the Mother's Day garden

Saturday we had Debbie, a friend of my grandma's, come to our home to help us start a garden. She brought her sod cutter, shovel, rake, edger and even a few seedlings to get us started. Debbie was here and already moving dirt before I even had the kids dressed. My intention was to have Debbie be the instructor or site manager while the girls and I did the work. Well, by the time I got out there with the girls, Debbie had already gotten the first row of  "sod" removed and was turning the dirt. Her sod cutter wasn't terribly helpful since there wasn't much grass where she decided the best place for the garden was, just weeds. I felt kind of in her way trying to help remove the grass/weeds, so I ended up bringing wheelbarrow loads of mulch from a tree we had ground up last year and black dirt we had brought in. The mulch had already started the decaying process, so made for an excellent addition to the garden dirt.

While we were working in the dirt, I had mentioned to her that I had some dresses from my grandma that my great aunts had worn as children. I want to get formal pictures of my daughters wearing them, but they need a little TLC before they are photographed. Since Debbie is so knowledgeable in so many areas, I thought to ask her about them. She said I might take them to a dry cleaners, but if they are too frail, the dry cleaner might not even take them. Apparently she had some velvet curtains that were refused because the dry cleaner didn't want to be responsible for any damage that might be done due to their fragile fabric. Then she said, "The sun is great for things like growing plants, but bad for lots of other things, like curtains, furniture, etc." I chuckled and replied, "Kind of like children. They're not good for furniture, walls or carpets either." Being the wise woman that she is, she reminded me how precious children are too. "I have a daughter who has done many things, has a good paying job, and travels all over. She has no children. I would not trade her for her life. My mother-in-law had 13 children, an outhouse and no running water. She had to travel half a mile to get fresh water. I think it was that she liked to play that kept her sane. Without children, you have nothing really to look back on, no memories."

Debbie ended up staying and working in our garden until almost 2pm. I had brought the girls in the house for lunch and naps shortly after noon. When the girls were in their beds for a rest, I fed and rocked the twins. The whole time I was rocking, I was thinking about Debbie's love for my children, the patience she showed as the girls were getting in the way or grabbing the tools, and the wisdom she shared about the value of children.

In church that afternoon, the sermon was about how we can share our faith with others. It was suggested that we share our "coming to God" story; our life event that made us choose God regardless if we had grown up with religion or not. Well, my children are my faith story. My mother-in-law often reminds me of when I would talk about how frustrated I was that I couldn't conceive. Matt and I had been married for a couple years before we started trying to get pregnant. Then, when we started trying, it was month after month of disappointment. My mom had a hard time conceiving, so I assumed that I would also have that burden. My doctor confirmed that based on my cycle (or lack there of) and the multiple cysts I had on my ovaries, that I might end up having to use fertility drugs to aid in getting me pregnant. Both my husband and I grew up in Christian families. I'm grateful that our parents gave us a Christian foundation to fall back on. However, when I moved away to college, God was the last thing on my mind. Matt and I got married in my home church, but didn't really attend church often. After about a year of trying, I finally asked God. I begged and bargained. I remember praying, "Please, if you let me have a child, I will give it to You to use as Samson's mother gave him to you. They can be like little disciples, bringing others to You too." Then I began to feel more at peace with not having any children. I thought, if I'm not getting pregnant, I guess God's got other plans. Matt and I started looking into adoption or foster parenting. It was about then that I also felt the need to find a new "home church" where we lived, since we lived more than 2 hours away from where either of us grew up. I thought that if I were to get pregnant, we would need a place to get him or her baptized. So I set out on a mission to find a church that Matt and I could call home and raise our children. Then, in the beginning of the year, 4 years ago, I found out that I was finally pregnant. Since then, I have had 3 wonderful pregnancies and given birth to 4 wonderful children. They are the reason I try to better myself. I promised God, that if I could have children of my own, I would do my best to lead them to Him so that they could also lead others to Him. I have 4 little disciples now, and I am not the perfect disciple myself; so, I have lots of praying to do! God is good!

Here are some photos of my little blessings helping in our new garden and putting mulch in the wheel barrow: