Nope, didn’t fall off the face of the planet, so don’t worry I’ve been so incredibly busy & I promise I will catch up on my emails and phone calls…

I took some advice from one of my best friends, Debbie (also known as my Titus 2 woman), and rested. Wait- I’ve been “so incredibly busy” but rested at the same time? I guess you could say, I’ve been busy resting…lol.

For once, I’m not fretting over unloading the dishes, packing my hubby’s lunch, or doing laundry. Instead, I’m trying to make the most of the time - with my family & and by giving myself some much needed quiet time. Seriously, I got to take a nap on Tuesday - woo hoo! Even if I dust today, more will come back tomorrow…so why worry about it…especially when we could be playing outside in the leaves!

So, even though I have SO much that I want to write about: like my awesome CVS trip, my new online Bible study with my friend, Abbie (she makes the Compassion Friends, remember?), my new knitting projects from some books I received from my amazing friend, Laura, as well as our apple picking adventure on Saturday…

it might - and probably - will have to wait until I’m done resting

Yesterday it was cold. And it rained…and rained ALL.DAY.LONG. Yes, Fall is here. Don’t get me wrong, Fall is my favorite season - the cooler weather (or as I like to refer to as “jacket weather”), shorter days (I love waking up when it’s still dark out!), and the colors of the leaves changing (the red ones are my favorite!) put a smile on my face. But the rain…well, I could do without so much of it. The grass gets all squishy and gets tracked inside the house. More recently though, I found not one, but two small leaks in the roof of our closet yesterday morning. Drip…drip…drip….onto our carpeted floor.

That’s right, I said SMALL leaks on our CARPETED floor. Think about that for a moment…

Now think about what having a roof leak might be like if you lived in a home like this:

A typical home in Uganda or Kenya, like the one above, is made from mud with dirt floors, and either has an iron sheet or thatched roof. The homes are small with usually one room - they don’t have the luxury of a closet.

Well at least they don’t have to worry about squishy grass right? Right, during the rainy season, a rushing river of water down their unpaved dirt roads is way better…(that was sarcasm…)

And in the dry season? Most people get their drinking water from either a seasonal river or hand-dug wells, both of which are contaminated. People walk miles each day to haul water back home. There’s no quick drive to the grocery store to purchase crisp and clean bottled water, or food for that matter. (I’ve written about the Global Food Crisis before).

So how can you help? Through Compassion International, you can sponsor a child, give to the Global Food Crisis Fund, or even make a one time donation. Visit Compassion to see what else you can do to make a difference.

“He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD,
and he will reward him for what he has done.”
~Proverbs 19:17 (NIV)

I’ll admit it - I’m obsessed. I can’t walk past a window in our house without looking out to see if there are any finches feeding from our homemade birdfeeders. There usually are…with some waiting for their turn, as a matter of fact (Note to self: Must make more…I guess five feeders isn’t enough). We’ve spaced them all over our three acres, but my favorite is the one right outside our kitchen window. We can see them, but they obviously can’t see us, since we don’t scare them off as we spy on them. Corinne loves telling me there’s a bird feeding by saying, “teet teet teet!” as she points out the window.

So for craft time, I thought feathers would be an appropriate material to use. Corinne glued the feathers & fuzzy balls onto paper & Lilli decorated her own bird from an empty toilet paper roll that I had cut out during nap time. She said she is going to “hang it outside to scare away the mean Blue Jays!” I don’t know about that, since she did an excellent job at making such a beautiful bird

Picture it: Mid-March, a young mother of two (with one on the way) plants a variety of vegetable seeds in small containers in hopes of producing a bountiful harvest come mid summer and early fall. What was this mother thinking?! Was she thinking? Obviously not. That mother was me and I can tell you…I was dreaming… dreaming BIG!

I had originally planted carrot, snap pea, broccoli, tomato, & strawberry seeds in peat containers. Yes, they sprouted and yes, they grew….all of them. And they all became too much to deal with. I mean, c’mon, I have two darling daughters to care for 24/7, as well as a household, two dogs, and I’m now 32 weeks pregnant (which means I’m tired…lol). How in the heck was I going to make that 2 acre walk to the rear of our yard to take care of a garden as well…mulitiple times a day? I wasn’t. So I had to ditch some of the more “needy” vegetables. The carrots had to go, as well as the snap peas - which can grow to 6 feet tall. Michael constructed a couple of his own Earth Boxes for me, in which I decided to plant some of the broccoli. The others I planted in random pots. I’m actually really curious to see which broccoli plants produce better - Earth Box or regular pots. The tomato plants I planted in last year’s real Earth Box. I know they’ll do well since last year was a huge success. The strawberry plants are still in smaller containers, but will be planted in the garden area, which Michael dug & filled with good dirt. This took him HOURS and I feel so silly not being able to use it for the mega-garden that I had planned for. (It’s amazing the stuff he does for me…just an amazing provider!) But at least the strawberries will have much room to spread out and produce a lot of fruit next year.

So here’s a picture of what my “Garden-ette” looks like at the moment. I still have to position them where I want them and tidy up…but I suppose that’s why it’s my Work In Progress for today

Spring is here…the flowers are blooming, birds are chirping, and our pond seems to be the “cool place to hang out” for all the frogs and turtles this side of the mountain.

A couple weeks ago, during a rainstorm, Michael spotted a turtle crossing our yard to meet his friends. But before he could join that party, Michael brought him to the front porch to say hello to the Clarke ladies.

We have yet to catch any frogs…they are just too darn fast! So in the mean time, we decided to make some frogs of our own:

I’m sure you can figure out how we made these critters just from the photos alone, but here are the directions anyway
What you will need:
Green, Red, Pink, & Black Construction Paper
White Crayon
Glue Stick
Scissors

1. Fold green construction paper in half and cut a half circle, starting at the crease (when you open the cut out half circle, you will have a large circle). This is the frog’s head

2. Repeat with the pink construction paper, however make this half circle smaller. This is the inside of the frog’s mouth.

3. Align the creases of the two circles together, with the pink inside the green, and glue together.

4. Repeat step 1 for black construction paper for his eyes (these half circles should be significantly smaller).

5. Fill in as much white for the eyes as you’d like on one side of the black half circle.

6. Glue opposite side of the black half circle onto the top of the frog’s head.

7. Cut out a LONG rectangular strip of red construction paper and scrunch it (as if you were making a fan). This is his tongue.

8. Glue one end of scrunched tongue close to the top crease in the pink circle. (When you scrunch up the tongue and close his mouth, the tongue should pop out when you open it back up…this gets quite a laugh!)

9. Enjoy your new friends!

There’s nothing like getting flowers, especially from a man who loves you. Lilli learned this yesterday when her Poppa surprised her with a little pot of Fuschia “Shadow Dancers”. She had been talking about how much she loves “pink and purple flowers” so this flower was perfect! I have never seen anything like it…so I Googled it and found that it would do quite well in the pots in our front yard where it is partly shady. After heading back to the nursery today to purchase more, we planted them in our pots out front. Lilli loves looking at her flowers and promises to “take good care of them.” My family just makes my heart melt

About a month ago, Michael made finch feeders from pop bottles. This was actually inspired by my maternal grandfather - I remember him making them when I was a child…he was careful to describe (in detail - no matter how long it took…lol) how and why he made them the way he did. Unfortunately I don’t remember the designing details, but I would have to say that one of my favorite memories from visiting my grandparents would be watching the yellow finches and black capped chickadees feed from the back porch. I wanted to relive that memory and pass it on to my girls.

Well this past week we FINALLY had some activity! I was beginning to worry that our random pop bottles hanging from the trees in our back yard would just, well, be that. So far, we’ve spotted the American Goldfinch, Purple finch, and Black-capped Chickadee. Hopefully as the weather continues to warm up, our Hummingbird feeder will see as much activity…and hopefully I can have my camera handy in time

When I think of spring, I think of bluebirds, blossoming flowers, a nice cool breeze, and animals frolicking about. What I DON’T think of is:

NORTHWEST WIND GUSTS UP TO 45 MPH EXPECTED THROUGH THIS EVENING BEHIND A STRONG COLD FRONT; PARTLY CLOUDY, HIGH 47 (FEELS LIKE 39), LOW 32 (FEELS LIKE 20).

Yes, folks, that is the Winchester forecast for today - the first day of spring. Hmph

Spring is exactly one month away! Yet, as I write this, snow flurries are dancing around my back yard.

This year, we’ve decided to plant green beans, broccoli, carrots, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, and Lilli’s favorite: strawberries! Last year was my first year gardening and was quite a learning experience…but I had to start somewhere! This year I’ve decided to do things a little (okay, a lot) different. I’m starting these plants from seeds, rather than buying an already sprouting plant as I had done last year. Michael is also going to build me a raised planting bed, since (as we discovered last year) our entire area is comprised of shale…not the most fertile ground. And most importantly, I’ve done my research this time around rather than “winging it.” Virginia Tech has a great planting guide for our area. According to the guide, I can start planting my peas on March 1st! Taking into account that I can NEVER trust the “predictable” weather, I’ve decided to start my seeds indoors. Not only will this give me a sense of peace knowing that my seeds won’t come across an accidental frost, but it will allow Lilli to have more of a hands on learning experience at an earlier stage in the gardening process.

We have decided to postpone our chicken plans this year. It didn’t really hit us until a few weeks ago that we’ll have a new baby in July, which doesn’t leave much time to tend to chickens…lol. So, we’ll just have to continue buying those perfect farm-fresh eggs from the Schrock’s for a little longer - darn

I never really have just one resolution…there’s so much I know I can work on. So here they are for 2008:

****Study the Bible Daily****
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” ~Psalm 119:105

Last year I was really good about this. Then summer came and I wanted to enjoy the outdoors with the girls. Soaking up the sun while Lilli played in her kiddie pool took priority over God’s Word. Looking back, I still could have enjoyed time with Lilli outside - but I could have brought my Bible & study outside with us, instead of thinking that I would “make time to do it later” (which of course I never got around to doing).

****Be more respectful towards my husband.****
“You wives will submit to your husbands as you do to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of his body, the church; He gave His life to be her Savior. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives must submit to your husbands in everything. And you husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God’s word.” ~Ephesians 5:22-2

I think I’m respectful…when I want to be. Here’s a good example: I sometimes tend to feel that my unneccessary deceptive feelings are more important than everything else going on around me. You know, like when a thought gets in your mind that won’t go away…dwelling on things that have no importance…that you have no control over…I’m sure you’ve experienced that a time or two. Michael has a way of snapping me back into reality and shining a light on the truth. (It’s an amazing gift God has given him!) Sometimes I’m respectful and accept his words of wisdom…and other times I just want to pout…to lash out…to dwell on those feelings because they “feel” so important when in reality, they’re not. I need to remember that my dear husband has my best interest in mind and isn’t merely shooing my delicate feelings aside. He is actually helping me know the truth. God has given me a wonderful husband who has helped me grow so much and I know he will continue to do so.

****Recycle****
Michael showed me this article this morning and it shocked me: Continents of Floating Garbage
We recycle cans, plastic jugs, and glass, but I don’t go out of my way to recycle things that my center doesn’t accept (plastic items that don’t have a “neck,” magazines, etc). This article has motivated me to recycle as many things as I can!