Waiting for Directions

Yes, I did.

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Fri, 01 May 2015 06:45:00 +0000

Want to hear something "shocking"? I recently unfriended a lot of people on Facebook. Like A LOT. Family members, older friends and many, many acquaintances. There was a point in my not-so-distant past that I was excited to watch the number of my “friends” rise higher and higher. Like I was really cool because I knew SO many people.

Yet I noticed that I was posting less and getting more annoyed by Facebook. It was this weird burden when it’s just supposed to be fun and an easy way to connect with people. So I stopped and thought about what I actually want to get out of Facebook:

I want to share parts of my day with people I am close to.
I want to see what those people are up to.
I want to read things that fill my soul not tear it down.
I want to read things to expand my horizons but not make me rant and whine and waste time getting upset about what someone else thinks.

So I stopped being “friends” with people just because I felt an obligation. A family member that always touts his/her way is the right and only way and this is why. An old friend who is always whining. The person who only posts disgusting recipes. And all of the people who didn’t really need to be knowing my business anymore.

I honestly don’t feel bad about it. I know it will probably piss some people off or they will think I am callous to cut people out of my life. But that’s the thing….they’re not really in my life.

We live half a country away from most of our family, so we rarely see our extended families and are not close with many of them. We’ve never really lived anywhere very long so most of the friends we made were good, but not necessarily people that we created enough of a bond with to continue to share things with.

So if you are not a part of my actual life, it’s really okay if you’re not a part of my Facebook “life.”

One.

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Sat, 18 Apr 2015 07:34:00 +0000

So here’s the thing: I am hurt. I am hurt and I am healing. I am waking back up to a world that I've been avoiding. I’m waking up to see that this new world can be good. That it IS good. That this good world for me is from my God. That He loves me and knew that this was always going to be my world, even when I was blind. He knew that this was the world meant for my good.
The world where I am a mother of one child on earth.

One.

I love you, Nora Jean. You are precious and precocious. You are sweet and full of spunk. You are snuggly and goofy and I love watching you become who God made you to be.

But I had planned more for you. More for me. I had planned brothers or sisters. Lots of them. Ones that you could wrestle with, ride bikes with, share secrets with. Ones that would drive you crazy, break your toys, try to tag along with your friends and fight with you.

A family with loud, crazy car trips. A family who fills a whole dinning room table. People you could call someday when I am being a crazy mom and say, “Yeah, I know.” People who have known you always.

I wanted a minivan full of kids. I wanted to fill the kitchen counter packing lunches someday. I wanted to watch my kids play with each other and grow up together. I wanted…I wanted…I wanted…

Yet what I have come to grips with is that I am limiting God. I am not trusting in His good plan for my life. I am not trusting in His good plan for Nora’s life. He has been whispering to me for awhile that I will not have more children. He’s been whispering and I've been terrified to admit that I've heard Him. Because I trust my God. He has shown me time and time again His goodness and mercy and love. I trust Him. I've followed His plan for me all around this country, through many trials. But to trust that this is really how my life was meant to be?

I am working on it. My big heart is there. It’s healing. It’s accepting the fact that I will have only one child to raise. It’s starting to feel whole. The little, small parts of my heart are still grieving. Grieving for MY plan for my family.

Those little parts are still allowing Satan to speak lies to me……
…people are going to keep asking when you’ll have more, it’s gonna hurt hear that.
…they’ll tell you to believe in a miracle, shouldn't you trust God for a miracle?
…just giving up on fostering or adoption, that’s pretty selfish.
…is it really so wrong to wish for something different?

Last weekend at church, our pastor talked about trusting in God. Even when you don’t know the whole path, just the next 40 ft. My next 40 ft is a life with only one child in my home. I KNOW this to be true. I don’t know what God has for me later on but I know that I’m not supposed to look farther. He has called me to find peace with this new (to me) world. Learn to stop asking, “When will there be more?” Learn to love my family as being complete.

To be joyful, not just happy, with one.

All the Facts

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Fri, 28 Nov 2014 09:32:00 +0000

So tonight I went home from a Thanksgiving gathering with my puke-covered sweater in a bag and wearing the a t-shirt borrowed from the host. And all I could think was, "I knew something was going to happen."

......

My first education class in college was child development. My professor was also the director/teacher of the university preschool. She was vibrant and intelligent. 11 years later, after teaching and now being a mom, I still am pulling our pieces of information that she taught me.

One such piece is how to evaluate a child's behavior. She said that when a child acts out, you should look at the following three things, in this order:

The Child's Environment: Is she hot/cold? Is it a new place? Is there enough for her to do? Is there too much to do? Is she hungry or tired?
My Behavior: Am I expecting too much? Am I challenging her enough? Am I too tired and not listening well to her? Did I give enough time to transition? Did I force her to do something she wasn't ready for?
The Child's Behavior: Only after you have looked at the child's environment and your own behavior can you look at the child and start to deal with how to move forward to correct the behavior in the future.

It seems that so often parents (myself included) expect our little ones to do and be more than they are truly capable of. This article from Grounded Parents showed up on my Facebook News Feed tonight. It does a good job of explaining how to set realistic and appropriate expectations on our kids, especially with the approaching holiday celebrations.

......

Years ago, just after Adam and I were married, I remember talking to a girlfriend about her new role as a mom. She was starting to butt heads with her in-laws and extended family about her parenting practices. This mom wouldn't bring her kids to family events if they fell during nap time. She wouldn't let her kids eat just anything that Grandma offered (i.e. lots of rich, sugary foods all day). I remember listening to her and thinking that it must be hard to stand up for your kiddos. But good job, Mom!

Adam and I are lucky to have supportive family and friends, so thankfully we don't have to stand up for Nora's well being to others very often, be we do have to pay attention to it ourselves. Almost every time that Nora has had a tantrum or meltdown, Adam and I can look back and realize that it is usually our fault, not hers. One time Adam even said, "Yeah, we messed up today."

I don't think that we need to beat ourselves up about messing up, but I do think that it is important to acknowledge to ourselves and to Nora when we have messed up. When Nora went to bite another girl at a play date, I definitely stopped her and told her it was not okay but I also realized that the house was a pigsty after 2 hours and three toddlers. It was past lunchtime. I should have asked everyone to leave earlier instead of trying to let them stay longer. Nora only reacted because I was expecting her to behave in a situation that she wasn't yet capable of doing.

......

