Books

I have spent a good amount of time reading lately, as I decided TV is not very interesting lately, with all the negative programming..... Even the news is blatantly bad with little gleams of hope in this dark world..... Okay, so maybe it is a little melodramatic, but I have noticed that I don't miss the fear that a lot of TV brings into the home every night.... We still watch TV, it just consists of Barney, Winnie the Pooh, and Strawberry Shortcake..... and other tame shows.....and hence turns off when the kids go to bed.

I have found that without the TV though, that I a lot of extra time on my hands that I never knew I had before. I would spend the time sewing and doing other creative things, but my sewing room is inaccessible at night or else wake a rather sleepy daddy. (We are trying to remedy that shortly) So instead I have been reading. It has been really nice to read again. Though I have very little to show for the hours of time spent doing it, it is enjoyable. I started by rereading Deadline by Randy Alcorn, The Hidden Value of a Man by John Trent and Gary Smalley, and just finished Bringing up Girls by James Dobson. Then I started rereading The mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers. So now I am wrapped up in the story of Christianity in Rome........ what better way to spend time that that???

I would honestly recommend the Hidden Value of a Man book, which I had bought a few years ago for Mike on Fathers Day. It is written by two men for men, so the illustration and manner of writing is not typical for a woman's reading style. Towards the middle to end of the book though, the chapters still refer to male offspring as it is the goal of the book, but the truths written apply to all children and even adults who still need some resolution from childhood pains....

The Bringing up Girls by James Dobson was somewhat of a disappointment to me though. It focused mostly on Teenage years for which I am not yet at the point in which I must prepare my girls. By the time I get there, the obstacles that they face may even be vastly different.... but my biggest issue with the book was simply the general stance of the book. While it went into statistics and so forth, it never really gave any answers to the problems that parents face, but instead sent the reader to fish out another book by other authors or earlier works of Dobsons. Part of it may be that as a woman, I know a lot more of the struggles in being a woman that Dr Dobson ever could being a counselor, he is still very much a man and therefore can only scratch the surface of the topic.... secondly, we happen to know a lot of the youth pastors at local churches or have worked directly with youth at some point in our life make the statistics and so forth not as shell shocking as Dobson would have liked. So, the target audience of the book would really be moms who are out of touch, Dads for sure, and the general population that doesn't have much exposure to what it is like for a teenage life and culture....which isn't really me. Otherwise I would recommend it.

The other tow books, being older books, I probably will not go into, just know I own all of the francine rivers books (except her newest one) and just the fact that I am rereading the books, must tell you something.

Gardening Advice

So my friend Joanna, who blogs over at The Jo's Know and Mothers of Invention, sent me an article called 5 foods it's cheaper to grow. Interesting article go check it out.

Now I haven't been gardening for long, but I have learned that it is very true that you can spend more to garden then one might produce. At the rate that Mike and I are going, it may take a few years to harvest enough to break even. However, in our case, there was no natural place in the yard in which we could simply dig a hole and start planting seeds, because of the newer construction homes tend to be built on dirt that has very little nutrients left. We found that out last year when our vegtable garden produced very sad plants that attracted the bugs to take over (which the bugs will tell you they were happy to do.)

As far as the plants they say to grow, I am always on the look out for fruit trees.... and then praying that they make it in the place in which they get planted. Our Tangelo tree has been a great producer, our apple tree (like the article hints) not so much. But we still hold hope that it will only get better. I think we would like a peach tree some day, and maybe a clementine tree. Maybe we should just replace the oak trees that the builder planted with those two types. Ahh, another gardening item for the to do list.

The vine plants we are focusing on this year are doing a lot better than last years. We have cantalopue in the ground and watermelons. In Florida, watermelons are a big thing, and they can be expensive when they are not in the prime... which since we planted later than most, it will work to our advantage. Cantalopues aren't as expensive but hey, I like them. Cucumbers just attract bugs for us, and I can't stand zuchini, so the two they mentioned are out.

