Pregnant......with grapes, vegetables and weeds! haha!

I'll never forget that feeling we had 22 + years ago when we sat there together on the couch with our mouths open after we found out we were pregnant.  It was that NO WAY feeling.  Last night when we walked around the garden, we were just there essentially checking on the transplants to see if they were still alive, not expecting to see anything else this early on.  But then, we looked a little closer, and to our utter amazement, we saw little plants, all over the garden coming up.  I couldn't believe it.  I just kept saying, "NO WAY!  NO WAY!!"  And then I said, "We're in soooo much trouble!!!"  We are going to be sunk if the rest of the garden comes up...which it is looking like it will! 

But, my amazement feeling didn't stop there.  Next, we went over to the vines.  We've been working hard in there for the last month and a bit, too.  We've been told to not get too excited about having a crop this year even though it's the third year.  If there is to be a crop, it'll be a partial crop.  Fine, fine.  We tried to not get our hopes up, but then, as we walked around, we looked close and there were little grape clusters EVERYWHERE....ALL OVER THE PLANTS.  That was when my mouth dropped open even more.  I was suddenly feeling so amazed, so excited and I'm not joking, it felt like we had just found out we were pregnant because these little plants were something we had hoped for, prayed for, wanted so badly, and we didn't dare get excited because we didn't want to get disappointed, but then, there they were!  Everywhere!  And so many!  And suddenly it felt like we could be excited!  We were pregnant....with plants!  with grapes!  with fruit!  It was an odd, but familiar feeling because just like when we had hoped to have children, we didn't dare get our hopes up, but deep down we really did hope.  When we finally found out we were pregnant so long ago, it was a big "YES!"  And, even though it may seem like a strange comparison, it feels somewhat the same - now we can truly get excited and relax at the same time!  Well, hardly relax....like I said, now we're in big trouble.

The weeds are already coming up just as fast alongside the vegetables and the grapes.  We'll be putting down landscape cloth and wood chips hopefully soon to help out with that.   I may have to stop sleeping otherwise and weed at night otherwise!   At the same time, our 13 year old son is now our full-time mower.  My husband is determined to make our property feel a bit more park-like this year and he's mowing sections of the property he's never mowed before around the grapes, around the garden, near our fire pit area, etc. It already used to take a long time to do, now we finish one area and my son has to go right to the next.   Every single day we are mowing.  But it is paying off and it looks really nice.

We have a non-Christian friend who we've been witnessing to for a long time.  He's basically decided everything that is going on in our life, if it is good, is just fate.  Apparently we're just lucky.  Lucky to be married, to have kids, live on a farm, grow animals and food.  It all just "worked out" for us.  Well, when I look around and see things growing out of the ground that were in paper envelope literally a few days ago. I can DEFINITIVELY say, that is NOT LUCK.  Only God can make a garden grow, make grapes grow off a vine, make kids grow for that matter.  It boggles the mind that he cannot give credit to whom the credit is due.  But my faith can be weak.  When my neighbour came by to pick up some hay, I have to admit, I pointed to the garden and said, "If it grows, that's where our garden is....."  IF it grows?  Why was I so unsure?  Why did I doubt? 

This garden, these vines, the grass, the weeds.....all a testament and a part of my faith story. 

It definitely hit us though yesterday as we walked around - this will be the BUSIEST SUMMER AND FALL OF OUR LIVES.  As we come up on our 25th, it's kind of exciting to reflect on our life and how much has happened leading us up to this anniversary.  But, who will have time to reflect!?  It's going to be absolutely nutty.  My biggest problem lately has been paralysis - I have so many things to do, so many places to be, I often don't move because I don't know where I should be first. 

Today, a little bit of rain is coming - great for the garden and it determines that I can be inside working on vine crafts.  My teradacytl/beaver dam/nest is actually getting smaller.  We may get our house back soon.....