Whistle While You Work.

Recently, I read another blogger's post on how she spends her summer and being the partial compulsive perfectionist that I am I was intrigued. I love a clean organized home however I am also realistic enough to know that when you live with five other people your dreams and expectations may not always be met. This blogger had a fantastic suggestion about how to clean and organize your house. She simply suggested cleaning a room a week during the summer months. After reading that I was hooked! I could totally do this and so I proceeded to divide the house up in to 9 sections. Each week we work on thoroughly cleaning, throwing away, donating, and reorganizing each room. I have been amazed at all the junk we have been hanging on to and thrilled at removing all the clutter. We are now in week 4. I have clean closets and cabinets (inside and out), organized drawers and a tremendous feeling of accomplishment. I even polished my pots and pans. LOL

Mary, Mary, how does your garden grow?

I am happy to say that this year my garden may actually grow.

I have been teasing that I am raising each of my children to be good at different things. One is an excellent cleaner, another is a wonderful caregiver, and one is developing her green thumb. This works out great for me! This week we have been preparing our front flower beds for beautiful color. OK more Kaelyn than myself. I love to watch her work in her little "secret garden." Sometimes I will catch her hiding under the crape myrtle, tucked behind the shrub just letting time pass by. She finds beauty in the solitude...this place she has made her own. Each spring I take her to pick out plants and her face comes alive with all the possibilities.

So far we have planted marigolds, geraniums, african daisy, petunia, and a few other I am not sure the name of. Now if I could just convince her to start a container garden on the deck!

Tending my own Garden

Spring is my time of year! I love planting flowers, cleaning out the house, and preparing for our summer break. It is also a time of reflection as I look back on the school year and begin thinking about the new one ahead. I contemplate our goals and how if we met them. I set new goals as I prayerfully consider the upcoming year. But this spring, something different began to take place.

This spring, I realized that it is my own garden that needed tending. We have a flower garden that over time and erosion has been left with hard, unfertile soil. We have sporadically tried to plant there but really had not paid much attention to the soil...it was just an afterthought. That is how I have felt about myself. I have neglected the very essence of who I am...soil in HIS hands. With four children, a husband that travels, and all the demands of daily life this is easy to do. I would read, pray, study but just like my garden throwing some seeds on poor soil will not bear much beauty.

The amazing lesson in all of this is GRACE. How in the world can I survive when I am running on fumes? How in the world can I fix this problem? I can't! I must allow God to tend my garden, starting with the soil...preparing me for what He is planting.