Corn Relish canning!

1 month ago

1 month ago today we set our feet back on American soil!

it is really hard to believe that we have been back for an entire month! it has been a hectic month of trying to unpack from Africa, pack, move, and unpack some more! actually, we aren't exactly fully moved in yet, but its coming along...slowly but surely!

to be honest, i really could not picture what life would look like after a month of being home! i guess i figured we would be all settled and ready for action in our "new" life, but that was a wrong guess! we still feel a little unsettled and we haven't had the time we thought we would have to process through all of the things we have learned, but it will take way longer than a month to do that!

i am very excited and blessed to be back with our family and friends here, but also missing the new family and friends that were made in Uganda.

this 4th of July will probably be a little different for us...celebrating being home in our wonderful country, but also recognizing that not everyone around the world has that opportunity and realizing that our country isn't "better" we are just different from other places..and thats ok! God has created us all differently!

Happy 4th!

history in the making

Today marked a great event in the life of this little cucumber plant.

Let me fill you in on a little bit of back ground here. I have always wanted to grow things...well at least for the past few years. However, each time I try to something goes horribly wrong and the plant either dies or never begins to grow in the first place. My desire to grow "something" only increased during our 5 month stay in Uganda. All of the veggies we ate were completely organic and fresh and this motivated me to want to grow things of my own that Mike and I both enjoy eating.

I had basically given up on the hope of growing anything this summer because I assumed it was probably too late to plant by the time we got home at the end of May, but that all changed when my sister and I took a seemingly uneventful trip to our favorite place...Target. They had these little growing kits in their $1 section which spiked my interest, but you see last summer I tried using the same time of kit (I think it was even from Target) and nothing happened...no growth at all. Despite the fact that these kits had never worked for me before and going against my own logic and good judgement I bought not just 1 but 2 of these kits! One was parsley and the other cucumber.

I planted the seeds in their little pots this past Saturday, and carefully labled the pots so I would know what was growing in each one. I watered the little guys and set them carefully on the window in the kitchen where they would get the most sunlight. Within just a few days my little cucumber plant began to grow! I was amazed! You can see by the photo just how fast it is growing! I was very surprised! The parsley, however, turned out to be a dud.

So why was today such a marked day in history? Because my plant has grown big enough to be transplanted into a larger pot...and this (ladies and gentlemen) is a first for me! I went out to my mom's garage and found a nice size pot, put some soil in it, and put my little cucumber plant into its new and improved home! Hopefully it will like this home as much as it did the little yellow pot where it was given life and will continue to grow into some tastely little salad and sandwich toppings!

sunshine, cool breeze, and coffee (or course)

We are FINALLY getting settled into our new place and our new life! It has taken us over a week to get the place painted and enough stuff moved in that we can live comfortably. There is still much more to do until it is completely our home, but we stayed there last night for the first time!

It is definitely much different than any other place we have ever lived. Since we have been married we have been surrounded by our friends and family. Living in the small town of St. Albans will do that for you! There was always someone stopping by or we were going to see them...until we went to Uganda! Then we lived in a tiny little hut which was also surrounded by our friends (many of whom we now consider family). Since we have been back in the States (about 3 weeks) we have once again been surround by family and friends. Being in our own place yesterday was very strange. We are about a 15 -20 minute drive from any of our friends or family so for once we had an evening completely to our selves. Just Mike, Zoe, and me. We watched a movie and made rice krispie treats and it was so enjoyable!...but a little strange to be completely alone for the first time in weeks!

This morning was glorious! Mike got up before me to take Zoe to the potty in the back yard. When I woke up he already had our coffee made! He had opened the doors that lead to the outside and a cool breeze was blowing through the apartment as the sun poured in through the windows. I made some eggs and toast for breakfast and then we headed out to our little front porch swing with our coffee and Bible. It was such a beautiful place to enjoy a cup of coffee (with Hazelnut syrup) and reading the Word together. Even little Zoe was on the porch looking out over the neighborhood (trying to figure out this new place). The best part about this morning was realizing that we can do it EVERY morning! Mike's work schedule has changed and he will now be working a later shift so we will have our mornings together...and we are really looking forward to it! Looking forward to more summer mornings on the swing with sunshine, a cool breeze, coffee, and each other.