gardening

My mom helped me pick out flowers and vegetable plants and graciously planted them for us to put on our porch (thanks Gigi!). Although I never thought I would say this, I am super excited to have a yard one day where I can plant a garden and tend to flowers. For now we are experimenting with our urban version of a 'garden'. Without Caleigh's help I would honestly probably forget to water the plants sometimes but she always wants to help. She loves being outside (as long as we don't see any flying bugs - all of which are bees to her... and all of which she is completely terrified of and she will make sure everyone around her knows all about it - usually at least a couple of times a day she tells me that "bumblebees live outside" as if to reassure herself that they aren't inside).

I am trying to remember the names of all that we have planted but I think those in the rail pot are purple petunias, the pink ones are geraniums, and the yellow ones are marigolds. In the big pot closest to Caleigh there is a Better Boy Bush tomato plant that just produced its first tomato - though it is not ripe yet (and there are little yellow flowers that indicate there are several more to come). Yay! In the other pot closest to the camera there is a jalapeno plant that is looking a little puny but does have new growth on it. The yellow plants in the stand are more marigolds. We love our little urban garden. And Caleigh is sporting her sassy pose... The growth of these plants and seeing the flowers bloom makes me think of so many analogies from Scripture using gardens and specifically the analogy in Isaiah 58:11 (which was actually the life verse we choose for Andrew) - "The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." My prayer for my family and I is that in life we would depend on the Lord to guide us and come to the Lord for water that never fails (John 4:13-14) so that we will be like our little porch garden - full of blooms and fruit and pleasing to the Lord.