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I was a Cold War baby. My favorite tv show growing up was Scarecrow and Mrs King, and I secretly dreamed of growing up to be a spy. Or married to one. I’m neither. But I do enjoy watching Castle, and I’m secretly (well, not so secretly now) hoping she takes the job in DC. I live vicariously thru Kate Beckett. She’s who I would be if I was braver, skinnier, had dark hair, and lived in New York City.

The past couple of days the uninformed of this country have been shocked with a barrage of news stories about the government watching us. Seriously people. They are the government. They’ve been watching us since the Cold War, and probably before that. Get over your shock.

If you are talking about things on your phones, your email, or your Facebook that are truly private, you shouldn’t be telling the world anyway. Get over yourselves. Nothing is private. Every photo you paste on Fb becomes their property. Does that mean you shouldn’t post pictures of your kids for your family and friends to see? No. Seriously. The only reason the government cares that you even have kids is because they cost money and involve tax write-offs. They don’t want to exploit them by stealing your precious pictures. (However there are wierdos out there so for goodness sake, quit posting nude pics of your babies!! Noone really wants to see their junk anyway!!!)

And as for your phone calls. If your hubby/boyfriend/spouse/significant other is not there in the room with you, don’t do things over the phone you wouldn’t want your mom to hear. Or your grandma. Or your government. Don’t text pictures of that crap either.

If you have a secret group on Facebook, rest assured that it is secret- from your friends who are innocent and would never try to hack you. Don’t be afraid to share prayer requests or personal feelings about issues. The government only cares that Aunt Suzy is dying because there’s money and property involved. They care nothing about Uncle Joe’s surgery except that there’s money involved. And sadly, the fact that your marriage is on the rocks only matters if you actually divorce- because money is involved.

We have a God who is far more powerful than any government, and He is allowing this. He has a plan. Have no fear, for He has conquered the world.

But for Pete’s sake, “shhh!” Don’t say it if you don’t want it heard.

There are some people in this world that are here to make us laugh. Some are here to be a shoulder to cry on. Some are here to offer an encouraging word. Some are here to teach us. And some, some are here to be whatever we need them to be in the moment.

God knew yesterday morning would happen from the moment time began. He orchestrated it. But before yesterday morning, were a series of mornings and days and weeks and years of a woman’s life. She was one of those people who was there. Whatever whenever. All things to all people. Lovely through and through. A heart of gold. Most would say she was taken too soon. But she did exactly what God wanted her to do on this earth. And despite our desires, His timing is perfect. She no longer has pain. And she is Home.

Rest in peace, sweet Karen. You will always be loved, and your absence will forever remind us of the love and joy that you added to each of our lives.

I have always loved planting plants.  Perhaps it’s because of the time spent as a kid with my grandparents in their massive garden, or maybe it’s because it’s in my genes – my dad has always loved working in the yard, and often let me help with planting projects.  I dream of one day having a greenhouse in our side yard, where I can plant our fruits and veggies.  A place where I can teach our kids about plants and dirt and life.  A place where they can learn from me, but also a place where they can learn from the Master Gardener.

When I lived in Tulsa, we planted one way.  When we lived in Edmond, we planted another way.  And now that we live in South Texas on the edge of Hill Country, we plant another way.  I was never really fond of cactus and “succulent” plants.  But now, I’m learning to see their beauty.  They alone can brave the rock and very little topsoil.  They alone can handle the drought and the sun and the heat.  And they thrive.

They thrive because it’s part of the plan.  Beauty is all around us.  The springtime in this part of the country is incredible.  Wildflowers are abundant, and beauty is truly in every frame of the camera lens.  We’ve had some rain recently, so they are even more lush than normal.  The Master Gardener has a plan.

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you probably know that I’m currently doing a Bible study called “Meet Jesus” that is going through the book of John.  Today I read John 8:12-30.  It’s a powerful passage where once again Jesus is defending himself to the Pharisees, and explaining who He is and who has sent Him.  But what was the verse that stuck out to me?  Not one of the ones in bright red on the page.  Not the words of Jesus.  No, just a simple little statement the author stuck in when he wrote.  The end of verse 20 says “Yet no one seized him, because his time had not yet come.”  I guess what made it stick out, (other than the fact that God had a plan and wanted it to stick out to me!) was that it’s not the first time John in his writing has said similar things.  Growing up in church and hearing lots of stories about Jesus over time, I guess it never really sunk in that these people hated Jesus.  Not just at the end when they suddenly decided to crucify him, but all along.  They hated him.  But one thing and one thing alone kept them from imprisoning him years earlier.  That one thing?  God’s master plan.  “His time had not yet come.”

