This is how our garden grows....slowly.

So we decided to hop on the garden train....it was inspired by Barbara Kingsolver and family's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Since our yard is 100% shade. Really. We are doing one at camp in hopes of turning it into something the boys at camp can experience also. Our girls love it and have seen it happen from day one!

Here we are picking some wild blackberries near the garden. We would pick them and the little one would gobble them up before we could get a pile in our bucket.
The garden has been one of the most fulfilling/ hardest things we've ever done. Most good things in life are. For me, it's because I really have no idea what I'm doing and I like to do things well the first time. So we prepared the soil, but it's the first time to plant here so the conditions are rough and our veggies aren't growing that fast.

But we have put some mushroom compost, Plant Tone, hardwood mulch (which we hope will make the soil better next year once tilled in and makes our path less muddy to walk) and lots of water, and it seems to be doing better. Here's what we are growing: bell peppers, jalapenos, rosemary, tomatoes galore, bush beans, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, cantaloupe and watermelon.

Us working in the bush beans.
Our squashes are coming up nicely and starting to flower; our beans are about to go crazy; the bell peppers are growing and we do have some tomatoes.

Here it is! Growing slowly but steadily!

Near the green stakes are the bush beans- much bigger just a few days later!
Some of our crop:


We are trying to take picture along the way so we can learn from this experiment! Enjoy the process with us and any advice is welcome....especially if you can tell me what the yellow spots on my watermelon are.....

Don't mess with my camera....

.....or you'll end up here.

I have the amazing privilege of being able to be friends with a group of college folks from Montreat College. Most of them are Young Life leaders. Some are not. But all of them are a lot of fun, love me and my family extremely well and are trying to figure out life and what it means to follow Jesus with your whole heart.

some of them at Windy Gap

They ate breakfast at my house one morning and I left them all there.
Alone.
With my camera.
Here is the result:



They are incredible. Not only are they students, but they are giving their lives away to high school kids through Young Life. They spend HOURS pursuing kids- most of whom couldn't care less about them....until they get to know them. Then, these kids can't get enough of their new friends who love them just as they are.

These college folks are the hands and feet of Christ so if you want to know how Jesus lived, then follow them around for awhile because they are trying hard to do just what He did.

Just being them.

I was flipping through some pictures and just realized that our little girls are really growing up, which is awesome because that's kinda what we- their parents- are working on.

They are becoming awesome little girls and just loved being who God is creating them to be. Both of them are just content being themselves. Granted, they are only 4 and 1 1/2, but I love that already I see them happy in their own skin.

Man, I hope that lasts forever.


This pretty much sums up their uniqueness.
Piper is over it and doesn't want to perform.
And Lily is hoping to get discovered one day soon....along with her mom.

The other side of Lily.
She snuck off to have some quiet time, reading by herself.

And then, there's Piper. Who knew she liked avocados until we gave her one with a spoon?
She is such a little kid with a big, tender heart. She plays and imagines and dreams. That's her in her cowgirl vest that Rosemary sent us. I love her mind and can't wait to see what she becomes.

Sweet manna from Walmart.

We've always wanted to provide our kids with fun stuff around our house so that they love being at our house. We want this to be a true refuge for them.

So....what's spells refuge to a 4-year-old: S-W-I-N-G-S-E-T
And who's gonna make that happen: D-A-D (and about 7 of our great friends)

2 trips to Walmart, 27 plastic cups of hardware and 8 hours, gave us what we'd been longing for......

Our hardware...divided up into 27 phases.

The wood in alphabetical order

The manna.

Lovin' life.

We think she likes it.

It's not tilty, but apparently I was.

Not exactly "green"

These pictures really say it all.....
I was sitting at the kitchen table.

I heard some rustling around behind me to find Lily throwing all of the recycling away in the trash can.



I'm not sure where she gets that from.

And then, there's Piper (the oldest and just like her mom...poor kid) who likes to play "recycling" by finding any trash on the side of the road to put in the green bucket. It's a real crowd-pleaser. You should try it.

That's my Pie.
Lily is still young....she can be taught.

4 years ago....

....Piper Anne Berry entered our lives.
And we've never been the same:

Piper to us means "strong and free" and that is what we have been praying for her life the last 4 years and 9 months we've known her. She has a dynamic personality and imagination. She can control the mood of a group....for better or worse. The thing we really love about Piper, though, is that she is so comfortable in her own skin. She knows who she is and likes who she is. She is contemplative and needs A LOT of alone time to recover from groups of people. And sometimes- if you are one of the lucky few- she'll let you into her world of pretend, where you're either dressing up for a royal ball, being taken care of as a baby, reciting the entire Bell movie or helping the Little Daddies (who live in her step) get ready for bed. Enjoy seeing Piper grow up- we know we are.

Fall, age 1
Birthday, 2
Halloween, 2
Fall, 3
Spring, 3
Happy Birthday, Pie. We love you so much.

This is only for family.....

....because no one else cares THAT much if Lily uses a spoon, but it is pretty cute to watch.



Here are some for everyone else....me not working while everyone else does.