Summer TIme-Putting up the pool and fence!

So Mason finally agreed we could get a pool this summer:) I'm very happy since the summer's here have been getting so hot it makes it rather impossible to enjoy being outside. Breyton and I spend most of our time outdoors, so its going to be great to have a place to cool off that's a little bigger than the kiddie pool option! We definitely tried to start off as low maintenance as possible for having a pool, so we can better learn how to upkeep without getting in over our heads lol. Therefore we went with an easy set pool. It's been up a little over 3 weeks and was a way bigger job than planned with getting it up and all the extras we had to do with it.....such as discovering what we thought was a level spot in yard wasn't level enough and building a fence around it.

We got some quotes to have a fence built for us, but the pricing was outrageous....so of course without any prior experience we decided to build the fence ourselves. Seemed like the best option, and we are still glad we chose to, but it may be our first and last experience with putting in a fence. Whew, it's a LOT of work.  However, I must say we did a pretty darn good job for having no help! (Except of course for Breyton's "help").

The fence looks pretty good and most importantly has withstood 2 storms, so it must be sturdy enough. We can finally say it's all complete thanks to plenty of hard work. We have already been enjoying the benefits though and look forward to the rest of the summer. Come fall time we have plenty of big plans for turning the fenced in area to a backyard patio for a fire pit, etc to make the area useful year around when the pool isn't up. Excited for the possibilities!

Before the fence:

During the fence building:

And after:

Update on adventures in gardening:)

Some may say I'm easily entertained and I wouldn't disagree with them......but seriously growing a garden has been so awesome. Not that it hasn't been a hard work, but it's rewarding work. I mean just look how beautiful growing food is!!

I've been fascinated at the small stuff and I may be the only one, but watching how plants grow up a trellis without any help is just pretty cool. haha I've been around gardens a lot and even helped pick from them, but I guess because I was never responsible for taking care of it, so I didn't notice all the details God has so perfectly designed. These little vine 'arm' things just grow off the plant searching for anything to attach to so the plant can grow upward and it's neat to watch how fast they can wrap around plus how sturdy they are.

Also didn't realize vegetable plants grow flowers right where the vegetable itself begins to bud and grow.

So now we've come pretty full circle from seed to harvest just waiting for a few slow growers to start producing fruit.....here's a look at the garden from a little over a month ago and its grown A LOT since then as you can see.

Oh, and here's one of my cute little helper.

What to do in the waiting.

The waiting is the hardest part. I've found that statement to be painfully true in my life over the past year. Times like these put to test if my faith is really believing without seeing. Sometimes I want so badly for God's plan to line up with mine(not the other way around)....sometimes the desire for a baby and for Breyton to have a sibling "before it's too late" is overwhelming. Unexpectedly struggling to conceive and then miscarriage are a grief that seems to come in waves.

Some days I'm ok, some days I'm great....and some days the tears flow so so easily.

Each day seems to be a battle in my mind where satan is trying to steal the hope I have and replace it with fear and worry. I'm constantly having to choose what truths and what lies I will believe. Because the fact is the future is unknown......I don't know if or when we will be holding a new baby in our arms, but I do know my God is a God who loves me and promises that He has my best in mind. Does that mean the road is gonna be easy? Oh, how I wish it was...but I read a statement awhile back that I believe is true: God is more concerned with our holiness than our happiness. 

I wish everyday I could easily focus on how God is orchestrating this plan so much bigger than I could grasp and that one day it will all be clear to me....but I can't always...some days I feel stuck in the waiting.

 A place I wouldn't choose to be.

However, I can find comfort knowing this is exactly where God would have me to be. There is so much to be learned in the waiting. If we can choose to let go of the bitterness, the fears, the dashed hopes....then God can show us so much here. We can find a faith, a trust, a hope, a peace in the 'valley's' of life that we wouldn't be forced to learn on the 'mountaintop'.  I won't try to pretend that I don't have doubts, but I can say I have grown spiritually during this trial in ways I can't describe. So what would God have me to do in the waiting?.....Trust. Pray. Listen. Devote myself to his Word. Fill myself with the hope and truths I know I have in Him. And wait.  I can say, for today, God's promises are enough.

......and because God seems to speak to me through music quite often here's the lyrics to a long time favorite song that has resignated so close to my heart lately. 

"Blessings" by Laura Story

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not our home

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise