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Showing posts from October, 2012

Gardens of the Heart

The row of violet leaves sitting in small, clear vases on my mother’s kitchen windowsill were always fascinating to me. The fuzzy, velvety leaves sprouted thin white roots and then when the roots looked strong enough, I’d help my mother put them in clay pots. Within weeks, a new leaf would pop up, and a few months later, a small violet plant would be vigorously growing and blooming. When my grandmother gave me my first special leaf to start in a vase of water, I was delighted to have my very own violet. It was one I’d admired for its showy double pink blooms. I carefully nurtured the little violet for many months and was proud when it was finally heavy with buds.               The sharing of gardens both inside and out has been long family tradition. When I was growing up, no visit to an aunt, grandmother, or cousin was ever complete without a walk through a flower bed or admiring plant laden windowsills. Each one had a unique garden and a favorite flower they grew in

Hope for the Hopelessly Unorganized

On Wednesdays I'll be posting some mid-week encouragement and from time to time I'll review a book.  Today I'll be reviewing a Bible study entitled Organizing from the Heart .  Stephanie Baker, Beth Beutler, and Katrina Whisnant are the co-authors of this 12-week study designed for small groups or for personal study. If you're looking for help to find the steps from unorganized and stressed to organized and peaceful, read on. Review for Organizing from the Heart Life can be cluttered, unorganized, and overwhelming. Meals are haphazard. Laundry is never put away or maybe it hasn’t even been washed yet. Our home becomes a dumping area for stuff on the way to another activity. If you desire change that transforms your home into a peaceful and orderly refuge from a hectic world, Organizing from the Heart can help you begin a biblically based journey to accomplish just that. The authors lead you step by step to change not only disorder to order, but guide you to devel

Tuesdays at Care Net

On Tuesday afternoons you can usually find me at the local Care Net Pregnancy Center. I've been volunteering there for about 2 1/2 years as a peer counselor which means I work with young women and teenagers who are part of the Earn While You Learn program and those who are seeking a free pregnancy test. The schedule is different every week and you never know who will walk through the door needing assistance of some type.  These young women come from every demographic, churched and unchurched, high school student, college student, poor, uneducated, married and unmarried. Sixty-two percent of clients in Sierra Vista are single. Just between January and July of this year the center has provided services to 1,099 women. Last year abstinence education was given to 1500 students.  Care Net which is a national nonprofit organization provides free services to all. They include pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, pregnancy education, parenting classes, abstinence information, and information ab

The Arts and Crafts Show --Western Style

Patagonia, AZ  is a hamlet of a little over 800 people situated in the valley grasslands near the Patagonia Mountains. It was officially founded by a Pennsylvanian Rollin Richardson in 1896. He'd made his fortune in oil Back East and bought the San Rafael de la Zanja land grant in 1880. Three years later Rollin went into business with some friends as the San Rafael Cattle Company. They were a big deal back in the day. Rollin originally named the town after himself, but residents weren't impressed with that bit of ego. In 1899 they petitioned the Postmaster General for a post office, and decided it was the opportune time to change the town's name to Patagonia, after the beautiful mountains that dominate the valley. The name stuck. Like most places in this part of Arizona, Patagonia's heyday was a ways back. The railroad, mining, and cattle businesses have disappeared over time.  It's now a quaint village with an expansive town square in the middle of it, flanke

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Fall is my favorite season of the year. The intense blue summer sky lightens, the days get shorter, the air a little crisp. There's football, trees changing into technicolor coats, and the menu changes too.  Instead of lighter summer fare, our thoughts and appetites turn to comfort food. Stews, chicken and dumplings, soups, mac and cheese. Of course cider and doughnuts mean fall too. The change in weather seems to bring on cravings for heartier and higher carb food. We're great fans of Guy Fieri and his program Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives so we've enjoyed touring America in the red Camero to discover over the top comfort food in every region.Someday, we have to do a road trip that includes a lot of Triple D places in the South.  But my Yankee roots always show up in my choices when autumn rolls around. Chicken and biscuits probably tops the list with tomato soup and grilled cheese right behind. Pretty basic, but oh so good. So as we pull out the sweaters and ready