How Does Your Garden Grow?

Remember the old nursery rhyme? "Mistress Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?" Contrariness aside, I am thrilled to report that my seeds in my "vegetable container garden" are up!

So far I have radishes, leaf lettuce, and onions sprouting above ground in rectangular flat containers out on the balcony. Those couple of unseasonably warm days we had gave them a great start!

And my tomato and pepper plant seedlings continue to grow in their little peat "pots" in the bathroom window. It looks like I have more tomato than pepper plants (at least that I can tell), as a result of JD pulling out all my seedlings earlier.

Just imagine...in a few months' time I'll be rolling in tomatoes! Mmm. Am looking forward to it! Homemade ketchup, salsa, spaghetti sauce.... Yum.

Was it as easy as 1-2-3? Nope! I started rather late, as I am learning the organic method of preparing soil. Apparently one is to start that the autumn before! And I don't have any worms in containers either, to aerate the soil. Or compost. Or all the other host of things one should do to ensure the best nutrients in the veggies.

BUT, I started!

So how does my garden grow? Very well. It's blessed! Deuteronomy 28 says that everything I put my hand to prospers. So my vegetables are prosperous vegetables, regardless.

Till next time (hopefully sooner than one month, my apologies!),
Jeanette

Checking In

Just checking in this week...it's been about a month since my last post! So much for following my New Year's resolution.

My seedlings are growing...some pepper plants and tomato plants. I'm not sure which is which anymore, though, because John David had pulled them out. I found them in time and replanted them. That was not a good day for me!

Today is Resurrection Sunday, also known as Easter. One thing I really felt the Holy Spirit impress on me this morning was the availability of resurrection power. The power of God that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us! It's the power to bring back life...to restore, renew and rejuvenate. A powerful word.

So the first quarter of 2009 is already past. A good time to reevaluate goals and make adjustments. You know, that IS a good idea. I think I'll do that myself!

Till next time,
Jeanette

Heaven Is Like Australia

Tonight as I was sitting in the glider rocker in my three-year-old's bedroom, waiting for her to fall asleep, I began thinking about my mother and my brother. My mother passed away about four and a half years ago, while my brother passed on about two and a half years ago.

I miss them, yes...especially when I'd like to ask my mother if she remembers what she did when potty training us kids! And sometimes I cry missing them, depending on how tired and weepy I feel to begin with. But I can't say that I "grieved" for them like most people think about grieving.

Don't think I'm heartless. You see, it's just like they're in Australia.

This is the best description I have heard about having loved ones in heaven....

Imagine it's the 1700s and your loved ones are setting sail by ship across the world from England (or America, in this case!) to Australia. There are no phones, no email, not even snail mail! You may never see them again. You wave, and the ship sails out with the tide.

But you know what? You know they're alive. They're busy doing work, eating, resting, having a good time. You don't mourn them. You just can't talk to them. It's like they're in another world from yours; they're in Australia!

So my mother and brother are in heaven. They're busy doing work, eating, resting, having a good time. I just can't talk to them. They're in another world, after all. But they're alive. And in this case, I'll see them again and find out what they've been doing all the while!

Heaven is, after all, just like Australia.

Till next time,
Jeanette

Getting That Gardening Urge

I am getting excited about container gardening...

I grew up on a farm, so the garden my parents set out was huge. I remember digging in the dirt, putting in the seeds, planting seedlings, and finding worms cut in half. I also remember weeding portions of that plot. And going out early in the morning with instructions to "pick peas" or "pick strawberries" or "pick tomatoes." (I really did not like those tomato worms. They reminded me of small versions of those monsters in old 1960s and 70s B movies. Do you know what I mean?)

BUT, today, I appreciate the idea of having a garden!

I have determined that this year I am having some pots on my balcony or somewhere of yes, tomatoes (!), lettuce, onions, and peppers!

