I am having a love affair with my Yard

I didn't have a lot of things that I just l-o-v-e-d growing up other than my friends and my every other week new boyfriend (yes - I was that girl. My mom was worried over my boy craziness). I was very social and instead of learning where China was on the map in Geography class- I was trying to make sure my BFF Cheyenne wasn't mad at me and that so and so didn't take what I said earlier the wrong way and that Shane would still "go" with me. Of course Shane and I WENT nowhere, but it was "the thing to say". :-)

I did enjoy singing and at some point in my young little life, I thought that I might want to pursue this heavily in ministry or otherwise, but then I got older and realized I wasn't as good as I thought and I preferred to do most of my singing in the church pew with a lot of other people instead - ya know, instead of just me, a mic and the everyone-staring-at-you-thing.

But there was no real passion of things outside of church stuff. That's not necessarily bad, it's just what it was.

It was so funny to me that as I got married and started a life that I discovered some things that I truly enjoyed and could do everyday and not get sick of it. I wished that I had discovered these talents and or hobbies earlier in life so that I could have actually pursued some sort of training. This is why I pray over my children nightly and ask God to reveal their passions to them early in their lives so that they can enjoy something fully and completely.

I have discovered that I love to decorate. Love it. If I had all the money in the world...............Girl. I would be going crazy right now. I enjoy the hunt and the thrill of finding just that right look and meshing a bunch of things together to make them look like a group. I am no perfectionist at this at all, so please don't misjudge my love and my skill level. I am totally learning and I simply dabble for the fun of it - not because I think I am this amazing designer. I am not. Trust. Me.

I love to bake and to cook. If my thighs weren't so partial to me avoiding butter and sugar - I would do more of the kind of kitchen work I enjoy, but I have to limit it to special occasions. Some of you may remember that I went to a 12 week French cooking school in California when we lived there and I have never been the same. If I ever make you a Strawberry puff pastry tart - you'll know what I mean. Mmmmmmmmmm. When the children aren't around (insert smile), it actually is therapeutic to sit and whip up something from a cookbook that is new. If I had a sioux chef and a dishwasher that followed behind me - you may never see me leave the kitchen. Ha!

My most recent discovery is my love for gardening and planting flowers. I get a HUGE thrill (and I'm not lying here) out of clipping back bushes, cutting down plants only to watch new fresh shoots coming out of the ground behind the old ones, I love to pull off the yucky stuff out and put down fertilizer and water and care and nurture and kind of just "love" my garden. This week while the hubs has been traveling, I have literally put the kids down and ran to get my gardening gloves to work in my yard as long as I can. I have never had a yard like the one I have now and it has so many fun plants for me to discover that are coming up. We came here after the Summer last year, so a lot of the blooming plants are new to me. I feel so relaxed after I've played in the dirt awhile and it's just one of those simple pleasures in life that are just fun.

So, I am thankful for my new yard today and all the azaleas and hydrangea bushes and crepe myrtle and blooming dogwood trees and my big Rose of Sharon out front. I feel blessed with this home and blessed with my yard and for that - I am feeling close to my Lord today, because I know all good and perfect gifts are from Him.

Now I must go clean the dirt out from underneath my nails. I also enjoy looking clean. :-)