So Much Randomness . . . . .

 We've had some storms this summer that were real lulus.  Fortunately, our pepper willow tree is long gone, but our neighbor hasn't been as lucky.  Another couple of storms, and they will be there!  One day I came home right after a storm went through and had a little panic moment.  One branch had blown up against our big trellis . .  it was OK.


Since Jon has not been working, away from home, we have been using our food storage.  I thought the smaller container of baking powder was a good amount for us, for a year . . . HA!  I am making pancakes, waffles and other quick breads . . . and of course went to get the bigger container very soon.  Like I always say, store what you eat, eat what you store, it's the only way to know what you actually may need to store.  Lesson learned!



We went out to check everything last week and found one of the lantanas looking kind of . .  may I say DEAD!  Poor Jon, I am sure he would like to have cried . .  he didn't, I breathed deep to keep from shedding a few tears.  Silly you say?  You would have had to be here through that first month he was home . . and the last few months to understand what we have been through.      I took this photo to show and remind us what he had to drill through to plant those pathetic little bushes.  Jon dug it up and could find nothing that would have caused it.  We decided that he should put it back in the ground and a few days later we found this sweet little surprise!

A few days after that we found this nasty little surprise . . . just about broke my heart.  This time we found grubs.  We have tossed the organic idea and I poisoned the nasty little buggers but good.  I don't know if it was in time to save two of the dwarf bottle brush and the cape honeysuckle that was really growing up the small trellis like crazy, but I can hope.





Trying to garden this summer has been such a roller coaster ride . .  something that really does NOT ring my bells anymore.  I have had to fight so hard to not give up.  I was so driven in the Spring time to get this done.  I had to fall back on those feelings repeatedly to keep going.  Jon has been so sweet to do the watering and take up doing so much of the outside work when he realized that my blood pressure was out of control and risking my health.  What  a blessing it has been.

The last couple of months have been a roller coaster in other ways as well.  We really love having Jon home.  I can not begin to explain how much we love it.   But reality has reared its ugly head and we have to come up with a way to supplement our finances a bit longer.   If he can find something part time that will allow him to  be off on Fridays, he will be called as a service missionary along with me, down at the institute.  A dream come true for both of us.  Where we will be led, we don't know, but we have decided to be prayerful in all of our decisions and follow the Spirit's promptings.  Leaving his job was a leap of faith, feeling like we were walking off a cliff into a black hole, figuratively speaking, of course.  We felt like it would be a slower process to find our way through this maze this time, but are trusting in a promise that we will not have extra, but will have what we need.

It is harder as we watch our kids also struggling, but maybe this is partly so we can not help them, financially, only in serving them.  They will be able to find resources and strength within themselves and we will pull together more strongly, as it should be in families, especially in these last days.