Gardening in the present.

And here is my garden now! 

I added a few more bags since my first ones were doing so well.

And the best part is, when move I can take my plants with me!

Though we had quite the slug problem for a while. And it almost ruined all of my lettuce! But did you know that slugs like beer? Then they get drunk and die! I put fresh beer each night and there's always a dead one in the morning, so I think its working. My lettuce has just started to recover though.

This bag used to be brimming with lettuce. You can see it's just starting to make a comeback. 

Die slugs!

...

This year Andy and I are striving to live in the present and to say yes to more things. We both struggle with wanting to go out of our comfort zones, but realize some of the best things God has for us are outside of our comfort zones. Christ died so that we may have life, a full life. I find that I am my biggest barrier to having a full life. 

This garden was a step forward for both. I feared failing. That I would spend all this time, money, and energy and that it would all fail. Also, I want to live in the present. I kept saying, "one day when we own a house", or when we "settle down", then I will have a garden. The present reality is that we are renter's. But that doesn't mean that I have to wait to have a garden. 

A renter's garden: before

I have been wanting to start a garden for a long time now. But we were always about to move, moving at an inconvenient, or no good yard space to plant one.


Then I read on pinterest about planting  potatoes in a bag. Well if you can plant potatoes then you certainly plant other things right? And if they are in a bag then you can move them right?!

So that's what I did. :)

All you do is put dirt in a bag and then plant like normal. The bags are really good for the plants since they have excellent drainage. And you don't have to buy potting soil since the bags have a good flow of oxygen.

Here is my garden. These are the before pictures

It has been about a month now. And the plants are doing great! So great that I added six more bags! I show the after pictures tomorrow. :)

Treasured Word and new machine

Just wanted to give a little update on TreasuredWord. Thank you to all who checked out my shop. So far I have been very encouraged by what little success I have been having on Etsy. I am still selling, and am almost sold out of what I originally bought to make! I can't wait to start looking for new fabrics and planning what I will do next.

I was having some sewing machine trouble. It wasn't broken but it just didn't want to make the verse packs. After about one it would start to jam, which was a bit of a problem, to say the least. Then, about two weeks ago, I received an order for 35 verse packs! We were shocked! With that, and a little bit of savings we were able to buy a new machine. God provided so beautifully for us in His perfect timing. He also has blessed me with an amazing husband who spent two days helping me finish all those verse packs to get them sent out in time.

Here she is!

With all the problems my old machine was giving me, I had forgotten that I actually do like to sew!

The room used to be set up where my machine was right where that arrow is. After about a half hour I'd usually feel like I needed to lie down for awhile because of feeling tired or a headache. Scary!

 Now my machine is in the living room, with...

A new table skirt I made :) It turned out a little too long, but at least it hides the plastic bins.  Most of my craft/office/treasuredword things were scattered about in different bins, baskets and places and I was desperate to have them all in one place. I bought the wood at Lowe's and put it on top of two plastic drawer bins we already had. (see the above pic - I meant to get a good before shot but completely forgot till it was too late) I love how it turned out, and that everything is in one place. *Sigh* 

My hope is that sometime Andy will stain and lacquer the table and maybe even add some real legs to it. I got the idea from this. 

But also loved this. So I combined them for the cheapest-for-me option. 

** And we'll keep you updated on the mold situation. We have had a flood of info and help in searching for a house, by which we feel so blessed and encouraged. However please be praying for our talks with our landlord. He wants to get a second opinion about the mold. And got very defensive when we mentioned wanting to move. Saying things like we should be willing to meet him half-way, etc.

Black Mold

So...our house has mold. The black mold to be exact. 

We have been advised to start looking for new housing immediately.

So that is what we are doing. If you all could be praying for us:
 - to find a house to rent in our price range
 - to be able to get out of our current lease
 - for our health
 - help packing and moving

Details:

The mold is in our back room under the window. So thankfully we don't spend too much time there. However, that is where my sewing machine is, right next to the window. Every time I would sew I would start to feel just gross, maybe get a headache but sometimes just really tired. If I spent a really long time in there I felt a little congested.

We knew the house had a history of pipes leaking and water damage, so we wondered about mold even though we didn't see anything. We called a mold guy and he tested the moisture content of that wall. It was off of the scales! After some convincing, our landlord hired him to test a few samples. Our lease is up at the end of June, and we debated waiting until then since its only a few months. I'm so glad we didn't!

After hearing the news today, we felt a strange peace. We know now what we need to do, and are trusting that the Lord will provide a place to live.

Bless the Lord oh my soul!

Our choir sang this song at the dedication service of our new sanctuary. I LOVED it!

Enjoy!

Thank you!

Thank you Mom and Dad for coming all the way to Jackson, just to see us!!

Love you both!

(can you believe we didn't get one group shot!)

My kind of vacation: naps, reading and good food!

My first Easter away from home, and first Easter hosting.

.........