I LOVE spring green onions...and just think of your own tomatoes...your own salad lettuce. And peppers! Can anyone say homemade salsa?

Yum!

Now, how to do it? And, where do I get seeds that are genetically modified? There are places out there that sell them! Fortunately I have friends who know where. There Internet has its advantages!

I'll you posted! (Pun intended.)

Till next time,
Jeanette

Natural and Painless Weight Loss

One of my latest finds from the Bible that I am using daily is found in Proverbs 25.

I have decided that the most effective way to lose weight and keep it off is to change the way I think about eating. And the way to change how I think is to reprogram my mind with living words...God's words.

And so every day when I wake up in the morning (and now that I think about it, I should do this before every meal), I make this declaration: "I eat only what is sufficient for me."

Are you curious about this verse yet? Here it is, in the Amplified Bible:

"Have you found [pleasure sweet like] honey? Eat only as much as is sufficient for you, lest, being filled with it, you vomit it" (Proverbs 25:16).

Lovely picture, isn't it?

But the truth in this proverb from one of the wisest men who ever lived is unmistakable. Eat only what is sufficient. By speaking it out loud as a personal declaration, I am re-programing my thinking. After a while, I'll have trained my body to eat only what is sufficient. Voila! Reduced weight gain and eventually weight loss—naturally and painlessly!

Interestingly enough, the Amplified Bible allows more than just food to be used in this context. What do you find pleasurable and sweet...that overcomes you? I can think of a few things that people struggle with in life. Here's the proverb: Don't overdo...or it can hurt you.

It's good food for thought, isn't it? (Pun intended.)

Till next time,
Jeanette

Fishing for Flashlights

After telling stories about my children the other night at a women's group, I felt a little guilty. But then the next morning my 6-year-old did something that was so humorous, I didn't feel guilty anymore.

JD is in an exploring stage. Granted, this is the stage 2-year-olds go through. So it's good that he's going through this stage, BUT!

He likes to play with flashlights. I saw him walking through the kitchen with the flashlight and didn't think much of it. Until he went into the back bathroom and I heard a "kerplunk" and a splash. Yikes! "John David!" I went running back there. He looked up at me with a mischievous little grin and I looked down into the toilet to see the flashlight looking back up at me sadly as bubbles rose up and burst on the surface. Glug, glug, glug... Aagh! I fished the flashlight out, dumped out the batteries, poured out the water (it was clean, fortunately!!), and said, all the while trying not to laugh, "John David! You don't put flashlights in the toilet!"

Tee hee hee! He ran off. I thought, This kid knows exactly what he is doing.

I didn't think much more of it till I went upstairs to use the bathroom up there. I lifted the lid and aagggh! My little book light floated in the water, looking forlorn and waterlogged. It was in pieces, and the three little batteries were on the bottom....waaaay on the bottom. I had to put on a rubber glove to fish all the pieces out. All the while trying not to laugh. "John David!!!"

So. This may not seem funny to you, but when you have a child who is coming out of something like autism, this is GREAT!

I always can get another flashlight. I'll just have to hide it.

Till next time,
Jeanette

God Can't Not

I want to talk about the Bible verse I am really focusing on right now.

It's an incredible verse for those dealing with today's economy and all the things going on in the financial world.

It's Romans 8:32... "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"

Wow.

First of all, it shows God's tremendous character of love. And because He loves so much, He gives it all. Think about it. How many of you parents would give up your own child to some torturous death to rescue another? Yet God the Father loved us so much, He did just that.

And if He would give up His own Son for us, how, why, would He withhold anything else we needed? Food? Shelter? Peace of mind? He can't. He can't not do it. It's His nature to give. That's what this verse says. "How shall he not?" He can't not. He will.

And He gives it freely.

So whatever you need in this economy...another car, your mortgage payment, clothes for your kids, even food on the table, God will freely give it.

He can't not.

You just have to ask Him...and believe He will.

Till next time,
Jeanette