Yeah, That's a Lot of Free Plants...Round Two

The gluttony of free plants continues.

My neighbors run a "flower tent" here in town.  They put the plants that they don't sell out for "free" in their yard today.  They were taking donations for a local dog shelter, so we did contribute to that.  I gave her $17. It was all the cash I had.  And I drove home with all of this.  The peonies in the back were free from my friend's yard (again, thank you, Jessica).

The best lil gardener around helped me to plant over 57 plants in our "kid garden" today. He informed me that since he is in the library garden club, he can put the plants where ever he wants.  I tried my best to comply.

I have to say that I am wondering why the Lord has blessed us so amazingly with all of these plants?

He must draw as much pleasure from watching my little ones' love of gardening as I do.

I left the house this morning thinking, "I'd sure like to run down to the Farmer's Market, so I can buy a few tomato plants.  We could really use them."

We never made it to the Farmer's Market, but somehow I ended up bringing home 15 tomato plants, 4 basil, 3 oregano, 3 parsley, 4 green bell peppers, and countless other flowering beauties, all, pretty much, free of charge!  That is a blessing, my friends!

I asked my husband if he liked the new plants in the garden.  "What new plants?" was his response.

Uh, honey, I put in a TON of new plants today!  You did?

UH, yeah. And I took him on a little tour...counting and pointing out each new plant.

Sorry, Boss, but you can't miss 57 new additions to our garden.  

That ain't right!  Poor man, he needs a day off!

He makes me laugh!

Well, it wasn't all work and no play today.  After a few sweaty hours of planting, we headed to the pool, where my sweet and lovely children discovered that they are, in fact, half fish.  My dear first-born actually swam in the deep pool without me today!  Try as I may, he is growing up so quickly.

I love him so much.

I love being a Mother, so much.

Even on days like yesterday, when we got all the way through the grocery store check-out process only to discover that I had left my wallet on the kitchen counter.

Even in the moment of that terribly inconvenient realization, I felt peace, as the Spirit assured me that this was an opportunity to teach my children, by example, how to deal with disappointments in life.

In that moment, I felt purpose, poise, and power.

And I felt reassured that the "little jobs" a Mother does are oh so important.

(We drove home, got the wallet, returned for our groceries--and no tears were shed--not by me anyway, and when I explained to the kids that this stuff just happens sometimes and instead of crying or getting mad, Mommy, just finds a solution to the problem, fixes it, and moves on, they were ok with that.)

Anyway, tomorrow is another day, and I see more planting in my future.