Thought I'd do some picture posting. This was my first time so I'm unaware of the nuances of posting pictures. I'm feeling confident about the weather; i.e., no more freezes so I turned off the pilot light to the heater this morning.
Pray that the Lord blesses everyone who happens to read this post.

Comfrey growing in an herb bed with oregano just starting to grow 

Sneaky fire ant nest an onion bed, partially covered by spearmint (peas are growing up the fence in the background) 

Raised bed with brocolli, carrots, 5 strawberries, and some alyssum (and some garlic at the rear) 

Lettuce with dianthus interspersed 

Onions with "volunteer" violas 

Lady Banks Rose  

Well, it happened...we had the late (ish) March freeze once again. I lost some tomatoes and marigolds, and the potatoes bit back, but they'll be back. Everything else did fine (even the ladybugs). We even had a hummingbird moth out on some flowers this morning...I'm going to get batteries for the camera so (maybe) we can post some pictures on the blog.

I've been looking at quite a few Christian agrarian blogs/websites and am trying to synthesize the information. I have gardened organically for 20+ years and have always been interested in that "type" of living. We have friends who have done so before it became recently popular. We also visited conservative Mennonites in Wyoming (at least a dozen times) when we lived in the Denver area. We used (conservative) Mennonite curriculum in our homeschooling and purchased thirty or more children's books by their authors (By-the-way, I HIGHLY recommend their English curriculum as well as their novels). The plain people have lived the agrarian lifestyle for many, many years. The one family from their Body that lived in Cheyenne (rather than the country)was suspect (They were converts rather than old-school plain folks).

Interestingly, we were reading an Amish history book at the time (probably Our Better Country or its predecessor) and a couple we had "dinner" with mentioned that one of the people mentioned in the book was his direct ancestor...from 400 years ago. He had recently "converted" from Amish to Mennonite (due to legalism in his community). Very interesting people to talk with.

Of course, they really didn't think we were Christians since we didn't live like they did. Even their cousins from Canada were suspect (i.e., liberal) because of the size of their headcoverings (too small, if I remember correctly).

While we didn't join their Body, we found a lot to like about the way that they lived the Christian life.

In the same manner, I find a lot to like about the Christian agrarian movement and some to not like. Possibly I will post on this later.

My wife and I are without peer friendship at our Fellowship and it is growing difficult for us there. We have a dear young couple as friends (and never want to lose their relationship), but have no peers that we meet together with. I can't think of the last time that anyone near to our age, from our Body, asked us to do anything. We attempted to befriend others in the past but have not received reciprocation.

The last four things I have done with others close to my age has been with people from other churches. I got a call this evening from an old friend inviting me to meet him to play some basketball with others from his church. Half the guys there were around my age (I went to school with two of them). I now have an open invitation to meet with them on Sunday night to play hoops.

We met a couple our age this past weekend to go dancing. They are wonderful Christian friends and we really enjoy getting together with them. The last three times we have done things with peers it has been with them. They go to a different church than the hoopsters.

We have stayed because of our relationship with this special young couple and because of an AWANA children's ministry. I also like the pastor as a person and as a friend, and my two youngest are friends with his two oldest.

Don't know what to do. I am going to obey the Lord, just don't know how He wants me to lead my family in this.

I don't know if our drought is officially over or not, but we have gotten a good bit of rain over the last couple of days. It's been since November that we've had a decent rain. Praise the Lord who sends the rain in Springtime.

It's amazing how much better things do when the Lord sends the rain than when I water it myself. Our comfrey has grown about 4 inches the last few days (not an exaggeration). The bulbs seem to be popping out of the ground. It may be too late to get good growth out of the wildflowers but we'll see.

The ground is definately warming up...I have spotted okra, cucumber, squash, and beans already sprouting (quite a few of them). I have already had to thin out some some of the cucumbers (all of these are from heirloom seeds that I grew last year). They are growing where I have planted part of our potatoes. I want to highly recommend Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. They have been prompt in delivery the past two years and the vegetables have been outstanding. We saved a good bit of seed and will be able to share with a few people this year. Also, if you want some easy beauty in your garden, just plant some violas one year. We planted some in a pot about five or so years ago and now have violas all over our garden areas. There is a mess of them growing among our onions. I actually saw a bloom on one just yesterday.

Well, it just goes to show that the Lord's way is better than man's way. The beauty that He naturally creates is much greater than anything man can design. It's much better to work within the framework that He has established rather than trying to force the issue (of course, there's that curse on the ground thing :-( ).

Praise be to His holy name!

The wife and I haven't really been dancing since she was pregnant with our first son--that was about 22 years ago. We finally broke the ice last night! Nothing quite like a 22 year hiatus.

