I pulled the proverbial plug. I gathered up, from their toasty little covering (Dave was heat-lamping them) the remaining 84 or so Beefsteak, Heirloom and Early Girl tomatoes (not to mention the couple hundred cherries) and threw the plants into the barrel to be hauled away today. I carried in bunches of tomatillas (probably threw away 3 times more), a pot full of green beans, 5 or 6 zucchinis, and a few dozen assorted peppers – not including the Serranos – another couple dozen of those, which I will directly give to my son-in-law, Ryan – do not pass go, do not collect $200. Those things are wicked hot! Out with them!
What? It isn’t still summer?
The size of a cereal bowl!
Poor, poor little garden. The beefsteaks were shocked it wasn’t the very middle of summer, I can tell from their behemoth size. They had no idea how protected they’d been.
My counter was already heavy-laden with ripening tomatoes at every stage. Now, if I wanted, I could do Fried Green Tomatoes and even found this very interesting recipe on Pinterest this morning, as if some fellow pinner knew I might need it:
How perfectly appropriate!
I like them red, and juicy and tangy and tart and real so I tend not to go in to the fried-green thing and opt for sneaking a couple of apples into their midst to get some quick ripening. But I am rather inspired to try {this recipe}based on that image alone!
The kale and onions and garlic chives and Chinese Cabbage are still puttering along, with chamomile and some potted annuals, but for the most part, I pulled the incredible-fruitful plants out of the earth and ended a very nice summer garden in anticipation of a cold-turn, possible rain turning to {SNOW} flurries…tonight. Ugh.
Thank-you, garden, for a lovely, long and sweet summer. Thank-you for still trying into the fall. And God bless you for the lovely bounty I shall still enjoy for the next few days, maybe weeks. So perfectly delicious.
“It’s the laughter we will remember, whenever we remember the way we were…”
I will always remember you, Garden 2013. I really will.
Happy Birthday to Rocky Rhoades, who turned 29 on September the 29th
My son – I am so pleased with you.
I have told you the story of your birth so many times, haven’t I? You arrived early and the doctor had told me not to leave town in case that happened, but I left town and I was so stressed out because I don’t like to get caught breaking the rules. And Tara just reminded me the other night how stressed she was, too, as a 5-year old, because we started on our trip, got halfway there, went home, and then decided to go anyway…and barely walked into the grandparent’s house before it was time for me to zoom right on over to the hospital. Well, I mean, I had planned to make it home so the doctor wouldn’t be any-the-wiser, but you were like, NOW! ~which is so still you. :)
And I have told you that you surprised me beyond anything I could have imagined. I could not believe I got the boy, THE boy I secretly hoped for even though in reality I was totally FINE with having a girl. I already had 3 girls, one more made such sense for balance and symmetry. Omygoodness – the words, “You have a boy” sent me into delirious happiness.
You looked directly at me, your eyes blinked in slow-motion and it knocked the breath from my body. I was dizzy in love, unable to even think about sleep that night, all night, as an oxytocin and dopamine cocktail surged through my veins as if it were coming directly through the IV drip. I had a boy…my very own baby boy!
And you may not realize it, but every time I ever see you, even now, I am thinking the same thing: THAT is MY boy!
I am so proud of you, Rock, not only for the man you are, but for the man you are becoming more and more everyday. This whole flood thing has been a devastation in some ways and an aggravation, for certain, in the life of your family, your ministry. There was loss that probably feels overwhelming and unbearable (as $40-50,000 plus time and effort and re-building will be). I know you look forward to getting your wife and baby girls back home, safe and sound. And then you’ll look and see the possibly long-haul ahead for replacing all the instruments and computers and sound equipment and the studio you’d spent time assembling ~ lots of time and money and hard work ahead.
Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness,while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. For …this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God.. . 2 Corinthians 6.10-12
But it will come back to you. The things you have sown will take root and grow. And I have watched you and Jovan these past few years grow in grace and grow in giving and giving selflessly and giving big and making the conscious decision to live a life of giving and whenever it has been in your power to do so, you have given away anything and everything you could.
