2010 Knight Family Garden Blog #1

After a quick peek back through my various blog entries, there was a noticeable gap in content. You're heard nothing about our garden project for this season. We apologize for the inconvenience and lack of coverage on this important subject.

Tomatoes (large Big Boys and cherry), Carrots, Peas, Corn, and Sunflowers fill our garden this year. Our Diana is a happy little farmer! She checks the garden first thing in the morning and then every two to four hours during the day. Thus, her intimate knowledge of our fledging crops is precise, specific and very very detailed. Every bloom, bud, and flower has been announced and pronounced throughout the town of Avon, Indiana.

Hopefully, we have planted the corn in such a way that it will cross pollinate properly so as to actually produce ears of corn! (We had great trouble with that last year). Also, our carrots have been thinned twice because we never did accomplish that last year and as a result produced stubby little bits of carrot all twisted on one another.

Diana's Kinderskills class field trip brought home a 'salad' in a pot which we promptly re-potted for growth. Since then we've produced two radishes that Diana does not like because "they are too spicey". Not sure what she'll think about onion she's growing.

In addition we have added two blueberry bushes that produce our daily intake of one blueberry each. Our Strawberry patch has dozens of blooms and our Diana thinks it will produce enough for us to make some strawberry jam! We'll see.

Every thing has grown tremendously with all of our rain... but we'll see how the remainder of the growing season goes... We did have to put in a fence around the corn (Duke decided to have a snack of the stalks).

Our rallying cry for the garden is ..."Let's be farmers, Momma!" Next year we've already got ideas about an herb patch and the cry will be "Let's eat, Momma!"

Sunburn'd

How you know you've truly sunburned your scalp? People notice it while you're preaching and when folks greet you after worship... they say things like,

"Geez, Michelle- do you not own a hat?"

"Where do you go last week, anyway?"

"Oh my gosh, I thought it was red but then when you were up there and all the lights....wow!"

There you have it, my scalp is bright Satan red! Doesn't matter which way I part my hair (which by the way is a white blond now)- it hurts to comb and brush these precious locks.

Sigh, I only hope my congregation is as forgiving next week when tiny flakes of skin will peel off during worship....

Sigh. Welcome, back!

Promise of the Rainbow

Okay, Lord, a promise is a promise! You said that you'd never destroy the earth by flooding waters.... now we here in Indiana are holding you to your word.

We've had enough rain, storm, lightening, sewer backups, and thunder. Our little children are not sleeping in their beds. The grown ups are weary of picking up sticks and limbs. Our gardens and flower beds are saturated and soggy.

Please, dry us up! Sunshine, bring it!

To all the Fathers...

Special thanks to all the fathers in our world: your love, care, protection, hard work are appreciated beyond measure! We need terrific men like you- thanks!

I am grateful for my Dad, step Dad, and father-in-love, Ed! Plus, my grandfathers (living and deceased) and my uncles (who are a hoot) have filled my life tremendously!

I have been blessed with all sorts of wonderful men who mentored, taught, and nurtured me from grade school, church, music lessons, band, college, and seminary! And my male colleague and friends continue to impress upon me the gift masculinity (in all it's various forms and shapes) is to our world. Thanks guys, for being you!

But the "Best Dad Award" goes to the daddy of my little girl- he is the best! And we cannot wait to celebrate with him when he gets home. This will be (God-willing) our last Father's Day apart from one another. Woo hoo!

Happy Father's Day!

Beginning of the End, Ending at the Beginning

Our little family marks a tremendous moment in our life together this weekend- this is Eric's last official race with the Indy Racing League as their full time software developer/project developer. As our daughter puts it, "Bye bye to Daddy's bye-bye trips!"

We are now officially sojourning in that weird and strange land of endings and beginnings; otherwise known as 'transition space'. While we say goodbye to many things, we are saying hello to new experiences. Sadness and joy seem all mixed together with a dash of apprehension, wonder, and nervousness.

We are trying to figure out what comes next in our life together. We know that it no longer includes suitcases and intense traveling the next three months. It does mean we will need to figure out how to live together again especially during the remaining part of summer.

Fascinating to note how many of our sacred stories from scripture come out of transition spaces as well. Folks traveling from here to there; receiving a call and then answering it like Sarah and Abraham, or Cleopas and his Easter travel companion. Starting something new for God and then their attempts to follow through like Paul and Barnabas, or Priscilla and Aquilla.

What a relief! We won't be alone in the newness or awkwardness of our 'transition space' we will be with good travel company after all!

the Vacation Bible School week...

Whew- we've been on a cosmic adventure this week exploring all things spacey with our young cadets. I had little time to stop and write a blog (mostly I was too tired when I got home and needed my grown up sized nap!)

Despite three thunderstorms- we were never rained on during VBS this week. All children were accounted for and seemed to have a terrific, fun experience!

I told and re-told the stories of Creation, Elijah on Mount Horeb (or Sinai), Samaritan woman at the well, the blind beggar man Jesus healed, and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus on Easter evening- four times each this week! Along with my wonderfully talented youth helper- Rebecca (see the Samaritan woman).

We were amazed at the children's attention to the stories, interest in our silly dancing song- Bim Bom, and enjoyed their wonderfully hard hugs!

As I posted on Facebook yesterday- I may be tired, but would somebody, please, ask me again to be storyteller next year! I was so inspired by the growing faith of these 200 young people and all of the terrific youth, college age, young adult and adult helpers!

YOU made it wonderful to tell and re-tell our sacred stories together!

Passing the Time at Annual Conference

Day 2 of the Indiana Annual Conference began with a noisy neighbor down the hall...now, as we sit in the auditorium and ponder all things United Methodist I want to offer some hard-earned nuggets of wisdom about how to thrive while attending days of meetings with clergy and lay folk from all over Indiana.

1. bring your yoga mat- helps you work out the kinks from sitting all day on aqua colored auditorium seats constructed circa 1957.
2. laptop and other computer modem capability (iPhone or iPod) devices are a must in order to know that life does exist beyond the air conditioned auditorium.
3. be ready to answer, "How are you?" with a pithy quip for those who don't really want to know how you are, but ask politely because we are surrounded by religious leaders. save your real earthy answer for your real friends and share it over adult beverages later in the evening. Or shake things up by being brutally honest no matter who asks. take note of the responses.
4. pack snacks.
5. visit the Prayer Room at least twice.
6. find two people who need you to help them feel welcome. and offer them kindness and hospitality.
7. alert your staff that you will be chatting with them via Facebook to find out how things are going at 'home'.
8. pack extra business cards to share with friends or future friends or to remind the powers that be that yes you indeed are 'one of them'.
9. bring your VBS materials to read through yet again when the speaker becomes redundant.
10. water bottle is a must because you will be singing a lot with a group of people who not just know the songs, but LIKE to sing them! Robustly!