Full of Joy

This morning I was reaching for something in the drawer of my bedside table, and noticed two books I had started but never finished. (1 fiction, and 1 non-fiction) Then downstairs there are three books I'm reading sitting out on a table next to the couch. Hmmm, that makes FIVE books I have started but not finished! There have been times in my life where I have read hoards of books in 1 week. When my family lived in Iowa, between my 4th-6th grade years, my Mom would take us to the library all the time! She'd let us go our separate ways, and choose whatever section of the library we wanted to pick books from. I'd go home with stacks of books, and read for hours on end. In sixth grade, anytime we finished a book in school, we'd get to put a sticker up on a chart. I read so many books that year my stickers went off the chart (literally). I began to worry my teacher wouldn't believe me. These days I tend to only finish the books I listen to on Audible (an app...

This rainy afternoon makes me so happy- and not just because we're sitting around watching the Brady Bunch together. Over the weekend, my sister/brother-in-law gave us 5 baby trees. Chuck planted them across our backyard to eventually create some privacy. We've been faithfully watering our little additions to the family, but I think they needed a good, hard rain. I believe there's something really special about the water in the sky that comes straight from God. I'm also thrilled that our veggie garden is getting a good soak. The lettuce, squash, cilantro, and mint already have sprouts. When I first planted those seeds, I prayed over them and asked God to bless the "fruits" of our labor. I committed our first "fruits" to Him, and I'm already excited about seeing what grows to maturity first, and who He leads us to give it to. I've had a desire for years to try my hand at gardening, and this is finally the year! It's been surprising...

We became homeowners for the second time in February of 2020. (A year and three months ago from the day I'm writing this post.) In August of 2017, almost four years ago in PA, we sold the first house we had ever owned. We had searched for the right house for the better part of two years. Our search stopped when it got too close to Basye's birth, and started back up again when we got our heads ever so slightly above water. Back then we had two babies well under the age of two- 16 months apart, to be exact. Looking for the right house at that point in time meant all bullets on the list pointed to helping me find sanity. a fenced in yard: so the babies could play outside, but not run off into the street in a neighborhood with sidewalks so I could buckle the babies into our double stroller and go for walks a place to store the stroller so it was out of the way bedrooms that were not on ground level (I hate sleeping in a bedroom with windows on ground level) an area for guest...