Busy Weekend...

I'm off to do about four days worth of stuff in two days. Lots and lots of music. Lots and lots of family and fun. I get to see one of my church families tomorrow and am excited about that as well. Then more music and a meeting and then more music. I'll be back Monday...

Remember to be patient with folks this weekend. Especially if you're driving.

Bunches of love!!

Malinda

Photo Friday...

Which one do YOU like the best?? Have a wonderful day...

A New Summer

The lady bug is kind of out of focus, but I still really like the picture. I think I was trying more to get all the tangly tentacles of the pea vines anyway. Can you imagine being that small while the world all around you is huge? Sometimes I feel like that! My Lovin' Husband's beloved lemon cucumbers are comin' up...

and the beans... (finally - we were getting a little worried!)

Potatoes make flowers...

When you are driving with the windows down in the country this time of year, you can smell the honeysuckle. I have always loved it. I used to walk down the road from our house when I was a kid and pick the flowers to get the nectar out of them. I was delighted to find some vines on my neighbor's fence. It is so pretty and I love to look at the blooms. It makes my heart happy.

Let us talk about the barn for a minute. (It is too little to be a barn, really, but it is just so much MORE than a shed...) Usually when I take pictures of it I try to leave out the fencing and extra things that make the picture not so pretty, but yesterday I decided that the extra stuff looks just fine. It is pretty with the stuff leaned against it - in an honest way, I think. People are like that, I believe. A lot of times we sell ourselves and others short when we pretend that everything is ok when it isn't. We all have burdens leaning on us that we try to take out of the picture, but the truth is, we're better in the long run if we let others help us through our pain rather than hide it and pretend like it is not there. The burdens don't ugly us up, they just make us real. ANYWAY. I like the barn. It makes me happy to look at. Especially when the sun is setting.

The clouds were so beautiful all day yesterday.

Go looking for beauty today. You'll find God there. No matter how ugly you feel, you'll find God there, too. Look inside yourself and accept who you are. God is waiting for you there.

Pardon my brain today. We have had a crazy week and I've been thinking about all the places that I have encountered Jesus. Everywhere doesn't even begin to cover it...

Happiness: Two by Two

These two have WAY too much fun when they get together... He's waiting on his other half. Nothing says adorable like a long haired boy with flowers that is waiting on a girl who just got her diploma. Be still my beating heart...

THESE two never stop laughing when they get together. I have tons of pictures just like this one. Nothing compares to the bond between a mother and her son... It is so fun to listen to their conversations!!

THESE two just make me smile. How happy they look and I just smile when I see them together. They are so sweet to each other and such enjoyable people to be around and talk to. Words cannot express how happy I am that that girl has found some happiness. Love you, Audy.

And these two belong together. Forever. Pardon my mushiness, but I'm feeling mushy today. He is the most considerate, kind, and caring person I've ever met. I heart him.

Tell someone that you love them today. Someone that makes you feel happy inside just because of who they are.

All Done With H.S. Graduations for a While

Well, she did it! We are all so proud of you, Chloe!! Her brother graduated from the same high school 13 years ago. Isn't she beautiful??

With the sweet Daddy who got her a bunch of BEAUTIFUL white roses.

And the boy... He got her those georgeous flowers. I think she likes him just a little bit...

Her mama and big sister love her just a little bit, I think. Look how happy!!

I think I love her just a little bit, too...

Ok, Chlo. Next up is culinary school, right?? MMmmmm. I can't wait til THAT graduation!!!

The Slammer...

I am sure that the apparatus below has a formal name such as stake driver or well, something like that anyway. I'm sure that most every farmer has one and knows the name for it. We, however, are fake farmers. Or at least that is what Adam says because the only farm animals that we have are chickens. Long story short, we don't know the proper name for it, but we felt like we should call it SOMETHING. It has really come in more handy than just about anything around the place. We call it The Slammer. Not real creative, I know, but that is what it does so that is what we named it. (Please disregard burn pile in the thorn trees from hell. It has been too rainy to burn and looks not so great. Let us just focus on The Slammer.) I used it *for the first time* myself the other day while Adam was teaching. Not knowing that it MAKES YOU GO DEAF FOR TEN MINUTES after you use it. Only then does the Lovin' Husband tell me that he usually plugs his ears before he uses it. I guess he figured I wasn't ever going to use it as long as I had him around to do my dirty work. So here is my Baby with his ears all plugged up with paper towels. (whispering - he doesn't know that cotton balls really work much better. Isn't that cute??) And there is my most awesome wheel barrow that my parents got me for my birthday. Thanks, padres!!!!

We finally planted bunches of tomatoes and they need caging and staking. (weeds are not there anymore...)

Now our lovely Cherokee Purples are all snug as a bug in their new home.

And we will both be able to hear for years yet to come.

Friday Was a Busy Day

I will start this post with a shamelesss surely-someone-needs-a-kitten picture... Then I will move on!! Broccoli. Mmmmm. It'll be done soon and I will be in heaven...

Potato flowers. Well, they're almost flowers. and Yes. Potatoes DO make flowers.

