Reality Check: Do You Have a Mother's Heart?

Think about what a mother means to you. What is her heart like? What is so special about her?

What was or is so wonderful about your mother as a mother? Or, what wasn't or isn't wonderful about her? What's missing that to you means “mother”?

Do YOU have a mother's heart?

More Gardening Resources ~ Plant Societies

Here are some plant societies I've found. I wish I had time to go visit them all too!

Official Site of the American Dahlia Society – Home

NAGC - North American Gladiolus Council

AIS: American Iris Society website

American Peony Society

American Daffodil Society

Gardening Resources: a few selections from my bookmarks

Garden Watchdog: The Garden Watchdog Guide to Gardening by Mail

http://www.finegardening.com

Bluestone Perennials, Inc 

Brent and Becky's Bulbs

Territorial Seed - Vegetable and Flower Seeds at Territorial Seed Company

Womanhood Challenge of the Month: May 2010

This month's womanhood challenge is to cultivate yourself. This isn't a contrast to May's Girlhood Challenge to let God garden your heart, it's just a different way of applying to concept of gardening to oneself.

Have you ever thought about cultivating yourself? Do you watch how you grow?

Do you weed your heart, your mind, your life of things that don't belong in it and choke out the good stuff?

Do you provide yourself with plenty of light?

Is the place you are planted good for you and meeting your needs? If not, can you amend that soil or at least give yourself some extra food somehow?

Do you protect yourself from predators (outside influences that may harm you) and diseases (inside conditions that will hurt you)?

Do you get enough water ~ literally (your body and brain won't work their best if you don't get enough water, which most people don't) and figuratively (the water of life)?

If you have carefully studied these questions and answered them, and carefully considered the answers you gave, you've met the challenge!

No Time to Write!

I've been "spring flinging" most of the day.

No brains to write either. The mess saps my creativity, energy, and focus. Things are much, much better now. I already feel smarter. :-) Well, maybe not, but I do feel more relaxed!

See you next week!

Wordless Wednesday: Wee Little Corn Plant

Scripture of the Month: May, 2010

And the LORD God took the man, 

and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.  

~ Genesis 2:15

Reality Check: If You Were a Garden

If you were a garden, what kind of garden would you be?

Would you be a a welcome, restful retreat?

Would you be a colorful cottage garden ~ casual, friendly, and full of surprises?

Would you be a formal garden ~ symmetrical, predictable, sophisticated, regal?

Would you be sunny, cheerful, and fragrant?

Would you be chaotic, a catchall of color and form?

Full of weeds, briers, and thistles?

Would your plants be diseased and bug-eaten?

Think of yourself as a garden. What kind would you be in terms of your temperament, personality, character, appearance, manners, association with others, activities, behavior, etc. How would you describe yourself, as a garden?

If you were a garden what experience would others (including God) have as they visited your garden? Would you be ashamed to have others visit this garden ~ and inspect it closely?

Grab a few gardening books (with lots of pictures), or go walking through some gardens, and look at yourself while you look at them.

Think about this too: what kind of garden would you like to be?

Wordless Wednesday: Country Scene

What Will You Want to Have Done?

Think about this: if you someday get married and have a home of your own, what would you want to have done before that time?

What experience or experiences would you want to have had, for example, in homemaking, caring for the sick, child-care, cooking, sewing, or gardening?

What Skills Will You Want to Have?

Think about this: if you someday get married and have a home of your own, what would you want to be able to do at that time?

What skills would you want to have, for example, in housekeeping, caring for the sick, cooking, sewing, needlework, time management, or gardening?

What Will You Want to Know?

Think about this: if you someday get married and have a home of your own, what would you want to know at that time?

What knowledge would you want to have about, for example, homemaking, health, child-rearing, cooking, sewing, or money management?

Girlhood Challenge of the Month: May, 2010

Let God garden your heart. Let Him weed out the things He doesn't like. Let Him shine into your heart with His light and love.

The challenge this month is to choose to let Him do this and then ask Him to do it.

This is a very personal thing so I don't expect you to share your prayer or what you prayed for specifically, but you may share that you did it.

And ladies, this is a good idea for all of us too!

This Month's Theme: May, 2010

This month's theme is Gardening!

You don't have to be a gardener to appreciate it though, so stop by even if you don't have a teaspoon of dirt to your name.