So why did I have to wash puke out of our clothes tonight? Here's all the facts:

We moved this past weekend. Though Nora has handled it well, I know that her fuse is shorter.
We moved this past weekend. I did not handle the packing process well and my fuse is shorter.
Adam has been working late hours for weeks and any time at home has been spent working around the house. Nora misses her daddy and is a little more emotional.
We went to Thanksgiving at a good friend's house, whom Nora loves, but there were a lot of new people there. Lots of food she didn't eat. I brought a few things, but pretzels and applesauce do not a dinner make, at least not for my chow hound.

Top Fact: No nap today. This has never happened. No joke. NEVER in 2+ years. Like I said, I knew something was going to happen.

Nora had a blast, she ran around with the other girls, got to jump on the beds, even started to warm up to all of the new people, surprising me with how outgoing she was becoming. I knew that she was going to get tired but she was just having so much fun. I didn't want to stop her. We don't have family here so she doesn't get these type of experiences very often. But I should have. We should have planned to leave early. Give her plenty of time to adjust to the transition. We could have left in all our own clothes.

But instead I pushed it and finally the ceiling fell. She bumped into another kiddo and started to cry. It was an exausted cry that didn't have a quick end in sight. So I decided to just go. No transition, no calm emotions. I was done and decided that we all were. And she lost it. She did not want to go because she was having fun. She screamed and sobbed and got so hysterical that she threw up three times. Nora and I ended up with her half naked in the backyard while she calmed down.

After calming down, we talked about why we were leaving. She willingly put on her shoes and jacket and gave hugs to her buddies. And I went home smelling and feeling like puke.

I also left with a good reminder of why we do the hard things of parenthood. Why we say no to good things. Why we place limits. Why it is important to know how much our children can handle. There will always be circumstances out of my control but when I pay attention to all of the facts I can do my best to help my daughter.

Commuting

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Sat, 15 Nov 2014 07:40:00 +0000

We are in the final days of packing around here. Which means that I have become "stress-paralyzed." The list of things to accomplish looms at me and I want to just go hide in my closet and hope it completes itself. Once Nora goes down for a nap or bed, I should work. But I don't. I zone and ignore the boxes.

I went to see a movie with some friends tonight and on my way home I just kept driving. I told Adam that I just needed to drive and listen to music for a bit. My husband, who is awesome, said, "Ok. I'll just keep packing." Oh, the Lord gave me a good man.

As I drove I realized that I miss commuting.

For most of my "working" life, I commuted 20-30 minutes each way. Lots of times I heard, "Uhhg, that's too bad." But it never bothered me. It was time on the way to work to get my head cleared and ready to go. It was time on my way home to wipe away the craziness and prepare to be home. I called girlfriends, my parents and my sister, even invested in an earpiece at the insistence of my mother. I zoned. I gripped the wheel and prayed to stay on the road while driving on ice in the middle of an Iowa blizzard.

I sang.

I listened.

I worshiped the Lord. I settled in His grace. His words washed over me and built me up. I cried tears of pain and tears of hope.

There is a special way that music sounds to me in a car. It is trapped in the small space with me. It envelops me. I can listen to it LOUD. I can sing LOUD. I can cry HARD. I can get lost in the moment and just be with God in a way that I rarely can anywhere else.

These days my commute consists of rolling out of bed and walking five steps to Nora's room. My job is fantastic. There are very few days where I don't want to go to "work." It's definitely hard and challenging but I know it is what I was placed here to do.

But a little commute would be nice. ;)

I know there are ways that I can check-in (or out) while at home. I need to work on doing this better. But to be honest, I'm not the most disciplined person. If there is a tv available, I'll most likely turn it on and lose an hour. If my phone is available, I'll keep checking this app and that app and lose another hour. When I am driving by myself, there is no tv. I can't look at my phone. It is harder to get side-tracked into wasting time.

Right now I don't have a solution. But tonight I created a commute. And it was great. And I feel better. I feel connected. I feel peace. When I stop and listen, God always show up.

You will lift my head above the mighty waves

You are able to keep me from stumbling

And in my weakness

you are the strength that comes from within

Good shepherd of my soul

Take my hand and lead me on

Bethel Music - "Shepherd"

P.S. Anyone worried that I am not paying attention to the road, I never actually check out of driving. And I never would do this in traffic or bad roads.

Secondary Families

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 06:58:00 +0000

I love where I am. I love where I have been.

I miss where I have been. I wish I knew where I will be.

My adult life has not followed any sort of "normal" pattern. I could go on about the numerous ways in which it has deviated from what my childhood self thought that adulthood should look like. But right now I am just musing about people.

I am musing because I am stepping back into my own timeline this summer. Since my "boss" likes to travel, we are spending a whole month back in the Midwest. It's a little ridiculous, taking a toddler on two plane trips, six long car trips and five different beds. I know. I am probably going to need to hibernate for the rest of the summer.

If you have peeked into my life at all, you know that Adam and I are professional movers, or we should be by now. In eight years of marriage we have moved nine times, lived in six states, held a total of 14 jobs and attended or visited countless churches. We have met A LOT of people. God has blessed us with a lot of GOOD people. So I sit here tonight, while everyone else has of course been in bed for hours, thinking about these people. Thinking about how blessed I am to have so many people, in so many places, that love me and care about my family. So here is a glimpse into my summer...

...We DROVE to see the girl who was my roommate but then ditched me to go to Scotland for spring semester. Even though she only lived with us for the first half of the best year of dorm life, I have very few memories of that year without her. I guess life was boring once she left. I mean, not much can top the fringed, "flapper" dresses we wore for 20's night during homecoming. The significance of the word "drove" may be lost if you don't stop to think that I live on the West Coast and almost everywhere else I lived was along the Mississippi River. If I could drive to visit this girl, it means that she moved away too. We're both settling into a new part of the country at the same time we are settling into motherhood. We know what it is like to parent without grandparents across town. We know what it is like to try to make new friends. We feel the pain of shopping for flights. We are in the same stinking time zone!!!

...We hung out with long time family friends who have been family to me for decades. I didn't have family in town growing up. Ever. Not even within driving distance. I love all of my family but I just didn't get to see them very often. My parents surrounded my sister and I with good friends that became extra aunts and uncles and their kids were my cousins. Many late nights of card games and pictionary. Salmon and fireworks. Nintendo and pool games. Ducks and dogs. We share no family traits or bloodlines, but they are my family.