My irises are still blooming. This makes me all kinds of happy.

This also makes me all kinds of happy. The Lovin' Husband made our garden(s) about two times bigger. He works so hard! I preciate you, Baby!!! Maggie, of course, is making sure everything all around her beloved Adam is a-ok.

Peas soon!!

These three things fill my heart up. Sage flowers, the red barn, and a beautiful sunset. My favorite time of everyday that I get to be home.

Amen and amen...

Have a great day!!!

The Chicken Channel

I want to share with you a little of what we try to do most every evening when the weather is nice and I'm home with Adam. It isn't always what I see that calms me. It is what I hear. The wind and the birds. My lands, the birds. It is a symphony to me...

Bell Buckle Concert

I recently had the opportunity to go to Bell Buckle, Tennessee to visit some wonderful and newly-made friends. I was a little early so I did what I always do in situations like that and drove around town. I had been through once with Adam and we both really thought the town seemed neat. Upon second inspection, it IS neat. First off, there is an embroidery shop. I MUST visit again and actually go in. There are junk stores, craft stores, and the "world famous Bell Buckle Cafe". I also found some music. Let me take a minute here, people. I truly believe that when you believe in the music that you are making, you give it life. You say MORE than what is being said. This guy BELIEVED what he was singing and playing. He had a tambourine down by his feet and played that, too! I listend from my car with the windows down and heard the best, most beautiful version of Will the Circle Be Unbroken. This guy sang and played with every ounce of himself and I think he deserves a gig at the Ryman, myself.

I snapped a couple more pics while I listened to the concert.

Then some other folks stopped to listen while waiting for their table at the cafe.

Happy me at my concert...

You never know when you're going to find beauty. Or who is going to show it to you. Always listen for the unexpected music. It is always the best.

Guitar Heroes

This one has been strumming on my guitar for years now. I sit in front of her and play chords and she strums and sings. She isn't content to just sing Jesus Loves Me over and over anymore. She writes her own songs. Unicorns, flowers, butterflies, zoo animals, you name it and she sings about it. And is becoming quite a good little strummer. She matches every syllable with a strum. It is terribly adorable... This one started strumming just a few months ago. That is her, "Not too hard?" face. She is learning to *try* (cringe) not to scratch the guitar when she plays. Totally worth the scratches, but still trying to teach her that the pick stops at the last string!! She IS content to sing "Jesus" and "Rosies" over and over.

What I like about the time we get to spend together is that as they grow up, they'll remember this. Playing the guitar with Boo (that's my family's nickname for me) and singing and laughing and making up songs or just singing "Jesus" over and over. I like that it is free and not TV or a video game. It's just us chickens havin' a big ole time. And they smile. And they think so hard. I love watching their minds work as they try to figure out the "ga-tar" as Anndee Kate calls it.

They even hand the pick back and forth. One plays and we all sing - then the other plays and we all sing (if we know the words to her newest "song"). My one concern is this...

When they're old enough to hold their own "ga-tar", will they be able to strum from the other direction? :)

The Dragonfly Chase

Lately...

We have declared war on the fire ants. What was that? You didn't know there were fire ants in Tennessee? Well, let me assure you there are because THEY ARE ALL IN MY GARDEN. It started out innocent enough. A little hill full of ants. "Let them be, Adam," I say. "They aren't hurting anything." Then the hill gets bigger and BIGGER and BIGGER and someone down at the market asks Adam if we have any fire ants and he says "Ummm, I don't think so. How can you tell if you do?" The guy says, "Well, it is a huge hill of ants." Then Adam says in a calm low voice, "Yep we got em." He comes home and we decide we'll just set a really big fire on top of the fire ants. Makes sense. Kill the fire ants with FIRE! Not REALLY. They then conlonized our GARDEN and the dear, Lovin' Husband went up to the co-op and talked to the really nice lady who thinks we are very weird people. She told him what to get and did one bottle work? Did two? We are on, like, bottle eleventy million and they are still finding new places to hide and it HURTS when they bite you in between your fingers. Betcha didn't know that! The red below is one of their recent attempt to recolonize. They carry their young. How responsible of them. Enough of that...

Hangin' with BoJangles.

Watchin' Maggie declare her utmost love, loyalty, devotion, and life to Adam. She really wishes she were me.

Now if that isn't precious I don't know what is...

Feeding weeds to the chickens. My goodness they start singing when they see us coming near them. It usually means a juicy treat of some sort. Worm here + weeds there = happy chickens.

See how they're waiting? They Know he's gonna come through for them.

Mmmmm. They cluck the whole time they're chowing down.

Watched Matoike the cat try to catch a dragonfly. I'll see if the video will upload.

Have been admiring the pretty flowers. This is my sage blooming...

Mowed the backyard (me! I did it!! - not even vicariously through Adam..., but completely by myself. He was proud...)

Nothing makes me happier than to sit down in the yard with Adam after a long day of work and watch the sun set through the trees and watch the shadows move across the freshly mown grass. Mondo likes it, too. See him?

Have a wonderful day!

Love,
Malinda