a minute: I got a little knitting done on two sweaters while I was gone and that seemed nice. I had alot of uninterrupted time while we were in that area. We got to our cabin in the afternoon and decided to go exploring the local area and get groceries. We grilled steak--a treat for us--that evening. This cabin was way back in a wooded area with a pond just off the front porch. Very quiet and much time for knitting. The second day there we did a little shopping at the local stores and intended to come back and enjoy porch sitting. That didn't work as a cold front was moving in and the winds kicked up rapidly making it nearly impossible to spend time outside on the porch. Before very late in the evening a huge rain hit the area and it rained heavily all evening and most of the night.

We tasted so many wonderful foods while we were gone. I had chocolate gravy for the first time--mmm, mmm! We also had smoked chicken salad, fried squash, fried okra, black-eyed peas, country fried steak, crab cakes, dumplings, cornbread dressing, homemade potato chips, and the list goes on!!

Good to be home and see Emma. She loved the little tin painted egg complete with fuzzy chick that Granny brought her from the south. So good to see her. We read "Over in the Meadow" about five times last evening!

It was back to work this morning. I hurried in to clean the local library before they opened. Staring right in on the old routine. I guess vacations can only last so long! Blessings, LORI