Mustard Seeds

White (light) Christmas

A couple of weeks ago Matt put up the Christmas lights. I'm not gonna lie: Matt is a expert when it comes to putting up Christmas lights. He once did he parent's mountain house and you could see it glowing while you were driving on the highway across the lake. Anne has inherited his love of lights and helped him do this year.

Now, while we love colorful lights on other people's homes....we are purists when it comes to our house. We like only WHITE lights. And they have to be nice and straight on the roof line. This is something both Matt and I totally agree on.

We live one street over from a semi-major road. And since we live on top of the hill one street over, I can actually see my house all lit up as I drive home at night. So cool!

Got out some red stuff to decorate the porch too. As my friend Mary says, "Bless what you got! I am in full favor of this. Got the red sled on the side of the road one year, buckets were in my backyard, pinecones underneath my pine trees.....

I couldn't bear to part with my beautiful pumpkins so I spray painted them a flat white. I know, I know, again with the spray paint. I can't help it! One of our snows knocked down some tree branches. While I was driving I saw these "downed" berry branches. I might have pulled over and put some in my car....and then lighted sprayed with spray paint.

Oh! The old shovel top was found in our side shed. I used a branch to make a handle. Very rustic.

Also, let me just say if you live in an area with evergreens, they are the cheapest way to decorate at Christmas. Just clip off a few pieces and put them in water in buckets. I also put them in little vases in my house and it makes it smell lovely.

Pears and Apples today...

Show me the wonders of your great love,
   you who save by your right hand
   those who take refuge in you from their foes.
Keep me as the apple of your eye;
   hide me in the shadow of your wings...Psalm 17:7-8

My neighbor said we could help ourselves to her apple and pear trees. So we did! This is the haul in our wheel barrel.

The pears are huge and amazingly juicy. I think I might try to dehydrate some to have this winter to put in our oatmeal. Anyone know how to dehydrate pears? Do I need to coat them in something first?

 

Mulch and Rock

A few weeks back, I mentioned the work we were doing in the yard. Namely, adding rock and mulch and extending flower beds to eliminate some of the lawn we have.

BEFORE:

There were a few big bushes and junipers that we pulled...

AFTER:

Planter in the middle of the yard. We pulled a bush. I added a few things. Iris should appear next year. I want to plant another burning bush. My goal is to have something blooming in each season in this little patch.

Our new dry river bed that runs down the side of the front yard. We plan to plant some ornamental grass arrangement in the future.

This is start of the river bed at the top of the house.

I planted some annuals for color, but I am looking forward to getting more perennials established.

Rock and mulch added up the sides of the driveway.

We also removed some trees and grass on the side yard and replaced it with rock. Now we have a place to park our camper. We haven't replaced the side fence yet. That will go right behind the camper.

There's still work to go on the front yard, but I feel like the major "bones" of it is now all there. Now comes the fun part of gathering plants from fellow gardeners and creating my flower beds.

Lawn-Mower

Lawn-mower, by Dorothy Baruch

I'm the gardener today.

I push the lawn-mower

Across the grass

        Zwuzz, wissh, zwuzz, wissh.

I'm the lawn's barber.

I'm cutting

Its green hair

        Short.

I push the lawn-mower

Across the grass.

        Zwuzz, wissh.

 

House Guests

We welcomed some house guests this last weekend: My mom and dad are here from California with my 10-yr-old niece.We made somes signs to welcome them.

I think fresh flowers on bedside tables are very welcome-y. Don't you?

Here are the cousins. Everyone is here for two weeks to play.

Meanwhile, my dad and Matt are taming our yard. We've pulled out some dead trees, wild bushes and other outrageous greenery. We'll be adding rock, creating a space for the camper, reducing the amount of grass to mow, etc.

Jack is making sure that tree is really dead.

May Garden Notes

In between the massive rain, we are still trying to make progress on the yard. Our new yard has great "bones." Established trees, lots of grass, etc. But it is definitely in the need of some TCL, which includes trying to eliminate some of the grass and lessen the weekend mowing time. We are extending flower beds, putting in gravel and river rock paths and borders, etc.

 

In the sun room, my baby sprouts are still growing. I'm gonna be protecting them inside until the rain/frozen rain/cold clears up for good. Here's looking to the first week of June before I transplant outside.

Most of my seedlings are herbs. I'm not doing a big garden this year since we are working so much on the actual yard itself. But I do really want to get my herb garden established this year.

 I recently checked out this book from the library and loved it. Will have to add it to my personal library at some point. It tells you all the different ways you can use the herbs, inlcuding medicinal and cosmetic.

The Complete Book of Herbs and Spices

On another note, I want to start composting at some point. Any composter ideas or suggestions? Any homemade versions of a composter or tutorials? Love to hear your thoughts.

