Things around that make me happy!

Matthew 6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Reminds me that God DOES care about the little things...
Both of my grandmothers LOVED flowers and gardening and apprarently those roots run deep. Both of them would take pictures of the plants they loved so I have started doing some of the same! Each one is a treasure from God and I am amazed at the joy they bring me each spring when they arrive. They remind me as they die and bloom that indeed== His mercies are new every morning...
I now get my exercising during the days chasing boys on their Power Wheels and walking around the yard enjoying the plants that my "yard boy lover" has planted or that I have planted myself. They seriously bring me great joy. I have started to make arrangements from my plants to bring inside each week and enjoy on my kitchen counter (see pic). The magnolia (see pic) is Jeb's tree and I take his pic in front of it each Mother's Day to watch it grow and see how he has grown. The weeping cherry (see another earlier blog on that lovely tree) is Cay's and I am taking his pic in front of it. There was much weeping before his arrival, but the cherry blossom on it remind of the sweetness of waiting on God in his situation/birth. The day I bought the tree was the day of my miscarriage exactly one year (3/29) before his birth on 3/29 the next year. The hydrangeas at the hammock are reminders of my wedding and the gorgeous hydrangea blooms that I carried that very wonderful day! They are still my all-time favorite flower. The yellow daffodils were given to me by one of my best buds and they remind me of her and of how much I love yellow! The rose bush is like a tie-dyed rose this year...last year it was white..I think that is super cool. The red bud reminds me of LOVE since I have always loved the Red Bud leaves that are heart-shaped at the tennis club and I LOVE tennis! I think every time I walk by that tree that God must have done that on purpose. The hosta remind me of my dear grandmother who loved to get down and dig and I enjoy having lots of varieties of them to grow/divide/enjoy and give away! The blackberries and blueberries are also things I love and can't wait to eat. I always laugh about mid-summer when the boys eat so many their poop is BLACK. They get berries all over their face and hands and generally ruin a few outfits a year eating berries. The blackberries are from Mr. Ray and will alwasy remind me of the special friendship that we share with our 80-something year-old neighbors. They are so fun. Also, this year we are planting lettuce thanks to Ray's example. It has been a fun project for the kids and I to watch it come up! We will have our first salad this next month! The eggs are so pretty that our chickens are working hard making every day. We like to watch them and they are quite opinionated which fits me perfectly. Those ladies do not take any junk. When Bailey or Sherman or Sgt. try to chat with them they have a hissy fit and when I tried to put in golf balls to fool them into sitting on their eggs so the boys can have chicks they kicked all the golf balls out to show me who was boss! They must have worked all day to get those out of the nesting box and into a another area. Mr. Ray says that he eats eggs everyday and is donig GREAT at 80-something so I am eating more eggs these days and worrying less about the choloesterol hype. It is quite freeing.
Jeb is ending school this week and that, too, is making me happy. However, it is tempered with sadness knowing that the next 8 weeks are our last to have full days together. Our life is seriously about to change and although I am good with change in and of itself this one is still going to tear me apart and rock my world.
We have a new goat in our herd....Welcome Buttercup!

Isaiah 40:8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
Song of Solomon 2:1 I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.