My Garden in mid-June

"Why the gardening mania?... Because we crave the sweet serenity of greens and golds and deep brown earth. Because fellowship with God began in a garden, and we long for that time and place. Because leaves quivering in the wind, blossoms nodding, grass ruffled by a breeze, remind us of our real home and the peaceful destiny awaiting us. Because when I cheer up with my geraniums, smile at my pansies, laugh with my petunias, they teach me bout God's big greenhouse bursting with joy.

Take the seedlings on loan from heaven and share the growth. Get your gloves muddy, your face tanned, and your knees crinkled here on earth. Nurture faith and love. Keep believing in the harvest. God will make something beautiful out of your effort and energy."
~Barbara Johnson~

"How many are your works, O LORD!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures."
~Psalm 104:24~

"If things are tough, remember that every flower that ever bloomed had to go through a whole lot of dirt to get there. The Almighty Father will use life's reverses to move you forward."
~Barbara Johnson~




This was my first zucchini we picked on June 3rd! It was wonderful and actually huge... not like my first mini-tomato and jalapeno : )

My garden on June 22nd; it's really growing well. The tomatoes, cucumbers, flowers, jalapenos, squash and zucchini are starting to grow into each other. The hot summer Houston weather is taking its toll on my jasmine and lavender, but everything else looks really good.

some tomato plants and my cucumbers

zucchini, squash and more...

I see some good eating in the near future!

Our fig trees are looking great too. Our sweet dogs thought that they would like to have a fig tree as well and ended up pulling up two of them. You should have seen them playing constantly with the roots; Jason and I think they must have tasted really good. But we ended up putting a dog gate/fence area around the trees to give them time to take root without our 'little helpers'!


Speaking of 'little helpers', here they are!

The Cup of Life

A poem by Joyce Rupp:

A simple container
has spoken
in my solitude,
a teacher
and bringer of wisdom

whispering truths
of an indwelling God
in the container
of my soul

hearkening to
my hidden ability
to be filled
and to pour
from a life
of abundance

reminding me
of necessary boundaries
for nurturing
the sacred space
within me

inviting me
to sip often from
the Divine wellspring,
source that slakes
my spiritual thirst

calling to me
like a seed
in the soil:

believe believe believe
in the power
that is present
in the life
that is possible


"I have called you by name,
You are mine...
You are precious in my sight,
and honored, and I love you"
~Is 43:1,4~

The Windy City

I spent most of this past week in Chicago visiting some of my customers in the area. Jason met me up there late Thursday night! We went to downtown Chicago on Friday afternoon for a little while. There we went a top the Sear's Tower, ate Chicago style "deep dish" pizza (yum yum) and walked through Millennium Park. It was so nice being able to break away a while and enjoy the city.

The Sear's Tower

(Another building next to the Sear's Tower)

What Jason and I call 'The Bean Thing' in Millennium Park. (Does any one know what it is really called?)

A wonderful and artistic amphitheater; I so wish Houston had something like this.

The public transportation in Chicago is really neat. We went driving under the elevated subway as well as underneath the city! It looked like we were in a movie; I was just waiting for Batman to pop out of no where...

(Can you see the Sear's Tower in the back ground? It's 103 stories.)

Friday night we had a nice dinner with some good customers of ours. Then on Saturday Jason and I had a blast at the golf outing! I haven't gotten any worse than I was 2 years ago when I last played (I haven't gotten any better either though!)! It was wonderful weather and we were paired with a very nice couple. Each of us hit some really great shots. When I play golf, one great shot will make my day and make up for the others that were not so great! Thank you Jason for sharing this weekend with me! I had a blast! I think we will start to practice and play again. I say that, but Houston is sooooooo hot and humid : ( It's hard to have fun when you're just standing there sweating up a storm. Anywho, we plan to play more! I had lots of fun and we both have great clubs thanks to Jason's mom who got us some for graduation 2 years ago. Thank you Nadine!

Our Guided Paths

It always amazes and humbles me how such a great and big and so amazing God can and will take the ‘time’ to spend with me, love me and help me grow. Of all the things God does and knows, He takes great pleasure in loving each one of us to the fullest. Nothing is too big or small for our God! Once again I am humbled by evidence of God’s beautiful hands guiding my every step; big and small. When we hand our life over to God and ask Him to take the reigns or sit in the driver’s seat; He will do just that! Whether we are driving down a major highway or taking a leisurely stroll down a nature trail, God is guiding our steps and preparing our path.

God knew all about us and loved us to the fullest before the creation of the world!

One of the most enjoyable spiritual experiences for me is looking back over my ‘journal’ through the years and reflecting on how God has lead me from one place to another, from one situation to another; how He has answered my questions and allowed me to grow only enough for each moment; revealing more with each new step and stage of life. God never ceases to introduce new people, new authors, new concepts and new focuses in my life all at the right time. Each place I go I see Him at work.

