Splash in the Rain Puddles

 Twenty one years ago today, Chad and I began our story together.  We knew so little about life and love and marriage.  But that's the beauty of it.  Learning and growing together.  Navigating each season with God at the center and praying for wisdom and patience through it all.  Sure, there have been some tough seasons....but never one that ever made me doubt that God knew exactly what he was doing when he allowed our paths to cross and led us into marriage.  Chad you provide so well....you work so hard...and it's always evident how much you love me and the boys.  Here's to 21 years my love!            

 It's August, folks.  It's now that I want to hit the pause button...hit the button and just stay right here.  The lull in between the busiest farming seasons...the last month of summer vacation for the boys...but what's really on my heart is the fact that my oldest boy is about to start his last year of high school and in just a few months, turn 18.  Shew.  What a jumble of emotions that statement brings.  The practical part of my brain knows he is ready...he loves Jesus, he is responsible, he knows who he is, and knows what he wants to do....it's the place we have prayed and worked so hard to get him to.  But the emotional part of my brain....that's the kicker.  My boy.  I want him to soar...but I want him to stay.  I want him to experience life as a young adult...but I want to protect him from the challenges that it will bring.  He is my home body....who loves the familiarity of what has always been....but I pray he is always ope...

 We've entered that sweet spot of the summer when baseball has wrapped up, the crops are in the ground and growing, the temps are warm and toasty, and the garden is growing and producing.  I was thinking back over our years of gardening, and it just makes me smile....it makes me smile knowing that our garden brings just as much joy to Jack today, as it did when he was 4 years old and managing that little square of space like it was his own farming operation.  There have been years when, if it were up to me alone, the garden would have been a no go.  There was a season where it felt like we were just creating more work than we possibly had time for, but at the end of the day...we did it anyway...simply because of the joy that it brought our boy.  All of our boys, really.  But especially Jack.  Just as life goes....so have our gardens gone...some years producing an abundance, with hearty plants and not many weeds...other years struggling from heat and bu...