Favourite Things - FOTF

I have another favourite that I just had to mention today. It's the Focus on the Family Organization. When I was a kid my mom used to listen to Dr. Dobson - and we got the kids magazines that they produced. It was very useful and meaningful information for us as a Christian family - especially with one parent who was not serving God.

Since getting married and starting my own family, I cannot count how many times i have been blessed by the materials and services offered by Focus on the Family In the early years of marriage we attended marriage seminars hosted by them, and I read several books on relationships - one that was extremely helpful was Dr. Dobsons book "101 Questions and Answers on Sex". I've also read the 101 questions about parenting as well as countless others. I often reference many of the marriage references time and again as I continue to learn how to love my husband unconditionally and meet his needs. Shortly after having our first son, I attended a bible study with some moms on Bringing Up Boys, and then later, after reading about it in the monthly magazine/newsletter - Dr. Kimmel's Books - Grace Based Parenting and Raising Kids for True Greatness - both of them life changing.

Last December they launched a new bi-monthly magazine called Thriving Family and I have devoured each issue. I've loved each issue, each testimony, helpful hint, etc. It's such a good magazine. I believe that every believer who is endeavoring to have a healthy family really needs to avail themselves of everything this organization has to offer, I'd go as far as to say, I believe that its necessary.

Nobody has ever before asked the nuclear family to live all by itself in a box the way we do. With no relatives, no support, we've put it in an impossible situation. ~Margaret Mead

God has provided us with this incredible group of people whose passion is for families to thrive, they have been and continue to be a real support and blessing to me and my family and I believe to everyone who opens their hearts and homes to them.

Welcome!!!

I opened my eyes, crawled out of bed to....sunshine! Yes, another sunny morning, so I then ran to my garden in search of...YES! there they were, perfect little buds popping out through the melting snow, dirt and gravel. The pure, simple bliss of seeing the beginning of the flowers that will spring from the bulbs I planted last fall. It's quite amazing how it just made the rest of my day so.... lovely. Yes, that's the word for it. Lovely. And honestly, now I can begin to plan my veggie and cutting gardens... because to do it earlier than now, makes me impatient, but NOW, well now there is real promise of the spring to come.

I'm looking forward to my garden this year, having learned so much last summer and fall. Like the fact that rabbits love broccoli and cauliflower, and that we have alot of rabbits back there. And that no matter what, I have no luck with carrots (we'll save those for purchasing at the farmers market). But I do very well with zucchini, squash, gourds, lettuce, peas and tomatoes. I will save the majority of the herbs for the deck pots, and though pumpkins are fun, they take ALOT of room. And though I probably won't eat what I grow, i will still grow corn because I like the sound of the wind in it. Reminds me of home - Chatham had a lot of corn.

I also will probably chop off all the quince in the tree before the fall because I don't know what to do with them and they are heavy and ruin the stuff growing under them. I'm also thinking about replacing the peach trees we chopped down 2 years ago, and having also lost our apple orchard to the fence, maybe one of those in place of the plethora of plum trees we have (esp. since we don't really like plums). I also loved my tiny cutting garden at the end of the plot (this is just rows of flowers that you grow with the intention of cutting for bouquets) - mostly because I don't like cutting the ones in my front gardens for this as they look too thin otherwise.

As mentioned, the hydro company has put a fence in back there, (though we are not happy to lose the extra running space) - now it will be that much easier to keep track of the boys when I'm out there. We also lost our neighbours giant raspberry patch to the fence which saddens me because we picked bags and bags worth of them and froze them, and i will miss that. However, now I can focus the time spent there onto tending my own patch.

I'm quite ready for spring and summer and all the surprises and growth that these seasons hold for me and my little family...I love cozy falls and winters - they really are my fav, but this year, this year I'm welcoming spring with all my heart.

More favs

Feeling down today, have drafted a few blog posts tonight and deleted them, mostly cause I'm tired, and have alot of scattered things on my mind and no one with whom I feel safe enough to discuss them with (this is not a criticsm, just referring to the nature of the subjects). Anyway, more favs:

I love trees.

Yep, they fascinate me. Saplings, Mature, Old, Dead, doesn't matter. Just love them.

I love them in bud and feel the promise of spring and new life. I love them in summer, listening to the leaves rustle in the breeze, being kissed by the sun while sitting in their shade. I love seeing them when they are in radiant colour, branches touching the ground and while the leaves fall, and playing under their branches, that seem to be reaching out to protect me... but i think my most fav is in the winter, when they are bare (unless they are evergreens which of course are radiant in winter) - but those bare branches...man... love them - they remind me of structural beams - the foundation on which all the beauty of the earth is hung upon.

It's also fascinating to me that our journey to redemption started with the sin of eating the fruit of a tree and was fulfilled when Christ died upon another tree....