Tonight here in Chicago, IL I see He has prepared a path for me He started on in Houston, TX back in March. This is a spiritual path; one that over time has involved many people, many experiences and one amazing God! While God was directing and guiding one person’s path so long ago, He was also forming and directing many others much further on. I say this to show that what we are going through today is only a very small part of God’s perfect plan. God will use everything for His glory. What I have learned from one person affects me, and what affects me will affect another and so forth and so on. God’s guided path for one is a guided path for many!

Thank you God for preparing the Way! Thank you for our guided paths!

Our Weekend At Jason's Deer Lease

What Do I Know of Holy?

The past couple of months I have been shaken by a new song by Addison Road; "What do I know of Holy?" Every time I hear it, I begin to cry. I truly believe that no matter how deep your relationship with God becomes, no matter how long we have been calling ourselves a Christian or actually living our lives for God, no matter how much we grow and are molded by Christ, we really can never fully grasp who He is and how mighty and Holy He is. This song reminds me of what I don't know and Who I pray I will always strive to know better. In return I pray my daily living is transformed with each new gift of another day.



What Do I Know of Holy?

I made You promises a thousand times
I tried to hear from Heaven
But I talked the whole time
I think I made You too small
I never feared You at all; No
If You touched my face would I know You?
Looked into my eyes could I behold You?

(CHORUS)
What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

(CHORUS)
What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

(CHORUS 2)
What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of wounds that will heal my shame?
And a God who gave life "its" name?
What do I know of Holy?
Of the One who the angels praise?
All creation knows Your name
On earth and heaven above
What do I know of this love?

(CHORUS)
What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of Holy?

My New Camera!! Canon EOS RebelXS

Oh, I am soooooo excited! Jason surprised me and bought me a wonderful digital SLR camera! I've wanted something like this for so long now. I have no idea how to use all the bells and whistles yet, but I spent all day practicing. I thought I'd share some of the first few pictures that turned out pretty good. I am loving being able to focus on anything I want and manually manipulate the image before I shoot it. I can't wait to get better! I've updated our other blog; http://frenchesbassets.blogspot.com/ with some more pictures. Here are some of the pictures I took (I had to lower the picture quality to get them to fit on this site though); many of them I tried to focus on one focal point and blur out the rest. Pretty fun!

Jason's New Family of Pigs!

For the past couple of months, Jason has seen a male hog on his game camera. When we checked the pictures he gathered last night we now found a family of hogs! It looks like a mom and dad and 5 piglets! If you look close, here you can see a little piglet looking at the camera on the left side by the tree.

Piglets eating under the feeder.

The family of hogs eating together...

Little piglets are chasing each other during the day!

Jason's been seeing lots of doe out there. And if there are doe, there will be bucks...

This doe is about to be a mommy! She's huge...

A Broken Society

It all started when God spoke everything in to motion. He created us in His image; male and female. He placed unique qualities of Himself in man, and He placed unique qualities of Himself in woman; different qualities and characteristics, but all from the same God. Marriage is the sacred bond that allows the fullness of God to be portrayed for all to see. Marriage allows for the unique and different qualities placed in each specific sex to be combined and work together; for one spouse’s ‘weaknesses’ to be glorified through their partner’s strengths, and vise versa. The Church is the sacred bond that allows the fullness of God to be portrayed for all to see. The Church allows for the unique and different qualities and gifts placed in each individual to be combined and work together as one Body; for the ‘weaknesses’ of one to be glorified through other’s strengths, and vise versa.

Satan came and deceived.

Today we look around us and see a broken society. Politicians debate about which new policy will ‘fix’ the problems we are facing today; problems on all levels. They throw money at problems, nothing changes. They take away people’s money they’ve worked for, nothing changes. They create policies that will ‘change’ education, crime rates, and health care; all for the ‘better’ they say.

Government is not the answer. Government can’t come in and ‘fix’ what Satan is trying so hard to demolish. Our problems are not ones that can be corrected by money or policies; our problems can only be erased by a change of heart, a change of priority; holding on to our morals, beliefs and values; holding on to what our founding fathers built this foundation of our country on. The change that needs to happen needs to come from within, we need our Lord and Savior to be the center focus of our nation again. We need to stop pushing Him away and wondering why He isn’t ‘fixing’ our nation.

Recently Jason and I were talking about our broken society. The stem for so many of our problems start with walking away from God. No longer do we place our focus on God. No longer do our families come second to God. Some how ‘self’ became at the top of the list; God some where at the bottom. No longer do we walk in community with our families, our churches and our neighbors. The days of the individual and churches reaching out together to help our fellow brother are being overshadowed by the government trying to control and manipulate the individual, ultimately providing them with nothing but heartache.

We look around us today and see so many families are broken from selfish acts of one or both spouses. Individuals no longer whole are left to provide physically, mentally and spiritually for others; a task that needs both male and female to fulfill. Community is becoming ‘a thing of the past’. Poverty, crime, other social problems result. We can’t fix this nation by ourselves; our flesh is weak and Satan is working hard at destroying all. Jesus Christ, our Savior who died for ALL of us, who conquered death and overcame evil, who saved our souls that we might live with Him, is our answer; our only answer.

May God be with each of us, and may each of us embrace Him daily; crucifying our selves daily for God’s ultimate glory.