Hanging Out With Ezekiel Again

 While the alarm clock went to blaring around 4 this morning;

the day didn't start the way we planned.  

I had an appt scheduled at 8:30 a.m. in Little Rock- 

but it just didn't happen. 

I guess it started with the chills yesterday-

First clue was it being 70 degrees in the house yet

layers kept getting pulled on- ....tshirt, long sleeve carhartt, ...fuzzy hoodie, ... along with thick socks

and the warm Ugg- "look alikes"  boots too.  

Myguy's been sick as well and my guess is 

he "shared."   Sore throat, nausea,

hackin, sputtering, sore throat, sore throat, sore throat,  crud.  

When that alarm went off at 4... it took no time at all to realize

it just wasn't happening today.  I felt so bad calling and canceling but some days

 plans change.  I hope this stuff doesn't last very long.  Our little Aly

missed school yesterday too not feeling well.  She came by and laid on our couch

for abit.  Her Momma  has felt puny too  so I guess there's a bug goin around.  

After sleeping in awhile, 

Ezekiel and I had a cup of Black silk  together. Loved in my read-thru this morning that in chapter 18:31 it said, 

"Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.  For why should you die, O house of Israel?  For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies," says the Lord God.  "Therefore turn and live!"  

Funny how certain passages unexpectedly jump out at ya sometimes.  Sometimes even single words.

Of course:  get yourselves a new heart and new spirit stood out, but also

turn and live!  I thought of them again while working on my fourth map in the valleys.

Turn..... and live.  I still have sticky notes everywhere... and have yet to put actual ink to this map. 

Feel like I'm still not seeing something fully yet... so for now I'll move on with the day and meanwhile keep 

listening... to what God shows me throughout the day.

 Haven't even been out to check on this girl yet to make

sure she's still in our pasture.  

On the 16th Myguy came to me and  said, 

 "Guess what?"

"The neighbors stud is in our back pasture

 with your horse Gracie."

Oh man!!  I so did not want her to get pregnant again.

This is him- "Comanche."

   

He lives next door and is ... well; he's all stallion.  

Didn't plan on this happening either.  

But it did.  

That day's plans were again changed after finding 

 a wooden post down on the ground as well as several feet of barb wire fence-

Half of the day was then spent fixin fence.  Myguy had to be elsewhere so our fence has this

 unique new look to it now- 

Suffice to say... (I'm not a "pretty"  fence fixer like Myguy)  haha    

After draggin olde bent and rusty cattle panels out there and 

wiring it up like Fort Knox......  I then discovered doing chores that

one of my two turkeys was layin dead in the coop.  

 Have no idea what happened to her ... she seemed just fine the day before.

That too was unexpected... 

I know someone may be thinking how "small" all this is.

And to a point it is.  I know that big things ... and bad things .. happen all day long everywhere... 

but I'm thinking about even the little everyday moments of life ...

Moment to moment... something is happening everywhere with dots connecting.

The day I realized it most profound was once when I was out walking in our woods

along a moving creek.  I was walking forward one way, and noticed the water in the creek running the opposite way...

the wind was blowing my hair, and leaves falling and swirling.  Looking up.. even clouds were going in different directions.  All this stuff happening all at the same time.  Then when you think about it happening everywhere... something moving... all over... and people- billions of them all over the place... and see what I mean?  So with that in mind... that's if your head didn't just explode like mine almost did... - that is where I am.

And so chicklets matter... and the wind matters... and all of you... you matter.

 

  Back to the farm here...  this was in miniscule  going on in a little chicken coop,

and out in a  back pasture... and right here... at those moments.  Lots more too

that I didn't write about... coz I don't know enough words... or have a clue how to

share the bigness of all the smallness. 

 

Breath.....--- Sharing photos on facebook with my group of friends...one day a gal

commented that she loved our mille fleurs and sure wished 

she could find some.  I told her I'd pen the rooster and hens up and see what 

happens and if they had any babies.. I'd love for her to have them.  

Well this little Momma jumped on a nest of the eggs and 21 days later like clockwork, 

hatched out 

5

tiny Mille Fleur chicklets... born right on Easter day.  She hatched them in her nest inside the vintage watercan filled with straw and 

even got them out on the ground by herself. 

