Affections = Stirred

Last night, as AP and I drove to our dear friends' house to get our weekly dose of LOST, we were discussing the fact that gardening truly stirs my affection for the Lord. I know I've mentioned it before, but it's one of those things that I pray never ceases to amaze me. I don't think that I will ever get to a point where I know everything there is to know about the plants that I will plant, and I like it that way. I have been amazed, over the last few weeks, to watch our broccoli go to seed, which basically means I've watched as our broccoli plants have exploded skyward to a height of about 4-feet with an amazing number of BEAUTIFUL yellow flowers covering them. This weekend I (sort of) weeded the garden. It was a half-hearted attempt because I know we will be demolishing the plot in a matter of days/weeks because we will be moving into our new home as soon as it is finished (we go to pick our counter tops and flooring tomorrow! yea!). I think it was mostly just a therapeutic effort on my part this weekend. :) Anyhow, while I was uprooting the remnants of long-dead tomato, pepper, marigold, zinnia, and bush bean plants, I came across a few pods that were never picked from the bean bush before winter. I crumbled away the pod to find about 3-4 perfect little bush beans (SEEDS!). Aaron and I talked about how awesome it is that GARDENING (of all things!) is such a mirror of the Cross. From death (my poor bean bush) comes the promise of new life (the bean - seed)! How amazing is that?! I can claim NOTHING of that by my hand. I let the garden go to the winter (i HATE being cold...) winds, and still the Lord brings the promise of life from my catastrophic mess of a garden. :)

It's an amazing thing.

Ok, so are you ready for pictures?! I promised them, so here I am, ready to fulfil that promise! Enjoy!

Strawberry plant

second set of strawberry plants! Don't they look delicious?! I think one should be ready to pluck today when I get home!

This is the best looking of the seeds I planted a few weeks ago. It's a pole bean. I'm thinking it's doing so much better (as far as leaf development) because I transplanted it to that bigger "pot". I should spend some time this weekend giving my other sprouts some extra room...

Lantanas are some of my favorite flowers. My mom always had the yellow ones around our house, but the multi-colored ones (on the right) are my favorites. They're not looking great right now - I don't think my plants are liking all the weather changes recently, but you can get an idea, at least...

This is our garlic - still just growing away! You can also see some of the Cabbage behind it.

better shot of the beautiful cabbages!Shallots are so cool looking! :) I love the "spiky" look of the greenery. Reminds me of a boy's terrible buzz haircut from Jr. High School back in the day...

Well, friends, I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Sorry they're not the greatest in quality. One day (Lord willing!) we will have a great camera (like Kelley and Alyssa!), but until then, thank you for being okay with my little iPhone photos! :)

Love you all, Denise.

P.S. My eighth grade students have completely lost their minds today. I am dangerously close to needing about 24 of these (just be glad that I don't need 140 of them):