The Garden

The motto for this stage of my life is "Better late than never!" And this rings true for our Spring garden here at the Skow house. Today, the girls and I finally got around to planting veggies in our little garden box. Fortunately, and unfortunately, I am friends with and am related to some really awesome gardeners. It is great in some ways, because I am happy for them and we get to share the bounty of some of these fabulous gardens. However, when compared to these other people, we Skows STINK at gardening. But....oh well! It's still fun to plant with the kids, it's educational, and it makes me feel like an earthy, natural person. :)

My Dad is a master gardener. His garden is so big, it's almost more like farming than gardening. Thankfully, he is our soil and plant guide. He is the reason we even have a garden box! This year, he also readied our garden with some quality soil and fertilizer. So despite our past failures, I have high hopes for this Spring garden!!

Here are our pictures from our planting fun this morning!

My little gardeners....ready to plant some veggies!

Ellie was so cute! She LOVED planting the plants into the dirt. She talked to each of the plants as we put them into the ground, saying things like, "Here you go, little guy. It's going to be o.k."

Addie mainly just wanted to play in the dirt....

She got dirt on every inch of her body. She was even throwing dirt up in the air, and piled some on top of her head!!

The end result! Now, let's just hope we can keep these little boogers alive!

Then the girls decided they needed to wash up...

Who needs toys when a bowl and some water can be so much fun!!

We talked about how this is how the Segners have to take baths/showers sometimes in Africa! :)

My precious girl

It was a fun morning...and sometimes it feels good to get dirty! :)

Open Door

This small town hick is now the proud owner of a US Passport! I didn't know if this day would ever come. I'm sure for most normal people, passports are common, normal things...like a driver's license. But to me, passports seem so exotic, something people in the movies have. :) Now, I have one. Lord, where you lead, I can now follow!

In addition, I have to share with the world that I also now have a bona fide ticket to fly all the way to Africa. We will be stopping in Belgium on our way. Even typing that, seems completely unbelievable.... my stops are usually made in Rockdale.....maybe Waco, if we are headed to the big city. I would've never believed that I would be making a "stop" in BELGIUM! Wow.

This trip is a testimony for God in many, many ways. Even the travel arrangements seem miraculous to me. Thank you, God, for making the way possible!

Let me tell you 'bout the birds and the bees...

and the flowers and the trees, and the moon up above....and a thing called looove. :)

Actually this isn't about "the birds and the bees." It's just about the birds! We have a sweet, little family of birds on our back porch. The kids are in love!! It's so fun to see our kiddos get so excited about observing God's creation.

Our Doodlebug

Caleb had his first 'school program' this past Thursday. The 2nd grade put on a "Goin' Buggy Musical." They were the cutest bugs I've ever seen! Of course, I'm partial, but I really thought they did an awesome job. Caleb had one of the main speaking parts. We were so proud of him! We are going to try and upload some videos to share..... we just used our camera, so the quality isn't very good, and you will have to excuse the videography. :/ But hopefully you will still be able to see our little bug! (He's the one in the green t-shirt...on the back row and then on the very right)

4 months from today....

Four months from today, God willing, I am going to be on a plane that will land in Entebbe, Uganda.

8, 500 miles away from my home in College Station.

For someone who has never been out of the country, and really only been out of the great state of Texas a handful of times, this almost seems unbelievable.

In my circle of friends, going on mission trips to foreign countries is not a 'foreign concept.' :) ha! So, I almost feel weird about making a big deal about it around some of them. But for me, it is a big deal. A very BIG deal. A very exciting, scary, wonderful, life-changing deal.

I have a feeling that there will be many more posts to come about this journey to Africa. Many more posts indeed.

So, for now, I am praying for these next four months. For God's peace and provision for our trip. And for God to prepare my heart and mind for what I will experience when I get off that plane.