Two days later one  had died... but the rest so far seem to be thriving.

I haven't mentioned any of this  to the gal  yet... 

Guess I'm waiting not wanting her to be disappointed if something goes haywire

somewhere along the way.  But so far... so good.  I hope to surprise her with four pokee dotted 

chicklets in a few short weeks.  I don't know her real well... but hope it all works

out where one day... I can meet her and connect another new dot... 

even through polka dotted chickys.  

 A couple days ago a friend stopped in and we dug 

a mess of  extra blackberry suckers that popped up. Years ago, an older  lady-dot  from our church once gave me my start of them.  They're thornless and make huge, juicy berries.  When we built the greenhouse last year, a whole row of them had to get transplanted and they just keep popping back up next to the shed now.  Hope they do just as well for my friend dot too.  When she pulled up to my garden and got out of her truck, she even had brought her own shovel.  (grin)  That just tickles me.  Enjoyed our visit so much  and we walked around the gardens and dug

a few other plants that she didn't have growing at her house.  Oxalis, violets, vinca, and a few others as well as some seeds to share- zinnias, and fennel. 

To my delight she surprised me with this pot of Lantana.   

It's the black pot of flowers.

There's a shrub of Lantana in downtown Clarksville that I've often admired..

 that this is an actual start from!

Still haven't figured out where to put it yet.  

Somewhere safe and special! 

I wonder how many others have cut and planted

starts from that 30 year old bush downtown.  

I wonder what connections could  have happened?

Or still will?

 My friend; she also brought me a gift of these

"Ruby" Bells.  

She remembered that my Grandma's name is Ruby 

so she picked this up at a garden center for me.

{{talk about a heart hug}}

!!!!!!

It's so much fun sharing plants and seeds with friends

isn't it?!!!  Love it!

While she was here we connected so deep 

in friendship.  Something we both

treasure in one another and I give

thanks for her.  She's been a very unique  gift

in the twenty some years I've known her. 

 So these are all some things I need to get planted this week.

Lantana, and Ruby Bells, ... this new pot of Weigela,  and to keep growing uP my new heart

and spirit as well.  

It's warming up now.

We had storms roll through yesterday watering everything beautifully.

Gonna go see what new things have popped up.

Don't figure the birds or rabbits can catch this crud.

I hope to find a  couple new Mommas have  taken up residence in

Myguy's old boots.  

After all... you just never know....

Heart,

Lea

Learning More and Dots Connecting

Have you wondered much what 

God's been up to throughout your life... 

-Maybe asked Him why He created you to like certain things

or wired you for something that you maybe

haven't figured out why ... yet?

I've had a lot of questions.

I'm sure many I won't know the answers to

this side of heaven.

But some... have been unfolding

abit "more."

Dots are connecting and 

as my Mentor describes it to me

it's like those dot to dot pictures where you 

draw a line from 1 to 2 to 3 and so on... 

with the revealing of a bigger 

beautiful picture over a lifetime.

Well recently through a series of dots...

I "came upon"   One Life Maps.
(God thing) 

It's a portfolio of maps that I'm 

prayerfully working and journaling through.

The night I started I was actually home alone 

and our power had went out.  

So; I sat by candlelight by myself and "began."  

I say by myself but in reality .. I can't exclude the company of a toteful of chirping 

baby chicklets away from their brooder heat lamp... 

oh and two pembroke welsh corgis.  

grin

I'm  sharing  this because 

when you find something "so good" 

it should be  shared don't you think?  

To date I'm now mapping the fourth one

which is called "Valley" experiences.  

So part of where I've been lately hasn't been

just gardening... but also

"mapping," 

Mapping with the Lord.

One of the first things to do is 

a timeline.  It was hard for me?

But through it... God's showing me 

connections.  Connections and 

these eyes are opening more

to my story.

 This is my most favorite photo of  Momma 

and me.  Through doing the peak experiences map

I also discovered it's a peak period for me.

Like... 

love for feathers....

that carried through.... 

then til now.

And how around the same point in life,

He placed me near a driveway or dirt road unlike any

I've lived around since.  It  was special. 

