Rooted in Abundant Hope

I'm sitting here on our couch and looking out the window in between thoughts. Snow is falling and it's peaceful. My kids are in the kitchen cooking together. My son decided to make pancakes today. Although he didn't need the help, he had noticed Abby was in her room. That's not typical of her. She is often on the couch researching all things gardening and homesteading (when she isn't at work or helping in the kitchen). She's always willing to help and that's only one of the many great qualities she possesses. 🩷 She loves her brother although the words are rarely spoken. She is one of his biggest allies and is also willing to hold him accountable and call him out when necessary. Dom has a tender heart, especially toward his sister. He adores her and it bothers him deeply when she is hurt, sad or upset. 💙 He doesn't like to make a big fuss about ANYTHING. He is extremely chill and forgives quickly. He will defend Abby when necessary and is always availab...

It's almost 1am and I can't sleep. My soul is weary but my brain won't rest. Life. Circumstances. Hurt. Betrayal. Sadness. Tears. Lots of tears. My brain keeps replaying all that has gone on. It's been a very emotional journey for each of us in my family. My husband said it well; it feels like our feet find the ground and then we get sucker punched again. We've been watching a lot of gardening videos lately. This year we will be planting our first garden on the new property. A BIG garden! It's Abby's dream and her pet project although I'm (not so secretly) getting to live out a lifelong dream of mine too. 🙂 I discovered Ann of All Trades's videos on YouTube (of course Abby was already familiar with them 😁). She calls herself the Lazy Gardener. She has very informative, easy to understand videos. Perfect for me! Btw, I highly recommend watching her videos. We found a  video where she explained how to create garden beds that require very little wate...

I'VE GOT SOME GREAT NEWS!!! Our onions sprouted!!!! At least some of them did 😁. Mom and I were in the kitchen on Friday and I was watering some of the onion plants when I saw GREEN!!! I was so excited I may or may not have squealed (ok, I totally did). Mom joined in my excitement and we stood there for several minutes, leaning as close as possible to the surface of the soil in hopes of glimpsing more green sprouts. I was thinking about it later, and I feel like there is kind of an underlying meaning in the joy we feel when we saw the first sprouts. Most seeds need darkness in order to germinate, or sprout. In the darkness, buried under soil, is where conditions are ideal for the previously dormant plant inside the hard seed case to push through and reach for the light. This same process can be felt by us as humans too, right?  What I mean is sometimes we're surrounded by darkness, perhaps even spiritually. We feel buried under weight, and we feel that pushing through is next ...

On Tues, my sister invited me (and my son) to go to "town". She had an appointment and thought we could stop at the library afterwards. It's unseasonably cold here in Wisconsin which makes playing outside (for even a short amount of time) difficult. Unless, of course, you enjoy not being able to feel your face. 😆  In all seriousness, we limit our time outdoors when frostbite is possible after only minutes of exposure to the elements. So a trip to the library was in order. The problem was I didn't want to go. Last Sunday, I faced a similar problem. I knew I needed to go to church - to be surrounded by fellow Christians, worship through singing and hearing the Word preached. But I didn't want to go. Hubby was sick and needed to stay home. That meant that I would need to take the kids. Alone. I honestly wasn't sure I *could*. My heart has been hurting. Healing is still a work in progress. Lots of tough things. We decided I would take the kids to the church my pa...

     Hi!           My name is Abby, and I'm Joni's daughter. She's been a little more active on the blog than I have, so I figured it was time for me to pipe in! To start with, I'm 17 years old, and I love Jesus! My passions are gardening and homesteading. I've been planning my ideal garden for years now, even though when I was a little girl, the "planning" consisted of just writing down as many fruits and vegetables as I could think of and dreaming about the day when I'd be able to grow ALL of them. After my family moved to our current property a few months ago, from the city to the country, I was SO thrilled that I could FINALLY have the garden I'd been dreaming of... even though I understand much more now that, here in Wisconsin, I might not be able to grow quite as wide of a variety of fruits and veggies as I might find in the produce section at Woodmans! This will be my first year having a garden of my own, but I've been working at my au...

Happy Valentine's Day!! How fitting to be talking about flowers. That was NOT planned. But I'm just going to go with it HA! Abby works for a flower shop 2 days a week - they mostly sell roses. It's a sweet little shop and the people she works with are just as sweet. The roses are beautiful and range in color from white, to pink, to red with some even being a combination of those colors. I had the opportunity to help her for a few days leading up to Valentine's Day. It was so much to be with my daughter and experience what her work days are like. I helped clean the flowers. I honestly didn't even know that was a thing but it consists of pulling off the outer petals and examining the center of the rose to make sure it's a healthy rose and that it will open properly. Each rose is unique. From the the way the petals grow, to the exact shape of each petal, the damage received during shipping, how big or small the petals are, etc... Working with the flowers requires y...