The Tale of 2 Plants

I bought 2 beautiful hanging baskets of petunias for my front porch area. They were nearly identical when I brought them home- full with lots of beautiful flowers and healthy. I put one on the hook at the top of my porch and the other on a shepherd's hook in the mulch beside the porch. Within 2 weeks, they looked like completely different plants.
I suddenly realized that God was showing me something... (one of my favorite proverbs is 24:32"I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw.") One way I have heard the Lord speak to me is by observing his creation... I've heard him talk to me about people or situations in my life or His own character using grass, a blue spruce, the nature preserve woods that I visit, the ocean, the sun and clouds, the moon, the stars, the confluence of 2 rivers, my garden, etc. I'm sure I could keep going.
But this time it's the petunia plants...back to the plants...

The plants both received water from me - plenty to flourish - but here was what I saw:

The one hanging partially covered by the porch

• Was very slow to bloom again
• Began to "look" down at the ground, drooping and losing volume at the top
• Was still green and alive - but was losing its beauty

The one on the hook was full and voluminous, had many stems reaching upward toward the sky and was FULL of blossoms.

The different was light. The fullness of the sun. God was trying to show me that the amount of light and the fullness of the light really matters...not to the plants being alive, but to them being ALL they can be; being beautiful. I buy the petunias to give my home beauty, not to just be green and alive (I have bushes and trees for that). It's the fullness of the light that lets them be beautiful - and beauty is their purpose.

Here's a few verses on light (a few of the MANY). These tell me that the Lord is the light. That light = life. That the purpose of our life is to glorify Him (i.e. produce beauty!).

Isaiah 60:1 "Arise, shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you."
John 1:4 "In him was life and that life was the light of men."
Matthew 5:15-16: "...Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, who is in heaven."

I also got curious about whether the Bible talks about blooming plants...and here's what I found:

Psalm 144 (parts): "What is man that you care for him? The son of man that you think of him?...Part your heavens Lord and come down...Reach down your hand from on-high...Deliver me and rescue me... Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nutured plants..."

I would say that a well-nutured plants is watered, groomed, trimmed and given plenty of LIGHT. So I also think God is telling me that the one plant is a picture of how my sons will look if I raise them with His light and care...full of blossoms and very obviously beautiful.

I still like the placement of these 2 plants around my porch - so I switched them to give the sad one some time on the shepherd's hook. It's reaching for the sky now...not blooming again quite yet but I have hope. And I guess in a few weeks I'll have to switch them back! I'll keep you posted.

A Day in the Life

Here's a 24 hour period of pictures in our life. Yesterday provided a lot of opportunities for the camera so I thought I'd share a "day in the life" right now for us...

Playing with my sweet Zoe. I enjoy just taking pictures of her and talking to her in that baby voice that would drive anyone else crazy. But she's my baby-girl....so I love it!

An end-0f-year Ice Cream Social in Andrew's classroom. This is Andrew with his teacher, Mrs Kaiser, and friends Will and James. These guys became good friends this year.

Luke and Andrew relaxing in the baby-pool...it's too hot for May! I get cranky in the heat.

Luke-y playing peek-a-boo with me after coming in from his "swim"

Andrew loving some daddy-cuddles with his proclaimed "best buddy" Dad.

Busy day! We also had some friends over for dinner but didn't take any pictures of that... pizza, Wii and some friend-time to end the day... all in all: a good one.

Nemacolin....

No it's not an unpleasant gastrological procedure of some sort....

it's the name of the beautiful resort at which we spent this past weekend. By "we" I mean me, Bill and Zoe. The boys stayed with Nana and Papa.

This place is up in the beautiful mountains in Pennsylvania. Nemacolin Woodlands resort... check it out at: http://www.nemacolin.com/. There's hiking, wild animal preserves, golf, spa, pool/hot tub, fine wines, restaurants, zip line (bummer it rained when I could have tried it out!) and everything else you could think of. It was awesome. We're already looking forward to some (date unknown) return trip.

It was our 11th wedding anniversary. May has been full of wonderful celebration for us. This was no exception. We were even blessed by the driving time just to talk together or read a book (well, I read...Bill drove). I got to visit the spa, Bill played golf, and we had lots of time to discover new ways to make Zoe smile. It was her first trip away from home and she did great.

Aren't we cute? Everyone kept asking us if it was our first baby. Not quite. But nice we look young enough for them to ask! This picture was taken as we were loading the car to drive home. We had such a good time together that we didn't even take pictures.

My Birthday!

