a thoughtful gesture

fruit

Danny was raised on a fruit farm and I was raised with fruit cocktail. 

Just weeks after we were married his sweet grandma brought at least a bushel of peaches to our small one bedroom apartment in the avenues to teach me how to can.  We carried the jars and pots up the flight of stairs to our 2nd story dwelling and worked for hours.

They were delicious---but I learned so much more than canning that day.

Grandma was an inspiration of resourcefulness and respect for God's gifts and creations. 

It was important to feed your family.  It was maybe even more important to care for the resources we have been entrusted with.

Grandma taught me over the following years...the names of beautiful flowers, how to transplant them and even how to cook.  She was giving and sweet.  

Marrying into a fruit farm family---I have learned the sweetness of fruit picked right off the tree.

We serve only fresh fruit...or if we are lucky enough to have home-canned fruit from a family member.  At our back to school "cafeteria fear factor" Sophie's biggest challenge (I have video of her gagging to prove it) was choking down a grape from fruit cocktail.  

and now she is ten...

 Everything is more fun with a friend by your side...

especially when your mom insists on taking birthday pictures every year.

We were a few weeks late of your actual birthday...or a few months.

But sunshine, the beautiful mountains, daisy chains and a dear friend made it worth the wait.

picked peonies

into focus

The rejuvenation of spring takes me by surprise each year.

The warm sunshine, longer days, fresh air and dirt under our finger nails-

brings life right back into focus.

space + sunshine

I woke up with a feeling of stress and worry.  I was feeling discouraged and unsure.  What will I do with my life...????  Should I return to school to earn a master's degree???  Should I return to my photography business???  How much will my family need me at home???  What decision would benefit us more????   I started verbalizing this internal dialogue to Danny the second his eyes opened in the morning light.  He was listening and interested---but ultimately his influence helped me let go and realize---

all of our needs are being met
there is nothing but good...hope...and opportunity in the future
instead of stress I should be focusing on the bounty before us...
                     time, resources, family...LOVE

As the morning progressed I began preparing for a gathering we would have in the canyon that evening.  I had promised my friend a salad with beets from my garden.  I asked Ellie and Kate if they would pick some for me.  They had been outside for a few minutes and I heard Kate calling me.  I walked out to see her holding two beets in the air...LOOK MOM!  THESE ARE FROM THE SAME GARDEN.

She was holding one whose diameter was similar to a pencil and another that was bigger than a baseball.  She showed me where the bigger beet came from...it was the sunny side.  We have a big pine tree hovering over one side of this patch of vegetables and the other side is open to the afternoon sun.  The sunnier side just happened to have better spacing as well.  The larger beet had more space and sunshine.

My daytime is beginning to change.  I have had at least one child home with me full-time for ten and a half years.   Our youngest is heading to kindergarten and I have been in a slight panic.  I am not worried that I will have nothing to do.......I have more interests than a 24 hour period could possibly hold....but what should I do?  As Kate held those beets in the air the calming influence I had felt earlier in the morning returned...

                    space + sunshine = growth
                    space + sunshine = growth
                    space + sunshine = growth

I will not close any doors to my future.  I will face each day with sunshine.  I will appreciate the space (time alone, time at home, happy in the space that is mine).  Whatever my future brings me I want to remember to look on the sunny-side of life.

a little gift

Coming home from a walk a few weeks ago we found a gift for Kate on the doorstep.  There was a plate of cookies (snicker-doodles) and six small plants of red sedum creeper.  Sitting with this gift was a card.  The girls and I gathered on the porch...they ate snicker-doodles while I read the card aloud.

Dear Kate,


How exciting to be baptized...to become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and receive the Holy Ghost.  Even though your baptism + confirmation only took a short time your life will be changed forever.  You have actually been working up to these steps for 8 years, walking + following your parent's example and the example of the Savior.  I'm pleased to know you and to watch you make this most important step in your life so far.


Now...I have given you a little gift- it is kind of a strange gift for an 8 year old but it is something I love.  It is a plant that you can plant anywhere in your garden that you have room for ground cover.  This is why I love this plant---It is like a testimony.


1.  It is easy to grow.  It doesn't need tons of sun or tons of water.  It just needs a little of both once it is planted.  Sun (prayer), water (scriptures)
2.  It changes throughout the spring + summer + into the fall.  Sometimes it grows little flowers + then in the fall it changes colors.  Just like our lives we will experience things that will add to our testimony- make it more beautiful, bigger + colorful
3.  It is reliable.  It comes back EVERY year as long as it has had some water + some sun in the summer.  Each year it will get stronger + bigger.  You might even need to divide it + spread it to another area in the garden.


I also made you some snickerdoodles.  First of all because your mother said they were one of your favorites.  The other reason is because I think you are sometimes a little snickerdoodle---cute, fun, giggly + sweet with a touch of cinnamon in your hair.  


May Heavenly Father bless you in this new part of your journey.
Love to you,
Betsy


After I finished reading Ellie responded "that is the best card we have ever read."  They loved the analogies made...and the cookies were delicious.  I loved the thoughtfulness and time a dear friend took to touch the heart of my daughter.