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows…whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Galatians 6.7-8
And God isn’t unaware. He’ll see to it that the seeds of kindness and giving that you have already sown will grow and flourish and you’ll reap all that you have sown. Even when you didn’t know you’d need it – you were planting, you were dropping the seeds of compassion and kindness and generosity into the ground – and what you couldn’t see was that God wasn’t surprised by this thing that happened to your house, your home and belongings and He was smiling, I just know it, because He knew you were already doing what needed done – before it needed done. God knew you were planting for a harvest of big-time reaping, financially!
“The Lord then said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.'” Genesis 7.1
For Noah, for all mankind, the flood was a line in the sand. It was a before and after. It was : things used to be like that, then there was the flood, and now they are like this. The flood was an ending AND a beginning. Things were lost in the flood, but the promises of God are found there, too. Not just for an ark builder for thousands of years ago, but for a worshiper/songwriter right now, in Frederick, CO – man who leads his family and wants to write songs that literally bring healing.
Of course certain things had to die and float away for a dream, a calling, a vision like that. But it is all just so you’ll never forget that the LORD is the promise-keeper and you didn’t do it by yourself, because you couldn’t have. How many times have you told me, since you were 18 or 19, “God won’t share His glory.” You have pointed out highly celebrated, gifted musicians and singers and recognized the call of God on their lives, but watched as they held it for themselves. That is not the standard you are living by and this flood is just a yes and amen to deep-down determinations you have already made to give God all, everything that is His and His alone – you have already said it. The flood is a checkpoint – do you mean it, Rock-man? And I know you do and I know the healing songs are going to pour out from here, like flood waters for the glory of the LORD.
But [the time is coming when] the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord just as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2.14
Do you know what I think?
I believe, and I actually know this to be true because I have known you every second of these 29 years+ and you have made me cry and worry and laugh like nobody’s business and also so very proud because you are forthright and honest and talented and thoughtful and honoring and you love your mommy. So this is what I think:
No one is more beautiful or handsome than my boy, my Rocky ~ from the inside out.
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38
This is the post-flood promise of God! On the occasion of your 29th birthday. It is coming back to you, all of it and more! I love you!
NOTE: Rocky and Jovan got flooded out during the Colorado rains in September. I have written a little about it here and here. You can learn more about helping them re-build {HERE}!
It is not only Sunday, but also the birthday of the only boy I ever had (until the reward of Tristan, Dave and Ryan), but his birthday blog will com later.
Meanwhile, this is a song I shared with the birthday boy, Rocky, and his wife Jovan the other day. It has been a challenging couple of weeks for them, with three young daughters and flooded out of their house. They are worn out from everything you have to do to make your house livable again.
This song has amazing words and is full of hope and promise. It basically reminds us that no matter where we are, the GRACE of God (that empowering Presence of the Holy Spirit that enables us to be everything He called us to be and do everything He created us to do) will come and find us again and again.
…there in the sorrow and the dancing, Your great grace, Oh such grace…
How do we know this is true? Well, for Rocky and Jovan and any of us in situations beyond our control and overwhelming to say the least: we recall His goodness through the years, His faithfulness. In every good thing and bad, in the birth of our children, at our weddings, when loved ones have died, when we are rich or when we have been poor – always, every. single. time – His GRACE has found us, has come to us, has filled our lives with His great hope and joy. It all just proves the old hymn true, His grace is AMAZING!
From the creation to the cross, There from the cross into eternity Your grace finds me, yes, Your grace finds me
The fist video is Matt Redman leading the song live. The second is his intro about how and why he wrote it. Watch that and you’ll want to go back and worship along again with the live vid. :) Pretty simple song, you’ll be singing along after the first few lines. Listen for the strains of “Amazing Grace,” too.
So I’m breathing in Your grace and breathing out Your praise…
You are not lost enough that His grace cannot find you. I know this for a fact.
Because Rainy Days & Mondays and especially this particular Monday could really use a good song…
The water rose today,
The river with the rain
Memories and picture frames
Are floating miles away.