...I got to hold the sweet newborn babe of the girl whom I have known since I was only a few months old. She is one of the best people with great energy for life. There isn't much about me that she doesn't know. She tried to help me when I was being stupid in high school and welcomed me back once I finally woke up. She knows my grandparents. She was a buddy to my little sister. She remembers the crazy, long birthday messages that we wrote to each other in high school. We went to preschool, elementary school, junior high, high school and college toether. She will always be there.

...I went to coffee with a girl that I met in Kindergarten and lived three houses down from me. We talked for hours. Both of us went through periods of life where we made choices that put up walls between us. Thankfully those walls are down and we have grown into better people and closer friends. We don't talk much outside of my visits back home, but I truly cherish her and the time we do get to spend together.

...Adam and I got to hug the belly of a girl that lived on my floor freshman year of college, was my RA for two years, roommate for a year and bridesmaids in each other's wedding the same summer. That belly holds a baby that no one but God ever thought was possible. The girl with the belly adopted a beautiful little girl last summer and found out that she is now pregnant and expecting this fall. Two years ago she was feeling defeated and losing hope in motherhood, while I was pregnant. We hit the "pause" button for awhile. I know what it is like to watch someone become a mother when all you are getting is a big, fat "NO." Now we are rejoicing together about the wonderful stories that God is creating within our families.

...I marveled at the little girl who is going to preschool this fall and her little sister who is so eager to keep up. Their mama was my roommate the year that everyone else seemed to be an RA but us. We watched lots of Ever After and became Gilmore Girl junkies. We both lost little ones a year apart. She was blessed to get pregnant again shortly after that and I had a hard time with that. I was overjoyed for her and the little bundle (who is now going to preschool) on the way but I had to ask her to pause our friendship for awhile. She was ever so gracious and understanding. She didn't ask questions or get mad. She gave me the gift of loving space. Now she is the mom that's "been there" and shares what the next stage in life is like. She is powerful woman who cares for all and gives her all.

...Nora and I went to visit one of the first friends that I made in college. We met during freshman orientation and quickly boned even though she lived on the other side of campus. There wasn't much we didn't do together that first year, including driving across the state to watch our school's hockey team. She ended up transferring out the next year but we both went to each other's weddings and are able to keep up with each other on Facebook.

...We will explore the homestead of the girl who was my first friend in Adam's family. We double dated at the Olive Garden and watched The Red Green Show in the basement. We went boating and four wheeling. She helped me to explore farm life. She now has a beautiful, old, family farmhouse which she helped to completely remodel. While kids weren't easy to conceive, she now has four beautiful children and one up in heaven with ours. She raises chickens and goats, breeds dogs, cans and freezes everything and works. I get tired thinking about her life! She also has a little boy who is exactly the same age that Aaron would have been. We were due just a couple weeks apart. Some days, Adam and I look at her Facebook posts about him and get a glimpse. Maybe Aaron would be doing that, too. Would Aaron be that tall? Would he play with his sister the same way?

...I will get to worship at the church that taught me so much about who God really is and what it really means to be a Christian. For some crazy reason I decided that I didn't want to teach when we moved to Iowa so I got a job working at our church. I ended up planning websites, organizing social media campaigns, coordinating communication projects and meeting some of the best people in the world. I don't even know how many of them remember me but I think about them often. How they stood by me through the hard years of infertility and loved me through my young working days when I thought I was pretty cool and got too big for my britches. God has provided wonderful church homes to us since leaving here, but there is just something about this place. God is doing a mighty work through these people and it is exciting to watch from a far.

...We will go HOME. Home to a place that feels like home. A place that made me stop staying that I was visiting "home" on trips like this and start staying I am visiting family, friends or the Midwest. (Though apparently the West Coast considers the Midwest "back East." Weird.) A place that is home because of the people. The people who came to my house at 5:00 am to stay with Nora when Adam had to take me to the hospital. The people who took Nora day after day this spring while I dealt with a miscarriage that went on for months. The people whose kids go through their drawers to find clothes and shoes to give to "Baby Nora." The people who I met on a local Facebook group but just happen to live across the street with a little girl Nora's age. The people who schedule their kids' birthday parties so that we can make it. The people who catch the food Nora spits out of her mouth, and think nothing of it. The people who take us to the airport, pick me up things at Target, pack extra snacks for Nora and bring me chocolate.

I don't know how long we will be there. I don't know where we will go. But I do know that someday we will leave these people, too. Someday He will call us somewhere else. He will have new people for us to meet. I am thankful for the time we have been given with all of these secondary families.

P.S. Family (Mom) I know that I didn't talk about you at all in this post. Don't feel unloved or unappreciated. Tonight I just felt the need to reflect on the secondary families that God has given us along our journey.

Truth Be Told

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Fri, 09 May 2014 08:48:00 +0000

So I took one of those "completely scientific" quizzes the other day to determine the career I am destined for...writer. To which my mom promptly responded, "Didn't I tell you?"

I have never been a loss as to what career I wanted. I wanted to be a teacher. Then I wanted to be a mom. I am mom. And yes, still a teacher.

But truth be told, I am a writer.

I know that these quizzes are not scientific but once I got the results I just went, "Yup." I may not be a fantastic writer or a writer who writes anything that others want to read, but I am a writer. I think in words that need to be written. I think in words that shouldn't be written. I think in words that are such a waste of time. Did I need to "write" that as a Facebook post in my head, revise it five times and then never post to Facebook?

I never proclaimed myself to be a writer because I really don't like or care for most parts of proper English. I don't like grammar, I am a horrific speller and I know that you're not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition but can't figure out how not to do that without sounding uptight. I don't know if I under or over use commas. I don't write in any sort of normal form. Allegories, allusions and the like were my Achilles heel in high school. My girlfriend was an English major in college and I cringe a little every time I write something that she'll read. She has never corrected me because, you know, we're friends. But I know that she's shook her head at me more than once. :)

But truth be told, I like to write.

I feel my feelings through words. I work through things best in words. I want to write more than I do. Part of it is being lazy, but most of it is fear. There are many people that write in private notebooks or documents on a computer never to be shared. I do some of this. But lots of days I feel like I am supposed to be writing openly.

It scares me because I don't like criticism. I don't like fake praise. I don't like heartfelt, "I know exactly how you feel," statements from people who have gotten a splinter if I am talking about a railroad tie sticking out of my thigh. (Fyi...I have never had a railroad tie sticking out of my thigh.) But more and more often I feel the need to write.

