Herbs Part 2- Garden Galore!

This past Saturday my family finally planted our garden. We're terribly late in planting it, but better late than never. Here are before and after pictures of my herbs, and the vegetable/fruit garden.

This was when the rosemary was blooming.

Its obvious what this herb is.

Sweet Marjoram

The first kind of lavender we got

Sage

German Thyme (my favorite because its adorable tiny leaves...)

Sweet Basil

I know its not an herb, but I couldn't resist! I consider it my pet.

Irish Moss

Here's the second kind of lavender I got

    Bell Pepper

Watermelon

Strawberries (note the little white flower!)

These we got a week later. I nearly died with happiness when I found these two below!

    Rue

Apple Mint

 (Earlier in the day before I found this, I sort of despaired of ever finding Apple Mint around where we lived and Viola! I found some shoved in a corner of the produce store, looking like they were about to die. But I saved one!)

Here's my apple mint planted on the back porch [I took your advice Grace! :) ]

This is the area I planned on planting some of my herbs, right by the overgrown rosemary bush, and the pitiful magnolia stick (not much of a tree is it...?)

Before

And After!

And this is part of the aboveground garden with the tomatoes, peppers, cucumber plant, squash, cantaloupe, watermelon and strawberry plants.

 I'm thrilled to pieces about it and cannot wait until we actually get to eat something from the garden!

Because He Lives...

Easter. When I hear the word, of course I think of how Jesus rose again and He is no longer in the grave! Then I think of being in Amarillo, my Nana singing Up From the Grave He Rose beautifully at Church and my Papa whistling it while reading the newspapers. This year we're staying at home for Easter, and my Dad's side of the family is coming over this afternoon! I'm so excited because I haven't seen them in a long time! I love it, no matter what side of the family we're with, we always laugh until we're in tears. Makes me think of Pride and Prejudice, when Elizabeth says "I dearly love to laugh" And then Bingley's hoity-toity sister replies, "A family trait I think." Indeed it is. And because Christ rose again, we have a greater cause for joy and laughter!

"For we know that since Christ was from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God." ~Romans 6:9-10

"...If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith...But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead....For since death came through a man, the Resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive." ~1 Corinthians 15: 14, 20, 21-22

Here's the Easter hymn I've grown up hearing since I was a baby. Besides a fun tune to sing with, this song's words mean so much to me.

~He Lives~

     1. I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today; I know that He is living, whatever men may say; I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer, And just the time I need Him He's always near.

He Lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!

 He walks with me and talks with me, along life's narrow way.

He lives, He lives, salvation to impart! You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart!

2. In all the world around me, I see His loving care, And tho' my heart grows weary, I never will despair;

I know that He is leading thro' all the stormy blast, The day of His appearing will come at last.

He Lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!

 He walks with me and talks with me, along life's narrow way.

He lives, He lives, salvation to impart! You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart!

3. Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian, lift up your voice and sing Eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ the King!

The Hope of all who seem Him, the Help of all who find, None other is so loving, so good and kind.

He Lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me and talks with me, along life's narrow way.

He lives, He lives, salvation to impart! You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart!

                                                                                 ~

Here's another hymn, I just love the words, like the one before. These are my favorite two verses of the hymn.

~Because He Lives~

1. God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus, He came to love, heal, and forgive; He lived and died to buy my pardon, An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

Because He lives I can face tomorrow, Because He lives all fear is gone;

 Because I know He holds the future, And life is worth the living just because He lives.

   3. And then one day I'll cross the river, I'll fight life's final war with pain; And then as death gives way to victory, I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know He lives.

Because He lives I can face tomorrow, Because He lives all fear is gone;

Because I know He holds the future, And life is worth the living just because He lives.

                                                                                    ~

  



4th Annual Cotillion

Here are the pictures from last Saturday! :)

My accessories

Friends



Madison diving into the picture at the last minute.



It was altogether a wonderful dance, and an even better time with friends.

Here are a  few more pictures if you wish.  

