In Which We Pretend to Garden

We have cabin fever, things are starting to warm up (a little, little bit), daffodils have been spotted; in short, dirt has never looked so attractive.  For some reason gardens are always so exciting sounding about this time of year.  I think it has something to do with the absence of weeds...but I digress. Aaron and I have been working on our garden(s) a little bit here and there.  A month ago, I thought it was almost spring and so I planted some snow peas.  Ha, since then it has snowed, iced and frozen over multiple times.  I think I need to go out and replant them cause absolutely nothing has come up.  I also planted some seeds indoors.  At first they did great, but then they got too tall and spindly...and I might have forgotten to water them.  Needless to say, they all died a tragic death except possible 2 of them.  Here is just a sneak peek into our dirt scratchings.

This is the method we chose for planting our indoor seeds.  It is pretty nifty and very eco friendly.

Here is a tutorial. 

I also made us a compost bucket.  This lonely 5 gallon bucket blew into our yard during a giant windstorm.  It was empty and nobody ever came to claim it.  After looking at in our yard for a month, I decided to recycle it.  It now rests outside our back door for easy garbage disposal. 

It was very simple to make.  Just drill some holes in the top, sides and bottom, toss in some veggie/fruit/coffee grounds scraps, add some torn up phone book and maybe even a little dirt.  

Finally, we have our masterpiece that has yet to produce anything.  This year we decided to go with a lasagna garden.  The concept of a lasagna garden is simple that you layer organic material.  We didn't have to till up the ground or anything.  We started with a layer of soaking wet newspaper, then bountiful heaps of cow manure, some leaves, kitchen compost and finally we topped it off with a little bit of dirt.  We will let it sit until May and then stick our plants right into the beautiful organically composted materially. I hope it will work!

We chose this strange shape because we thought it might work easier for picking produce and weeding.  We'll see though.  

On the Upswing

Last week and I had too much free time to feel sorry for myself and "enjoy" being depressed.  This week things are getting busy and it is great!  So far I've cleaned up great messes in my house, turned a trash bag + some of apples into apple butter, gone to a Bible study, deep fried wontons which took a while to assemble, grocery shopped, and now I have to go do more cleaning, make some pot pie and prepare to teach tomorrow.
At the Bible study I went to this week, a young mother was talking about how she dealt with the overwhelming anxiety she had after she lost her young child.  Even though I rarely feel anxiety, so much of what she said applied to how I had been feeling last week.  Isn't amazing how God sends you the encouragement you need from His Word just when you need it?
Here are some thoughts some hers and some mine about dealing with anxiety and "depression."

• One of the best tools we have for defeating these dark feelings is praise.  One thing the woman said, which I loved, was that the deeper we breath in God's grace, the more praise we will be forced to exhale or that the better we understand God's radical grace the more extravagant our worship will be.  She quoted Job 35:10 which talked about God giving us a song in the night and recommended that when we feel overwhelmed, we should worship God by physically singing a praise song or quoting Scripture.  
• In order to be able to encourage ourselves with Scripture, we really have to have it memorized and be surrounded by it.  My new to-do list includes memorizing Romans 8 and listening to sermons more throughout the week to help immerse myself in God's word.  This week I've been listening to some Piper sermons on Romans 8 and I love it!  Piper is amazing because he can spend to 40 minute sermons just talking about 1 verse.  Which reminds me, how can I possibly feel sorry for myself when I now have NO condemnation in Christ Jesus?  What more could I need?  If you haven't read chapter 8 in a while, go take 5 minutes and soak it in.  
• Boredom gives me too much time for me to feel sorry for myself so I'm going to attempt to stay busy. Some weeks this is easy, but other times it is harder.  This week I'm going to write an encouraging hand-written letter to someone who might need some encouragement.  I'm also going to challenge you to do the same! If you do it, please comment to let me know so that I can be encouraged that you encouraged someone else.  ; ) 

Thanks for you kind words and thoughts.  We will keep plugging on and forward.  

I've Been Busy Playing the Word's Smallest Violin

So why so quiet on the blog front?  Ok, so you probably don't actually care but I've been kind of depressed.  No, probably not drug-worthy, psychobabbly depressed.  Just kinda down.  Since graduating college (3 years ago this May) I have made relatively few friends.  The list goes something like this: Aaron...Kira...the end.  Ok, so maybe not quite so bad but pretty darn close.  The last time I had a "real" birthday party in this town was probably when I was about 8 or 9.  The main reason I don't have birthday parties is because I literally cannot think of people to invite.  I've tried to make friends.  I've tried inviting people over, attending other churches services and events and the like. I just don't seem to click with real, live people.  I can talk to just about anyone but I can't seem to make real friendships.
 Usually, I get so used to being friendless that it doesn't bother me. I don't think about it.  Doesn't everybody just stay at home all day and find it mentally stimulating to talk to the people at the grocery store?  Eh, probably not but it is what I'm used.  However, on occasion, something small with set me if with an "I'm-so-lonely-and-the-world-hates-me" complex.  I feel like the kid in high school who doesn't fit in with the cheerleaders, super nerds,or drama peeps and ends up sitting alone in the corner of the cafeteria.  At least that is what it looks like in the movies cause I've never actually been to school.  Pretty pathetic really. I'm so selfish and whiny.  Unfortunately, my complex not only hurts myself but also hurts my family who don't seem to enjoy putting up with a grumpy mama.
So here is my question: When you are lonely or having a bad day, what do you do to cheer yourself up?  Favorite songs, Bible verses, bars of chocolate, anyone?  Let me know what you do so I can give it a try!
On a happier note, it was almost 70 degrees here today and the sun was shining quite gloriously.  I had a hard time coming in from my walk and tomorrow we get to work on the garden!

A Few of My Favorite Things: Sunday Edition

Cutie patootie eating peas

Chocolate pasta with homemade whipped cream and berries

Daddy's solution to too-short legs

Aaron making music.