Just as God sent me on a walk this morning and brought me a smile by putting this tiny little bunny rabbit in the yard, He sent Jesus on a walk.  A walk through Israel to teach His people.  It just wasn’t time for anyone to seize him yet.  So they didn’t.  By the power of God.  You see, God is the Master Gardener.  He knows the number of wildflowers in my yard.  He planted each of them.  He knows the number of thorns on every cactus on this acre and a half.  He placed them there.  He knows the exact moment that the Mountain Laurels will first bud.  He knows where every little bunny rabbit lives, and provides them food.  He knows the chirp of every single bird, and calls them by name.  He has a plan.  The aphids I hold great disdain for where placed on each plant by His hand.  Even they are part of His plan.

When my life doesn’t go the way I want it to, when hurt and pain come into my life and I question why He has allowed them there, verse 20 is my answer.  “His time had not yet come.”  God has the landscape layout on his planting bench in Heaven.  He knows not only what the garden looked like yesterday, two weeks ago, and five hundred years ago, but he also knows what it will look like tomorrow, two weeks from now, and five hundred years from now.  And everything that I do, everything that we do, everything that He does, everything He allows, is all working toward that final master plan.  I will probably never see the final layout that He’s working toward, and as a human, that is frustrating.  But I can rest easy knowing that He IS the Master Gardener, and He DOES have a plan, and all things will happen in HIS time.  When the time comes, it will happen.  Good, bad, happy, sad, it will happen according to His plan.  And someday, I will return to the earth, and that will be part of His plan too.  And because I believe, my body will stay, but I will live with Him forever… and maybe, just maybe, He’ll let me work in His garden.

You know that place.  You’ve been there before.  For me as a kid, it was a magical, mystical place where all my hopes and dreams were born, and where the answers to all my questions could be found.  And now, I get to watch as Becca begins to enjoy that place.  The first time we went, it was information overload for her.  The shelves tower so high, and the books go on for eternity.  And we go to a very tiny one that has maybe 1/10th the ones I grew up going to!  But yet, she doesn’t know any different.  And she loves it.  She loves everything about the spongy padded floor, the little round table, the tiny chairs.  But most of all, she loves the books.

“That Place,” of course, is our little local library.  Becca loves books.  She devours them.  It used to be that she devoured them literally – as she frantically chewed on everything in sight.  Now, she devours them for what’s inside.  She turns the pages, she looks at the pictures, and feels if there are textures.  She likes to streak her fingers down the hard covers and make squeaky noises.  And she loves to listen to them being read.  Ask her to pick out a book for story time, and you’re liable to end up with a whole stack because she just can’t decide which book she likes best.  It makes me immensely happy to see her love of books developing at such a young age.  Most of the time, given the choice between a basket of books and a basket of toys, she’ll pick the books.

 

So today, I got the joy not only of taking her to the library this morning, but Cody finished painting our bookshelf for our family room, and has it all together and it’s dry… so I started setting up our home library for her!  All of the books I kept from my teaching days are for when she’s older – they have paper pages, not cardboard – but this morning it was so neat to have her watch as I put the books on the shelves up high.  She sat there just staring in awe at all the books as they came out of their storage space.  I’m nowhere near done with the project – I’ll sort them by type and author eventually – but it’s so fun to see her so excited about books, and to know that there are tons of fun books just waiting for her in our own library, much less all the fun adventures she can check out from the public library!  I love this girl so much.  I love books so much.  And I’m so glad that she loves “That Place” as much as I did as a kid.  I just know there are so many adventures waiting for her on those shelves, and I’m so excited to watch her experience each and every one of them!

I love those Tollhouse crackers. The Flip-Sides. It’s a toss-up between which side is better- the smooth, buttery cracker side or the crunchy pretzel side with its big chunks of salt. Well, if yesterday’s post about the negatives of driving 12 and 9 hours in a car with an almost-one-year-old was the crunchy, rocky pretzel side…. Then it’s time to enjoy the smooth, buttery side. And yes, this may seem buttery… Nay, cheesy, at times. But, to all of life there is a flip-side, and there certainly was to our road trip with our lil angel.

You see, MOST (probably 85%) of the time, she was good as gold and super happy. There is nothing quite like listening to a babbling, happy child playing with her toys in the backseat, content in her own little world. She talks to every toy she owns like it’s her best friend. She loves to sing along with the radio. And the best part is when she’ll randomly say “mama” or “mom” just to get me to turn around- so she can smile at me. Nothing beats her giggle when I tickle her toes.

