I LOVE spring. I always have. It is the promise of new life, new hope, and new beginnnings. I like to start projects in the spring when it is still cool in the mornings and evenings but pleasantly warm in the middle of the day.
This year is no different. I've started a huge yard project that is probably going to be the death of both Tom and I...lol..
[I hadn't really been out in our yard in a couple of years because of the fear of cancer, post radiation. My cancer doc had strongly urged (yelled at me, I say!) me to stay out of the sun when he saw me last April and I had a little bit of pink skin from sitting out in the sun and enjoying the glorious feeling of the suns rays soaking into my skin.]
So, back to the project. As those of you who have been following my blog know, we tore down the wooden gazebo last year and put up a really nice vinyl one that should last many many years (without having to stain it every year because the sun beat so mercilessly on it). Well, we've almost finished putting up the new gazebo. We still lack putting in the ceiling, the screens, and the door. The basic structure is up and it did really well through the winter. The birds don't seem to like this gazebo as much as the wood one. (Probably too slippery for their widdle feet...HA!!!) Anyway, that is a good thing.
So, now that I don't have to restain the rails on the gazebo, I can plant things around it. 8-) Hence the new spring project. A guy at work was telling me about Double Knock Out Roses and how I should plant them around the gazebo. Of course, we have red clay dirt here that is hard as a rock so I realized that we would have to till the soil and add more 'good' dirt to it. So, Tom proceeded to rip up the grass around the gazebo (no easy feat, I'll tell you that) and tilled the soil quite nicely. Then we picked the castle wall stones and had them, a ton of top soil, some pavers (to stand up against the base of the gazebo to give the back of the bed some height), and some mulch delivered by Lowes.
Somehow, we got it all put together and surveyed our work and said...wow...that looks really good.
I put the black out paper on top of the dirt so that no weeds would grow and then some extra bags of dirt on top of that to hold them down. We finally got our roses yesterday so we'll be planting them this weekend.
I have to say, it took quite a bit of time to get the castle wall stones leveled out (as best I could...I know they aren't perfect but they are acceptable...).
Here is a little Max for today. I know that God has changed the way I look at things...
"Don’t Quit
By Max Lucado
“For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 1 John 5:4”
Whatever you do, don’t quit! The Christian race isn’t a jog—it’s a demanding and grueling, sometimes agonizing race.
God never promises to remove us from our struggles. He does promise, however, to change the way we look at them.
The apostle Paul dedicates a paragraph to listing trash bags: trash bags of troubles, problems, sufferings, hunger, nakedness, danger, and violent death. These are the very dumpsters of difficulty we hope to escape. Paul states their value. He said in Romans 8:37, “In all these things we have full victory through God.”
We’d prefer another preposition! We’d opt for “apart from all these things,” or “away from all these things,” or even “without all these things!” But Paul says, “In all these things.”
The solution is not to avoid trouble but to change the way we see our troubles. God can correct your vision!"
By Grace Alone...
Teresa