To write about things that truly matter. Thing that are hard. But things that are true.

If you look back through my previous 175 blog posts, you will find that most of them are "showy." I showed you my card making efforts, baking adventures and home improvement adventures. While there is nothing wrong with these things, the posts were all written to show off something. To become the next Pioneer Woman or a "famous" paper crafter.

The one thing that is still as true about myself as the first day I started this blog is that I am waiting for directions. I don't remember how the title actually came to me but it has quietly become a phrase that has woven itself through my life. Some days I cling to it. Other days I rage at it. Most days I just just nod, smile, look at Adam and know that we are still waiting for directions.

But truth be told, I have come to learn that I will always be waiting for directions from the Holy One.

The one who knows the course my life will take. Who knows why it is winding this way or that way. Who knows when and how much to share with me. Though I keep trying to be in charge, making my own plans, telling Him how my life should go and when it should happen, He is continually teaching me the truth.

I would like to say that I take His directions well. But if you are my parents, sister or husband, you probably know that this isn't the case. I am a redhead. I am stubborn. I am fiery. I need to be in charge and oh man, do I need to be RIGHT! And God knows this about me. He made me. So he also knows how to reach me. It's usually slapping me upside the head.

Well, no, that's not entirely true. He really knows that I have patience problem. So He is teaching me to wait. To wait on Him. To wait for directions from HIM instead of making and following through with my own plan. Then He slaps me upside the head with truth and plans that I would have never chosen for myself. Honestly, I usually don't like them. A lot of them in the past few years have felt pretty crappy.

But truth be told, He is right.

He has never failed to make a bad choice. He has never failed to be unnecessarily hurtful. He has never failed to show me His goodness and love. Sometimes I recognize it right away. Sometimes it takes awhile. But I have come to trust in His goodness and love. I have come to trust that when things seem bad or even "stuck," He is working. He has a plan. And it is good.

I am a writer.
I have a messy, but God directed life.
So, sometimes, I just might write about it.

Room for a Little Girl

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 19:09:00 +0000

After many years, we finally got to create a nursery. Since we are renting, there was only so much we could do but I think that fact just helped me to keep things clean and simple. I came home from shopping at one point with lots of pink and white. Adam was less than thrilled, but willing to deal with it. Then I saw a vinyl decal online that changed everything. Lots of fall colors for my fall baby.

When we first got the nursery put together, I loved walking past it and seeing this…

It made me feel excited to think about bringing home my little girl one day soon.

See that tree peeking out? Since I couldn’t paint, I wanted to get color on the wall somehow. At first I bought the same wall decal but with pink leaves. It was cute, but after a little web searching, I stumbled onto this one and fell in love. It also has some green and blue leaves if we ever want to change things up.

The letters were from Michael’s and painted with a lovely pumpkin-hued paint. The crib was from Babies’R’Us and was a storage bin up until a few weeks ago when we moved Nora out of her pack’n’play in our room.

This shelf used to hang in our entryway, but seeing as we have no entryway in this apartment this is a good place for it. The animals are some of my old favorites. The cows are old bookends of Adam’s. The adorable red dress was for my brother-in-law’s wedding in December. It no longer fits, but is just too pretty to sit in a box. The sweater was knitted by my grandmother. It’s a little big now, but it also is too pretty to sit in a box. :)

Many hours have already been spent rocking here, and a few stories have been read, too. The nightstand is actually from my childhood bedroom.

We bought this recliner back in June to be used for rocking and nursing, but to stay in the living room. My parents had my old wooden rocking chair that we were going to use in the nursery. When we got to Vancouver at the end of the summer, we found a small tear in the footrest. I called to get it repaired with our extended warranty, but instead they just sent me a check to replace it!

Having a black dog, that light-colored recliner was always dirty so we decided to move the original into the nursery (since there was nothing wrong with it) and buy a darker color for the living room. So now we have two recliners for the price of one!

View of the other side of the room…

I LOVE this dresser from Ikea. We looked at dressers in the “baby” collections at other stores. A lot more expensive for a lot less space. We’ll spend a little time in assembly if we can end up with a nice piece like this. It has room for all of her clothes, cloth diapers, linens and a whole drawer just for clothes in the next size up.

I found this phrase online and fell in love, but I knew a white decal would not work on a white wall. After some brainstorming, we ended up buying a couple pieces of 1X4 molding, securing them together and then added a little more of the pumpkin paint.

This cross hangs on her wall just as you leave the room. I found it in a gift shop and thought it looked pretty, but when I looked up the verse that was written on it I knew it belonged in my little girl’s room.

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6

Christmas 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 00:57:00 +0000

It’s been a little while since I have posted. Although, to be honest, how many of my posts have started this way?

Here are just a few shots from Christmas Day:

Our favorite present this year…

He’s such a good daddy…

Her smiles and giggles are so much fun!

A Special Easter Announcement

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 19:32:00 +0000

If you're here via Facebook, you already may have heard, but we're pregnant! But this is a little bit more complicated story than the usual boy meets girl, they get married and then have kids.

As most of you know, four years ago we lost our little boy when my appendix ruptured during my 12th week of pregnancy. (You can read more about that here.) Since then, our journey towards parenthood has been a series of mountains and valleys, though to be honest, I feel like there were far more valleys than mountains.

We tried on our own for a year; we tried taking oral infertility drugs for a while. Finally we went to another doctor who understood my history better and said that the only way we would ever conceive is through in-vitro fertilization (IVF). We didn't know if this was the right step, seemed too extreme for us at the time. So we decided to adopt.

We went to some meetings but my heart was never there. I yearned to bear a child. It took me almost a year to be honest with myself and tell Adam that I just needed to try IVF. I needed to know for sure before we started any concrete adoption process. Adam completely understood and really wanted to have a pregnant wife "waddling around the house" at least once.

So in January 2011 we started IVF. The doctors were very optimistic. We were both very young, our tests looked good, seemed like I just needed a little help getting the egg to the right place. We started the medications, retrieved the eggs and the doctors were happy. But none of the 14 retrieved eggs fertilized. Big fat fail.

We met with the doctors afterwards, in March, and they seemed stumped. Of course if we were to do it again, they would change this or that. But we had used up our insurance money for the year ($10,000 of infertility coverage) and knew that Adam was searching for a new job that would most likely not cover anything.

