“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:1 KJV
When I was a little girl, my daddy always brought me a paper kite at the beginning of summer vacation. It was in a long, narrow plastic sleeve. You got two flat sticks, one long...one shorter...with slots cut in each end. You got a sheet of thin paper and some string. You fastened the two sticks in a cross shape first. Then you stretched your string around from end to end of the sticks, making a kite-shaped frame. You laid the frame on the paper and folded the edges over the string and glued them closed. Once the glue was dried, you attached string loosely from top to bottom and from side to side so you had something to attach the kite to the kite string with. The last thing you did was affix a tail. They didn’t give you this. You usually used some scrap material you had handy. You tore the material into two or three long strips about an inch wide. You cut one or two of the long strips into shorter pieces...maybe 4-5” long. These you tied every 6 inches or so down the long strip. Then you attached that long strip to the bottom of your kite and it became the tail.
Have you ever tried to fly a kite without a tail? You can’t. The wind picks it up then it goes around and around in frantic circles until it crashes down to the ground. My dad taught me you had to have an anchor so your kite would fly high and true.
“Make no mistake about this: You can never make a fool out of God. Whatever you plant is what you’ll harvest.”
Galatians 6:7 GW
Mr. FixIt has a blueberry bush. I’ve never raised blueberries, nor have I seen a blueberry bush. But, he has one and he’s darned proud of that thing. He’s been babying it for years. He had a cage around it to keep the birds and deer away from his beloved blueberries, but over time, the wood rotted and the gizmo collapsed over the winter. This spring, Mr. FixIt (who happens to be a mechanical engineer) drew up plans for a fool proof contraption to replace it. He decided to use PVC pipe, which is brilliant. It won’t rot or get termites. He took off for the hardware store and came back with everything he needed, including bird netting to put around the whole thing. Sixty-five dollars later, he had this impressive cage build and anchored to the ground. There was NOTHING going to ruin his berry harvest this year.
The first day I came home and saw this thing out in the field, it vaguely resembled a teeny-tiny batting cage. It really stood out with the stark white of the PVC against the lush green backdrop. So, Mr. FixIt went back to the hardware store for green paint for camouflage. It turned out to be John Deere green, but it was a darn sight better than it was before.
“The LORD is responsible for this, and it is amazing for us to see. This is the day the LORD has made. Let’s rejoice and be glad today!”
Psalms 118:23-24 GW
#1. Watermelon! OMGosh! When I was pregnant with Daughter #2, I craved watermelon....in January. It’s hard to find good watermelon in the winter but when I did...it was heavenly. I keep looking for the sweetest, juiciest watermelon every year and I have to say, I only get it about two or three times all season. So much of the food I love doesn’t taste like it used to. Partially due to aging taste buds. But I think all this genetic engineering and hybrids have ruined the flavor of so many foods.
#2. Hard rains in the late afternoon leaving the evenings cool and breezy. The added bonus of fog clinging to the hillsides is divine. This was Sunday evening. A perfect ending to Father’s Day…playing in the field with Mr. FixIt’s son and one of his grandchildren.
“Zucchini and straightneck yellow squash for the garden.”
“Whatever has happened before will happen ⌊again⌋. Whatever has been done before will be done ⌊again⌋. There is nothing new under the sun.”
Ecclesiastes 1:9 GW
After church and our weekly breakfast out yesterday, we headed to Rural King to look for some more zucchini and yellow squash seeds. For some reason, ours did not germinate. We looked all over that store and couldn’t find any seeds. It was impossible for their vast selection to have been sold so we asked the manager. Turns out, they keep their seed displays only to a certain date, then they donate them to FFA (Future Farmers of America), FHA (Future Homemakers of America), and 4H. I think that’s wonderful, but it left me without zucchini and squash. I have these really great pickles I make with them. You know when you let zucchini and squash get ahead of you and you end up with some really BIG squash that could be mistaken for the Goodyear Blimp? Those squash. You cut them in half, scoop out the pithy, seedy part, and cut the rest into half-inch cubes. Cut onions the same way. Using any typical recipe for bread and butter pickles, mix the green zucchini, yellow squash, and onions with the pickling mixture and process them the same way. OMGosh! I could eat a whole jar of those with a fork!
“Pray BOLDLY at every opportunity…even at coffee with the girls.”
“If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.”
James 1:5-8 MSG
Yesterday was coffee day with the girls...those magnificent ‘71 Divas from my high school class. We didn’t all know each other in high school. We really became most acquainted through Facebook and efforts to gather as many classmates as possible for class reunions, dinners, picnics, and the like. We are, all to often it seems, meeting at funeral homes anymore. I decided four years ago us gals need to get together and form a tribe...a sense of community of the feminine...when I came back to West Virginia to live. Now, we look at our monthly meetings as caffeine fueled talk therapy and I’ve seldom missed it.
