Look at what we grew!

Last March we welcomed a sweet little boy into the world, and he’s the missing piece to our little family. In true Ray fashion, like his brother before him, he came into this world guns’a blazing. Deep down I knew he’d give me trouble especially when the morning sickness came full force, but he is absolutely worth every tear, ache and grey hair. Because of our little monster I had a not so luxurious 7 day stay in the hospital and he landed himself a 26 day stay in the NICU. But its been over a year since his birth and we have been soaking up all the love and cuddles, the world is bright and sunny and I am exactly where I need to be in life.

Because I had a newborn and was taking daily trips to the NICU last spring I knew that I had no mental capacity to get chicks or to start a garden so instead I focused on my family and caring for the flock of mature chickens that we currently had. I am SO glad I didn’t get any chick babies! Aside from the usual complete exhaustion you feel from just giving birth and having to tend to a newborn, which even though my baby was In the NICU for a month it wasn’t like I had a “break” from him. I still pumped every 3 hours (even at night) to try to get my supply up and I would drop my 5 year old off at school, drive the hour commute to the hospital so I could sit with my Newborn until I had to rush home in time to pick up my 5 year old from school. And let me just say for those of you who don’t personally know me, It does NOT take a lot for me to get into a dark place mentally and emotionally so you could only imagine how much I was absolutely just struggling to keep my head above water.

A few months later after finally adjusting to our little one being home with us I would go outside for some fresh air and couldn’t stop thinking about how I wished I had a garden going, so I decided before it got too late in the year that I would plant just a few things to so I had something to look forward to do in the cool summer evenings, which is my favorite time of the day for spending in the garden. I planted some green and purple beans, squash, zinnias and different varieties of pumpkins.

I had a good little routine going on after a while! I would drop my oldest off at school and after getting home my little one and I would go out to the garden and get everything watered before the heat of the day, then after dinner I would step out to the garden and do some weeding, trimming and pest control along with some more watering. My sweet husband would make sure I had some quality garden time by keeping the boys preoccupied and All was right in the world.

Now did I get any abundance in my crop? Absolutely not, but it was still so nice and much needed for my own sake. The bugs got to just about every green bean I grew and I never saw a single carrot but the highlight this past growing season was definitely the jack-be-little pumpkins I found hidden in some tall weeds and the feeling of some normalcy after such a hectic beginning to the year. One of my favorite quotes that I repeated to myself often last year, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow” - Audrey Hepburn  and it was a quote I really felt in my soul. After all the darkness I was in, all the fear and helplessness I felt.. I still believed in tomorrow and through faith in God and his greater plan I’m here planning this years garden while both of my boys are healthy, safe, and exactly where they should be. This past year my family grew by one and my faith grew by so much more. I can’t wait to share what we have planned for “tomorrow”.

**RYETT AND HIS DADA at one of our NICU visits.