Composter

And speaking of little sprouts.....here's something I've been using to grow my little sprouts in their faith:

These Seeds of Faith worship CDs are incredible. Seriously, buy one!

What I love about these CDS:

1. They are all scriptures. Your kids will be memorizing scripture while they sing.

2. The music part itself is not cheesy. No annoying rhythms here. We are talking quality music that I even like to listen to when the kids aren't in the car.

3. That you get a bonus CD with each purchase. Every CD comes with a tear off envelope with an extra CD (the same of which you purchased) to give to a friend. Great way to share the truth.

 

What are you doing these days in your garden to tend your sprouts? (I'm talking kids or actual plants here.)

Our sins paved the way to the cross

The path to the cross was paved by my sins.

Last year, I wrote out my sins that paved the way on my Hill of Calvary. This year, I realized it was important to also explain to my sprouts that their sin also paved the way.

Me: Why did Jesus die on the cross for us?

Anne: So we could live forever in Heaven.

Me: But why couldn't we live in Heaven with him if he didn't die on the cross?

Silence...thinking...

Me: It was because of our sin. We all sin, and sin separates us from God. Jesus died on the cross to cancel out our sin so we could live with him in Heaven.

Me: Do you know what sin is?

Jack: I dunno.

Me: It's when we do things that God says not to do. What kinds of sin do you guys do?

Anne: lying, being bossy....

Jack: dis-obaying, hitting, kicking...

We came up with some others too: jealousy, pride, being mean, not being thankful...I begin to feel my face turn red and tingle...I am guilty of the same sin.

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21

 

Jack wanted us to tie Jesus up like he is in this illustration. Think a Jesus toy is cheesy? Well, it kind of is, but Jack is all about the action figures. And remember, kids learn through play.

Then, Jack put all our sins into the tomb. ...to once again die...with Christ.  

And we sealed it with a rock.

"He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification."  Romans 4:25

On Easter Jesus not only rose from the grave, conquering death, but he conquered our sin--FOREVER. Our sin is dead. On Easter morning, our sins will no longer be in the tomb---it will be empty!

Will you share your Hill of Calvary with us? If you've done a post, please leave a link using Mr. Linky below. I would LOVE to see it. If you don't have a blog, please email (janna@mustardseedswriting.com) me a picture.

Apple picking

We went and picked apples in a friend's yard today. Not sure why, but the trees in our community seem brimming with fruit this year. There were a lot of bees out this summer? Does that have an impact...pollination and all? Anyone know?

We ate ham sandwiches with apple slices and read the legend of Johnny Appleseed. Along with being famous for planting apple seeds...he was also known for being kind to animals, being a great friend to all he met, loving the outdoors, carrying his Bible with him wherever he went (and reading it to children). 

 

We sang the Johnny Appleseed prayer for lunch:

Oh, the Lord's been good to me.

And so I thank the Lord,

for giving me the things I need

the sun and the rain and the apple seed.

The Lord's been good to me.

Amen!

 

Red Apple (author unknown)

A little red apple
Hung high in a tree
I looked up at it
And it looked down at me
"Come down, please" I called
And what do you suppose---
That little red apple
Dropped right on my nose!

Check out apple poems and songs here...

Apple treats here...

Apple crafts here...

We'll be trying out some apple printing later this week. Also, I DO believe we have some applesauce to make! Anyone have a good recipe? Also looking for a good apple butter recipe. I want to freeze both

The apple picker worked great.

Backyard fairy houses

We are really enjoying our little backyard that butts up to the lake. We gathered lovely natural materials and spent the afternoon building fairy houses....

 
   

 

"To think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted."  ~George Kneller

Jack and I also made a fairy house for his purposes. About 10 minutes later, it was strewn across the lawn. Oh my, boys!

Too impatient for the fairies' arrival, he let the Little People invade the dwelling.

 

 

Tutorial: Teacher Vases

This morning, Anne and I made some little vases for her new preschool teachers. We go to "Back-to-School Night" tonight to meet everyone. She'll be going to preschool on Tuesdays and Thursday mornings starting next week.

MATERIALS:

• glass jar (we used a baby food jar)
• card stock trimmed to correct "label" size
• permanent fine-tip pen
• watercolors and paintbrush
• glue
• ribbon (optional)
• flowers from the garden

Step One: Write a message and draw some pictures on the label. Anne is just beginning to write, so I wrote in pencil, "I am glad you are my teacher," and she traced it with the pen. 

Step Two: Watercolor over the message. Allow to dry completely.

Step Three: Glue label to jar and tie on ribbon.

Step Four: Collect flowers/herbs from the garden and arrange in jar.

Step Five: Deliver to your new teacher.

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If you liked this tutorial check out this one...