Greenhouse Days

Dad and Mom began helping Maren and Jason at the greenhouses back in March as they were bringing home thousands of tiny, tender plants that needed potting and tending. It wasn't until mid-May that Elsa and I drove the hour from home to visit.

It was the day before Mother's Day and not only was the parking lot full, but cars were lining both sides of the county road as well! Elsa and I jumped right in helping at the checkout where a line of customers were patiently waiting with their loaded carts. This is what we've been waiting for all these years - to actually be able to be some help!

While Jason watered and watered thirsty plants, Mom and Dad and another friend walked miles re-stocking the sales greenhouse from the other three (answering customer questions along the way), and Elsa sorted and boxed people's purchases so Maren or her mother and father-in-law could write up sales slips. They then handed some of those to me to do the math. Multiply, sub-total, apply coupons, add tax, make change, repeat! I am thankful for calculators! Whenever we caught up with the line, I had fun condensing the outdoor plants and removing many empty trays.

The guys taking a rare break

When things slowed down at the end of the day, we did our own shopping and had a quick Mother's Day celebration. Maren wouldn't be able to join us on Sunday. They would need all the rest they could get before another busy week. And I'd be back the next Saturday afternoon to help a little more.

              

Children's Month

Since having to severely prune my teaching studio at lowest strength four years ago, I have experienced a famine of children. My current piano students are each a delight, but none are very young anymore. Some are even shooting taller than me!

I do miss young children. Even during my linguistics studies at the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL-UND), it was a joy to have whole families living in my dorm and little voices calling out for me to join them in the cafeteria.

So it was a gift to have a couple visits from young ones this month.

             

 My cousin's wife brought her two youngest over to explore a geographical feature near us, the shore line of a gigantic post-ice-age lake.

Much sand is deposited in this area, and fossils are occasionally found in the fields. Just imagine instead of our prairie view - water as far as the eye could reach!

I am speaking of an ice-age as described HERE which followed the flood survived by Noah and his family.

Later in the month, our neighbors came to help use our abundant asparagus crop. 

           

Besides tasting asparagus, this little explorer ate some green onion and even wanted to try out lilacs for lunch.

           

              

           

Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

Luke 18:15-17 (ESV)

Blessed

A winter bouquet
from the store

 Ill that God blesses is our good,

And unblest good is ill;

And all is right that seems most wrong,

If it be His sweet will.

Though I don't know who wrote it, this poem has come to my attention twice recently - quoted in the book I mentioned a couple posts ago (here) by Hudson Taylor, and in a note from a friend. (Thank you, Becky!)

EDIT: I have found the source to be a hymn titled "The Will of God" by a prolific writer, Frederick William Faber (1814-1863).

A Spring Morning

A glance out my bedroom window this morning showed that spring has indeed arrived! It ended up feeling more like summer during the rare 90 degree afternoon.

Mom cleaning up the perennial flower-bed by the crab-apple tree in full bloom

A Retrospect

A Retrospect, by J. Hudson Taylor

Looking for a good audio-book? At just under four hours in length, Hudson Taylor's autobiography is an easy listen. But that does not mean it is light material. 

Prepare to be awed and challenged by these examples of God's work in the life of a man who first fought His lordship and then yearned to spread the Gospel in a difficult mission-field: China.

Far from a complete account of his life, these short chapters give an outline of important lessons learned in England, China, and on the oceans between.

Click HERE for the free LibriVox audiobook that three gentlemen helped me record.

Click HERE for the free e-book on Gutenburg.org. 

All photos and artwork are from the e-book.

A Time to Mourn

A couple years into this battle with chronic illness, I remember a friend asking "How are you doing?" and being surprised when I said I was still grieving. Now, after four years, I am the one surprised when the grief hits me again.

Haven't I been through all this with God over and over? Haven't I learned to accept all the loss and change by now? Can't I trust that this is His good will for me for today?

But then He whispers that it's okay to cry again while He holds me closely. Cry, but trust.

"It's okay - it's all really going to be more than okay. Grieving how plans change - is part of the plan to change us.

It's okay to let go of comparing suffering, let go of avoiding or ranking or minimizing suffering and simply embrace suffering and all those suffering.

It's okay to not be okay, to not feel strong, to carry an unspoken broken. It's okay to be real and grieve losses and hold each other tight.

...Malakai pushes himself up in the hospital bed and he tells us something I will never forget, sunken half moons under his eyes:

"Looks like God knew my story was going to be bit different... and that's sorta cool... And this hard thing's going to make me rely on Him more --- and that's even more cool."

The grace that's in this moment is your mana.

Wish for the past and you drink poison.
Worry about the future and you eat fire.
Stay in this moment and you eat the mana needed for now."

- Ann Voskamp

"When I thought, 'My foot slips," 

Your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.

When the cares of my heart are many, 

Your consolations cheer my soul."

-Psalm 94:18-19

"He that lacks time to mourn, 
lacks time to mend.

  Eternity mourns that."

quoted in The Daisy Chain, or Aspirations, by Charlotte M. Yonge

(evidently from Philip van Artevelde by Sir Henry Taylor 1800-1886)

... and This Week

The snow is gone, and green is slowly taking over!

Birdsong and darting wings fill the air.

"These all look to you, to give them their food in due season.When you give it to them, they gather it up;

when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.

When you hide your face, they are dismayed;

when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.

When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,

and you renew the face of the ground."

Psalm 104:27-30 (ESV)

Mom and Dad got the thick blanket of leaves off our tea roses a few days ago, but the mounds of dirt were still too icy to remove.

Elsa and I follow the sunshine from back deck to south deck to front porch - depending on the time of day or wind direction. I love hearing the birds and the wind in the trees as I work on bridal shower gifts for several friends this year.