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Samantha planted some sunflowers at the end of Spring. The soil was too tough for all but one to grow. So I tilled it up real good and added more dirt. We then planted more sunflowers, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, strawberries and watermelon. It isn't a big garden, just a little patch of earth for Tylor and Samantha to manage.
A few days ago we noticed we have three baby watermelons, a squash and the sunflowers have finally bloomed!
Samantha said, "we must be taking good care of them!"
"Please pick my flowers,"
Today I turn 31.
Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing (2 Cor. 6:10) Sorrow was beautiful, but his beauty was the beauty of the moonlight shining through the leafy branches of the trees in the woods. His gentle light made little pools of silver here and there on the soft green moss of the forest floor. And when he sang his song was like the low, sweet calls of the nightingale, and in his eyes was the unexpectant gaze of someone who has ceased to look for coming gladness. He could weep in tender sympathy with those who weep, but to rejoice with those who rejoice was unknown to him. Joy was beautiful, too, but hers was the radiant beauty of a summer morning. Her eyes still held the happy laughter of childhood, and her hair glistened with the sunshine's kiss. When she sang, her voice soared upward like a skylark's, and her steps were the march of a conqueror who has never known defeat. She could rejoice with anyone who rejoices, but to weep with those who weep was unknown to her. Sorrow longingly said, "we can never be united as one." "No, never," responded Joy, with eyes misting as she spoke, "for my path lies through the sunlit meadows, the sweetest roses bloom when I arrive, and the songbirds await my coming to sing their most joyous melodies." "Yes, and my path," said Sorrow, turning slowly away, "leads through the dark forest, and moonflowers, which open only at night, will fill my hands. Yet the sweetest of all earthly songs - the love songs of the night - will be mine. So farewell, dear Joy, farewell." Yet even as Sorrow spoke, he and Joy became aware of someone standing beside them. In spite of the dim light, they sensed a kingly Presence, and suddenly a great and holy awe overwhelmed them. They then sank to their knees before Him. "I see Him as the King of Joy," whispered Sorrow, "for on His head are many crowns, and nailprints in His hands and feet are the scars of a great victory. And before Him all my sorrow is melting away into deathless love and gladness. I now give myself to Him forever." "No, Sorrow," said Joy softly, "for I see Him as the King of Sorrow, and the crown on His head is the crown of thorns, and the nailprints in His hands and feet are the scars of terrible agony. I also give myself to Him forever, for sorrow with Him must be sweeter than any joy I have ever known." "Then we are one in Him," they cried in gladness, "for no one but He could unite Joy and Sorrow." Therefore they walked hand in hand into the world, to follow Him through storms and sunshine, through winter's severe cold and the warmth of summer's gladness, and to be "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." Taken from my daily devotional Streams in the Desert
I received a sweet award from Lisa :) Thank you Lisa for all your kindness that you have given to me. So here is another opportunity to acknowledge seven blogs that I love. Tricia Scott, Kasie Sallee, Marie Wallace, Nina Bagley, Rebecca Woodward, Restyled Home, The Hermitage
God has promised, "I will strengthen you" (Isa. 41:10)
The falling rain of yesterday is ruby on the roses,
The falling rain of yesterday makes all the hillside glisten,
O faint heart, storm-beaten, this rain will shine tomorrow,
"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." - Albert Einstein
The new neighbor owns a landscaping business and makes his crew cut his grass every Friday! Last Friday I said to Tylor that I didn't look forward to listening to those loud mowers and he said,"Well, that's what music is for Mommy." He is so wise :) I miss them, they're in school now, they started Wednesday. I know - the middle of the week? Anyway, the neighbor has his grass army here and so... I just cranked up my music :)
“Joy is not in things; it is in us” -Richard Wagner This quote reminds me of the Soul Catcher journal that I have. It is a very difficult but very intimate book that encourages you to find your true self. In it are the beginnings of sentences for you to finish like "In my wildest dreams I..." or "Here's what I need to do..." I love this book and the art in it is so dear to my heart. I fell in love with one particular painting that goes with the chapter "Joy and Peace." The journal I now have is my second one. It isn't because I filled out the first one that I had to buy another, it is because I used the beautiful pages of words in some of my artist books. The second one, the one I have now, is no where close to being complete. I treasure the author, Amy Eldon's, words! I want to share a bit from the "Joy and Peace" section: "...the essence of happiness comes not from what happens outside me, but how I am inside." "Think about the people you know who seem happy. Chances are they aren't the ones with the perfect anything in their lives - except maybe their attitudes. However, those rare individuals have moved from being controlled by external events and influences to being able to remain calm, centered and in balance, no matter what happens."" Here are more "joy" quotes: “Joy can be real only if people look upon their life as a service, and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness” - Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy "The joy in life is to be used for a purpose. I want to be used up when I die." George Bernard Shaw "If you were all alone in the universe with no one to talk to, no one with which to share the beauty of the stars, to laugh with, to touch, what would be your purpose in life? It is other life, it is love, which gives your life meaning. This is harmony. We must discover the joy of each other, the joy of challenge, the joy of growth" - Mitsugi Saotome I plan on making a couple of small and simple artist books about love and peace and would like to give them away soon. They will be like this little book I made last year for the Illustration Friday's topic "emergency".
It's a really sweet and simple little book about a heart in need of love and peace. I'll post when they are finished :)
"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature." - Anne Frank
"Our lives... are but a little while, so let them run as sweetly as you can, and give no thought to grief from day to day. For time is not concerned to keep our hopes, but hurries on its business, and is gone." - Euripedes
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