Spring, slow progress, sickness and recovery

The past few evenings have been wonderful. Those cool evenings that last for hours which come for only a few weeks as Winter gives way to Spring. Unfortunately, in this part of the US, Spring does not last very long. Not if you measure the season by the high temperature of the day. We may have a few weeks of pleasant evenings, but the heat of Summer will quickly be upon us with the hot air that lingers well after dark. Regardless, Mama and I have taken a few minutes to sit outside the past few evenings. Not only is this the time when the evenings are pleasant because of the ambient temperature, the bugs have not yet begun to pollute our evenings. That pleasure will not last as long as the cooler nights. The trees are budding, the bulbs are flowering and the garden in beginning to sprout with new life. It is a fun time of year. Mama’s favorite.

When Mama gets back, we will finish planting the garden. We are already a couple weeks behind Bro. Shaw. He already has squash and cucumbers sprouted. He also has ninety-four tomato plants put out which he started from seeds. We will not be that ambitious, but we will put out some tomatoes – maybe ten to twelve plants. Three plants each of three different varieties. We’ll see. What we have planted is starting to show signs of life. Potatoes, onions, spinach. The cabbage and beets I put out were doing well until the chickens discovered the tiny sprouts. I do not think I will replant the cabbage, but I have already put out seeds to try again with the beets. With the beets, I can eat the top and the bottom of the plant. I am anxious to see if they grow well in our raise bed.

I am trying to not get discouraged about our business as the weeks continue to fly be. Getting started is the hard part and we have poured a lot of money into our slow start. Good returns are pretty certain, so I am not worried about losing money. But I am anxious to start doing our business fulltime. I have already had to tell the pastor that I cannot go to Mexico with him and Bro Shaw in early May. I am not free of my current job and do not have enough vacation to make the trip should I be required to stay with this job through the summer of this year…when Joshua and Alicia are getting married. Guarding vacation time for that is pretty important. I told our pastor that I may be free at that time, but I could not commit to it. I do not want to buy a ticket for a flight that I may not be able to make. It was better to bow out now than to wait until my change of plans would ruin the plans of the Pastor and Bro Shaw. I expect the Lord to move me in the direction of doing our business fulltime at any time – but I will not get ahead of His plans. Mama and I getting a feel for how the business needs to operate and that is a good thing. Attending the auction on the 3^rd will answer a lot of question about handling the Arkansas portion of our investment, so I am looking forward to that. Please pray with us that our first house sells soon – at a good price.

Victoria is still sick. She says she feels better, but it is hard to tell. Cori is experiencing ocular migraines. Something I have dealt with in the past. I do not know if there is a need for concern of something serious happening in the background, but we are praying she will get past them quickly. She is also sick with a flu-ish illness. Connecting the two would lead me to believe that dehydration is perhaps the underlying cause, but that is only a guess. Meanwhile, Savanna has recovered from whatever was keeping her sick and is inventing her own schoolwork to keep pace with her siblings. The other day she was spelling. She carefully explained to her mama that she can now spell her name. “I start with a ‘c’, then I put in a ‘p’; then a ‘b’ and a 3. That’s the way I do it.” Who knows, maybe she is inventing a new language. Either that or she is explaining the language in which her little mind is currently operating.

Whichever it is, it shows a keen interest in learning – which is not surprise with Savanna – that will present a notable challenge to Cori in the years to come.