Through the wreckage and the mud,
The ruins after the flood,
She survived at 91, hmm
Some would have given up
Drowning in their tears
But on her wrinkled face
A smile appeared.
When you face your greatest fear
Losing all that you hold near
Open up your eyes my dear,
Oh how mercy looks from here.
The call I couldn’t take,
Unbearable mistakes
A brilliant mind that fades away
A baby doll beside the grave
When you face your greatest fear
Losing all that you hold near
Open up your eyes my dear
Oh how mercy looks from here.
I would have given up, drowning in my tears
If it wasn’t for your voice all these years
When you face your greatest fear
Losing all that you hold near
Open up your eyes my dear
My dear
That’s when boundless grace appears
Unseen angels hover near
Saints are singing loud and clear
Oh how mercy looks from here.
Oh how mercy looks from here.
Oh how mercy looks from here.
Oh how mercy looks from here.
The water rose today…
I think Tara had Jovan listen to this the other and what a perfect song for our situation. So, for Jovan, but for us all for all we have held dear and lost anyway…
I’ve sung this song a million heart-felt times, as a Pentecostal preacher’s daughter and beyond. The simple lyric and soul-and-spirit-engaging melody could draw us right in, as I was growing up, and make us Pentecostals worship and cry out to God for a long time on a Sunday night – back when there were still Sunday night services.
He’s all I need. He’s all I need. Jesus is all I need~
He’s all I need. He’s all I need. Jesus is all I need!
Author-unknown
The Crabbs captured the feel pretty well here.
No matter how sophisticated I ever get in my song choices or worship, in the really intimate times with God, this one still says what I need to say, the way I need to say it. Because Christ IS all, Jesus is everything.
I am helpless, hopeless, broken. I struggle, I fail, I fall again and again. I blow it, when will that ever stop?…
But He? Is ever faithful, ever true, ever forgiving. In my helpless state ~
You are the Source
You are the Light
You are the Life
You are the Answer
You are my Help
You are my Provision
You are my Champion
You are my Creator
You are my Restorer
You are my Shield
You are my Peace
You are my Rest
You are my God, my Father, my true Abba-Dad
You are my All in All, and all I really need.
This song and me – both relics. But my need for a Savior? Current. Very current. Thank goodness there is this ~
Oh-my-goodness, people // tonight was the night, oh, yes it was! I made my Cheater Chile Rellenos with the delectable-sweet-**mildly-spicy**-luscious Poblanos from my garden!
They are cheater, to be sure. What part? I did not make a homemade batter, nor take the time to make my own Green Chile (which, as they say in Colorado, is its’ own food group!) for smothering purposes.
These peppers came from one plant in one square foot of my garden (and there are more to come!).
I rubbed them with a little bit of olive oil, then roasted them over a hot grill, until they blistered and blackened a little. Then into a Saran-wrapped bowl they went to continue to steam and soften.
About an hour later, using gloves (pepper disaster last weekend – different story, yikes!), I gently removed the blistered outer skin leaving the dark green, smokey, savory amazing flavor of the pepper right where it belongs (never ever run them under cold water to peel, it works to clean them, but the flavor is washing down the drain)!
Next, I split them open, removed the seeds, stuffed them with shredded Monterey Jack cheese and then wrapped them in an egg-roll wrapper (purists make an egg batter, but I like the crispness and simplicity of the egg roll wrapper – thus, I am a cheater).
Then they were deep-fried just until the wrapper achieved that slightly brown, crispy condition.
Finally – smothered in Green Chile from Santiagos, for that truly Colorado-style, pork-roast and chile flavor.
I also made cilantro-lime rice and had some gor-geous Colorado-grown sweet corn (with real butter and some red pepper). We had the homemade salsa and huge bowl of guacamole (thanks-to-the-hubs::see previous post on his hilarious generosity) with OTB chips, and some cold, incredibly sugary-sweet, chunks of watermelon from the Western Slope for dessert, but really?
My heart was full with just the Poblanos on the plate —-smothered in green chile! My very soul was satisfied!!!
Oh, I adore a Poblano – they are my sweet Green Chile choice (even over the much more well-known and tasty Hatch). Poblanos are mild, yet the most wholly flavor-packed of the chiles, and beautiful in shape and color, to boot!
Did a Mariachi Band show up as I prepared them? Was I dancing the entire time? You be the judge! Go ahead – guess!
It is gone toooooooo fast. There were so many more little pool parties and popsicle treats to enjoy with the grandbebes. Of the 8, the first 5 are all in school now, again (or for the first time).
Hunter walking in to 3rd grade…Tara posted this, she has homeschooled him until now. Big change!
Gavin is a 5th grader, which makes him a full-fledged “middle-schooler” with a locker! My little man is growing up on me! Guinivere and Hunter are in third grade this year and Gemma goes all day now, a first grader. Averi is an official school girl, she is in Kindergarten and I sure miss having pre-school with her!
Hearing my daughters plan and talk about all the school supplies lists and routines and buying new clothes and uniforms and having to get kids to bed because it’s a school night now got me thinking of all the music that has been written about school over the years. There must be thousands of songs, but I thought I’d pick my favorites for a BACK-TO-SCHOOL TOP TEN playlist (not in order of my love for them, just as they came to me)~
To Sir with Love, Lulu // This song is from a movie with the same name (starring Sidney Poitier in 1967) and I have loved it since I saw it as a child. It’s pouffy hair and frosted lipstick, dark eyeliner and blue-eyeshadow. It is all the strong feelings a young girl has, poured out in song. LOVE!
My Eyes Adored You, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons // If you could have known the 1974 me, the one who was in love with love, for whom each and every song had profound meaning…well, yea. Then you’d know that the junior-high me was in love with this song and daydreaming about some boy who would someday say, “I loved you way back when….” Haha. Such a pretty and sweet song, though, really.
Coat of Many Colors, Dottie Parton // You have to listen to this one to see how many words that woman can get into a song. And it actually charted, in part, I think, because everyone can relate to being made fun of in school over something or another. Kids at school can be cruel. My mom made me a dress from old kitchen curtains once. I still haven’t written a song about it, though.
I Wish, Stevie Wonder // Part of my Hammond High School, fish-out-of-water, Iowa girl in Louisiana story soundtrack, is characterized by the Songs in the Key of Life 2-album set by Stevie Wonder. Still one of my favorites, this song was fun. to. sing! I was going to school with the boy in the song, I am certain of it!
Harper Valley PTA, Jeanne C. Riley // As story songs go, this has got to be one of the best! I was in 3rd grade and couldn’t get enough of hearing it. That was one sexy mama!
Spiders and Snakes, Jim Stafford // Um, yes – the boys I knew during junior high were at about this level.
Check Yes or No, George Strait // Do you like me? Check yes, or no….Aw, sweet. A little country tune about 3rd grade love that lasts!
Crayola Doesn’t Make a Color for Your Eyes, Kristen Andreassen // I just happened across this one a few years ago and like to sing it to my grandbebes. The video takes place in a 2nd grade school room. It is a happy tune and so appropriate for going back to school!
Teacher’s Pet (Doris Day) // So, in light of all the weird student-teacher relationships that hit the news these days, a bit of the innocence of this song is gone, long gone! And while the original movie (Teacher’s Pet, 1958) with Doris Day and Clark Gable was sweet, the Waiting for Guffman movie (1996) audition scene with Parker Posie hilariously takes this song down the slippery slope of ickiness. But it sure is memorable. I have included Doris, whose uprightness and purity in the singing are unquestionable!
ABC, The Jackson 5 // The very first song on my iTunes song list, I can actually remember where I was sitting in my 4th grade class on bring-a-record day at Wallace Elementary School in Des Moines the first time I heard this glory. The sun was shining through the windows, a whole new world was opening up to me – this Michael Jackson had dawned – oh my goodness, it was historic – LOVE!!!
8 Songs that didn’t quite make my cut:Back to School Again, from Grease 2 because I really liked Grease, the first movie, better; Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd because even as a teenager when it was charting, I felt a pang of weirdness at the blatant rebelliousness of it. I was trying to conquer rebellion, conquer it!; Getting Better, The Beatles, and again, a little rebellious and also that psychedelic sound that I think you had to be high to really appreciate, and I wasn’t; See You in September by The Happenings is a very classic song, but it didn’t make the list because it’s a little too easy listening for even me, :) ; Graduation Day, The Beach Boys because it is about graduating from school, not going back to school; Class of ’57 by The Statler Brothers which I have actually always loved because it is the year my mom graduated, but it is more about graduation, too; Schoolboy Crush, Cliff Richard and the Drifters because even though I love Cliff Richard, doo-wop isn’t my thing; Teach Me Tonight by Etta James or lots of other artists who have recorded it because I have pictures of my grandbebes in this post! Too sultry! School of Rock by Jack Black is an awesome song, but had to get cut because I was keeping my list at 10! I love watching the movie with my grands, though because he is cute and hilarious and kids get him – I guess because he is a big kid. The giggling is contagious!
The K-kids, first day of school
There you have it. GET SPOTIFY to hear them all!!!
There are SO many songs. Which school-themed songs did I miss? Which ones belonged on my list? Is everyone back to school at your house?
But today there were peppers: Hungarian Wax and Sweet Bananas and Salsa-Jalepenos and my wondrous, most glorious Poblanos (there will be chile rellenos in the next couple of days, oh, yes, there will be!). There were 4 types of tomatoes and some zucchini and squash. Oh and the tomatillas are going to be amazing, I can tell from the very first one, ever! Got a big bunch of chamomile and 2 nice, fluffy bunches of kale. I got Brussels Sprouts greens and some cukes, plenty of dill (called a weed for good reason) and good heavens – what will we do with all of this basil? There’s some Rosemary and a few beets, and many-many-many more peppers to come tomorrow! Not everything is pictured here because ~ it just wouldn’t fit!
Three 4 things about today in the garden:
1. Today was nearly perfect, seriously. The temperature, the blue sky, everything. Being in the garden today is a reward, not work. Such grace!
2. I am reminded that between the time you drop the seed into soil and the time your arms can barely contain the harvest, many things happen and much time goes by. But it will happen. If you plant the seed and actively wait, watching, making sure it gets moisture and sun and time {you can’t hurry love} – oh yes, time is so necessary, well, then – you will reap a harvest. You will eat of the fruit of your labor of love. The time you gave, the blood, sweat and tears you spilled into the ground – will reward you, by the grace of God.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap…And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
Galatians 6.7-9 nkjv
Seed-time and harvest are two distinct and specific times. Don’t give up in the middle!
3. You MUST apply yourself to using this beautiful, natural, organic bounty to its’ fullest glory. Do not let this be what happens:
qsprn.com
No – let nothing of the sort happen!
4. Making more salsa tomorrow. Yum! :)
There is a garden
Something like the shadow of a butterfly
And lies beyond the gates of dark and light
And, darling, it belongs to me
When you go there
There will be such laughter in the dimpled sky
The songs you sing will drive away the night
The magic garden has a way of making you feel free
Worship isn’t a fast song, getting the blood pumping or the excitement built,
Worship isn’t a slow song of somber reverence
It isn’t necessarily even a song
But it can be a song
And since I like to sing, since music is my medium for deep-heart things,
my worship often comes out in a melody, usually with words
It isn’t about the song being loud or being soft
to make it worship (true worship, the kind the Father is listening for…)
“Worship is when your heart touches your Father” (Tommy Bates)
Have you ever started singing to the Lord and the love poured out of you so strongly you suddenly became aware that He was right there, in Person, giving you His complete and undivided attention? The Presence. There is nothing like it. He inhabits our praises…
So. The question in Amos 5 gets me every time: when was the last time you sang to Me?
image taken in Peaceful Valley, August 2013
So, you’ll know it when you hear it, because you’ll know when you have touched His heart.
