Planting....

Spring!

The front porch strawberry jar is blooming and already has a few baby strawberries!




Two 4' x 24' raised garden beds await their little vegetable seedlings!

We even have some tender grass shoots coming up over much of the soggy ground! Yeaaa!

I brought some cuttings and roots from many of my plantings in GA. Some survived...some didn't. I am anxious to see what will take root in the Kentucky soil.

Other changes and seasons are coming to our family. Tomorrow Kroger will take over our GA home. That bridge will be burned. This will be our only home. We are trying to put down roots here. We plan to join a new church in the area this next Sunday. We are exploring and "fieldtripping" Cincy. I hope to find a good homeschooling group nearby in the next few weeks. We've already visited the nearest pregnancy resource center. We are looking into the local live theater auditions. We've already visited the creation museum twice. We are already planning our 24th(?) annual Christmas breakfast in our new home.

We've brought many talents, traditions, and experiences with us from GA. Some will survive...others won't. I am anxious to see what will take root in the Kentucky soil.

My head....my heart...

Knowing something in your head and knowing something in your heart are two totally different things. I know the scientific data on how an airplane flies. I know in my head that flying on an airplane is safer than driving in a car. But when takeoff occurs, that doesn't stop my heart from screaming "We are hurtling through space in a mere metal tube! Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

When we decided to take the job in Cincinnati, our heads said "Yes, this is a wonderful opportunity...and at just the right time. They will be cutting back jobs in Atlanta in the next couple of years but in Cincinnati, we will have much more job security." We also reasoned once we were here, "God must have a purpose for us here....otherwise we wouldn't have ended up in Walton, KY or the Cincinnati area." Our heads still know this...nothing has changed. All this is absolutely true. But our hearts scream...."My friends, my family, my home, my whole identity! Everything here is different! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

It was very fitting that we moved here in the winter. Everyone shut up in their homes. Lonely, dark, windy, bitter cold. My heart felt the same. But the ground has thawed, Spring is starting...just enough for me to plant trees and shrubs and some flower tubers I brought from Georgia. It is very healing to get your hands into the dirt and to watch things grow...to see life spring from the cold, dark soil. With each new plant that comes up I also feel a twinge of hope for our life transplanted here. People are coming out of their houses; children playing in the streets (Wow! I never knew THAT many kids lived in this neighborhood!). A few neighbors have even stopped and talked to me as I was in the front yard planting my cherry trees. I've met new people at work. Rebecca came home from church today and said she made a new friend.

There is only a little evidence of new life yet. But it does give hope for those despairing of the wintery isolation. Maybe the heart will catch up with the head soon....it's still only early spring...