Our Journey -- The Path of Trust

The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,

For His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23 NASB

Strawberries came at the end of May.  They are the first harvest of the garden, their bright red a promise of sweetness and delight, and with it, sweetness from the Lord in this new journey the Lord has just set before us.

The Path of Trust

Fernando received a job offer, plain and simple.  He told this company, Y** (based in Rhode Island), he would give them an answer by the end of May.  He was hoping to hear back from at least one of the other two companies interested in hiring him; their potential job offers would be better--pay, benefits, situation.  But as each day came and went, and no phone calls were forthcoming, Fernando knew it was time to let Y** know he would accept their offer.  And we prepared to set off on one more road, a path, really, of twists and turns, of not knowing, of trust.

Fernando would be training to be a field service engineer for this company, specializing in robotics and automation.  With his extensive electronics background, we are hoping that this would translate into a new career path for him.

Fernando will leave in mid-June, to fly to Rhode Island for one to six months of training, including in-house, then shadowing another field service engineer, then eventually working on his own in the Midwest.  At least there is that.  At least there is something to look forward to.  We reminded each other it could be worse--we had been contemplating an opportunity for him to work out of the country for a year (huge income, paying off all debt, starting fresh--but a year apart).  The possibility of six months apart seemed more palatable than a whole year.  I kept telling him that six months will fly by, and it could be less time, too, if the training goes well.

The important thing it, it's a job.  It will pay the bills, at least we're hoping.  It's little more than half what Fernando was making previously, so I knew I'd have to work.  I knew the possibility of me having to find full-time work was very real at this point.  I was hoping for one of the other jobs for him, but this seems to be where the Lord is leading.  So this is where we need to go, on this new pathway of continuing to trust Him and His plan for our lives.

After all the past posts where I've excitedly shared how the Lord has worked and brought employment to us, this post seems dry, almost matter-of-fact.  In a way, it is just that--can I really be excited about uncertainty, about not knowing if this would work out, and just how did all this debt and struggle fit into His plan?  I don't know.

I don't know how we'll do it.  I don't know how we'll live on much, much less, while paying off debt that we never had before.  I come back, once again, to the overarching theme of all these posts I've written:  He is faithful.  I must trust.  This new path, this new way, wherever it leads, is simply a new way in which to trust--yet, and still, and continuing--that He knows, that He will direct, that He is good.  While I praise Him for providing, my heart still whispers help me trust You, Lord, down this new path.


Back to life,
Christine

Read previous segments here:

The Beginning
The Injury
The Furnace
The Waiting
Employment
The House
The Phone Call
The Truck
The Car
The Business
Nightfall
The Gift
Eight Days
Broken Path
Celebration
His Plan, Not Ours

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Autumn Surprise

November 10.

The alpine strawberries are back for another harvest!!

Back to life,
Christine

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When One Good Thing Ends and Another Comes Along

Very end of June.

The regular strawberries in my first strawberry bed (for they've taken over the entire bed, those hogs) go wild for about two weeks at the end of May and beginning of June.  They're not huge, not like in the store, but they're a good size and I've got two four-pound bags in the freezer waitin' on me to turn them into preserves some day soon.  Plus, there are two more smaller bags in the freezer waitin' on muffins, or oatmeal, or...  You get the picture.

Well, strawberry season ended for those strawberries, but lo and behold, there's another strawberry season about a month later.  That's when my Alpine strawberries really come in--they had been producing mostly handfuls every several days, enough to put in my oatmeal yum yum--and now they were coming in like gangbusters.  Woot woot!

Alpine strawberries look like tiny Christmas tree lights, and are fairly delicate.  I finesse them off by pulling them to the side, not straight off, and let them tumble into my little white colander.

Aren't they cute?

These little beauties get frozen in one layer on a tray (or baking pan), then dumped into canning jars which stay in the freezer.  They added up quickly, and I have at least three quarts that I remember putting in (maybe there's more!!).  They're so small that no cutting is needed, and they can be measured frozen right out of the jar and into whatever recipe needs them.

Recipes like Berry Banana Baked Oatmeal!

This gets gobbled up at our house--I barely got a photo with my phone!

Back to life,
Christine

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In My Garden -- Early June 2016

Early June.

I'm playing "catch up" with my blog this week...  Since I've been working four days a week, my off-days are usually spent "recuperating" and rejuvenating--and doing my own laundry, cooking for the guys, running errands...  You see why my blog has been on the back burner?

I sweet-talked Fernando and Joseph into picking strawberries on this early June morning, which I believe was a homeschool convention day (meaning I had to be at the convention working all day).  They picked a nice amount to add to the strawberries I had already picked, so that meant we'd have not only strawberry preserves (which, to this day, I haven't made yet!!), we'd get to have a nice Strawberry Shortcake Night soon.

On another early June day, I confronted my two sage plants, which had flowered and gotten huge since last year.  I cut off all the flowers parts close to the base, and used the leaves to make fried sage--I simply chopped them up and fried them in a little butter, then used them as topping for everything from my ham chili to soup to salad.  Yum!

Pruned back and ready to grow nicely again.

I also weeded the pathway near the carrot/sage/garlic/tomato bed.

