Thankful Thursday: Home and Garden

Daniel wanted to know if I wanted to plant a garden this year. He mentioned that he had some interest in raised beds. I jumped on his suggestion.

A raised bed garden is pretty much my dream garden.

Once Daniel heard this, he gave me my instructions: Figure out what I wanted, what I wanted to plant, what we needed to do. I dutifully entered a task on my to-do list “Figure out garden”.

He asked me every couple of days whether I’d thought about it, researched it, decided what I wanted. I confessed again and again that I hadn’t. I was too busy at work, too busy at home. I had my name change to take care of, taxes to do, a home to keep in order. I didn’t have time to think about it.

Until a couple of weeks ago.

This week I’m thankful…

…for an impromptu garden day
Once I’d figured out my plan for the garden, I confessed to Daniel that I kinda wanted to get started right away (knowing that to start already was rather an impulsive decision). Daniel’s response was perfect, though: “Why don’t you then?” I grabbed my hedge clippers, a rake, and a spade and started preparing the back yard. I raked out old leaves, ripped up weeds, trimmed back errant trees, set the boundaries for my new compost pile, and began removing sod for the place where my new raised bed vegetable garden would sit.

…for cozy gardening chats
My mentor happens to be a gardener herself, and we had a wonderful time discussing gardening techniques and what my plans were for our backyard. Bev gave a recommendation for how to get great compost in town–and offered me the use of her family’s pickup for hauling it.

…for help with concrete blocks
Daniel and I got our first set of blocks (for building the raised bed enclosure) with his car, loading it down with a couple of dozen. We hadn’t really prepared in advance that time–and ended up scratching up our hands while rearranging the blocks and leaving concrete dust all over Daniel’s car. When I went back for a second (smaller) load, I was more prepared with work gloves–but I ended up barely needing them, since a kind gentleman saw me loading the first block into my trunk and jumped in to help me load the rest.

…for new stuff for our home
We received quite a few gift cards for our wedding–and now that we’re settled in somewhat, I’ve got a better handle on what things we still need. So we’ve been making our way through the cards, purchasing nightstands (woohoo!), shower curtains and rod, miscellaneous kitchen utensils, and whatnot. We were making do just fine before, but it’s awfully nice to have those extra nice touches.

…for help around the home
When we were reading Rocking the Roles in premarital counseling, Daniel underlined something about how the servant-leader is conscious of his wife’s workload and does what is necessary to keep her physical and mental stress at a healthy level. Daniel has taken that seriously, being conscious of my stress level and asking what he can do to help out. While I haven’t been willing to surrender laundry or cooking to him on a regular basis (I can’t have him interrupting my routines, after all), I have very much appreciated his help with dishes. Just yesterday, he told me that maybe I shouldn’t do dishes on my lunch break. That way, he said, the dishes in the drainer would be dry when he comes home from work so he can empty it and do dishes then–and I would have some time to myself on my lunch break.

…for another room clean
I went into stove-jobbing mode last night and whipped my way through the room we intend to use as a spare room. When I entered the room, it was haphazardly packed with (a mix of empty and full) boxes, camping gear, clothing, books, and trash. When I left, it contained two made up twin beds, a wall full of (mostly sorted) books, and an (almost) clean floor. There are still a couple of boxes of miscellaneous junk that need to be sorted through, but the room is getting close to being habitable.

I’ve dreamed about owning a home for years. A year ago, I was visiting with a banker for preapproval of a home mortgage. Little did I know that only a year later, I’d be settling into my new home, which I own with my husband. Little did I know that I’d be preparing a garden with my husband.

God has been very gracious in giving me so many of my heart’s desires (both big and small.)

Like the woman in Spurgeon’s story, I find myself crying again and again…

“What? All this, and Christ beside?”

Thank You, Thank You, Lord.