And we felt that this was a sign to be done. To have things go SO poorly was devastating. I fell into a depression and eventually we decided to take two years and do nothing. No infertility treatments, no adoption, no fostering. We needed a break from the heartache.

So we enjoyed the summer, Adam got his new job and we moved to Davenport.

Then one mid-December evening, I got a call from my doctor at the IVF clinic. He told me that they found out that the maintenance staff removed an air filter in the lab earlier that year, and never told the clinic staff. My doctor said he had no way of knowing if this caused the fertilization issue, but in case it was their fault, they were offering me a free cycle.

Needless to say, we accepted, went through the process (with not a day to spare, my last appointment was the day before we left for New Orleans) and are pregnant! I am almost 13 weeks along and the baby is doing well. I am due October 16!

A year ago I thought I would never get the opportunity to bear a child, but of course God had other plans. :)

Is anyone still out there?

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 04:37:00 +0000

(one of many turtles at the "lake" in our new complex)

It's just like me. Write a novel here six months ago and then disappear. I would have clicked the "unsubscribe" button if I could. Why are you still here? :)

But I'm sure glad you are. But then maybe I'm just talking to myself, in that case, Patti, I'm glad you're here!

Maybe I'll come back again soon. No promises. I might go back into hiding. You'll just have to wait and see...

New Directions

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 02:44:00 +0000

... Warning: this is a very long post. A few very important updates in the midst of lots of personal reflection ...

No, I am not talking about the high school show choir on "Glee," the great show on FOX that is starting its third season this fall.

I'm talking about our continual wait for directions from above. The moments when Adam and I feel a little lost, a little unsure, and we're waiting for directions. Waiting to know what is right and when it is right.

And now we've heard.

Heard that our next adventure is to move again. Three more times, to be exact!

Now you might be thinking, "Aren't you sick of moving? Don't you just want to stay in one place?" Absolutely!

But we have come to learn in our young lives that what we want and what God wants for us is not always the same. Ultimately, what He wants for us is immensely greater than what we could have ever wished for ourselves. At the time, it doesn't always feel as though this is true, but as we look back over our lives, we can't help but agree with Him.

So as not to lose you, I'll be a little less vague about our upcoming moves.

This past winter (well, probably before then) Adam began to feel pulled towards a career that can provide a better lifestyle for our family (not that it's better than others, just better for us). He has never loved the "feast or famine" workload of a country elevator. He'd much rather be in "feast" mode all of the time. Personally, I think he's crazy, but the man loves work. He also wants to eventually get beyond the actual grain handling facilities; more logistics/training/?? at the home office of a larger company. This would allow Adam to use his brain more and his hands less as he gets older, but more importantly he could then coach high school sports and be around for family time.

After months of applications, interviews, and traveling, Adam received an offer late last week from CHS. He will be in the Assistant Superintendent Trainee program. Short explanation is Adam will be in three different locations over the next 18 mos learning, and then be placed full time at a terminal. We'll spend 6 mos in Davenport, IA, and then 6 mos each in New Orleans, LA and Superior, WI (or maybe Portland, OR). Oh, and did I mention that he starts Sept 1?

Let me be completely clear now, before I confuse you later. This is an amazing opportunity for Adam and our family. I am so happy that someone has recognized that his skills, knowledge and abilities and are going to put them to better use. This is a great "return on investment." In a year and a half, he'll be so much farther ahead than if he had just tried to get a permanent position somewhere.

This. Is. A. GOOD. Thing.

But it is a bittersweet transition. We've been here for two years, the longest that either of us have lived in one place since high school, almost 10 years ago. We've put down a few roots; not as many as we thought we would, but roots.

Our little house. I love it. I never thought I would want to live in the middle of a cornfield, but I LOVE it. It's quiet, peaceful and pretty. I've learned about gardening, including rosebushes. I've painted my own rooms for the first time. We survived our first major remodeling project with our bathroom last winter. (oh! my new bathroom, how you'll be missed) The bonfires, dinners with friends and family, canning, oh so many GOOD memories.

My job. This is my first "real" job that has felt like a "real" job. I feel like I matter, that what I do counts. That I have made some sort of contribution to the organization for the better. That I might truly be missed. Part of me worries that the skills and experience I have gained at Prairie Lakes Church will not be transferable. Finding a job for only 6 mos, 3 times, doesn't really lend itself to meaningful jobs. Then 18 mos down the road, will my two years at PLC even matter to any prospective employers? I don't have any training. No one will really know PLC and therefore won't understand that I didn't "just work for a church." But then I think, does it really matter?

Working for our church has been absolutely the right thing at the right time. Something that I never would have pictured for myself. Something that still kind of "doesn't fit" into the rest of my life experiences. But it works. and it works well. But is it what I really want to do for the rest of my life? No.

I want to be a stay at home mom. I've wanted to be one since I was pregnant with Aaron three years ago. But I haven't been able to. So in the meantime, I have to work. And God was so gracious to give me such a wonderful job for the past two years. Thank you Ron Phares for taking a chance on me. The girl you had never met but just had a feeling was the right person for the job. The opportunities and experiences I have been blessed to have are all because you saw more than my resume could tell.

And the people. Never before have we lived somewhere long enough to build any sort of community. Never before have there been so many people that I will truly miss. I don't need to name names. You know who you are. Some of people I see often, others only every once in awhile. Some people I will stay close to for the rest of my life, others I may never talk to again. But you all have become a part of who I am. I am thankful for every person that God has placed in my life during our time in Iowa. I will miss you all.

The next 18 mos will be crazy. And wonderful. And scary. And fun. And tiring. And one of our most exciting adventures. Do I want to live in New Orleans for the rest of my life? Absolutely not. But it sure will be fun for 6 mos. Melody will lose her big yard, but we hope that in two years, she'll have one just as nice. Do I relish the thought of packing up all of my belongings only to do it again twice more in a short period of time? Nope. (Um, have I told you how much I HATE packing??) But at least this time we'll have *some* professional help.

But I know this is good.

I know that this is the next step God has placed in our lives.

I know that God is good.

I know that God is always right.

I know that He has planned this next adventure just for us.

He's written the directions.

We waited, not always patiently, and now hope to follow well.

And continue to wait for further directions.

I wonder...

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 02:23:00 +0000

As it gets closer to what would have been your 3rd bithday, I wonder...