Also in early June, I tackled the front flower garden.  This oregano bush--it's not really a plant any more, I don't think--has taken over the front part of the garden and I'd really rather just dig it out.  For now, I trimmed it way back.

I also had Danny do a bunch of weeding for me.  Guys are so handy!

A second "companion" oregano plant.

Variegated beard tongue blooming pink.

I also picked my French sorrel before it bloomed this year.  I have wanted to make French sorrel soup, which (at this point) I've already made.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  Amazing-ness!!  I'll share a recipe as I continue to catch up with blogging.

So, remember those strawberries?  Yep, hulled and washed and turned into yumminess.

Strawberry Shortcake Night was fantastic!


Back to life,
Christine

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May into June -- My Garden

Time to mosey on out to my raised beds with camera in hand to show you what has been happening in my little neck of the woods!

I started right off with my sage, planted last year and growing wonderfully in the rich soil.  They had blossomed once, and are starting to blossom again, so I'd have to trim those back.

Nice and trim!  Can't wait for fried sage leaves!!

I also weeded what I could in the pathway next to the sage.

In the sage bed, the garlic was growing nicely, and four tomato plants looked healthy and strong.  The two on the right are Summer Peach--yielding smaller yellow fruit that is fuzzy like a peach and sweet--and the two on the left are a new variety to me:  Kentucky Traveler.  I'll definitely let you know how these are!

In the back garden, I planted herbs (on the left, one lone tomato plant (given to me and I had nowhere to plant it), then green beans in the back.  The green bean section is a little more shaded (Jacob's tree grows off to the right of this photo), so hopefully they'll do okay there.  Chives also grow in that back right corner.

After noticing the bare spots in my mulched pathway above, I inspected and noted other areas which would need some more mulch.  Time to save some money and cover those areas.

The Alpine strawberry bed also hosts my two rhubarb plants, which I really need to harvest.  With me working four days a week now, I'll have to carve out some time to make both strawberry jam and cinnamon-rhubarb jam, two of my favorites.  Maybe this year, I'll make some strawberry-rhubarb jam, too!

The middle bed hosts garlic (bottom left), tomatoes (middle), then peas and carrots (back).  I planted the peas late, so hopefully they won't mind a little heat as they come up, and hopefully I'll have a harvest to speak of.

Finally, my front bed is definitely a strawberry bed.  They keep shooting out and taking over the walkway, and I let them, harvest the plants, then pull them back.  This year (since I'm posting this a few weeks after these photos were taken), we had Strawberry Mayhem for two weeks, and now (mid-June) I'm back to picking not quite a quart every three days or so.  That'll quickly wind down--but those Alpine strawberries are in full swing and will yield berries all summer long!  They're very small berries, but I've been collecting them, rinsing and freezing them, and I already have enough for a double recipe of strawberry muffins.

Here's proof that I can get my guys to come help in the garden when needed!

My "overhead" view of the garden--which, when we finally take the pool down, I will no longer be able to do as I have year after year.  Boo.

With weeding pretty much every other day, you can build up a pretty good pile.  My guys finally loaded this all up into a yard waste back for curbside pickup.  It's still a pretty photo, though, huh?  I think so, anyway.

That's the tour!  As soon as I hit Publish on this post, I'm back out to the garden to feed the tomatoes and give everything a nice drink of water.  See you soon!


Back to life,
Christine

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Freshly Picked

One day, I picked a handful of strawberries.

The next day, I went out to the strawberry patch to see if I could find some more ripe, red deliciousness.  My little glass bowl overflowed.

Just a few short days later, my counter was full of strawberries to process.

First, I pick off the green tops to reveal the white part I then cut out.  I cut out the whites, rinse off the berries, dry them on a towel, then pop them into bags for the freezer.  I froze them in four-pound portions, since that's what my strawberry preserves recipe calls for.  I currently have two four-pound bags in my freezer awaiting the preserve-making process.

We picked so many berries over the weekend that we had Strawberry Shortcake Night last Sunday.  I messed up the shortcake recipe, but they turned out okay, and turned out even greater when coupled with freshly whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, and my garden-fresh strawberries.  Yum!

Back to life,
Christine

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Fruits and Veggies

Late May.

Come along with me on a tour of my garden, nice and close up!

Carrot sprouts are peeking up through the compost.

The sage set to blooming--I will have to cut back all the blooms.

In the strawberry patch were surprises from the overnight rains.

A strawberry to pick!

There were lots of green strawberries, and beautiful blossoms as well.

My pea plants, sown much later than I would've liked, were sprouting up.  Hopefully I'll be able to harvest their delicious fruit before the summer heat sets in.

Baby pea sprouts.

Above and below, my green bean plants were taking root.

Tomato blossoms!

My parsley is looking beautiful this year.

This basil--columnar basil--is a new herb for me this year.  The leaves are smaller than traditional basil, but can be used in the same way.  They also taste the same as the traditional basil.  You may recall that a number of years ago, my traditional basil developed basil downy mildew, and I needed to find an alternative for the several years experts say it will take for the mildew to finally be gone in my garden.  I've had success with Medinette basil (not pictured but I'm growing it again this year), and I thought I'd try this variety.

Here's to a new garden and harvest season!!


Back to life,
Christine

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