“Now is the heyday of summer: everything voluptuously in growth. It is the full, warm, robust middle age of the year, with good health and thriving normal life. The earth, ripe with products as well as promise, smiles now with full contentment.”
~ David Grayson, The Countryman’s Year
A harvest of good things in July:
The sunflowers opening their golden heads to greet the morning sun
Picking so many green beans & digging up fresh onions
Jared’s strawberry smoothies
Daily Devo texts from Shane & Shane
Being reminded of the gospel on a tough Tuesday and how I daily need undeserved grace
FaceTime with Joel and Natalie to hear all about their mission trip to Brazil
Pickling day; getting the first six quarts put up and using Mema’s well-worn recipe
Hanging flag bunting on the fence out front
The myrtle trees blooming in time for the Fourth
A weekend visit with Dad and Mom, and going out to Just Call Me Joe’s with all four parents
Taking Mom to visit my favorite local nursery and farm produce stand, how much we both love buying plants and fresh vegetables
Hosting a Fourth of July fellowship for our church family, who filled our kitchen and yard and stayed till dark
Showing Nancy my flowers
Ben in the sprinkler
Framing and hanging my Lore Pemberton paintings & plates that belonged to my grandma Karen in the kitchen
Playing Five Crowns on the back porch on a hot summer evening
Watching the neighbors’ fireworks from a blanket in the front yard
Coffee and a book study with Sierah
A video of Elanor hula-hooping
Reading The Screwtape Letters aloud on the back porch together
Opportunities to shadow a biblical counselor each week for ACBC training
Myrtle trees popping blooms all over town
“A sacrifice of thanksgiving” in Psalm 50
Making breakfast for Jared when he came home from being called out to the hospital in the early morning
My hands smelling like produce when I come back from the garden
Shredding zucchini and baking loaves for the freezer
Putting towels on the line
The zinnia box bursting at its seams with blooms
A zucchini lasagna
A breakfast out date
Visiting MeMe
Meeting Emily on a Saturday morning for coffee downtown and then a trip to the farmer’s market; buying a whole bucket of dill for $3, which made the car smell like pickles
Playing cards with Jared’s parents on a hot afternoon & meatballs for dinner
Worship at Chaffee Crossing Baptist Church, where Jared guest preached; so many conversations with new friends and fellow saints
A Sunday evening walk at Barling City Park
Grilling succotash in the garage while Jared worked out
Listening to Middlemarch on audiobook during summer afternoons in the kitchen
Iced tea & a work project
Making homemade vanilla and grinding wheat berries at Teresa’s house
Morning rain and a long Bible study
Heading down the road to Crabtree Farms to pick up ten pounds of tomatoes, and canning them for salsa and soups
A spur-of-the-moment weekend trip to Northwest Arkansas for Jared’s birthday
Staying at a little hotel that was a grist mill during the Civil War, with window boxes full of flowers, a lily pad pond, and butterfly gardens
Golden hour on the city lake
Renting an e-bike to ride 50 miles of the greenway up to Bentonville, where we stopped for coffee
Hearing from Derrick and Michelle Bremer who are preparing to move to France as missionaries
Gathering a basket of zinnia blooms and cutting and arranging bouquets on the back porch
Celebrating Jared’s 28th with smoked meatloaf and family around the table for a summer meal
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