I spent the day driving to staunton in my new to me hyundai santa fe SUV with the sun roof open and the windows down listening to delightful music, gardening, and selling my old car. I hauled my first big item in my SUV, a wheel barrel, even had to put the seats down ;) What a great day. Oh, and I also spent time watching the old Fame tv series, recommended by my sister. She and charles are always looking for wholesome shows to watch usually sending them back in time to the 80's and 90's, when tv was much more innocent. We've watched Dr. Quinn, Touched by an Angel, and All Creatures Great and Small. Have to admit though, Fame is pretty awesome...it's sorta of like Glee, except with leg warmers.

I actually spent the whole weekend gardening. it felt so good. i've never really done it by myself...but have always helped my mom, and my sister, and once I potted a tomato when I was in grad school and named him "mater", but mater eventually died without anything significant to show for it.. true story. Anyhow, gardening makes me feel a lot like my mom. Actually, lots of things make me feel a lot like my Mom since I've been living out here alone. I have always had enormous amounts of respect for my mom because she put my brother and sister through college by herself, and basically raised me alone. She was actually a very shy and meek person once upon a time, but life handed her some hard situations and she picked herself up by the bootstraps and faced the demons head on. Now I wonder, how was she so brave, how did she do this? How did she deal with mice, and ants, financial issues, and just everyday all by herself for so many years...even still she does it. You see, I'm at this point in life where I should have a husband who helps me figure this stuff out. Most women my age don't have to do all this alone. And although I'm thankful for the experience, I'm worn out from it. My mom still goes through this, and she is 65. She is still doing it on her own at 65. But despite all that, the thing my mom loves best is to garden. she would rather be out "piddling" in her yard than in the house cleaning. She has the most beautiful yard, and vegetable garden, and i have a lot of memories of her outside riding the lawn mower, dragging the hose across the yard, sitting in the dirt with her spade in hand, and  then taking breaks in between with ice tea in hand. Summer is her thing, it's her happy place. I always watched and helped some...but never had much interest. But this weekend, I finally got it. Gardening really is fun and so rewarding.

I'm trying to spend my time ministering to brandea and charles as much as I can think to. When I hear about my friends going over seas I think "oh, i've never done that and I would really like to!", but I know my ministry is here, with my own family...who needs financial help, or encouragement, a card, a ride, an errand, or a fun present from "aunt boo" :) Now it is easy to minister to them, the hard part will be when they come home and will need so much more help than before. I have gotten to a place in my journey where I am ready for them to come back. I can't wait for my sister to call me and say "Boo, we are coming home!"

Have a backpacking/camping trip planned with my friend jenny. She is a forest ranger so she can build a fire, which means we are good to go!