...do you have the blonde curls I always picture? Or did you luck out and get red hair?
...do you have blue eyes like me and your dad?
...are you long and lean, or a little roly poly like your dad was at that age?
...would Melody ever let you ride her? Would you two be buds?
...are you a picky eater or are you willing to try anything?
...can you climb up on our bed or is it still too high?
...would you be potty trained by now? I sure hope so.
...do you sleep though the night?
...do you have dreams?
...would your grandparents spoil you?
...would your aunt and uncles make excuses to visit just so they can see you?
...do you like dinosaurs, tractors, blocks or Superman?
...do you have your dad's musical abilities?
...do you have freckles like me?
...are you healthy?
...do you sleep with a stuffed animal or blankie?
...do you suck your thumb or did you (hopefully) prefer a pacifier that has by now been taken away?
...how much laundry would you create?
...do you like to snuggle and give lots of kisses?
...what does your smile look like?

...can you see your dad and I?
...do you know how much we love and miss you?
...have your great-grandpas shown you the ropes?
...does Jesus take walks with you?
...how awesome is He in person?
...does it make sense why you went to Heaven so early?

...will it make sense someday?
...will he be remembered?
...will he have siblings?
...will they understand that they have a big brother?
...will I get to meet him someday?
...will You take care of him until then?

I wish I could have known the answers, honey. But I know that you are in the best place ever. Love you, Mom

No Longer a Cavewoman

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 03:20:00 +0000

Last Friday I spent $40 and 7 hours to relieve me of being a cavewoman. When we bought this house almost two years ago (was is really that long?) we were very pleased with the paint colors. There was no pea green or mauve. There was nothing that needed to be painted.

Last week I decided that our bedroom finally needed to be painted. It was a very beautiful chocolate brown. The problem is that we have angled ceilings and a very small window that gets very little light.

That's not the greatest picture, because it includes the one wall that was originally blue. But imagine turning around and seeing three dark brown walls and two dark brown angled parts of the ceiling.

Now it looks like this. I woke up Saturday barely able to move my right leg from all the contortions to paint that ceiling. But I no longer sleep in a cave. :)

I didn't even tell Adam I was painting! I was putting the last piece of furniture back in place when he got home. He said that it was a good surprise.

Two Wisconsin Craftsmen

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 04:29:00 +0000

Looking this picture just makes me love my new vanity even more. This one was very good, very functional and really quite nice.

But take a look at this beast...

We had it custom built by two Wisconsin craftsmen. Also known as my father- and brother-in-law! Adam and I shopped around for vanities a little and realized that we just couldn't afford anything in the size we needed. Dale has been accumulating really nice tools and thought that this would be a good reason to use them. They both did a really nice job.

As far as a countertop, I went a little unconventional for a bathroom. I'm not a fan of laminate and the solid surface stuff just looks off to me. Cultured marble just makes me think of the 80's and granite wasn't an option. So I started looking for other options and ended here...

Butcher block counter from Ikea, $129! I've seen it used in kitchens, but wasn't sure about the moisture in a bathroom. After a little research, we learned that we could seal it with some poly and we'd be good to go. It does invalidate the 25-year warranty, but oh well. Oh, you can stain it too!

The boys went along with my plan, but weren't completely convinced until we put it in. (They didn't tell me this until later.) We trimmed it up and cut a hole for the sink. That was a little scary, you can't really fix a mis-cut.

And here it is, mostly put together. We ended up using one of the scrap pieces as a backsplash and are really pleased.

A quick tour of the vanity:

See the hole on the left side of the vanity? They built in shelves with a door to hold rolls of toilet paper and my womanly items. PTL for custom made pieces!
Regular under sink cavity
Two stacks of drawers, LOTS of storage space
One small cavity with two shelves; space for washcloths and hand towels, as well as the items that don't fit in the drawers. Nice use for the leftover space in the vanity.

Thanks again to Dale and Tim for all your hard work!

Time for a Tub

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 04:59:00 +0000

So here's the problem with digital cameras: they hinder my blogging.

Just stay with me here. The camera takes a picture whenever you push the button, then it saves that picture. Then you can take another, and another, and another...as long as I want. It doesn't cost any more to take one or one hundred pics. But then you end up with way too many pictures of a bathtub. So many that you load them into Photoshop and leave them there for two weeks because the thought of sorting through all of those pictures and then editing some of them is just too overwhelming. Therefore you never can put those pictures into a blog post, which ultimately hinders your blogging. Right???

Okay, so I'm being melodramatic. Let's just get on with the remodel...

Once we (Adam and Dale) ripped out the old tub, we (they) worked to level the floor so that the water actually flows down the drain. Who knew that you had to worry about that? (Probably everyone but me.) I also didn't know that you have to put it in several times before you finally install it. Probably the reason I took so many pictures, I kept thinking, "This is it!!" only to be disappointed.

So finally here is our new tub! It's white and clean and glorious! I love taking a bath and knowing that some stranger's butt hasn't already been there. Okay, maybe that crossed some blogging line, but it has always weirded me out with other tubs to know that someone else had been there. I know, really logical, right?

As far as the current progress of the bathroom, we're almost done. Adam's finishing moulding for the window and mirror. Then we'll touch up paint and be done. Woo hoo!

The picture below was taken as the boys were looking at...well...I don't really remember but I just think it's cool.

P.S. I'm getting really annoyed with my camera (for real) because it's been taking really grainy pictures. Not able to invest in a new one now, but bothered to put up photos like this.

Destruction

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 17:56:00 +0000

Thankfully this weekend finds us at the end of a *fairly* normal week. Finally feel a little under control at work, the house is back in order and Adam turned 27 this week! I tried my hand at homemade orange chicken for his birthday supper, and it turned out pretty darn good!

For those of you wondering about my grandpa, he's doing pretty well. Mom told me that the nurse says that he is gaining a little strength! She even had the OT come out to work on goals.

Now on to the bathroom...

I'm going to be showing lot of picture of "stuff" but thought you might want to get a look at my contractors. Of course, my very studly husband...

...and Adam's dad, Dale. (I really thought I had a better picture, maybe I'll find one later.) Dale was here for a week and half and worked his butt off. Most of the time in a Charlie Brown Christmas t-shirt.

Before you can make something new, you have to destroy the old (well, at least in this case!). Here's the first hole in the drywall. You can see the original plaster lath in the kitchen wall...

Then, for some reason, the drywall is all over the floor! :)

Man did this project make a lot of trash. Enough to fill the entire bed of Adam's truck and then some.