Not all birthdays are worthy of blogging about...but this year was blog-worthy.
33 is a completely uneventful number - no major milestone, no cause for mid-life breakdowns, etc. But Bill really made this day awesome for me. Not only was it a gorgeous 72 degree spring day but the first half of my day was this: I got to take a walk with Zoe, have bagels with my family, see my son score 3 goals at his soccer game, have lunch topped off with a cake from the Bonbonerie (see below). YUM. And I got a little help blowing out the candles!


Bill got me a beautiful necklace... (and some new running clothes).

Then I got a little hang-out time with my boys (aren't we all cool in our shades?!). As you can also see: somewhere in here I got to shower too. And Bill made me a 2pm pedicure appointment, handed me a gift certificate and sent me out the door. I should have taken a picture of my pretty pink toenails.

This is Zoe just lookin' cute on her mama's birthday.

The day ended in a birthday date with Bill: roses and dinner at The Precinct! The Precinct has been our special place for years...we've celebrated there maybe 8-10 times for special events and we just keep going back. We had a gift certificate from Christmas and free babysitting from Grandma. Woohoo! It was one of the most fun dinners we've ever had...we just laughed and talked and enjoyed each other. Perfect end to a perfect day.

Bill really knows how to celebrate. He makes many "average days" special and special-days or holidays he usually makes amazing. He regularly brings home things like surprise carry-out dinners or flowers for me when he stops at the store. And as you can tell from my mother's day and birthday posts over the past week...he really makes holidays great. It's hard for me to put into words what this means to me. It's not about the stuff...it's about my husband being thoughtful about me, what I like and loving me in tangible ways. It's love. And it's good. :)

Today I woke up and told Andrew that my birthday was so good that I wanted today to be my birthday again. He said "ok mom - you can be 34 today." Um...nevermind! I'll wait until next year to turn 34, and just remember over and over how good my 33rd was.

They make me LAUGH

My boys are hilarious. They say some of the funniest things. Sometimes they know it but most of the time, they don't. Here's a few for you to enjoy too...

"Holy one, a holy one!" (Andrew shouting as he makes a hole-in-one on Wii frisbee golf).

"Mom, I know think you're funny at that one part in our favorite song... so if you look back here, I'll laugh at you." (Thanks kid).

(While rhyming with the word "dude" aka Bill/Dad).... "I got one Mom: lewd dude!"

(After answering the door)"Who was it, bud?"... "I don't know mom -- just some white guy in long sleeves."
(Our best guess? Our neighbor Joe who has white hair).

(While attempting to swing with his grandpa and asked in the tone of a genuine question)
"Man peepa - how big is your butt?"

I'm 4 Months old!!!

Our sweetie is 4 months old today. Zoe Elaine: we love you.

Being 'Mom'

Yesterday was Mother's Day. I felt very celebrated by Bill and the kids. The day began with a relaxing bubble bath while the boys' went to get me Bruegger's bagels for breakfast. Then I got an orchid from each son (white from Luke, purple from Andrew) and beautiful earrings from Bill. Andrew also made me a keychain at school. Then Bill topped it off with a dinner out for the 2 of us last night. Dates are few and far-between right now so that was very special.

We also had a celebration with friends the night before: BFD - breakfast for dinner...done by all the men; complete with flowers for all 3 moms and personalized cards with quotes from our kids (thanks to the talented David Valentine!). Kelly, Lori and I sat in the living room on baby-duty while the big kids played and the dads made dinner. I think we actually completed at least one conversation.

All this luxurious celebration made me feel so grateful and loved. And I certainly spent the days thinking of all the amazing things it means to be a mother. I love my kids fiercely. Nothing I've ever done has changed me more than becoming a mom. Each time. And the cumulative effect of 3 children has left me softer, more patient, less concerned about my own rights, more able to love and be loved, much more willing to live in-the-moment and above all else, much closer to God and to Bill.
I cannot imagine what it would be like to rewind and not have my babies. Impossible. I have many moments where it brings out my flaws in living-color and leaves me with dirty hands or jeans, frustrated, disappointed or beating myself up for losing it over a little thing.
But overall, this process of being a mom is saving me. As my friend Steven once said...I should thank God for saving "my blind lost ass" and for saving me again and again through the process of being a mother. I am saved from my selfishness, my ambition, my fears, my self-hatred, my tendency to desire isolation, my insecurities, my difficulty receiving affection and a desire to control my own life. Any or all of these things would lead to my destruction if left unattended.

But being a mom creates situations every day that make it impossible for me to stand still in these things... 3 little people that God has brought to me to love, shepherd and nuture. Three little people who need me to love, to find community, to give and get hugs and kisses, to like myself, to give up my own plans. And my fierce love for them drives me directly into the heart of all the crap (listed above) with a pure motivation not to put it on them: to be free to just love them and ENJOY them. God won't let me be happy with less than that.
Like I said...being a mom is saving me over and over every day.