Gardens, Garage Sales and the Goodwill Store

I'm so excited! My father just gave us some wood to build frames for our garden and I'm hoping to finish it up this weekend. We've planted our tomatoes, peppers, squash and zucchini already and just need to complete the raised beds.

I'm really excited to think about canning some vegetables and preserving jams this year. Last Friday I put up some marmalade...it was a little harder than I thought it would be but it looks sooo pretty and I think it tastes good! (My girls aren't terribly impressed with it but my hubby is...so that's a good thing!! He couldn't believe that I could make it! :) )



Friday evening I attended a dinner party and pepper jelly was served with cream cheese and crackers. OH MY GOODNESS!! I can't believe how good that was! Pepper jelly is the next new thing I am planning to try to preserve!



I don't know what it is about preserving food for your family...and to use as gifts that is so exciting! It's just a wonderful feeling, isn't it?



So, hopefully we will be able to finish the raised beds this weekend. We also are blessed to be able to attend a wedding of a friend's son AND there are neighborhood garage sales close by!!(Gotta love those garage sales! Even better than the Goodwill stores!! And that's saying something!!)



I AM SOOO BLESSED TO HAVE A HUSBAND WHO IS ALSO MY BEST FRIEND WHO ENJOYS THE SAME THINGS THAT I DO! We have such a good time together when we are out at garage sales and "hitting" the goodwill stores...especially on their half price Saturdays!



Well,I need to sign off.... I have LOTS to do......

WALKING THROUGH THE VALLEY

What a lovely day it is today! The temperature is close to perfect! Tomorrow is camping night with a family reunion in the afternoon. My husband and stepson are already there, my children are with their father for the weekend and it is just me at home with the dogs and the cat.



Sometimes solitude is nice. I haven't had much of it...it is hard to do when you have five children and three step children!



Quiet can be nice as well. However, if you're not used to it, it can be a rather uncomfortable thing.



Years ago, when my children's father left me, I had to start taking the children to his apartment. I had been a stay at home, homeschooling mom and almost always had a child...or five...with me at all times. Suddenly, not only was I alone as a newly single mom, but I was faced with "being" alone. I remember dropping the kids off at his home and then struggling for an idea of what to do with my time. The idea of going to a bookstore seemed heavenly to me so off I went. I walked in, past the history section, self help section, psychology section, fiction section....past all the books that most adults would be interested in reading and walked back to where I was USED to going!! The children's section. I pulled up one of those chairs that when you sit in it, your knees are right under your chin and you can't get your legs to fit under the table. I looked around...without my kids...and cried.



That's how it went for quite a long time. (well, I didn't go back to the bookstore for a while...)



I had to find my "place." I had never ever even been in my home ALONE before. I certainly wasn't afraid to be there by myself but the whole idea of being ALONE scared me to death.



I noticed that when I was uncomfortable or nervous about something, I'd play with my wedding ring on my left hand. Of course, it was gone. My marriage, my security, was gone. Even my children were TEMPORARILY gone. I was really ALONE.



I had to learn to reach out to people, let people reach out to me (hard for me to do...accepting help from anyone...) and especially realize that my STRENGTH came from the Lord. I had to reach out to Him and let Him reach out to me.



THAT'S WHEN I REALIZED THAT I WAS NEVER ALONE!!!!



I was having to remake my life...putting Christ as the HEAD...where He should have been all along. I realized that suddenly, I could really truly have a Christian home for once. I WAS MAKING THE DECISIONS AND I WAS GOING TO HAVE GOD BE THE CENTER OF MY HOME.



THIS IS NOT AT ALL ENCOURAGING DIVORCE....NOT AT ALL!!! NOT AT ALL!!! THE BIBLE IS CLEAR REGARDING DIVORCE. I'm just saying that there IS a light at the end of the tunnel. Don't let anyone force you to believe the lie that your life is over or ruined. Our God is an Awesome God! He alone knows what is best for you and He will take care of you.



There were so many things that I learned as a single mother that I would never have learned before...or maybe He has tried to teach me but I wasn't open to learning until then.



There were so many financial miracles that He performed in our hour of need...or hours of need... that I wouldn't have seen or appreciated when I was financially "well off." While I don't ever want to go through that time of my life, I am so happy to know what I now know.



There was a song witten by the late Dottie Rambo that I learned when I was a little girl that I have always loved that seems to sum it up nicely...much better than I could!



"Thank you for the valley I walked through today.

The darker the valley, the more I learned to pray.

Thank you for every lonely night...

I prayed til I knew everything was alright..

And I thank you for the valleyI walked through today!"

Do Something Nice

Sometimes it doesn't hurt to just step out and do something nice for someone for no particular reason. I don't mean doing something nice for someone you LOVE, that's easy and should be done regularly! Do something for someone NOT in your life.
I think it puts a smile on your face for a long time...it HAS to be good for you!
It will bring happiness to someone ELSE also.
Several years ago I was at a Christmas concert/drama at the very large church that I belonged to. It was an evening performance and it had snowed. My children and I were late getting out to our van and most of the vehicles left in the parking lot were the performers. I knew that they had been doing the same performance for several weekends and they held down full time jobs. I decided that it would be nice to show some appreciation if I would scrape the snow off their cars after I scraped mine. It didn't take too much effort but it sure made me feel good. I don't know whose cars I cleaned off and those people have no idea that it was me but that doesn't matter. I still feel great when I remember having done that. I guess I would have to say that I was being just as selfish as I was being NICE because it made me feel so good! (I used it as an opportunity to teach my kids about being "NICE." One of them asked me whose cars they were and I said, "I don't know, I just wanted to do something NICE.")
Doing something NICE can be as little as letting someone go in front of you in line at the grocery store, picking up something someone has dropped, holding the door for someone. LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO BE NICE!!! This world can be so mean and hateful...it's wonderful to come across someone who is NICE!