At around five years of age I became a rockhound.

No toy or doll could ever compare to the hunt of agates.  

I remember coffee cans full of agates.  

And at such a young age without knowing I was learning it-

I was discovering that something beautiful could be found on the 

inside of  the seemingly plain.  

My eyes became trained in spotting 

the special ones; even if the ordinary rock side

was all that was exposed.  

Didn't realize any of this until God used the maps 

to make me aware.  

Funny how every chance I get to go on a hike

still has me loading up

And I wonder now, ... 

how He might use all this 

still yet to come?

It's possible that He will.

And in these little dotted ways

I see that He "is." 

It's crazy really... 

Crazy and exciting all at the same

time.  

Another peak in those early years--

 ....Ordinary days filled playing with frogs,

toads, clams and crawdads as I 

walked  alone to the bay

at Clear Lake. No not alone... - I only thought I was.  

Because looking at a time line across life,

what I see most of all was that God was with me 

through it all.  

 Never lonely; never bored... 

but amused, filled uP and this adventure grew

deep... somehow carrying through

to 

today.

The love I have of the great outdoors

 feeds this soul 

and

 Frogs, toads and 

crawdads are still 

etched deep within.

?  

Why? ... so much I don't know...

and I wonder more... 

Mapping brought me 

back to bicycle rides that stirred 

several peaks together.

Around 7 years of age I'd ride my bike 

to the swimming pool and afterwards would 

walk next door to the library.  

Books like Sitting Bull, Sacajawea, and

Daniel Boone found their way  into my basket and were

pedal-ed home.  Sometimes with kings, queens and 

aces thrumming in the spokes; held in place

with wooden clothespins.

Once home, these delicious reads would be carried

to a hollowed out area in the middle of lilac bushes.

There;  in sweet fragrance grew a love for words, 

reading, writing, and plants.

 

 Within that era...

God began more

growing of this girl.

Through a series of events... 

gardening got planted.

Grandma Ruby had a big garden and 

often  had flowers growing by her doors.

Cockscomb, apple trees, zinnias-... and it was her garden

that I have as a first memory of gardening. 

All these little things were used ... 

in my growing... uP.

Things ... DOTS ... connecting...even

full circle to my own Lilac Bush...

More unique experiences 

happening....

and connecting... 

together.

Even to a New year's anchor verse... 

with my one word:

HEART. 

-- Oh yeah and the rock thing too.

so many tiny little dots...

growing... into another... 

making something seemingly insignificant

and ordinary...

to extraordinary. 

A couple days ago 

I planted snapdragons again.  

Once again, mapping turned them into another dot I could see.

A dot that I shared with my neighbor ...

and now all of you 

too.  

You're a dot now... 

:)  

My dots. 

And I'm yours.

cool huh?

Sorry; back to the story... 

It's the story of my very first 

garden ever!

I was 17ish.   Momma and I lived in a basement 

apartment together in Rapid City SD.  

For a surprise to her I cut a bit of  sod in our rented backyard

into the shape of...

yeah...it was a HEART.  

After digging all the sod/grass out of it... I planted it 

all in snapdragons.  It actually turned out pretty cool and she loved it.

Looking out the kitchen window ... you could see this big colorful snappy heart.

Heart.  

My very first garden was a 

all "heart."  

That just gets me.  And I know with everything in me God's  been drawing and growing 

me right to Himself through this whole journey.

Every step of the way.

All  this has been on my mind

and heart this week planting

and mulching.

I use newspapers for mulch 

wetting them first then layering about five thicknesses for a weed barrier.

You know how distracting it is for someone who likes to read

to lay out all these papers?

It's alot of words.   lol 

The lilac bush was in full bloom too so the memories 

of my favorite reading spot... 

well; good thing I'm not any smaller or I may have

holed right up with a book and wouldn't have gotten a thing done.

This week mapping in the mornings and then

getting my work done out here could really become another 

peak.  It was simple yet  big and uplifting... 

just so much of Him 

everywhere.  

Who knows what could  become of things...

... what "is" becoming ... 

The heart of this all

is real. 

 God is ever  moving...

and I'm so thankful.