Gardening goodness...

The weather is heading towards downright delightful lately with a few days of cold or rainy thrown in during the week. Last spring we started our first two organic container gardens. Josh gets the wood and builds the containers and fills them with the right mix of compost, peat moss, and vermeculite and then we planted different edible seeds and let the magic unfold. We had some great carrots, parsley, dill, basil, and squash. The rest died out when we got some snow and then the three days of hard freeze. So to prepare for the upcoming growing season we decided to build three more garden containers and plant quite a bit more. We have started with lettuce mix, kale, carrots, cucumbers, pepper, tomatoes, strawberries, mint, thyme, basil, dill, watercress, cantaloupe, watermelon, onions, rosemary, chocolate mint, cilantro, parsley, and squash. We spent the weekend getting the other three built and ready. We also added a compost bin (the lovely black box in the background) and have planted a meyer lemon tree and lime tree. We're waiting on the shipment of Valencia orange trees to come in. I've posted some pics of my boys and their day of gardening!

A girl scout cookie break...

What mess?

New rain boots became gardening boots...

Lime tree

Established container garden bed

A container from last fall going strong...

Growing like a weed...

Where it all began...

We're loving being able to go out and get what we want for dinner and it's fantastically more affordable! We're also hoping to be able to use a lot of it in our juicer. I have big plans to drink my greens daily to get them down...I'll let you know how that turns out!

It's coming...yippeee!

I have so much to share on the adoption front but for now all I will report is that we got an e-mail response from our Houston CIS office that we have officially been approved by the government to adopt a child! YOOOHOOOO! Our I-171 will hopefully be arriving next week! That is the last piece of paper we need. Such a nice e-mail response if I do say so myself! CIS office...thank you for e-mailing me back. You're the best!

Oh...and I have changed the comments section on the blog so it's easier to leave comments now! I love comments! Comment away!!

Oh I-171h, where art thou?

Dear I-171,

I have been patient for many months now but I am ready to have you in my hand so I can send off this stack of paper and begin the wait for our baby! Where are you? Are you in the mail? (Oh how I hope so) or are you sitting on someone's desk? Have you even been typed yet? I think about you daily. I imagine seeing you in my mailbox but you are not there. Please come soon. My boys think their mommy is a little bit crazy about the mailbox. We are beginning to think this paper chase is never ending. Will we continually be chasing you? I hope not. I am ready to retire my running shoes. COME SOON!

T-shirts coming soon!

We're so excited to announce that we've nailed down a t-shirt design (THANK YOU HANNAH!!!!...more details on her design and her business coming also!) and have found a fellow AWAA adoptive family that has agreed to print them for us!! We'll put pictures up soon! We love the shirt (I know we're biased) and hope you will too! We're still waiting on our I-171 from the government which is our last piece of the paper chase process and then we'll be on the waiting list. With that piece of paper comes a large payment however and we're excited to see how God will use the t-shirt fundraiser to help us gather some necessary funds for our baby girl. Stay tuned!!

Ran Austin

Well, it feels good to officially be a half marathon finisher! Never thought that would be something I wanted to accomplish but am glad to know I can do it! Training for 15 weeks give or take helped immensely. And when people mention the hills in Austin, they are NOT kidding. Those things were ginormous at times! I saw a few of them when we were driving around town the two nights before the half marathon but not knowing how many and what was around the corner helped a lot. I'm not sure if I could do it again now that I know how big those hills are and the fact that one of the biggest hills comes up in mile 12 doesn't help either! However, the weather was beautiful (sunny and a nice 45 degrees) and the scenery was enjoyable. Josh was the perfect running partner. He's having some IT band issues and got a cortisone shot on Thursday before the race just so he could run with me. Apparently it didn't help any but he didn't complain unless I asked him about it. He's quite the pleasing husband! And on mile 5 when my head phones broke he took his off and gave them to me. Fantastic Valentine's day gift if I do say so myself! We loved seeing my parents, our boys, my brother and sister-in-law and their two girls at mile 8 at the top of a friendly hill! That was a nice treat! And we finished in 2 hours 10 minutes which made me happy. Don't know if I could ever run 13.1 more miles to complete a marathon but I never thought I would run this many either. The idea of turning around at the finish line and re-tracing our steps is a little daunting! So glad I was only doing the half when we split off from the marathoners! Who knows...maybe next year!

If I was a song writer...

10,000 children and all I can do is just talk.

While my house is full of possessions that negligence bought.

Everyone tells me that I'm not to blame,

Why do I still feel the same?

CHORUS

Only love can save us all.

Only love can save us all, save us all.

10,000 children are my invitation to change.

To continue in excess now suddenly feels oh so strange.

Prayers and money should not be confused,

But I pray that both still are used.

CHORUS

Only love can save us all.

Only love can save us all

What will become of me?

Inside of history

10,000 children and all I can do is just talk.

ABSOLUTELY love this song. If I could write a song I hope that I would be able to write a song like this. And if I could fit ALL these lyrics on a t-shirt or a car magnet I would wear it everyday! It's by Dave Barnes and it's on i-tunes. Go download it...listen to it. Hear it...really heart it. "While my house is full of possessions that negligence bought" perfectly sums up my existence most times. Are you like me? Can you relate? Will I continue in excess or can I spare another $30 to sponsor another child that so desperately needs it? What I can do without so another can do with bare basics? How can I make a difference? What is God asking of you...I know He's asking something. Will you listen? Will I listen? Will I act? Will you act?