FLOWERS

Here are a few older pictures from earlier in the summer before the worst of the drought set in. This drought and heat wave is the worst I ever remember in all my 51 years. People are saying it's the worst since some time in the 1950's. Even though I took this picture quite some time ago, you can see that my yard beyond the garden is brown already.

Even during the drought, my hollyhocks, favorites of mine--and Eileen's from my book, "A Sturdy Fence," grew and blossomed profusely. Eileen tells Luke that hollyhocks are not flowers you'd see alone in bouquets like roses or carnations, but they do best blooming where they're planted, against sturdy fences, or in my case, where they volunteer--against farm buildings. Our temperatures were in the upper 90's and low 100's for days on end. This hot trend continued for weeks and hasn't actually let up yet. We've had only the occasional cooler day. I am ready for fall after all this!

This is a picture of white sweet peas against an old bed frame at the back of the English garden. The drought had not taken its toll yet in this picture. I do have a soft spot for "garden junk!"

Daylilies in profusion surround my front porch, back deck, and some places in the English garden. Normally they bloom repeatedly all summer, but this year in the drought, they bloomed once and I am concerned that I may have lost many of them after that. I cut them back this evening and am hoping for a 'rebirth' of flowers now that we've had a little rain, but we are still way, way behind normal rainfall and the leaves on these pretty flowers are all yellow and brown. We'll see. I originally started all the many plants from one start given to me by a friend in Iowa. I hate to lose them after all that effort of splitting and waiting for another season!

One more random picture from the English Garden.

Hoping your area is experiencing good weather. Blessings, LORI

Lily, the Garden Cat

I wanted to share some recent garden photos with you! Here's my cat, Lily, peeking out from under my garden coffee table. Too bad the camera strap blew into the picture right when I snapped it!

Next is a bunch of "Love-In-A-Mist" or Nigella flowers that freely self-sow in my garden each year. I love them!

Next is a view of the back of the house through lace! I like to see the world through lace! I hang this old tablecloth and sheer curtains on the old bed frame each spring. It makes a nice gentle canopy of diffused light where I can sit and read in the middle of the English Garden.

This is Lily, the garden cat. She loves to leap from one large stone to another as she stalks bugs and other things that creep around in the garden.

Lily relaxing on a garden bench. 

Please be sure to see my previous post about the historic church! Blessings from the English Garden!

THOUGHTS FROM A FORMER PASTOR'S WIFE--PART FOUR

I am excited to post another installment of my "Thoughts From a Former Pastor's Wife," and show you some of the garden's latest glories! Above is a lavender liatris and below some peachy colored daylilies! I've been picking wild blackberries as big as your thumb, but I think today was the last picking!

THOUGHT NUMBER THREE--FITTING IN TO A NEW CHURCH

There is a strange phenomenon that occurs for a former pastor and his wife--fitting in to a new church. With us exiting the picture we hoped it would be possible for the new pastor to carry out his duties without former leadership clogging the way. There was simply no other way to handle this. That meant we needed to find another church, though we currently still live in the same community.

We did this in one simple stroke. We never visited anywhere else, we just knew where we should be. Our new church has been wonderful to us and we are "pastored" for the first time in a long time. We have completed some of the membership classes that they offer and are currently making our way through the various trainings they recommend.

However, there are drawbacks in moving from leadership to congregational member. I never realized how easy it was for me to attend church when I was paid to do it! I'm ashamed to admit it! I never could understand why everyone else wasn't there every time the doors were open like we were. Now that we have a different schedule and I work as well, I realize the difficulties families faced in making it to church functions. Plus, I always knew the schedule of EVERYTHING going on at church since Clint kept the calendar. I was used to just hopping in the car whenever it left the house and it was a given that I'd be in it and ready for church. Now we must make an effort to stay abreast of what's happening in our new church. It's a bigger church and in another town. All these factors make it challenging to attend every function.

I also think there was in my mind and heart a great desire to be accepted coupled with some trepidation about how another church would receive a former leader. I am not sure how much of my wonderings were fact-based or just imagination. We have been received warmly and embraced. But think about it, how many "FORMER" pastors and wives do you know?

If they came to your church, what would you do with them?

Are they valuable to you or a threat?

How does the leadership at your church view them?

Thoughts to consider. I think the American church needs to deal with these questions since church doors are closing at an alarming rate which in turn means pastors have the need to be absorbed into other churches at an alarming rate. Many couples each year become former pastors, thrust into secular employment and a new church due to various circumstances.

I hope you will consider the things I've said and think of former pastors you know. Maybe this little glimpse into our lives will help you relate to former pastoral couples should your paths cross! More in future posts.....Blessings, LORI

THOUGHTS FROM A FORMER PASTOR'S WIFE--PART THREE

THOUGHT NUMBER THREE--Results of leaving a pastorate

I, personally, have probably experienced the most identifiable challenges since we left the pastorate. I have been told that issues in the pastorate affect the pastor, doubly affect his wife, and triply (is that a word?) affect his children. I can attest to this very fact--I now believe it is true, for whatever reason—that’s just the way it works.