There is a place South of Abilene and north of Brownwood called Oplin. It has a converted gym/community center that is used for country-western dancing on Friday nights. Since it was Spring Break it really wasn't crowded.

We met the Daubs there and brought our three youngest children (15, 13, 11). We weren't sure if children were allowed (there's no drinking or smoking allowed!!!) but they were. There were quite a few children and even a few babies in residence.

It was an extremely nice family atmosphere last evening and we had a good bit of fun. The band was talented (wrote a bunch of their own songs) and the lead singer had a real country voice (please understand that I'm not a county man myself). All three of my children were asked to dance and taught by a very nice girl that we know from Brownwood. None of them were excited about dancing, however. They almost tolerated the experience.

Even though I wore my tassled loafers (the only thing I own that would slide) I didn't feel out of place (wore out my last pair of boots about 20 years ago). The owner was nice and you could bring in your own drinks.

A highly recommended experience even if you're not into country-western (like me)!

I want to recommend, for the most part, an author named Stephen Lawhead. He created my favorite Arthurian legend series (five books), removing some of the "junk" that other writers include as well as expanding upon many of the characters. The thing that really caught my attention was his use of the Atlantean legend to enhance the series. I have read at least five other author's versions of the Arthur legend and Lawhead's greatly eclipses all of them (for me, at least).

Also, he has written several excellent science fiction books. I reread one ot them this week during Spring Break, Dream Thief. The Dream Thief is an ancient Martian who stayed behind after Mars became uninhabitable and his race fled to the stars, and is using a machine (which they originally used for good) to attempt to control the minds of men. The protagonist goes through several adventures in order to finally face the Dream Thief and his henchmen. Quite a fun read.

As a habitual day-dreamer, I noted how I can "lose" my mind to things that don't mattter and that may inhibit my relationship to the Lord. In that regard, creating a mental world can stifle our effect on the kingdom of God. Just a thought.

I can't recall the title of the last series I want to mention (Song of Albion, I believe). It is a three book series about a young man who is drawn back to the Celtic past during the "time between times" and his adventures as a Celtic warrior and then a "king" who defeats an evil enemy (brought about by a friend who is involved in the adventure).

Finally, for a great read that will give you a sense of your position in the universe, I want to recommend another book--a book by an unknown author: Job. I read from God's response to Job to the end of the book last night. What an awesome God we serve, omnipotent and soveriegn! It was quite an humbling experience for me. I noted that God never responded to Job's questions about his trial. Rather, God directed Job to His might and power. Job, being much wiser than I ever hope to be, acquiesed to God and repented with a proper heart. May I have a portion of Job's humility!

If you are on Spring Break as we are, enjoy; if not, enjoy!

Spring Break
1. We have (partially) gone directly from Winter to Summer (though it'll be much hotter during the summer!)
2. Honey-do list is looong, err...long
3. Plenty to do to get ready for the rest of the semester (always more you can do to prepare)
4. Got a new tennis racquet for my birthday (first new racquet since the T-2000; remember Jimmy Conners?)
5. Ordered a softball glove from a Amazon gift certificate (a softball glove?)
6. Going to play softball (on an intramural team) for the first time in about a decade (definately need to get out the WD-40)
7. Tempted to get out the warm weather vegetables now instead of the first of April (tempting a final freeze, of course!)
8. Found a wonderful passage in Isaiah today (Ch. 12)
9. Talked with my middle son about the attributes of God this evening (started in Micah 6)
10. Excited about friendships/relationships and their effect on Assembly life
11. Excited about J&M's baby (little Douglina)
12. Love being around my wife and children
13. Never want to lose my idealism about the good life (a life surrendered to the Lord)

The Lord be praised, His mercies are new every morning!

Going to Austin to play dominos with a group of guys from our old fellowship group. Really looking forward to seeing the fellows, though some of them are getting old (three of us are turning 50 this March, another is soon to be hitting 60, while two are already over 60). My oldest was almost five when we moved and is now hitting 22.

I learned some great lessons from several of these guys and am thankful to the Lord that He placed them in my life when He did (we moved from Austin in 1989). Jack taught me much about living beneath your means and being ready to give to others (much like in Acts 2). Ned has always been ready and willing to help anyone anytime (he was a Wyclife missionary at one point). I've never heard Ned complain, though he works harder than most but never seems to get ahead. James has changed from what he was into a giving individual. He takes care of his widowed mom, giving her money and spending time with her almost every week (only misses when he's out of town).

I just hope that they don't mind getting whipped in dominoes on Saturday night. Give them a chance to show real humility.