Manifold Grace, Abundant Grace...

Look what I bought yesterday!

I can't wait till Monday to make my special announcement...


I am going to be a grandmommy!


Yes. Me.


Hannah and Justin, married last May, are "with child" by their first wedding anniversary. They are ecstatic.


Their dad and I are over the moon. What is the deal with this release of incredible, undeserved blessing in our lives? One thing after another after another, and just when I think it can't get any better...


...I find out I am going to be a grandmommy.


When I told the church family about it this morning, I laid flat-out on the floor! No kidding. I just laid down, on my back, and then said it: "I am going to be a grandmommy!" After all, if bliss could kill, I'd be dead-on-the-floor. There was simply no other way to convey the utter joy.


Harvest Church responded like they always do, for every special, amazing church-family announcement.


They went crazy.


"Grow old along with me", dear friends, "the best is yet to be - the last of life for which the first was made..."


If you only knew the emotional state of my heart a little over a year ago, you would be astounded at what God has done. I thought I understood grace...and I did. But I had yet to apply my theology to my biography.

The moment I acknowledged my need to have the foundations of my life rebuilt, God met me and began a deep work. Then, in recent weeks and months, I have entered a season of blessing and harvest unlike any I've ever known - rich in some ways money can buy, and rich in every conceivable way money cannot buy.


Perfect love does not come until the first grandchild.
~Welsh Proverb

TGIF

Cutting the coco-mat to fit a heart-shaped wire basket that I have had for over ten years...



filling the hanging baskets with beautiful potting soil...



tease the roots of your flowers before planting them...



Plant your new annuals in an "X" or cross shape, three across, three down. They look sparse now, but this will fill in and spill over beautifully in a matter of a few weeks. This year, I chose red wave petunia and red verbena, both have a draping, hanging habit.



One of the finished baskets, in its usual spring and summer home.

some of the ingredients to home made chicken lo mein...

pasta on the left, boneless chicken in the wok, with coarse salt, soy, and believe it or not, a couple of teaspoons of brown gravy mix, and of course a bit of minced ginger...

a typical evening here...

Enjoy your weekend, friends. Mine is already shaping up to be most lovely. Absolutely got to get the pole bean seeds planted this weekend, and also need to get the usual impatiens stuffed in the pockets of my heirloom terra cotta strawberry pot. This year, I chose white rather than the usual reddish-salmon color. The contrast of the white on the terra cotta will be gorgeous. It is the little things in life that bliss me out.

Stay tuned, because I will have a special surprise announcement coming on Monday!

I Am...

...the most blessed woman I know of. That is who I am. And if you understand divine grace, you are the most blessed woman (or man) that you know of.

Got all my hanging planters filled and hung (I design and plant up my own, which saves lots of money), free Black-eyed Susan perennials planted (three good-sized plants - a fabulous gift) and got all my tomato and pepper plants, plus some cilantro in the ground today.

It has been a long, hard-working, and insanely happy day for me. I'm slightly sunburnt and tired and my back aches, but oh, His grace is amazing!

Wild horses could not drag me back under the law. I love, love, love this New Covenant Life that I have been freely given in Christ Jesus.

Sharing some blogs I love - I planted some ranunculus today. I have long loved this flower, and finally have plants of my own! I ran across this fantastic little blog...if you enjoy ranunculus like I do, you will thank me for the link!

The Greatest Act of Service

I was asked for my best advice to any woman about to get married. After much prayerful consideration, here it is:

The greatest act of service is to see to it that you not only act cheerful, but that you truly are cheerful. Be (or become) a cheerful woman.

The discipline of cheerfulness is the single most important thing you can do as a keeper of your home. Again - when you don't feel cheerful, by all means, act cheerful. But the highest work of love and service is to, in fact, be cheerful.

A woman who heeds the Lord's command to "be of good cheer", is one-in-a-million. And she makes life at home a joy for her husband and children.

A Sunday in Spring!

Got fishin' licenses after church today...



Eleven of us went to the lake...

See the "Barbie Jeep" below...

cute puppies...

Rowing, singing newlyweds...

We all caravaned back home to my house, where spaghetti for eleven was whipped up with pleasure, and coat hangers were taken apart, and unbent to toast marshmallows over the fire.

Last but not least, after spaghetti, garlic bread, coffee and cookies, we watched the PBS remake of the Diary of Anne Frank. PBS did an excellent job.

We are so blessed to be able to cherish our moments together with family and friends...

Lovin' Church Life

Friendship is such a gift. And such a happy responsibility. I attended the bridal shower of yet another Harvester today...a girl I have watched grow up. I sat, once again breathing deeply of the atmosphere of eternity (relationships are the only thing we take into heaven with us), I watched the bride's mother's teary smiles and listened to the laughter of these my soul loves so much, and I took joy.

I would not trade this for anything. These moments. This spiritual family. Two weddings in a month's time would be difficult to pull off for any church our size - truly, she who "lives in a small community lives in a much larger world". We Harvest women have not chosen our companions, they have been chosen for us, and the responsibility to stick and stay and love and tend is far more intense when we can't float from clique to clique within a large framework, and pretend we are living church life.

I knew the back stories of almost every woman at the party today, and every woman I thoughtfully considered had sacrificed both to be there and to give. Some had sick children at home, the husband of another has recently had open heart surgery, and another woman had worked long hours this past week, and another is facing incredible stress on her job, and another drove five exhausting hours through stand-still traffic to get back into town, coming straight to the shower....yet they all came anyway, and it was pure joy for them.

Oh, dear one! It is all about the serving. Serving one another in love is to live life at its fullest tilt, awash in blessing and sweetly broken beneath the burden of fulfilling the law of Christ. ("Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ"...)

I made someone laugh until they cried today. I've heard it said "the devil made me do it", but I know it was God. Laughter is a medicine, and I was God's drug pusher, and I'm shockingly proud of it. (Deal with it.)

Next time, I'm going for a pee in the pants. To my knowlege, I have never made someone pee in her pants. That would be the ultimate success. I'd die a happy woman, knowing I accomplished something grand.

I love church life.

"Keep Yourselves in the Love of God..."

“We need to keep our heart full of a sense of the love of God. This is the greatest perspective available to us against the power of temptation in the world...Fill your heart with a sense of the love of God in Christ, and apply the eternal design of grace and shed blood to yourselves. Accept all the privileges of adoption,justification, and acceptance with God. Fill your heart with thoughts of the beauty of holiness...then in the ordinary course of walking with God, you will experience great peace and security from temptation.”

John Owen, Sin and Temptation

"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,keep yourselves in the love of God..." (Jude)