Things that have personally been a challenge to me mostly fall into two categories, the first being the realm of vision and ministry. I was heavily involved in the ministry alongside my husband though at times a casual onlooker would have had a hard time discerning what that role was and I had the freedom to step back if I got overly busy--so sometimes I did. I taught older level Sunday school classes, occasionally preached, and attended most leadership meetings along with elders and their wives. I took an active part in helping set vision and whatever else went on with leadership roles. This was a "behind the scenes" function that most of the church never saw. Being a creative, type-A personality, I think I was often a visionary and insrumental in helping with much of the direction and details we walked out together, while at the same time I was always trying to juggle my natural leadership traits so as to not overstep a biblical role. I had launched at least one major ministry while at the church that is still thriving six or so years later and many of the ideas we shared for the direction of the church we arrived at through discussions between the two of us at home or with the other couples in leadership meetings.


The results of this new post-pastorate role for me were at first a huge sense of euphoria that we could finally relax and leave behind the aspects of the position that were not working, for whatever reason--the job duties we did not seem suited for (everyone has special gifts but no one embodies all the gifts--only Jesus gets that distinction!). A definite sense of relief immediately flooded the household after the resignation and we found more peace than we had seen in years. Maybe this is because it was truly time for us to leave this position and so God's blessing naturally followed. Mabye it was the demands of the job that were suddenly removed. Maybe it was because the phone rang exponentially less than before, maybe it was the excitement of making a major life change. I do not know for sure, maybe all of the above.

I now find I miss being involved in ground-level planning--a definite function of leadership.


More on the second most challenging thing for me coming up in a future post--stay tuned!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures of the English Garden and my vegetable garden hollyhock, complete with a busy bee! Can you see the humidity "hanging in the air" in the garden picture? It's been very, very hot and humid here for a week. We are hoping for some relief. This morning we woke up to a thick fog over everything!

Blessings, LORI

KNIPHOFIA FOREST--SHARING BOUQUETS FROM MY GARDEN

I thought you might like to see one of the more unusual plants in my English Garden--the Kniphofia, or Red Hot Poker. This plant was given to me by a friend and it easily multiplies. I'm getting quite a collection of them. I think they are very interesting. I'm trying to get other things planted among them that will bloom at the same time since they are a little stark by themselves, however, they really do lend interest to a garden! They look like orange flames or tall candles.
Below the plants you can see one of my garden stones. This is the first one I ever made. Yesterday we were cleaning out the barn and I devoted more of my old dishes that used to be garden border dishes for making garden stones in the future. I use the broken bits of plates, jewelry, etc. for creating beautiful stones for the pathways.

Today we were privileged to have lunch with cousins visiting from Tennessee. We met them after church. and it was great to visit even for a short time. I hope you had a blessed Sunday! LORI

HOLLYHOCKS AND HONEYSUCKLE

I am anxious to share a few flower photographs with you! My first hollyhock of the season is blooming right outside my laundry room window! Hooray! Hollyhocks are one of my favorite flowers.

Next is the amazing honeysuckle. This humble vine was "borrowed" from JT and Kori's house. It is so fragrant its scent permeates the entire English Garden. What a treat to sit out there (if the mosquitoes don't carry you away) and enjoy it's perfume. My English Garden is way in the far corner of the back yard, far from the house. I noticed yesterday that the honeysuckle perfume hits you about 20 feet before you get to the garden!

We have been very busy. I've worked 4 days this week and will work 4 next week as well. We also started cleaning the barn in anticipation of a BIG sale! Today I washed all my garden dishes--none were put out this year...yet. I smashed a few for garden stones and kept a few for a playhouse in case we ever can put one up for the granddaughters. The rest are ready for a garden!

Have a great Sunday! I hope you will attend church and remind your pastor and his wife that you appreciate them! Blessings, LORI

NEW OLD PICTURES AND EXPLANATIONS

THANKS FOR THE INQUIRY INTO WHAT'S IN THE BACKGROUND OF THE SECOND PICTURE ON THE LAST POST!

SINCE THE GARDEN IS NOWHERE NEAR AS NEAT AND PRETTY AS IN OTHER YEARS, I DECIDED TO DO WHAT I DID TWO POSTS AGO AND RUN MORE PICTURES FROM LAST YEAR FOR ALL YOU WHO ARE NEW TO FOLLOWING MY BLOG. IF YOU DIDN'T SEE THE POST BEFORE LAST, PLEASE TAKE A LOOK FOR ANOTHER VIEW OF A CORNER OF THE GARDEN AND MY FAVORITE LITTLE GIRLS.

WHAT YOU WERE SEEING ON THE LAST POST IS AN OLD QUEEN SIZED IRON BED FRAME. I BOUGHT IT AT A GARAGE SALE AND USUALLY HANG A LACE TABLECLOTH OVER THE TOP AND CURTAINS AT THE CORNERS. THIS GIVES DIFFUSED LIGHT FOR READING OUT THERE. THE BED FRAME IS BURIED PART WAY IN THE SOIL AND HAS BEEN THERE FOR 5 YEARS OR SO NOW. IT'S LIKE A LITTLE GARDEN ROOM WITH CHAIRS AND A TABLE INSIDE!

