Wordless Wednesday

 

AeroGarden: the first three weeks

I did indeed get an AeroGarden for Christmas, which was what I most wanted after world peace, solid polar ice caps, an end to world hunger and pestilence, and new swimwear.

 

It sat in the box for several days on my counter because it was a promise of life and success and greenery, and I’d rather live in that fantasy than set it up and watch the dashing of my herbal hopes.

Eventually I summoned courage to face the unknown and opened the box.  And the result was this adorably cute little guy on my counter, with a timed grow light, buttons that light up to tell me when to water and add the included fertilizer, and six herb pods with little hats!

It has a system of six little fountains inside that run for five minutes every half hour to water the pods.

Ada said if it doesn’t work at least it’ll be the cutest failure ever.

As a review, here’s the other side of my kitchen, so you recall what level of skill I’m bringing to the table.  

I like to establish a low bar for success.

Day 5:  Genovese basil has sprouted!  Much excitement ensues.

Day 7:  Dill has sprouted and pulled ahead of basil!

Day 11:  Everything has sprouted.  Dill graduated to taking its little hat off.  I move it to basil since I was one hat short.  Daily excitement continues. 

Day 12:  I take off basil’s little hat because he’s getting so big.   

Day 21:  After returning from a weekend away, in which my grow light continued to shine for exactly 15 hours a day and my little plants continued to water and fertilize themselves, my herbs are so robust that I actually prune them to add flavor to the soup I’m making.

Did this leave me with nothing?  Wait for it…

No!  My seedlings have turned into little plants!

Day 23:  Dill is so gangbusters that I trim some not for the vital job of feeding my family, but for the relatively unimportant task of garnishing our date night plates.  And I have to raise the grow light to accommodate their height.

So, at the very least, the AeroGarden has given me a flavorful soup, a classy date night, and three weeks of pleasure and excitement.  

I was curious what other kinds of pods they have (answer: tons) so I went to the AeroGarden website, and oh my.  I may have lost my mind a little bit.  They come in ALL sizes, from itty bitty little 3-pod versions to giant, stackable gardens that can grow 3-foot-high plants and feed your whole neighborhood.  

So if this continues to work, I could have a long trail ahead of successfully faking a green thumb.  Who would’ve guessed all it would take is premeasured sunlight, water, fertilizer, a bright red light that tells me when to do something, and total and utter automation of all ecological processes. 

January

 

Oh, January.

My jeans are too tight, yet my New Year’s resolution lasted merely six days.  It’s really cold and gets dark mid-afternoon.  It’s back to school, back to the grind time.

On the plus side, it’s been snowy, which is exciting and beautiful and fun.  It’s nice to finally eat chicken and vegetables instead of candy for dinner.  And it’s our anniversary.

Brunch mimosas with the love of my life in a charming cozy cafe.

We’ve managed to get an impressive number of illnesses but not covid, as far as we’re aware, and we’ve tested a couple of times, including just before and just after our very romantic anniversary weekend getaway that was slightly curtailed by Jason coming down with laryngitis.  

So we drink tea and Emergen-C by the gallon and try to get some school done in between playing in the snow.

Names

I finished the first 9 chapters of 1 Chronicles last week.

Whew.

Have you ever read through the first 9 chapters of 1 Chronicles?

That’s a lotta names.  Lot of names.

Why are there so many and such long genealogies in the Bible?  I can’t explain the whole counsel of God. But working through those lists impressed on me two things.

One, God’s covenant was passed down through a lot of generations.  Father to son, parent to child, the promises of God were transmitted.  Some of the men listed were famous, some were nobodies, some were wise and good, and some did wicked things.  Some were kings, some were warriors, some were priests.  But all of them had children and passed on the covenant promises.  Very little, if anything, is known about most of them, except that:  they passed on the covenant.  

The most important thing I can do is pass on the covenant promises of God to my children.

Two, God’s people waited a long time for the fulfillment of the promise.  To Adam it was first promised that the “seed of the woman” would redeem mankind from the curse.  But alas, Adam’s first son was by no means the Messiah.  Nor was his second, or third, or fourth son.  Nor his grandson, or his great-grandson.  Generation after generation arose, grew old, and died, without ever seeing the rise of the promised Redeemer.  

No wonder the skies burst open and the shepherds ran when the Hope of the ages was born.  He was a long time coming.

It’s been 2022 years, give or take, and where is the promise of His coming again?  God’s people are again…waiting.  Generation after generation after generation.  Passing on His promises to the children and their children.  Waiting.

1 Chronicles can give us hope.  God was faithful to Adam and Noah and Abraham and David, though they did not live to see the Messiah’s redemption accomplished.  He didn’t forget them.  

He didn’t forget Hazarmaveth, Chelubai, Johanan, Chelub, Jahdo, Libni, Zethan, Eder, or Ebiasaph either—and He hasn’t forgotten me.  He was tracing His promise then, through the years, as He is doing now—until on one final glorious day, hope turns to glad fruition.

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Christmas and then some

If 2020 was the year of cancelled Christmas, 2021 was the year of never-ending Christmas.  Postponements due to minor illness meant we were still celebrating Christmas after Epiphany.

Christmas afternoon at Grandma’s house:

Christmas with Nana and Grandpa:

And back to school with Buck: