Morning has broken….and it’s a beautiful one.  The lovely wild birds are singing and chatting, and the air is washed clean from lots of rain.  It started yesterday at about 5 and continued on.  Rich took me outside and kissed me in the cold rain drops, and we fell asleep last night to the sound of it.

I’ve given Sarah Joy her breakfast-Cream of Wheat with butter and real maple syrup.  I’m sipping from the coffee Rich made for me before he left for work. 

The sun is shining brightly.

I was so blessed by a news story this morning, on NBC.  Did you see it?  It was about a 12 year old boy who was rescued out of the ocean, after being under water for 20 minutes.  He was on a church trip and they showed a picture of the group kneeling in the sand, praying, while the boy was missing and then pulled out of the water.  God was glorified repeatedly during the news report.  The little boy amazingly lived, and his parents are upbeat and faithful.  Pray for him, as he continues to recover, and is a testimony to God’s power.  His parents are a testimony of a living faith and hope in “whatever God does is okay with us.”   I had tears in my eyes.  So often God is seemingly absent from those news programs but the truth is,  He is in every story, HE IS WORKING constantly, and mercifully.  He CARES. 

(see the chicken *partially hidden* in this photo?)

I haven’t planted a single solitary vegetable this season, even though we had a vegetable garden spot ready.  It is now filled with self-sufficient weeds, waist high and proud of themselves.

My two youngest need so much attention that I’ve chosen children over gardening.  Oh, but I have my dreams of course.  They’re just on hold as I pour the majority of my time into my beautiful growing youngsters.

So I didn’t give my lack of gardening very much thought until one happy moment, when I discovered a row of cherry tomato plants healthily and stealthily growing in my flower bed.

And then I praised God for His encouraging surprise,  a delightful gift just for me.

Directions to The Tomato Place:  Behind the cosmos, behind the purple cone flowers, behind the hydrangeas, up against the porch foundation.  A wonderful place to grow, unnoticed (at first)……

And I didn’t notice them at all until they were already blossomed!  A whole row of them.  Just in time for me to gently tie them up against the porch so they wouldn’t fall over. (ah ha, now I see!)

I think they must have grown from old tomatoes that we threw down there for the chickens.

Curious Bystanders:

What’s our Mama doing now?!

Thankful for:

  tender, growing things. 

 the promises of God.

  rain and sunshine. 

 love.

sarah’s bare feet.

seth’s sippy cup.

 my family. 

 kisses in the rain.

 hope. 

a heart free from anxiety. 

joy in motherhood. 

 time to blog.

and you.

Who, being loved, is poor?  ~Oscar Wilde

After work yesterday, my husband stopped at a road side produce stand and brought me home some beautiful sunflowers.  I hope I never forget the sight of him, handsome and smiling, walking through the door with them in his hands to give to me. 

We got a house for the weekend in Cooperstown, NY.  It worked out great, the house was big and spacious.   The lawn was pretty, with lots of big trees.  The children love to climb trees, and there was also an apple tree.  The apples were still half green, but the kids loved picking and eating them.

We met my parents at the Farmer’s Museum in Cooperstown on Saturday morning.  We enjoyed visiting the museum, with the old things to see, and also animals and the working village with a store, blacksmith, print shop, barn, and so on.

Aren’t the homemade brooms nice?  I get inspired by things like this. 

I love this picture of Sarah walking into her Grandpa’s arms.

This was a sign in the Blacksmith shop:  “When you are the anvil, bear.  When you are the hammer, strike.”

I liked the way they used old fence posts to surround this small garden of zinnias.  It’s so pretty against the stone foundation and the outside of the barn walls.

After the museum, Mom and Dad came to our house and visited before leaving again for home.

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Rich and I shared a delicious bagel for breakfast on Sunday morning.  It was a toasted bagel, with cream cheese and thinly sliced tomato on top of each half, with a few grinds of fresh black pepper.  Try it!  It’s so good.  I made myself one for breakfast this morning. (While looking at the September issue of Country Living, did you see page 22?  Fiestaware!)

I didn’t get very many photos of the Baseball Hall of Fame, which was what we did on Sunday.  Cooperstown is such a beautiful town!  I highly recommend a visit, if you can.

On the way back home yesterday,  I played with my phone on the way home and made these pictures using a new app called “Halftone”.  Fun!

This one is made with an older photo of the little ones at the library.

Happy Monday to you! 

Lots going on here, lots of plans and preparations; end of summer stuff.

I like being busy, it’s just that I’m so tired! 

I can’t believe it’s August, 2011!

The children are growing so fast….sunshine and love does that, you know. 

There is so much to be thankful for.  Health, smiles, fresh air.

Here are some of God’s little creatures that make no fuss to be noticed. 

But if you do happen to notice them, it’s a delight.

Did you ever see the amazing neon colors of the dragonfly?  I used to think that God didn’t have a hand in creating NEON, but I’ve since learned (from the dragonfly and the shine on bubbles) that He most certainly did!

I like to see the flying things attracted to my gardens.  Moths, butterflies, bees…….

Drops of rain on the flowers.

Discovering a new-to-me moth;

A pretty baby at dusk.

Blessings to you as you enjoy this new month!