There weren’t as many gals gathered yesterday. Illness, hospitalization, vacations, and general summer business kept many of our regulars away. There were also a few who came that don’t get to attend very often. It’s always a different group but the dynamic is the same. We are there to have fun, let our hair down, laugh a lot, and offer support to one another as we learn what’s new in each other’s lives.
“It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter.”
Psalm 74:17 NIV
Wow...there’s a day for everything, isn’t there? I’m going to take my knitting with me and knit in the historic hotel lounge where we meet once a month. Maybe I’ll get my friends interested in knitting!
I was sitting on the front porch knitting yesterday when I heard a loud noise in the driveway. A flat, wet sound I was unfamiliar with. I looked over and Kitty Boy seemed to be really interested in something there. I went over to inspect his find and here was this tree frog. I’m not at all sure if this was what we call a “peeper”, because he sounded more like he was making objectionable gassy sounds to me. Anyway, I chased off the kitty and scooted that fat boy up into the woods where he belonged. Hopefully Kitty Boy will forget where he left him.
“Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.”
Psalm 96:11-12 NIV
When Mr. FixIt asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, I immediately answered...
“I want to stay at the farm for a couple of days!”
“It’s not how many years in your life…but the life in your years!”
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”
James 1:17-18 NIV
So, today is really monumental...huge...a BIG deal in anyone’s life. Today is my 65th birthday! I didn’t know how to feel about it this year. I let myself dwell on the obvious...I’m getting older. I let myself worry about the health issues I’m facing in the coming weeks. I thought about how Mr. Virgo would have SO enjoyed this accomplishment. I thought about how much I miss my Colorado family. I thought about my beautiful mom and how I called her every year on my birthday and thanked her for having me.
All this time, this wonderful man orbited me on a daily basis. Taking care of me. Loving me. Watching to see if there was anything I might need or any way he could support me better. For a couple of weeks, he was eclipsed by the hamster wheel of grief running in my brain. Then the wave was gone…receding into the background again. And I could see every blessing clearly.
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
Romans 12:12 NIV
I’m developing a little community over on Twitter. There are some really great people over there and I’m hearing lots of good advice and quotes about grief. One of the women I follow is Maryanne Pope who wrote A Widow’s Awakening. She lost her firefighter husband to a totally preventable work injury. Maryanne always has good things to say...tasty nuggets to chew on during the day. That’s the draw of Twitter for me. Short and sweet and to the point...time after time.
Yesterday, Maryanne quoted Eleanor Roosevelt. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Those are some mighty words there, Eleanor. I was in a relationship for two decades in which I felt inferior. It wasn’t always like that. But, as time passed, too many difficult conversations avoided had created an elephant in the room and we carefully dusted it and laid out doilies to fool everyone, including ourselves, into thinking it was something beautiful. Eventually, a systematic collapse occurred and unkindness replaced love a greater portion of the time.
“This is how we party…lifting up the name of Jesus!”
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV
I was so tired Sunday night and didn’t write a post because I went to church twice and spent the afternoon with family. Sunday night, our church celebrated it’s third birthday. They started out with a little over a hundred people and met in an area restaurant. Now there are four services every Sunday and well over 2,000 people who attend. That kind of growth in a church today is unusual. The forward-thinking pastors of our church were given a vision of creating a different kind of church. One where everyone would be welcome. A come-as-you-are kind of place. A church home that greets you at the door with high-fives and holding up signs in the parking lot with messages like “You made it!” and “Come sit with us!”
The Sunday evening service was a true celebration and the volunteers were honored for all their hard work. There was an extended worship and the praise team plays this one song that really gets people up and excited. “This is How We Party” by Equippers Revolution is upbeat and fun and lifts up the name of Jesus. Everyone in the place was up on their feet dancing and joyous, arms stretched up, praising. We ended by taking Communion. I get chill-bumps when I go there.
“God is the tail of my kite…He anchors me.”
“The blueberry bush on The Ponderosa.”
“My all time favorite summer thing…watermelon!”
“Zucchini and straightneck yellow squash for the garden.”
“The tomatoes are growing like crazy!”
“Pray BOLDLY at every opportunity…even at coffee with the girls.”
It’s World Wide Knit in Public Day!”
“Wildflowers along the back road of the farm.”
“It’s not how many years in your life…but the life in your years!”
“Unprocessed grief festers. Let it go.”
“This is how we party…lifting up the name of Jesus!”