Plant Gardens

Jeremiah 29:5 "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce."

This is a painting of my precious nephew, Ford, picking vegetables out of his grandfather's garden. His grandfather, my father, has always had a love for planting and gardening, and each year he blesses us with his vegetables and my favorite, his silverqueen corn, homegrown from his garden. My father is not what you would call a minimalist, and anything he does, he does in a grand way. His garden this year could have fed half of Harris County, so he had plenty of veggies to share with family and friends.

While my father was in the process of planting his garden this year, I called to tell him the girls wanted to come help him plant. He had already planted most of it, so he dug up one whole row of potatoes so they could replant them and feel a part of his garden. The girls loved planting the potatoes and seeds, and they had so much fun seeing the finished product of those seeds.

Picking time was so much fun. I loved watching the girls reach down in the ground and pull out a potato where only a month or so earlier, there had only been a hole in the ground. I didn't have the pleasure of picking with my sweet nephew, Ford, but when I saw this photo of him on his mother's blog and the scripture that she had put with it, I just had to paint it. It is such a picture of my children's and my brothers' children time with their grandfather.

The majority of my father's free time is spent improving the land that he lives on. He has always had an appreciation for nature and most of my memories with him are riding in the woods learning about the names of trees or different types of birds. Although I still fail at remembering the names of the trees he has taught me so many times, he instilled in me a love for the outdoors and the unnoticed miracles of nature. Although we are not able to get to his home as often as we would like, it is such a blessing to have a place to take our children, where they can spend hours fishing and learning about the outdoors.

My father carries the grandchildren around in his motorized cart showing them all of the things he has planted in the previous weeks or months. They love picking apples off the trees, and tasting of strange fruits so that they can giggle with granddaddy as they spit them out. Each child has their own birdhouse which he strategically placed throughout the farm and had them each write their name on them. He drives them to each house, and they hop down from the cart to check to see if a bird has built a nest or laid eggs in their very own house.

His duck boxes are filled with eggs each spring and the children delight in peeking in the houses to discover the beginnings of a nest or eggs where weeks earlier there had been none.

I have always loved hearing my fathers odd facts about trees, insects, and animals, learning about the different types of birds that laid the eggs he has collected and why they build their nests the way they do. God's world and his creations have always fascinated me, and my father's passion for those things has had more of an influence in my life than he most likely knows. I pray that my father is with us long enough to teach my children and all of my nieces and nephews all of the same things he taught me about God's amazing creatures and the beauty of the land and nature.

Thank you Dad for all the cart rides, "nature lessons", and for allowing us the opportunity to enjoy your beautiful land that you have worked so hard for. Thank you for your garden and the baskets of vegetables you leave at our door, and most of all for the experiences you have given us. I love you and am thankful for you.

By the way, I may not remember the names of those trees, but at least I knew that a baby eagle is an eaglet! :) -which the word eagle just reminded me of you in your Eagle station wagon and gave me a really good laugh! I love you.

Thank you God for my precious nephew, Ford, and all of my nieces and nephews and the joy that they bring to my life. I pray that we will have many years of planting and picking gardens together!