Lettuce is a fall/winter plant down here since they love the cooler temps, and so they are on the schedule to go in the ground when temps start falling.... along with tomatoes (which they say not to plant, but what the hey, we are doing it anyways) and carrots (another one they say not to plant cause it isn't worth it... but they are easy as pie...) among some others.

Bell Peppers. Well, Mike just planted some this past weekend. We'll just have to wait and see.

Of the what not to plant, except for the carrots mentioned above, I don't plan on ever letting the others in the garden unless it is as a plant that starts growing in my fridge. It is true though, potatoes are hard to sommetimes give away down here near the potato capital of the south, celery stays in the fridge way too long in my house and the rest are too cheap and not worth doing. So there!

The ideas on how to get the most bang for your buck are really good though.

The finding of good crops to plant in our area has been somewhat of a challenge. The advice to "Look at your neighbors' gardens." cracks me up though... I never have seen many gardens here in my area... much less with the neighbors. It wasn't till after I started the vegtable gardens that I have noticed others attempting to start too.... but there is a difference between fruit and vegtable gardening and flower beds... and even herb gardens. Though at least the herb garden helps produce items for cooking... if I ever used them with cooking...

Drip irrigation doesn't apply for me though.... Our garden beds were created in the middle of the irrigated lawn areas. Adding drip irrigation would only add too much water, not help save water. Besides, the leaves need the water to keep from getting scorched in the hot FL sun. We are considering how we could reuse water... We want to start by adding rain barrels. (I didn't read this article but you get the main idea) then maybe start thinking about how to add waht they call grey water, or maybe adding a well to water the yard so that we save city water for only inside use.

Doing the work ourselves is a no brainer... The main issue might be how to manage a garden at nine months pregnant, and how to keep the little shovels from wanting to "help". We have also found that we haven't needed much chemical use this year... I don't particularily care for them, but we haven't had much issue. Most of the chemicals we have is fertilizer... and then I think most of that has gone on the grass this year with little to show for it. Reusable seeds is funny to me too, since the seeds themselves only cost us a few bucks a season. I have noticed though that we get more than we need, and sharing with a neighbor would probably be a lot better...

And when we do get enough crop to be able to store it up, I will let you know. Till then, we will just keep eating it as we produce it, and hope, that in the end we don't have a $64 tomato.

One thing that the article didn't mention though, was the sense of accomplishment, and rightness that one gets out of the garden, not to mention the way it can bring together two people that like to garden. With every seed that turns into a plant... with every flower that turns into a fruit or veggie... enormous pride wells up in the gardener, and it makes the spirit soar. Then it also brings you back to humble submission too, as you realize, with all the work you put in to helping that plant grow, there is one greater than you, that did 90% of the work.

90 Minutes in Heaven

So, I just finished reading the book 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper. It is an interesting book, mainly about the struggle he endured on his way back to "normalcy" from a car crash that should have been fatal (actually was as he was officially dead for 90 minutes, hence the title of the book.). It was not what I expected the story to be, I guess I thought it was more about his experience in Heaven than the medical journey after the accident, but I still did find it to be a book worth reading.

Throughout the book, and especially in the later chapters, he spends quite a bit of time giving sample stories of what happened in his life as a result of the accident, and how he has been able to minister to others through his ordeal. One of the snippets in chapter 9, talks about being stuck in the hospital bed still, and the depression that kept him prisoner. He was so depressed that he didn't want anyone to even come around and visit, so that he wouldn't be seen in his sad state of affairs. More than that, he had always been the "doer" and to rely on others seemed to foreign for him so he would constantly deny help that was offered to him.

His mentor pastor (Don is a pastor himself), confronts him though and brings out the fact that by denying the help, he is in fact denying the people who have come to see him their opportunity to use their God given gifts of ministry in a way that blesses not only him but those who offer the help as well. He points out that by not wanting to impose, causes more harm and frustration than it does just to let things happen, and let others pour out their ministries.

That said, though our culture is one in which independence reigns supreme, what harm is done by allowing others to help? Maybe, just maybe, we could all learn to rely just a little more on others... especially after major life changing events. Maybe it would do ALL of us a lot of good.