Every night we check the garden...
We check to see what is growing, which plants need more water, which ones are ready to be picked. Yesterday, I made glutten free zucchini bread with them, and they were so proud that the zucchini's came from our garden.
Christiana by far is our most faithful gardener. I'll never forget her big wide eyes and beaming smile as she sprinting into the house to tell me the watermellon had grown.
Andrew does such a good job showing them each different plant, and explaining when to know it's ready to be picked.
One of our zuchinni plants just never took off or did well as the other two and wilted over the weekend. Odd, it recieved the same exact care as the other plants. It's the egnima of gardening.
Our other things growing....
Sometimes Andrew and I take a mental snapshot of the moment we are in right now, it helps us to make sure we are aware of the moment in relation to time and appreciate life right now.
They are in the prime of their childhood, consciences forming, personalities blossoming, and their little bodies growing.
Playing the classic game of Colored Eggs, their current favorite outside game.
I've come to see a little clearer, all the biblical ananlogies of planting and sowing by actually growing a garden and raising children.
Six years ago we started both, and neither of us had done either before.
Sometimes, I lay in bed at night and briefly panic and wonder if I loved them enough, spent enough time with each them, prayed enough for them. I'm sure every mother experiences the same in different degrees.
I realize some of those fears are natural and out of proportion, especially before I sleep, but some, come from understanding the serious responsibility I have as a parent to form their hearts and help them to love God and reach Heaven.
They truly are our treasures and like our garden, require daily, so much delicate love and attention.
I know we will fail sometimes, I know that down the road, much will be out of my control and they may choose differently even though grown and raised in the same "garden".
On a practical level, Andrew and I both strongly agree that investing time with each other and with our children is a big part of the way we love them.
Even more so, TIME, I believe, is most valued by our children, then any gifts or trips, or toys we could give them.
Along with many hugs and kisses and I love you's, I think they feel and recognize our time with them now, and maybe our acts of service they will come to see later.
Not just being in their precence, and having them playing around us, but playing and BEING with them. This usually involve lots of games, chasing, reading, and telling stories at night.
Andrew has several games that involve him laying on the ground: Circus, Crab, Vibrator, Bridge....games that his Dad played with him when he was little. There is usually high degrees of tickling and laughter involved.
But all in all, I'm so honored and humbled, sometimes overwhelmed, but mostly grateful to have this responsibility to raise these souls for Heaven. And so I will keep trying, praying, tending, teaching....
"The greatest weatlth a man may acquire is the wisdom from living. And sometimes from small beginnings come the forces that shape our whole lives."
- Jeremiah Kinkaid, So Dear To My Heart
