Just passing through...

Since I have been taking care of my uncle I have had and taken the time to appreciate the nature around me. My parents have a deck and have put humming bird feeders and bird houses close by. The birds are entertaining and our family enjoys sitting on the deck watching the wildlife.

Humming bird

My cousin Maya painted a birdhouse in school and my dad hung it by the deck. Our experience in the past has been that a birdhouse has to be outside for about a year before any birds will move in. I guess weathering it makes it more inviting for the birds. So when he hung Maya's house by the deck it was for decorative purposes only.

Our "hippie" birdhouse

We never dreamed that birds would move in. We jokingly call it the hippie house. When my dad first hung it he had just used a piece of twine but with the new residents he had to secure it with a piece of wire so it wouldn't get knocked down.

The other day I went out to get the humming bird feeders to wash and refill them and I noticed a passing traveler.

Tortoise peeking out to see if I'm gone

I had to laugh at myself because I know how silly I must have looked to any outsider. I wanted to get a picture of the tortoise outside if its shell so I sat in a kids chair in front of it waiting for it to emerge.

Watching me with one eye

Instead of coming out of its shell we had a stare down :) With its shell barely open I could see one eye that occasionally blinked. I even placed an apple core in front of it hoping to tempt it out. Anybody observing me would have only seen me sitting in a little pink chair under the tree leaned over holding my camera.

Buster waiting for something to happen

After a while even my dog, Buster, got bored watching me.

Big yawn ... this is boring

In the end the tortoise won the stare down and I went back in the house to get some work done.

Summer Storm

In the evenings things are usually quiet around the house, occasionally we'll have a visitor but mostly it's just the four of us, Mom, Dad, my uncle and me. If it's nice out my parents like to work around the house, usually in the garden. However, if it's to hot or if it's raining we'll all stay in the house. If there's a baseball game on the men like to watch that and mom and I will hang out in another room. On occasion the four of us will pull up an old TV show and watch it together. We had had several days that were very rainy so one evening after supper the four of us decided to watch an episode of  "The Rockford Files", a TV show from the 70's that my mom really likes.

Rain helps the garden to grow :)

When all of a sudden I heard a terrible noise that scared me right out of my seat. I had no idea what was going on but it sounded like something was coming through the wall. My mom thought one of the trees had fallen and had hit the house, we were both partially right. Almost :)

Power line pulled right across the front door

A tree had fallen but instead of hitting the house it landed on the power line.

It was a huge limb

The sound that I heard was the meter box being pulled off the house.

The porch railing kept it from getting torn off completely

We had quite a mess in our yard.

Thankfully the rain had cooled the air down so we were able to open the windows and lit candles to see. The electric power board worked very hard and had the power back on by midnight. The next couple of days they worked on different things, like a new power pole and telephone lines.
Then my dad and I worked on yard clean-up ... He did most of the work.

Almost all cleaned up

I would have gotten pictures of the clean up process but I was busy working and didn't think of my camera until after it was done. The only evidence of the storm now is the huge mark on the tree.

Thankfully no one was hurt and no real damage was done.
We didn't get to finish watching Rockford Files but we did have a good time sitting around just talking with no electronic distractions.

Gardening

When I first started planning a post about our garden I thought it would be neat to open with a Bible verse. However, after doing a search on gardening I couldn't find anything that was relevant to my search :) The Bible starts with telling us about the Garden of Eden but nothing there would fit with what I was doing. Then in 1&2 Kings a garden is mentioned but it's in reference to where kings are buried ... that wasn't fitting either. I had forgotten about a garden being talked about in Song of Solomon but I''m sure those verses weren't fitting either. Then you travel to the New Testament and it talks about the Garden of Gethsemane. Yeah we don't have a praying garden either.

Then it occurred to me that I was searching for the wrong word. So I opened my Bible app, started a new search and found what I was looking for ...

"You will eat the fruit of you labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours." Ps 128:2

Farm in Michigan

Growing up in Michigan we always had a big garden that did very well. The soil there is dark and rich and just produces some of the most delectable fruits and vegetables. So when we moved to the South it was disappointing to see how poorly the gardens did.

My parents have lived in the same house for over twenty years now and they have worked with and treated the soil every year. Some years did better than others but they never gave up.

Mom and Dad getting the garden ready

This year everything seems to be falling into place, the soil looks good, we have been having plenty of rain, and the bees are working hard pollinating.

Getting the rows just right

Mom working hard

Almost every evening they would come home from work just to go work in the garden before it got dark.

Taking a quick phone break

And boy did it pay off!!

All kinds of veggies

It started out kind of slow with a few squash and zucchini here and there but then it exploded

A sample of what's coming in

 Now the cucumbers are starting to come in.

Cucumber plants

We may have to try some pickling recipes.

Almost ready to pick

A Different Journey

We can make all the plans we want to but that doesn't mean life will follow those plans.

So what do you do? Step back and regroup! Trust in the Lord to direct your path and have Faith.

At the beginning of this year I was making plans to go back to Haiti. The purpose of the trip was to check out some ministries there with the possibility of working with them. The main ministry I was wanting to get involved with was working toward setting up mobile medical clinics in the back mountains of Haiti.

But our timing isn't always God's timing :) Things wouldn't line up and at one point I had a travel date and as I was making plans my contact in Port au Prince fell through. I was glad I hadn't bought my airline ticket yet.
Then I understood why things weren't working out ... On March 11th my mom's brother fell and broke his back.

My Dad (left) and Uncle Lenny (right) 2012

 My Uncle Lenny was working in North Dakota as a traveling electrician when he had his accident. He has never been married and doesn't have any children so our family decided that I would be the one to go help take care of him.

On the road to recovery

I stayed at the hospital with him while the staff trained me in how to take care of him. While I was there I didn't have my computer so writing on my blog was impossible. When he was released on April 22nd I brought him home to Georgia with me.

He loves sitting on the deck watching the wildlife

When we first got home he required so much one on one care that I was exhausted most of the time so I didn't have the time or energy to post then either.
I am happy to say that he is doing much better and gaining his independence so hopefully I'll be able to start posting regularly again.
Thank-you for your patience and support ... More to come!!!