She has recently resumed waving at everyone she meets (she quit this for a couple of months for some unknown reason as she gained several new signs), and it was super fun to make stops with her and haul her in places bc she had so much fun waving at the gas station cashiers! Heck, she even waved at the cleaning lady in the Bucee’s bathroom WHILE getting her diaper changed! It was around 8:30am and the poor woman looked like something the cat drug in who was NOT even 1/10 the morning person Becca is… Poor lady, I think if Becca had not come along to brighten her day she might have felt the need to o.d. on coffee and those fabulous kolaches they sell there. Yes, we did consume too many of them… Did avoid the coffee tho. But, I digressed… Then there was the cashier in Atoka, OK, who fell in love with her- said she was the first baby to wave at her all day- and then proceeded to teach her how to give a high-five. Too cute for words.

And then there was that moment in McKinney. We’d been driving for hours and she was becoming her typical squiggleworm self. I was driving and looked in the fisheye mirror to see a bright red face and started hearing little grunts. Oh dear. She has been pooping on the potty, with only one poop in the diaper for almost two weeks. How will this work? She looked as though and explosion would occur any moment. So, since we were in a city, I pulled off at the next McDonalds (it’s amazing how many fast food restaurants DO NOT have changing tables… But that’s a whole nother blog post) and proceed to carry her and her backpack of bathroom junk into the McDonalds, just certain a large gift awaits. And I was right. In a way. The look of explosion and sheer panic came from my blessed little angel WAITING for a potty! Sat her down on her first ever public potty and she had almost instant relief. We did our traditional wave byebye, (Don’t judge. We wave byebye to poop in this house. It’s what we do.) and got a new diaper and hit the road again. Seriously. Only had a couple of misses in the whole pooping on the potty experience the entire trip. And hey, that’s what diapers are for, so no worries! But if anyone had told me my eleven month old would hold her poo to wait for a bathroom, I would have said they were dilusional.

So then there was the stop for lunch (no, my story is NOT in chronological order. It’s prioritized in my mind.) at the Dairy Queen in Hillsboro. Someone seriously needs to help that company get up to speed with the rest of the world and healthy menu options. No orange juice. No bottled water. Only deep fried PROCESSED chicken (it is SO not real chicken) or hamburger or corn dog for kids- all with french fries and a free ice cream treat. Now I know why America’s children are getting seriously obese. Thankfully, I have taught Becca to enjoy REAL foods that are healthy for her. My non-picky eater who will consume anything took one bite of her heavily breaded chicken-substitute nugget and was done with lunch. I felt like a horrible mother as I broke it into pieces, gave her chunks of my toast and bites of french fry. But my girl stood strong. It was better to not eat anything than to eat that crap. You go girl!!! I went from feeling guilty to feeling a deep sense of pride. Then on the return trip, we ate lunch at Popeyes and again she was given chicken nuggets and this time a biscuit. Girl knows good chicken when she tastes it! I kept off the breading, gave her the REAL chicken and her biscuit, and she ate well. To say she has a refined palette may sound hoity-toity. But it’s true. This girl knows real chicken vs fake when she’s presented with it. And she won’t eat fake chicken. Nor will she eat french fries or overly buttered bread. You go, girl! If she ends up obese years from now, it won’t be because she wasn’t started off right. (By the way, for those of you wondering if she got any lunch that day, I did have a fruit pouch in the car and some whole grain cereal and goldfish. Not a stellar lunch, but better than processed chicken and fries, apparently!)

And then of course, the highlight of the trip was all the times I looked back to see her sleeping. Only a parent can understand that immense feeling of love you feel when you watch your child sleep. It’s like someone has poured warm syrup over your head and it slowly trickles down until your entire body feels warm and fuzzy. Normally to get this feeling one must do a lot of sneaking and careful door opening and closing and tiptoeing. That’s the magic of the car. A simple glimpse in the fisheye mirror or over the shoulder can provide this feeling at a moment’s notice. And she slept an amazing amount of time. I of course couldn’t resist snapping a few pictures. So I’ll leave you with them… And the knowledge of why neither of us actually pulled any hair out over the trip… And the reason WHY we survived. Because really, it was quite enjoyable. 85% of the time. The other part? Well, you read about THAT mess yesterday. Or if you didn’t, you can read about it here: https://butterbeesandbumbleflies.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/survival-of-the-parents/. (And by the way, her car seat cleaned up great and so did my car! Like new!)