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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May -- A Time to Plant

Well, Thomas is gone, planted in Orlando for four months of BMW STEP training.  Fernando surmised that Thomas would not be home again, that this was a finality.  That's as it should be, of course, but that was a hard thing for this mama to fathom--her baby in an apartment far away, not easily accessible, probably not coming home.

My thoughts now turned toward Fernando and his employment situation.  He has had three different companies express interest in him, three different phone interviews, and three time to wait answers.  I then turned toward the warmer weather and my garden outside.  As long as Fernando was home, we could both go out and plant something and watch it grow.

Fernando is such a generous worker; his heart gives of himself and he willingly works in my garden for me, especially at planting time, shoveling compost, doing the back-breaking work so that I can focus on getting little plants and seeds into the ground.

I scaled back this year, planting just a few tomatoes, a bed of green beans, another of carrots.  The garlic sprouted up from seeds planted last autumn, which I love because it's such a no-nonsense gonna-grow-no-matter-what kind of crop.

I planted two little cherry tomato plants, hoping they'd do well in this particular corner of the plot.

Herbs went in this bed below, with green beans in the middle, and carrots on the left side.  I am hoping like mad the carrots turn out well like they have in the past!

After letting this back bed rest last year, I planted my four tomato plants here.  My choice was Arkansas Traveler, an indeterminate variety that produced well for me last year.  Here's hoping for another good harvest this year!

In my front yard flower garden, I basically ignored the wild oregano growing like a bush in the front.  It's not the best herb in the kitchen.  But I planted a few more French sorrel plants, hoping to have a few harvests of sorrel for my delicious French sorrel soup.

French sorrel in the center.

The hardy English thyme was already a nice sized little bush (on the left in the image below).

Now it's time to wait, to nurture, to watch things grow, to hope.  I was hoping for more than vegetables, and herbs.  As I watched Fernando go through phone interviews, and one Skype interview with a company based on the East Coast, I hoped to watch seeds of change grow, to watch something new sprout, to see the Lord guide our path once again down a new road.


Back to life,
Christine

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End of September in my Garden

Thought I'd share a few photos of my gardens on this beautiful, warm, sunny late September day!

It's a jungle, but I harvested a lot this year!

The red flowers on the above plant are pineapple sage--a little plant I purchased at The Growing Place this past May.  Who knew it'd be this pretty?  It's supposed to be a butterfly attractor.

English thyme.

Back to life,
Christine

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Anniversary

Fernando was home--barely--for our anniversary.  Two in the morning counts, even if he sleeps in.  We're both struggling with nasty colds, so we're taking garlic/honey/lemon and we just "zombied" through the day.  Our celebration will have to come later, when we have time together, when we're feeling better.

I did manage to harvest some beans (a surprise) and some carrots from my garden today.

We can share germs, since we're both sick.

We look pretty decent for having bad colds, huh?  :)

I love you, Papi.  You're my best friend.  I made a list on Facebook, and I'll copy it here...

Twenty-Nine Things I Love About You

1. You love me.
2. You make me feel safe.
3. Your eyes.
4. With you, I can be my goofy, silly, quirky, weird self.
5. Family means everything.
6. You still think I’m gorgeous.
7. Your name (roll that “r”)! *swoon*
8. You have confidence in me.
9. When I go down bunny trails, you get to the heart of the matter.
10. You’re faithful.
11. Your laugh—even when I’m not in the room!
12. You work hard.
13. You love our boys.
14. Those legs, though. *leg girl*
15. You’re an immovable rock when you’ve decided something.
16. You bought me a gun.
17. You fix things—car, washer, necklace…
18. You tell me to grab my camera and let’s go for a walk.
19. When you make “tractor beam” eyes at me.
20. Your debate skills (okay, don’t love those *all* the time…)
21. Your goatee!
22. You let me call you Googly Bear. (Now everyone knows…)
23. Texting with you in the same room.
24. I’ll never come close to being as generous as you.
25. You’ll drop everything for me.
26. You run to the grocery store for me.
27. Speaking Spanish together (as bad as I am!).
28. Your open heart.
29. Your faith is genuine and real.

Happy 29th, Papi.


Back to life,
Christine

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August Harvest

Home from vacation, and time to get out to the garden to see what's up.  Harvest was up--that's what was up!

The short, stubby carrots were really funny looking.  Yes, they're supposed to be "short and sweet."  The longer, skinnier ones were a different variety, and (as I processed them) were easier to peel.

Even though my tomato plants looked straggly, they had a nice yield, and a nice variety.

Now my work is cut out for me--I have to process all of this!


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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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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