AS FOR THE BOTTLE VASES, I SAW THE IDEA AND LOVED IT. I TOOK WIRE AND TWISTED IT AROUND THE NECK AS TIGHTLY AS I COULD--NOT AS EASY AS IT SOUNDS--AND THEN AROUND THE POSTS. HOPE YOU ENJOYED TOURING MY LAST YEAR'S GARDEN!

I'VE BEEN 'CLOSING IN' ON BOOK THREE IN MY SERIES--I REALLY AM FINALLY ALMOST READY TO GO TO PRINT! PRAY FOR ME ON THIS! Blessings, LORI

MY LATEST RECLAIMED JUNK

HOW DO YOU LIKE MY NEWEST GARDEN JUNK?

Lo and behold, I found some bottles in a ravine where some junk had been dumped on our new property. I snatched these old glass bottles to use as garden vases.

I really like them and think they will add a bit of interest to the garden.

I have old plates that I usuallly bury halfway in the borders, so bottles seemed like an appropriate addition. I haven't gotten the plates out yet this year and might not. The garden is really at its peak right now and if last year was an indicator, it's all downhill from here. We'll see. Hope you enjoyed this garden update! Blessings, LORI

FALL FENCEROW FILIGREE

I wish I had had this picture of the lacey little cabbage earlier in the summer when I did a post on "Nature's Lace." Check it out at http://lorizehr.blogspot.com/2010_06_01_archive.html It would have been perfect. I was pretty excited to see it in my garden this time of year when everything else is dry, brown, and frostbitten. I love light green and off white together--it's one of my favorite combinations in clothing, dishes, etc. This pretty little cabbage is just as nice as a rose, if you ask me and should have been in the other post!

We've been having unusually nice weather here this week and so I went out to the English garden to do a little more fall cleanup. I was surprised to find this bittersweet growing in profusion in the nearby fencerow. It is very pretty and I had no idea that it was there. What a nice surprise.

We've had a very busy week and I haven't had time to post anything yet so I hope you enjoy these few pictures until something more exciting comes up in my knitting, baking, or homemaking world!

DEDICATION SERVICE AND FASHION RUNWAY!

I feel kind of "sheepish" including such a spiritual subject as "Dedication Day," with fashion news....but the truth is....the two little ladies had cute new dresses! Even Granny had a new dress that was made the week before for the wedding of a friend.

On Mother's Day we had what we normally refer to as "baby dedication," at our church. Emma and Sophia were the only two children dedicated this particular time. Our church does not baptize infants because we adhere to what we term as "believer's baptism." Therefore, we only baptize people upon their confession of faith. Sometimes older children are mature enough to understand baptism and so occasionally they are baptized, but only after they come to an understanding of salvation and can ask for baptism themselves. Instead of baby baptism, we have a dedication ceremony in which the parents come forward and we pray for the children, blessing them and charging the parents and the congregation to bring them up in the nurture of the Lord. Clint preached a wonderful sermon on the Proverbs 31 woman and the church presented each lady with a rose.

This last Sunday was Emma and Sophie's special day! Granny made dresses for them. I think I wrote about the dresses several months ago. Yes, I began the construction on them quite a while back. We were getting a little anxious thinking that Sophie would outgrow hers before the ceremony. You can see the pretty details of her two piece gown in the picture of her in the chair. Her dress and Emma's were made of the same fabrics with a few different details. Emma's had a bolero jacket, while Sophie's had a long scalloped-edged coat with ruched ribbon. Both girls had dresses of silky rose fabric covered in sheer shimmery fabric. Emma's featured a matching lace belt at the bodice and Sophie's had two rows of ivory lace at the hem. Don't they look cute?

My dress was the one I recently made from a Folkwear pattern. It is fashioned after the turn of the century tea dresses worn in the early 1900's. I love it. I found enough fabric while in Iowa to make 5 more for about $30. Each one will be different and the sheer overdresses will mix and match with all the underdress fabric I purchased! CAN YOU SAY, 'GOOD BARGAIN!?'

You will notice in the one picture that we are posing in one of my favorite places--in front of the spirea out in my English garden. Taking formal pictures in front of spirea is one of my favorite traditions. Clint and I have a treasured prom picture of us back in 1980 in front of his grandma's huge spirea. I was wearing a "Gunne Sax" pattern dress, specially made for the occasion. Spirea are one of my favorite flowers and they figure in to my first book, "The Fields of May." You need to read the book to see why!

What a wonderful day it was! Mother's Day was very special to me this year as we watched our two little granddaughters dedicated to the Lord. It kind of made all the years of parenting come into perspective. After church, both moms and Rhiannon and JT, Kori, and Emma and Sophie all came over for dinner. We used the new china I was given by my mother in law. We set a beautiful table complete with lace tablecloth, bouquet from the English garden, and stemware, just to eat grilled burgers, brats, hot dogs, and baked beans! Oh, well, sometimes you must celebrate the simple things in life!!!! Blessings, LORI