Here's after we pulled the vanities out. Don't you love the duct tape on holding the exhaust pipe together? More on this another day.

This was probably the worst mess of the whole project. This is our office that connects to the bathroom. During destruction/construction, this was the staging area/dumping ground for everything bathroom related.

As I tried to figure out the best way to share the renovating process with you, I decided to go start-finish with each part of the bathroom. Then I'll share the complete finished project. Hopefully we're DONE by then!!

Hope that you are having a great weekend. :)

Time Rolls Along

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 05:56:00 +0000

I just can't believe it's already February 7th. Wasn't I just starting to show you our bathroom remodel? Funny how life takes other turns.

About this time, I got sick. Like lay on the couch and not move for a couple days sick. I had planned to have a productive week while Adam was in Kansas, but I could barely pick up all of my kleenexes!

The day Adam came home, I got a call from my Mom about my Grandpa. He has been battling lung cancer and prostate cancer for several months and had just been hospitalized with an infection. After days of treatment, the doctors decided that there is nothing more they can do. He's been home on hospice now for three weeks. Most days are pretty good. He told me yesterday, "I feel pretty good, but I'm just so sleepy."

I was able to spend two weeks out in Seattle with my grandparents. I wouldn't say that it was fun, it's not like I went out there for a vacation, but it was good to be there. I got to bake my grandpa two pies and some brownies. Made some chicken pot pie and poured lots of wine. The five of us, my grandpa, grandma, aunt, mom and myself all drank a different kind of wine! My grandma told me yesterday that she misses me, AND the food! Hopefully I'll be able to make another trip out later this spring.

While I was gone Adam's grandfather was diagnosed with liver cancer and sent home on hospice, too! Ralph passed away just one week after he came home, the day I returned from Seattle. He was a strong man of God that knew Jesus. He knew where he was going and had such a peace about the end of his life. Adam's grandmother knew this, too. While we'll all miss Ralph, we all know that he's no longer in pain and in Heaven with his Creator.

In the midst of all of this there are also a couple other things that Adam and I in the middle of right now. By Friday I just needed to stop for awhile. I was (am) horribly behind at work, but I just needed to be still. At church on Sunday I could finally feel the emotion of the past three weeks. During worship I just felt the tears roll down and man did it feel good! Maybe it's just a girl thing but crying can make me feel so much better.

Today finally it felt like my feet were back underneath me. But of course my feet are in a different place now. Ralph is still gone, my grandpa is still dying and I'm still in a place of ambiguity. A feeling of unsettledness that I am really okay with today.

**********

Hopefully this week I'll have a couple more posts ready about the bathroom. Maybe if I take long enough to post the process pictures we'll actually have everything finished and I can show you an "after" picture!

Here's to hoping that your family is well tonight/today and that if they are not, that you find peace in these troubled times.

One Last Peek

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 06:25:00 +0000

If you have been watching my Twitter or Facebook in the past month, you probably already know that the picture above is now a distant memory. After months of saving and planning we finally remodeled our bathroom!

Now as you look at these pictures, you may think, "That's not so bad." And for those of you reading this that used to own the house, this is no reflection on you.

And for the former owners years ago that updated the entire house, I hope to never belittle all of the work that you did on our house. (Creating an open floor plan in a 90+ year old home, adding closets, attaching the garage, etc.) You did a lot of great work, a lot of hard and expensive work.

That being said, Adam and I knew that the bathroom would be our first big project. As you look at the pictures below, I promise you that we DO clean!! Here are some of the top reasons for a new bathroom:

Top Left: This is what all of the tub seams looked like. It's really nasty. So nasty that I always tried to shower with my contacts out so that I wouldn't get grossed out.
Top Right: The tub spout. Just look at how nicely attached it it! ;)
Middle Left: The old tub was a whirlpool tub. I know that people pay really good money for these (it's now cleaned up and for sale if you're interested!!) but we could not keep it clean. Adam would get it all sparkly and days later it would look gross again.
Middle Right: Grout. Grout and I are not friends. I used to say that I didn't like tile floors. What I really don't like is grout. It just never looks clean to me.
Bottom Left: Isn't this a lovely box? The exhaust pipe comes up from the basement, goes into the wall for a while and then pops back out to continue up through the house. The pipe needs to be there, but we just had to do something about that crazy box.
Bottom Right: This one isn't quite as bad, but for a number of reasons, our window couldn't have any trim on the left side. This has always bothered me.

My next post will show the total destruction! I never realized that when you take a bathroom down to the studs, rip out all of the old wiring and plumbing and take up the floor just how much debris is created. If I didn't have such a clear vision for the finished product I probably would have cried a few more times during the process.

As of today all we have left is a little trim work and finishing touches. Hopefully by the time I am finished showing you the progress, we'll have a finished product to share!

A Little More Planning

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 04:29:00 +0000

Let's just say that my Friday off was less than productive. I had the whole day and nothing planned. So what did I do? Nothing.

I know that I've written about this before, and my mom will just be nodding her head as she reads this, but it has always been a weakness for me. It's not that I don't have things I want to do, there just isn't a deadline for everything in my life. I thrive on deadlines. And checklists.

At work I have started to schedule all of the tasks for my projects on my calendar. I can't just say, "I'll do that this week." I have to say, "I'll do that from 3:00-4:00 on Wednesday." Now I don't stick to it 100% but at least it is on there and I don't forget that it needs to get done.

So tonight I sat down and created a schedule for my home. A schedule that plans time for crafting, blogging, baking and other projects. Of course it also includes things like cleaning, laundry and dishes. Hopefully having a plan to start with will help me to have more productive days.

This coming week, I'll have even more time, because my stud muffin is leaving me for a week. To go learn more about this golden stuff:

He leaves tomorrow for a week long "Grain Elevator Management Short Course" at Kansas state. Sounds really exciting, huh?

He's packing his swimsuit. I told him not to use it. For one, I don't have a pool to swim in. Secondly, there might be girls. I really don't care how long I've been with Adam, I will probably always think that there is some awful woman out there that will try to steal him. I trust him, just not those crazy vixens! ;) (Okay, I really don't stress that much about it.)

All I hope is that the pup keeps her crazy barking to a minimum. Like the kind of barking that makes you think someone is standing outside of the house trying to kill us. But it was really just a bird. Yeah, that kind of barking will not fly this week.

Hope that you all are having a great weekend!

