Hearts in Service Blog

We are off to visit Dan's parents in PA in the morning. I'll be back next Tuesday night. Have a wonderful week!

We've been in this house for a month now and I've had time to think about what I would like to do with my yard next year. Of course, it could change but here is my tentative plan. I dug out all the weeds around the little patio in the back yard and defined the edge of the flower bed with bricks. There are some bulbs planted in there but they are clumped up in about 3 spots with no rhyme or reason. I'm not even sure what they are. They are big, thick green leaves. I am planning on digging up the bulbs that are there and replanting tulips, daffodils and hyacinths. There is a large bed along the fence that the boys weeded for me when we first moved in. Of course, the weeds are back. I want to plant a sunflower garden there. Emily loves sunflowers and I've never lived in a place that I could plant them. See this huge, sunny front lawn. The sun beats down on it all day long and it is huge. I want to plant a large vegetable garden over by the fence in the left hand...

Remember this project? This is the building next door that I will use for our church's 3D Girls Club. It's a very large room and every wall is cement block covered with 20 year old wallpaper. The wallpaper peeled right off but the backing and glue was left. The boys started working last Monday for just a few hours a day and so far the 3 largest walls done. This is the last and hardest wall because it is covered with 2 layers of wallpaper. Dan went and helped them with this wall today. I'm actually editing this to say that they have finished all 4 walls and are shop vacuuming up the mess. Doesn't it look great? Tomorrow they will clean all the walls with bleach and water and hopefully by Wednesday be able to paint with oil based primer because of the mildew. When we get back from vacation they will paint the next coat with latex paint. I think they made great progress this week!

I love to learn new things, especially about plants and flowers. The internet is a wonderful resource to try and figure out the names of things. Today I took a stroll around my yard to show off my new knowledge! ;-) Phlox Foxglove Mums (these I knew) Purple cone flowers or Echinacea Black-eyed Susans These I still don't know. This is the only little flower on this bush. It looks like it's at the end of the season. This is a flower of a different kind. Isn't he gorgeous? LOL!

Good morning! This week was okay - not great but not terrible. It's hard to keep this up week after week yet I know that it's basically about portion control and I will need to eat this way the rest of my life. Anyway, I got on the scale this morning and lost 1 lb. for a total of................. 23 lbs. I guess slow and steady wins the race. I'll be on vacation next week so I'll check in again in 2 weeks.

I often wonder if things are chance happenings or divine appointments. I don't necessarily think that every single encounter is from the Lord but I do believe that every now and then he puts us in the right place at the right time to help someone out. Last night, we were up much later than normal. We are usually in the back of the house, in our room reading and are asleep by 9:30-9:45. Well, last night we were up watching a movie when someone knocked on our door at 10:15. It was a little scary given the fact that we are the only house on the street and it was late! Dan opened the door and on our doorstep were two college age girls from England. Of course, I immediately thought of some of the ladies that read my blog. Turns out they worked at a camp about 30 minutes from here in Connecticut and were in New York City for the day. They were supposed to get off at the train stop prior to our town which is about 10 miles away. However, they missed the stop and their ride back to...

There is an ebb and flow to our days around here that I find soothing. Don't get me wrong; I like excitement and new things but especially after a busy period, it's nice to have a predictability to our days. This week has been one of those type of weeks. Getting up and spending time with the Lord and the sunrise. Dishes to be washed. Busy with projects around the house. Laundry to hang. Meals to be made. Special treats for snack. Vegetables to be harvested. At the end of the day, we can relax and know that we had a productive day.