Spring has SPRUNG!!!

I don't know many people, women especially, that do NOT enjoy flowers. Well, I LOVE them and I love them even more when I can actually plant something small and watch it grow each day, then it BLOOMS!!! Here in SF the soil is RICH and the climate is gentle! Everything I place in the ground GROWS!! It is amazing!! Well, I guess I have to add....I planted a vegetable garden last summer and that did not do as well as I hoped. We do not get as much sun as a summer vegetable garden needs. Someone told me though that I could grow winter veges so I just may have to give that a try.

So, this blog will be pictures of flowers around the yard that bring me much joy. Hope you enjoy them too!!

I really enjoy white flowers. Something about them looking so PURE. Here is a bouquet that I put together today with Jasmine and Cala Lily. The Jasmine smells soooo good!!

This is in Gabby's room. The lighting is perfect in this little sun room. I've had this one for quite awhile and this Kalanchoe will bloom, fall off, and bloom all year long! May have to get me a few more of this type. It does not require a lot of water and is on the top 10 list of indoor flowering plants. I like them.

Here is a picture of the orange Clivia. Jane Nash separated it off of the one she has and gave it to me to plant at SF house and he LOVES it here!! I took this picture before I left for the week.

Here it is one week later!! Amazing!! It gave me THREE blooms!!

Here is the second Clivia plant that Jane recently gave me. We also cut it from her plant in Visalia. He is yellow and will give me THREE this year too!! Tune in later for the outcome!!

We see these all over the place - growing in the wild, I don't have any in my garden but thought I'd post them anyway. I do not know their names, yet. But, I Love 'em!

UPDATE: We went to the Nursery and asked the name!!

Pride of Madeira - Echium candicans!

Another angle.

LOVE this time of the year - hope you are also enjoying SPRING!!!

God Did It!

Our BIGGEST news is that we are helping my son and his family purchase a beautiful home in Merced. We could not be happier for them!

Many of you know my son's 'life story' and can truly appreciate what this move would mean to him, his lovely wife Erika and Kaelyn, their adorable 18 month old daughter. To us, it can only be explained as part of our testimony, through prayer and trusting in God that this is actually happening! Let me explain:

A few days ago, I was reading in The Daily Walk Bible for March 13 when my eye caught an area on the next page that I had circled LAST year (3/09) and put the words: Andrew 3/08. I read it and REJOICED!!! Amazing how those words meant even MORE now!!!

Just so you know.....two years ago, I had a vision? a dream? a message? sent to me that 'Andrew's girlfriend was pregnant'. It was SO LOUD that I could not go back to sleep at this 3:15 a.m. wake-up call. When the alarm rang at 5:12 a.m. I told Dick all about it. My biggest question was: Did Andrew even HAVE a girlfriend? I did not think so..... he liked a girl at his workplace, but she was not his girlfriend and moved to southern California....He never talked about a girlfriend!

During our weekly dinners with Andrew, Dick urged me to tell Andrew about this dream! After I told him, all of the sudden, his shoulders drooped, his head bowed and he asked, "How did you know? Nobody knows!" Turned out that he and 'the girl that moved to SoCal', were recently spending some time together on weekends.

So in March 2009, I read the following and wrote 3/08 because that was the date of the dream and I thought of Andrew (and of course myself through trying times, about Dick, about my daughter Amy....)

"God delights to bring great victory out of certain defeat. At times he seems to go out of his way to ensure that the odds are overwhelmingly against his people so that when victory is achieved, there can be only one explanation: God did it.

Perhaps the odds look no better from where you are standing as you look at your own prospects for victory over a physical disability, an uncertain future, or a family situation that defies solution. Give God a chance to show himself strong, and you may see the odds swing decidedly in your favor."

In August 2008, 'the odds' did not look positive as we watched as Erika fight for her life while on a respirator for the week before delivery, the week AFTER delivery and again during the 3rd week of Kaelyns life, in a relapse with Myasthenia Gravis. All the while, asking God to PLEASE 'show yourself strong' while we were comforting Andrew, who was having to watch this happen to the woman who he loved so much and worry about the effects on the new baby! (Thankfully, everyone is doing GREAT today!)

Now, it is March 2010! Andrew and Erika have grown so much as a family, united in their commitment to each other, praising God daily for lifting them UP when they were DOWN. Andrew has a great job in Merced. He has proven himself with top-notch work ethics and being an asset to a warehouse, managing the shipping and receiving and everything pointing in the direction to being a healthy career. He was recently given a much deserved raise with a promise of more of those to come in the near future! Erika still has to take Prednisone in fairly heavy dosage to manage the MG but is able to be a loving, caring mother to a healthy, active Kaelyn!

I want to say a special THANK YOU to those that lifted them up to our Lord and prayed for them during all of this. We truly appreciate all of the friends and family supporting them. Just so you know..... THE PRAYERS were answered - and as the way God can only do..... MUCH MORE than anyone could have even imagined!

Needless to say, March is a pretty SPECIAL month isn't it? Escrow will close TOMORROW - Monday, March 15! I will go to Merced on Tuesday and Erika and I will do a once-over-cleaning (the place is in EXCELLENT condition but it could use a freshen-up clean), and begin moving in on Tuesday evening when Andrew is off from work! We'll unpack during the week and Dick will arrive on Friday after Taylor leaves for his Mom's for the weekend.

Amy is coming up from Huntington Beach for the weekend so we'll all be together during this very special time - CELEBRATING - that - God Did It!

Pretty good photos I'd like to share...

While on our run a few days ago, the sun was shining JUST RIGHT on that old bridge! Happened to have my iPhone with me so I got a great shot! The only bit of sunshine!

I went to an orchid exhibition at Fort Mason on Sunday afternoon and was loving all of the 'eye-candy'. There were soooo many varieties of orchids! I had a list of questions I needed answered by the 'pros'. I was able to get some answers, and THEN SOME! I took a few pictures but my camera skills are not the best and these delicate objects needed more sophisticated equipment than I had. Regardless, I got an eye-full and enjoyed my Sunday afternoon, leisurely taking in all of the sights.

This morning, we opened Gabby's door to find her 'telling us' - "It feels like a MONDAY!" hahhaha!! She just did not want to get out of her bed!!! I don't blame her!!! ;)

Then, this morning on our run, I saw this LARGE bird (in the lower right corner). I wanted to squeeze him in with the bridge and I really like how this photo turned out!

Happy March everyone!!