Dancing The Night Away

I'm so excited I could burst!! Tonight is the 4th Annual Home school Cotillion of Joy Christian Academy! I found my dress last Saturday! It's a black dress that ties around the neck. Then it has a waistband at my natural waistline, from there the fabric flows down and reaches down to the middle of my knees. The skirt material is...how to describe it... permanently pressed pleats?? or crinkled material?  It looks a lot prettier than I've currently described it, believe me, or I would certainly decline going to the dance!
The shoes, unfortunately, took a LOT longer to find than the dress. Altogether, we went to about 15 stores, really and truly that many stores. Not ONE had my dream shoes- bright blue, smaller heels, simple in the design- but I finally went for some red heels.I think every girl should own at least one pair of red high heels, so I think I should celebrate!  :)

   And what to do with my hair? After being persuaded by my mother and sister, my hair is going half up-half down. Last night we tried hot rollers, since I was aiming for a soft curl, not a Shirley Temple curl that most girls do. The hot rollers didn't work too well. One side of my head flipped lovely-ish, while the other side looked like my hair had been attacked by a raccoon. Although I don't know what that would really look like, I'm imagining that's pretty darn close to what my hair looked like last night. So I'm going to be ridiculous this evening and try the hot rollers again, even after the failure of last night. Cross your fingers AND toes for me-I'm going to need it. If my hair curls right, I'm going to either make a poof and leave some wisps down and curl them to frame my face, OR A twisty-braid thing that goes across the top with the rest of my hair down.
        Then after the dance, Maddy, some other friends and I are going to spend the night at a friend's house.  We're each going to buy a small pint of our favorite flavor of ice cream, bring movies, and stay in the camper they have so all of us girls can giggle and talk late. SUCH a fun time we're going to have!

I'll post pictures as soon as possible!

Bunny Drama

       Brace yourself, I'm about  to be extravagant and post two blog posts in one day. Forgive me, but I probably won't have any time the rest of this week. :)  

      Since last semester, Madison and I have been helping our friend Rebecca out with the junior drama class. They're putting on The Velveteen Rabbit, a lovely tale of a toy rabbit and its little boy. Its been pretty fun, and this week has been tech week for them. Tonight was their first performance! To tell you the truth, I was more nervous for them than they were for themselves, haha. They did wonderfully. 

       My job as one of the backstage helpers is to hide behind the set and feed the little kids their lines if they forget them. I'm sure it looks hilarious, since I'm standing close to the cracks of the set walls, a script in hand and whispering, what appears to be, to the wall, hoping the younger kids can hear me. Most of the time they do, so that's a relief. I'm not looking ridiculous for no reason! : ) Another job of mine is to be one of the characters (a horse) neighs. The girl has to neigh in two different parts of the play, but she doesn't, hence, I have to neigh for her, haha. Tonight was the first time I ever neighed for the horse, and the first time was a fail (to be sure) but the second time I neighed with all my might, tyring to actually be heard. After my loud horse noise I nearly burst out laughing, and kept a hand over my mouth and with my other hand held my nose since I have a terrible habit of snorting while laughing... Rebecca has told me that if you hold your nose when laughing, it is impossible to snort. My other friends backstage quietly applauded me and were trying not to laugh hard either. It was VERY difficult to regain composure, but I finally managed to pick back up where the little kids were. Altogether, they did a wonderful job and the audience seemed to love it. One play down, one more to go, tomorrow. Gotta love it. Cross your fingers that their next play is even better! ;)

     
Oh, and I asked my dad later if he heard my neigh...negative. Drat.

New Favorite Movie

Wednesday was Doctor's Day, and since my Dad's a doctor, of course we had to celebrate it. So we went to see The King's Speech.  I LOVED it! It was wonderful! Besides my family, there were only four other people in the theater. I wasn't thrilled about the cussing, of course, but if that really did help King George VI get over his stammering, then I applaud for historical accuracy. Everything was absolutely breathtaking about the movie, and I got teary-eyed at the end. The Kings Speech has now been firmly established as one of my favorite movies.