one MEGA busy weekend

The post title says it all!

Saturday:
-Breakfast
-Lowes, Target, Safeway, Michaels
-Lunch, finish tea preparations, shower
-Attend tea from 1:00 to 5:30, garden
-Quick dinner
-Small b-day get together at Nathan and Tara's

Talk about a full day! First, here are a few pictures of the table Tara and I hosted. It was so fun to overcome the challenge of her fine china and my rustic linens, but it turned out uniquely beautiful. We were bummed we couldn't use the red placemats because the table wasn't big enough to fit them all. The tea was so much fun! When I left, my heart was overwhelmed and overflowing with joy from just being with those ladies. Our church is truly ahead of the game when it comes to love and thoughtfulness. I think of Pam and how she is ALWAYS seen taking care of small immediate needs: a tissue for a teary speaker, an e-card for Mother's Day...and not to mention she's the wife of the Care Ministry leader. :-) I think of Tara herself, always gracious in speech and action, constantly thinking of others first. Then there's Meredith, who I'll get to in a moment. The Zeender women who have become my second familiy here. Belinda who faithfully extends herself to me though she oversees the whole Ladies' Ministry, making me feel important though she can not spend the time she wants with each of the women of Hope. All of the ladies are so friendly, accepting, open, and they like to HUG. More and more, I find myself thinking "This must be close to what the church in Acts was like." God is good!

So, Meredith. She's a woman I have not gotten to know very well (yet), but I have seen from afar that she is a woman of God's own heart. Her husband is head of the church website, and Matt & Nathan assist him now. Anyway, she shared her testimony at the tea, focusing on her life's desire for children and their recent loss. On New Year's Day of this year, after 10 years of marriage, they found out they were pregnant for the very first time. Ten weeks later, she miscarried. Meredith shared details of how things went, mentioning that there must have been near 100 people from the church at the hospital with them during the loss. To see her stand there and share such a personal trial was amazing, heartbreaking, and encouraging. God is in control. He knows what is best. He blesses before, during, and after trials. Such grace was given to her, and such inner strength she has obtained. Meredith shared a small related detail at the end of her testimony. When they married 10 years ago, they and some siblings were each given a piece of a christmas cactus their grandmother had grown. Not once in their marriage did that cactus bloom...until the very day they lost their first child. She said it was the most beautiful pink blossom, and we even got to see a picture of it. God is so precious in His ways.

So that's what I did all Saturday afternoon. What did Matt do, you ask? What did he do. :-D He worked on my Mother's Day gift! If you notice in the list of what we did Saturday, a trip to Lowes was included. He decided this year's gift would be flowers in the backyard so that I can have fresh flowers to either look at in the garden or have in a vase. :-) I am THRILLED! So he completely redid the flowerbeds while I was at the tea. Such an amazing, drastic difference in the neatness and cleanliness of the backyard! We can't wait to show our property manager. Today, (Matt's birthday!) we spent the boys' naptime working in the rain, cleaning up the yardwaste and doing a little more flower bed work. It was SO pleasant to work with my hubby like that. Something free, hobby-ish, and at home. And the soft rain made it peaceful, cool, and flying-bug-free. The birds were singing and made it feel like an atrium. Taking dominion over our small piece of earth really felt good. :-) So, here's a tour. The left coloumn are the before pictures while the right column shows the finished product. We got 1 hydrangea, 4 dahlia plants, 1 bell pepper, 1 tomato, oregano, sage, (eventually basil), and my favorite and our prize -- a coral/orange rose bush. ::dreamy sigh:: I never in my life thought I would own something like this. I just hope and pray that Matt and I have green thumbs -- or that God makes those plants overcome any of our misteps or forgetfulness. :-P

The finished product...

We are planning to get some grass seed, and Matt is going to level out the patio stones when he gets back from Europe. We can't WAIT to be able to spend time back there and let the boys run around on safe, even, grassy yard. It'll be a first! Maybe we'll even get to have Elijah's first birthday party outside!

Some close-ups... (Momma, the "blue" hydrangea already has pink edges after being in the ground for 1 day!)



And this is our prized possession that I say small prayers for. God really does care about the small things, and this small thing is a big thing for me. I would LOVE to be a successful gardener -- it gets you closer to creation, which broadens your perspective of just how amazing and huge our God is. And to be successful at having my own coral/orange rose bush? ::another dreamy sigh::



I love my church. I love my Matt. My heart is full of joy. And my God is good!