Mary, Mary quite contrary...how does your garden grow??!

How fair is a garden amid the trials and passions of existence.

~Benjamin Disraeli

This is the Hibiscus plant right out side my front door. I love this flower not only because I find it to be so beautiful, but because it reminds me of my trip to Hawaii with my Honey!

Today I attacked my somewhat desperately needy of attention...... front garden!!

Due to the water shortage (although this year it is much better than last year) we didn´t feel at liberty to water all the grass spaces (which now no longer has grass since last year...well....just patches) and so now it´s like dry kind of groundy wilderness with weeds!

It never ceases to amaze me that even though everything else dies... the weeds survive! Why is that? How come thistles and other ugly looking grassy things live without water and the other lovely plants can´t? I don´t get it....

Anyway, back to my groundy wilderness with weeds! I raked the whole thing tidy and cut back all the roses that had got diseased and our vine..... Yes we have a grape vine..isn´t that cool?????

And then I found myself enjoying another one of those little house on the praire moments of picking grapes.... I just love the feeling of picking my own fruit.... it´s so satisfying!

Here is my harvest...what do you think?

Actually there would have been more, but some clusters we had already eaten, others were devoured by birds and others simply rotted...

Look at this little cute cluster of grapes.... just a few... almost meaningless, but in God´s eyes they were just as important as the bigger bunches.... I love that about God.... he cares about the small things in life... the details. I care about details too... sometimes I find myself more concerned with details than with major issues!!!

Well my back aches alot and my shoulders do too...but I have the tremendous satisfaction of looking out on my steps and seeing a lovely tidy garden.... and enjoying the fruits of my labours!!!!

The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the birds for mirth,

One is nearer God's heart in a garden

Than anywhere else on earth.

~Dorothy Frances Gurney,

Kid no 3 took the pics.... pretty good eh!

Family reunites!

Yes today was the big day... the arrival of my two boys after 19 days away! I am very excited to have them home , but I have to admit that part of me still wants to live "boylessness" a little while longer!!! Here are a few selected pics froNo 1 and No 2 during their 19 days away!!! No 2i is in the second row from the front, right hand side, behind the girl with glasses! This is taken in the football stadium in Berlin for a big event called "Calling all Nations" that took place July 14th. Sadly for some reason, these two pics of No 1 aren´t as clear and big as I would like! The top one is in Berlin and the bottom is him playing lead E-guitar in the 10 day band he formed in La Industria - ! I was very proud of him when we saw him up in Santander 2 weekends ago for the final day of the KK bootcamp/La Industria E-Guitar course CONCERT.

No 2 also was one of the main attractions of the evening, delighting all percussion fans with his drumstick expertise and roars of his name echoing from the crowd! I can only say that my chest was definitely swelling !! Is this kind of pride a sin? Not only were they tops musician wise, I heard

endless comments as to their positive influence in the team and leadership qualities. "They were a pleasure to have with us!"

I can only say that my heart is always warmed when I hear positive comments about our offspring and it encourages me during those moments when I am maybe not "seeing the good" as much as I should. Which reminds me of a book a real dear friend loaned to me with the boys were very small, which had a chapter called, "Slow bake cookies."

A small smirk covers my face even as I write this, because I remember the anguish I felt at wanting them to be "perfect gentlemen" from day one. Somehow, I expected that training a child they way he should go, wouldn´t take years! That certain issues would be resolved early on, leaving other stuff for later.

But as the title of the chapter says, our kids are slow bake cookies and that requires years of investment, tears and joys before they reach maturity. Hey, I just have to look at myself and realize some of the things that I have been learning NOW and I am, well, how old?

So hearing these beautiful descriptions of my two boys makes me remember the years of investment that only now seems to be yielding it´s harvest because of God´s grace and intervention.

I used to believe that I had more of a hand in this, and I´m not knocking our responsibility and need to teach our children, but as time progresses, it only proves to me that it´s by God´s grace I stand and that they stand and will stand.

Thank you God for allowing me to see you in my Boys!

My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys." ~Harmon Killebrew