P.S. I might start blogging about our bathroom remodel a little next week! I've got lots of pictures to sort through and edit, so it will take a while.

Wednesday Musings

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 04:42:00 +0000

I decided that if I really want to blog more and document my year of "doing" I needed to come up with a solution that allows be to blog somewhere other than the back, cold, dark room of the house. (Although someday I hope to make this a warm, cozy sitting room. But that's not for some time.)

So I found an offline blogging solution for our MacBook. Blogo
And bought PSE for Mac.

Now I can edit pictures and blog from the couch or up in my craft space. Or when the weather gets nice this spring, on the porch!

(photo by Diana Richardson)

This evening I did start taking down the Christmas decorations. Correction. I did take down all of the decorations. I just didn't pack them up! Right now there laying out in the back room, at least out of sight.

As much as I love having my house decorated for Christmas, I really love how BIG and CLEAN my house feels afterwards. I am staring at the spot where my Christmas tree has been for the past 6 weeks and am wondering what the heck to do with that big blank wall. Is it time to paint? Or maybe I should finish the bathroom first...

The Year of "Doing"

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 07:56:00 +0000

A new year, another try. I spent much of 2010 reading. Reading magazines and blogs. Learning. Thinking. But not as much "doing" as I had hoped.

I am hoping that 2011 will be my year to test and stretch my crafty, baking and decorating skills.

Here are just a few things I hope to do this year...

Blog much more frequently. I love to write and share bits of our life with family and friends.
Get more cards published.
Actually send the cards I make!
Bake, bake and bake! I will remember that I can always send extras to the elevator with Adam.
Add "finishing" touches to our living spaces. I know that I will never be done, but there are some parts of this house that have yet to be touched since we moved in a year and half ago.
Be still. I have always been good at filling time, not always with something productive. I want to leave some room in my life to be still and and chill with God more often.

And because every post needs a picture, here is little Melody when she was only a few weeks old...before she learned that she can destroy an "indestructible" rope toy in less than 10 minutes!!

Taking back the flower beds

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:00:00 +0000

This spring Adam and I decided to take back our flower beds. Free our beautiful flowers from evil quack grass. Here is what our first target looked like last summer:

Yes, there are daylilies, Asiatic lilies and even a pretty rock wall. Somewhere. I promise.

Now I don’t fault any of the previous owners. At one point this house was owned by some amazingly green thumbed folks. Not everyone wants to put in the effort it takes to keep up all of the flower beds and the veggie garden. (Especially not if you have three young kids and your previous house was destroyed in a tornado not too long ago!)

That being said, these flower beds needed some TLC. We (Adam) started digging and found five or six huge root bundles like this: (see the rocks?!)

Just to show you just how aggressive the quack grass is, look at it below, growing through the daylily root!

Here they are all cleaned up:

Now, I didn’t take any pictures of the Asiatic lilies that we dug up, (I don’t know why) but there were at least 6 huge bulbs, 5-10 average sized bulbs and 50+ baby bulbs. That’s not including the many casualties of this battle. The shovel sometimes does bad things.

Once everything was out of the ground, Adam moved the rocks back and ran the tiller through several times. We divided up the daylilies and started planting. The original bed by the garage ended up with 7 or 8 clumps of daylilies and 6 or 7 patches of Asiatic lilies:

Well, that didn’t even make a dent in what we had pulled out, so we turned to the front flower bed. At one time there must have been something planted here, but whatever it was, it didn’t make it. There were three green bushes (so descriptive, huh?) and two barberry (?) bushes that were looking rather sad.

We pulled out all of the old, decomposed mulch and planted eight clumps of daylilies and four patches of Asiatic lilies in here:

There were still some daylilies left, so they went into the end of this flower to the side of the porch:

Later in the spring we added landscaping fabric and mulch. (I’ll post some of those pictures later.)

So now after months of growth, here is the flower garden, refreshed, revitalized and mostly free of quack grass:

One Year Later

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Today we have officialy been homeowners for one year!

June 2009

June 2010

Our Little Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Truth be told, I don’t know that you would call our garden little. Most of you will continue reading and think I’m crazy to call it little, maybe I am! But if you read all of the way down, maybe you’ll believe me.

So here it is:

When we bough the house last year, there was already a very large, established garden.

We tilled up about half of it and had a pretty decent crop. The only problem with this garden is that it was smack dab in the center of our backyard. It just wasn’t ideal. Especially because we were planning to move the playground back here. But last year we didn’t have time to really plan things out.

So this spring we laid out a new garden closer to the edge of our yard, out of the way. Adam spent a good majority of the spring tilling and re-tilling the new garden to get rid of all the existing grass. He continues to till in-between the rows every few weeks to keep the grass/weeds at bay.

I have to admit that the only thing I did in the garden was transplant these strawberries (only half of the original patch, we’ll move the rest this fall).

Adam has travailed over the rest of the garden. He’s getting sweaty and dirty now. I’ll get sweaty and dirty in the fall when I am canning and freezing everything. Or maybe I’ll just cry. I just look at my kitchen and begin to get anxious about the pots and pots of hot water I’m going to have to carry back and forth across my kitchen!

But for now, here is a tour of the garden…

Potatoes…

7 tomato plants, cherries and huge slicing tomatoes…

Peas, one row planted, another row to go in this week…

Lettuce, WAY too much for two people…

Broccoli, I think we’re adding another row of this too, maybe…

Brussel sprouts…

Beans, two rows in, one more to go (we lost our first plantings of these due to a later than expected frost)…

Carrots…

Cilantro, planted to make salsa, but it is about done and the tomatoes have just started, will be replanting later...

Onions, just beyond the green onion stage right now…

Green peppers and jalapeños, not doing so great…

8 tomato plants, romas for canning (whole, sauce, salsa, spaghetti sauce)…

Zucchini…

Pickling cucumbers…

Mini pumpkins…

White mini pumpkins…I think..unless the ones above are white…

Cucumbers, 2 of these…

6 rows of sweet corn, two or three varieties…

Indian corn, mini and regular (can you tell which is which??)…

The pumpkin patch, not really sure which is which, but I know that we have some gourds planted in there too…

So we think we’re kinda big time with our garden. But then I just turn around and see this…

We work hard on our little plot. But it still is very, very little compared to this. A little awe-inspiring, isn’t it?

Apple Blossoms

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:46:00 +0000

These are long gone by now, but they are some of my favorite pictures from this spring: