Organified

I'm sure I've said this before, but I'd love to start growing my own vegetables. My grandparents used to have a vegetable garden overflowing with squash, zucchini, tomatoes, new potatoes, lettuce etc. and there was nothing better than picking vegetables with my grandmamma during the day and having them for dinner that night. Even as a little girl, it just felt right and it tasted so good. Their refrigerator and freezer was always stocked full of fresh veggies, and they were able to give away so much food! We also had a plum tree growing in our backyard when I was little… it was huge and it produced so much fruit every summer! I can still remember the way it smelled in the backyard, sweet from the plums that fell and squished into the ground… mixed with the scent of honeysuckle. We'd be outside late, jumping on the trampoline, and it was still light out. When you got hungry you could just walk over to the plum tree and have a fresh plum. Our neighbors would come over and pick some to take home with them, too. Those memories bring a smile to my face!

I would just love to be that person that’s always giving away their tomatoes & squash… “we have too much, here, take some okra!” Plus, if you’re growing it, you know where it comes from and what’s in it. It would be great to be self sufficient in that area and be able to freeze vegetables for the winter as well. I’m pretty sure that’s what people did before Kroger and Sam’s came along… and I wish I could get back to that.

These pics are of the sunflowers (and a friendly grasshopper) I grew in my front yard this summer. I was so proud of them!

Sleepless in MS

I'm blogging from my bed, using my phone. So sleepy but somethings nagging at me. I needed a day off work today so bad... There's so much I need and want to do from reading more to taking care of some stuff around the house. I wanted to relax on the balcony, breathe, enjoy life - then I got to work and the phone didn't stop ringing. How can a device be so absolutly annoying? Each ring represents another question, another number on the to-do list, another complaint or request. It wears me out. My actual work doesn't bother me - I like it. Just that phone! Maybe it'll go out tomorrow :)
Nigh night...
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

The Book Deal

Just in case you're making out your summer reading list and finding it to be a little slim, I'll give you some of my favorite reads.

(author's note: I started this post June 3rd and didn't finish until June 16th, so I'm just going to stick to one book for now! More to follow as I have more time to write!)

1. Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore- This book was recommended to me by several different people and I think it is the best book I've ever read, hands down. It is life changing. http://www.samekindofdifferentasme.com/
Here are some things I've taken away from this book:

If God puts it on your heart to respond to a homeless person's request for money, then give them money and don't judge them for what they do with it...that's God's job and you will receive the blessing.

We have no idea where others are coming from and where they have been. I try so hard not to judge, but that's a reaction that comes much too easily for me. I am working on it...

We are given so many blessings - far too many to count. I look at everything I've been given, and I realize how much I hoard these things... the smallest of which could help another person out tremendously. I think God gives us so many opportunities to help others and we turn our heads and tell ourselves that someone else will do it. We are passing on so many things he's trying to show us.

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the lease of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:35-40

I am often convicted by Christ's words in these verses...

"For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in. I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.

They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' Matthew 25:42-45

Kind of makes you think about giving to the needy doesn't it...? Oh and don't forget to read the book!

Grad School

I found out yesterday that I got accepted to graduate school at Ole Miss. You can't see me right now, but I'm patting myself on the back. I'm pretty excited!

I'll be going back in the fall to get my Masters of Education in School Counseling. I'll still work full time and just take two afternoon classes every week for 3 years. It's a long time looking at it from this side, but I know it will be worth it.

This may seem like it's somewhat out of the blue, but I've wanted to go back to school for a while and every time I tried something just didn't work out. I heard about this program opening up at the DeSoto Center, and things fell into place one by one. I got my application submitted at the last minute, met one of the professors for an interview, then was able to schedule, study for, and take the GRE a few weeks later! I didn't talk about it much because I didn't want to get my hopes up. I just kept thinking, if this is God's will, it will work out. And as nervous as I am, I know that His will is the best path for me so even though these next few years will be challenging, He will be with me each step of the way! A challenging walk beside the Lord is better than trying to do anything "easy" on my own! (Please just remind me of this in 6 months or so!)

Firsts

It's June 1st! The Summer months are finally here, and I love it. Even though I am an "adult" without a summer break I still love the long daylight hours, sitting outside at on hot nights, baseball, getting together for cookouts, and of course, vacations. Speaking of, it's 26 days until ours, not that I'm counting down every second until it gets here or anything...

On Saturday night I experienced a first - boating on the Mississippi River. I've done the whole Riverboat ride thing before (and been to the casinos on the river of course) but had never been really boating on the river. It was much more fun than I expected! We ate pizza, watched a gorgeous sunset, and laughed as our men tried to fish by the light of Memphis. Stephen did manage to catch the boat windshield on his line but that was about it! I don't know what they planned on doing if they caught a 40 pound catfish, but luckily that didn't happen.

This is also our first summer in our new house. I now have my first yard to care for and my first front porch (actually 2 front porches, how much more southern can you get?!). I've enjoyed tending to the few flowers that have bloomed out front. Never having had a green thumb, this is a really big deal for me. At some point I want to be super adventurous and try to grow a vegetable garden, but I think I'll pace myself and save that first for next year...

(summer sunset views from our upstairs balcony)