National Day of Prayer

So today the 6th of May 2010 is the National Day of Prayer.

Among the many things on my prayer list today (and not just today) is all those hurting in Nashville, TN

The pictures are disturbing.  It's just so so sad!

But more sad is that so many people don't know about it because it's not been at the forefront of news coverage nationally.

So if you didn't know to....please stop and say a prayer.  Here's why:

Above is my Aunt's neighborhood in Bellevue, TN (not sure of where the picture came from...I think The Tennessean).  Amazingly, hers was one of just a handful (truly just about 4-5 out of hundreds) of condo units that did not go under water.  But now she's left with destruction all around her.
We are thankful that no on in our family completely lost their property.  In the grand scheme of things their damage was all quite minor.  But yet SO many are not that way.  The entire city of N'ville in fact is not that way.  Their symphony hall, football stadium, Grand Ole Opry House, Opryland hotel, Country Music hall of fame, etc etc....all took on water....TONS of water. It will be a long road to recovery for a city that I love so dearly!!
My entire family is from N'ville.  Both of my parents grew up there.  My Mother went to Lipscomb University (and their high school too for that matter).  Nashville is where my parents met and where their family's still live along with my sister and one of my husband's sisters.  It's a great city!!

Here's just some of what my loved ones have been dealing with (pictures by my sister and her husband and taken from facebook):

my brother in law bailing out the basement of their lovely home during the rains

Their church set up a temporary shelter in their gym for a nursing home to evacuate to.  Their church members helped set it up and helped out, as they were able, to serve the patients and the nurses and staff tending to them.

Here's a picture of the downtown area after the rains ceased...picture found here

So today on this National Day of prayer I hope you will include the residents of Tennessee as they move into starting to begin recovery from this horrific disaster!!

New Life is popping up all over my yard.  We went with the Square Foot Gardener Method of vegetable gardening for ease of dealing with our rocky thick clay soil.
And we're having great results!!  We've got Squash, Zucchini, carrots, peas, beans, tomatoes, chamomile, cucumbers, lettuce, etc going out there.  In addition to our Strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries and herb garden.
My sister just passed on some asparagus as well so we'll have that in a few years too!  Hooray!!
I love having a feast out my back door!
I also LOVE the book The Backyard Homestead because it finally inspired my precious husband and helped him realize that we really could grow food in our little "postage stamp" sized backyard, now he's having a ball gardening!  However he's also now wanting to have a rabbit hutch of fluffy little adorable rabbits to have to slaughter and eat.  yeah I'm all for being self-sustaining.  But I have limits.  I'm thinking rabbits are outside of the them!!  (even if they are yummy to eat)

(John Mark picking some strawberries from the yard for a b'fast treat)

It's berry picking time!! Which means it's jam making time!  These are in our very own yard.  But there aren't enough out there for jam, just a good amount for snacking.  So today we are off to a local insecticide free strawberry farm.  So later today you can find me in my kitchen, apron on (of course) stirring a hot pot of Strawberry goo into deliciousness to last all year long!! 

 It's going to be a WONDERFUL day!!!

Yield....PLEASE!!!!

Well life hasn't slowed down.  Come on life....give me a yield sign for just a few days please. I thought it was going to, but it hasn't.  I wasn't going to post as I have no pictures to post or time to do it, but decided getting back in the habit of posting was better.

I'll try to get some pictures up later of the cupcakes and b'day cake I made for last night and today.
My head is still spinning though so let me get some sleep and then we'll see....

One dull boring day with NOTHING would be amazing right now!! I'm so far behind on.....well EVERYTHING!!  But life is never ever dull that's for sure and I'm constantly reminded of what an amazing man I married and what a blessed life I lead!  So really I don't mind the madness.  Just trying to handle it all as the best Christian Mommy, Wife, friend, etc I can!!

I'm thinking til we sit on the plane headed to Honduras this summer we're going to be running at full throttle.
But that just makes us appreciate so much more the daily siesta times and the mañana lifestyle we live and experience when there!!  OH WAIT...we're going to have over 30 North Americans coming a few days after us ready to be put to work....well perhaps I'll get my ONE day in before they arrive, right??!!!!
Can't believe it's almost time to head south for the summer....hmmmm?????  (yeah we've always done thing a little differently!!)

Crazy!

Yep that's what my life has been lately.  But it's also been good, I'm so so so blessed beyond measure!
I've watched my Mother in law be diagnosed with cancer and handle it with grace, courage and faith (and then on her birthday no less...be ruled cancer free!!!)
I've watched my children show their love for God and their strong desire to grow in Him.  They simply AMAZED us and made us proud at the LTC convention!!
I've seen my husband off on yet another trip to Honduras where he was sheltered, fed, and cared for by dear friends of ours....family really!
I've washed lots of dirty clothes.
I've watched many a soccer games where my non-competitive, really overall non-athletic daughter has cheered on her teammates...and the players of the other team. And had a WONDERFUL time playing, not worrying one bit about not being the best on the team and seeing the importance of every person's role!  and I've been shocked at how she's jumped in there and played!!
I've watched water gun fights with all the neighborhood kids drawn like a magnet to my yard and enjoyed chatting with their parents who weren't far behind their kiddos in coming over.
I've sat around a fire with neighbors enjoying immensely the night air and good company.
I've enjoyed seeing old friends from high school days.
I've washed lots of dirty clothes
I've seen my son gain new confidence in tennis after not feeling hardly any at all with baseball.
I've spent hours reading out loud sitting on the back deck enjoying the sunshine with my kiddos.
I've spent hours reading out loud in the car on multiple road trips.
I've watched John Mark obsess about birds and bird watching (and shhhhh...but next week I'll see him open a brand new set of good bird-watching binoculars for his 9th birthday).
I've washed lots of dishes.
I've attempted to kill myself day after day in feeble attempts to do P90x (oooh I love it, but seriously...wow!)
I've barely had time to CLEAN (as in dust, scrub, mop, etc) my house.
And i've let my blog go.
And I've been fussed at.
SO time to get it going again...sorry sorry I've been away!!