Gardening Growing Pains

Having a garden is a ton of work.  There's the planning, tilling, planting, waiting for germination, weeding, weeding and more weeding.  And don't forget the watering if you have sandy soil like we do.  When I'm down in the garden swatting mosquitoes, sweating and totally wrecking my nails I keep in mind the end product - fresh home grown produce.  

Most times things go right, but when they go wrong it crushes me.  I become so emotionally attached to my plants that when the leaves curl or brown or wilt or become laden with chew holes I feel personally attacked.  I did all I could and yet, and yet this is what I get.  I know I sound unstable, but I bet those of you who have ever grown a garden know just what I mean.

So when my green bean leaves started looking like this:

And the beans all grew in tight corkscrews:

And they were covered in brown spots:

I nearly cried.  Actually I did have a few tears well up, but I held them back for fear of looking unstable.  Three rows of beans planted, weeded and watered all for naught.  I was ready to give up, ready to pull out the plants so I didn't have to look at them everyday.  But then I regained my senses and prayed Jesus, I trust in you over and over again.  And I guess He thought this insane gardener really needed beans because after ignoring them for days I took a peek under the leaves and found thousands of straight, unmarred beans ready for the picking.  So I picked and picked and picked some more until 4 bags were full.  They weighed in at 40 pounds.  

And then I (with the help of Warren, Emily and Sam) canned 32 quarts.

MORAL OF THIS STORY

When you feel like giving up, pray, wait and then check back in.  No matter how silly you think your prayer request might be He's listening and will provide exactly what you need.  Amen.

Our Daily Bread

We love bread and eat plenty of it. I use my bread machine a few times a week; I only use it to make the dough. I don't like the way the machine bakes the bread, it gets too hard and I don't like the shape it bakes into, too high and doesn't fit in my toaster very well. But I do like the dough cycle. Mostly I make bread dough and pizza crust, on occasion cinnamon sweet rolls. But always I pray the Our Father when I take the dough from the bread pan to knead a couple times before shaping and rising. My favorite line is, "thy will be done". It's a convenient phrase for bread baking because it seems no matter how many times I use the same recipe it turns out slightly different. So I usually just repeat the phrase "thy will be done" while preparing the bread, hoping that the "will" is for it to rise nicely, bake evenly and taste deliciously. But due to humidity, freshness of yeast, temperature of liquids, timeliness of removing from bread pan and what ever else might play into the equation, "thy will" seems to be out of my control. It shouldn't surprise me though. God's will is rarely the same as my will. I can honestly say I never prayed for a child with Down syndrome, a husband to have spine surgery, high risk pregnancies, a 1999 cranberry crash - I never prayed for any of those to happen, but they did and I am better for them. It takes time to reveal that, though. God's will is always a better plan for my life than my will. Sometimes months or years later I realize just how God's will played out in my life and can't imagine it any other way. Thank you God! You Rock!

Our Father who art in heaven,

Hallowed be Thy name

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done

On Earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

Amen.

Recipe for Old Fashioned White Bread

7 oz. warm milk

1 1/4 tsp. salt

1 egg

1 Tbsp. butter

3 cups bread flour

1 Tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. yeast

Place all items in bread machine. Choose dough cycle. When complete, turn onto floured surface, knead 5-6 times. Shape and place in greased bread pan. Let rise until double. Approximately 30 minutes. Rising time will vary depending on kitchen temperature and humidity. Carefully, without jiggling, place in preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for 25 minutes or a little longer. Bread is done when the top crust is nicely browned and can be thumped. Thumping bread involves tipping it from the pan to reveal the long side and thumping with your thumb. If it sounds hollow, it's done. If it sounds muffled, then bake for a few more minutes. Let bread cool in pan for 15 minutes. Remove and serve warm with real butter.

*The top can be buttered, after baking, for a softer topcrust. DH likes it crunchy so I usually leave the butter off.

How is Your Prayer Life?

That was the question in the Misselette before yesterday's readings. If you haven't noticed before, take a look at the Liturgy of the Word section in your Misselette. Before each group of daily readings is a couple of paragraphs explaining their message and then a question to ask yourself. You know the kinds of questions, thought provoking assessment types.

I read the couple of paragraphs and the question, How is Your Prayer Life? My instant response was, "lacking". My mind immediately thought about Adoration, Daily Devotions, Daily Scripture readings, and all the other forms of structured prayer and found myself believing my prayer life was lacking. But as father unfolded his homily and gave me some food for thought, I recognized my prayer life is not lacking. It is just about right for a homeschooling mother of four. Prayer doesn't only happen when the eyes are closed or focused on words. Actions can be a form of prayer. Laundry is a time of thankfulness that we have abundant clothing and towels. We only have towels because we have water. Meal prep is a time to pray in thanksgiving for our abundant food blessings and electricity. While reading with my 6 year old, I thank God for the blessing of fertility and for me having teachers who taught me to read so long ago. As DH walks out the door at 6:00 am to begin the daily work of cranberry harvest, I pray thy will be done, God. What, for a moment, appeared to be a life lacking in prayer was discovered to be a life filled with prayer. Sure there is plenty of room for improvement. I would like to pray the rosary on a regular basis; I would like to pray a memorized morning offering each time my feet hit the floor in the morning. Both of these, once habits, will be easily incorporated into my daily living, just as my one-liner prayers are now. And when I'm just too tired or too emotionally drained or too something I can dip my finger in the holy water and bless myself and whoever is closest for the simplest form of prayer of all.

The Thumb Prayer

Summer and late bedtimes go hand in hand in our family. It seems after the long dark winters, the long hours of light in the summer are truly appreciated. The winter ritual of reading piles of bedtime stories fades and in its place comes kickball - mom and the kids against dad, still he wins every time. Boat rides, evening swimming, weeding the garden and just taking advantage of the light and going for sightseeing drives makes for some late nights. A little embarrassing to admit, but sometimes the kids skid into bed with dirty feet, unbrushed teeth and prayers unsaid. Those are the nights to use the thumb prayer. I first read about praying with your thumb in Saintly Celebrations and Holy Holidays: Easy and Imaginative Ideas to Create Your Own Catholic Family Traditions. Then I Googled thumb prayer and found a site that briefly touched on the idea. The premise is to use your thumb to make a cross on the palm of the opposite hand. When you are just too tired to use brain power to pray, the thumb prayer can be done. I encourage my children to think Jesus on the down stroke and Thank You on the cross stroke. I've also witnessed my son thumbing his chest at night, which is quite soothing and meditative. During church, I often thumb the palm of my three year old, encouraging him to do the same to me or himself as a method for keeping quiet and focused. Often times simple is better and nothing is simpler than the repetition of the thumb prayer.

Promise Prayer

from the "explaining GOD'S WORD" leaflet

Promise Prayer
I'm promising, dear Jesus,
to follow you today,
and to obey your every rule
in all I do or say;
to always be a loving child,
helpful, kind, and sweet;
to give the love you give to me
to everyone I meet.
But if this promise I should break
or if I bring you sorrow,
then help me to begin again
and keep my promise tomorrow.

This looks like a great morning offering prayer. The kids should find the language easy to learn and understand.