Welcome Summer!

Summer is upon us!

Yay! How I love the summer. I work as a substitute teacher and today is the last day of school. I think I'm about as excited as the students. I didn't get called to work today so actually, my summer break started a few days ago, but I didn't know that then. Today, I know for sure that I won't get called to work for the next two and a half months.

I have big plans for the summer. I have two speaking obligations, one in June and one in July and have a lot of writing to do as I work on edits on two books and map out and start writing a third book as well as keep up with my freelance writing. I also plan to travel to my parents for a family reunion. (The picture is of our family reunion last year.) 

We will actually take our vacation in September when we spend a week at a timeshare we own in Hilton Head, SC. If I had chosen the week, I would not have chosen September but I did not choose it, my mother-in-law did. She bought it many years ago and we inherited it when she passed away. I have grown to love it as it extends summer for me. 

In the meantime, while summer is actually here, I will enjoy the days off. Ill keep my grandson a couple of weeks and hit the pool when he comes and of course, I'll enjoy my garden and post more pics of it in future blog posts. 

When I was a child, once we came back from Nigeria, my family always traveled to one of the beaches in South Carolina for a week in the summer. I have such sweet memories of family vacations at the ocean!

Let the summer begin!

How Does your Garden Grow?

I love to work in the garden! I have ever since I was a child in Nigeria and used to putter around in the garden with my Dad. He and Mom had a giant garden and I used to "help" them, often. I mostly remember puttering alongside Daddy. He even gave me a small section of land which he said could be my garden and I could plant anything. I had three siblings but I don't think any of the others took to it quite like I did. I loved digging in the dirt!

I still love it and have had a garden all nearly thirty-nine years of my married life.

This year, I am particularly excited about it because, with the help of my youngest son, I moved my garden from where it used to be to the other side of the yard which gets more sun. The house I live in already had a garden area when I moved here in 2003. But the neighbor's tree, just across the fence from it has grown and grown, blocking more and more of the sun over the years.

This year, I have a new raised garden and can't wait to see how it produces! So, today, I am sitting at my desk, sweaty, dirty, and oh so happy from a day of planting filled with high hopes for the growing season ahead. And all of this gardening makes me think of one of my favorite gardening-related Bible verses:

Sow with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness on you. Hosea 10:12