It's That Time of Year!

I am always so excited for the official start of Spring and am often looking for the tell-tale signs that it is coming. One of the key indicators, in my opinion, is the moment the seeds and gardening supplies make their debut in the stores. I always find this to be incredibly premature (much like Valentine stuff appearing on the shelves the day after Christmas!!!), but it is an exciting milestone, none-the-less.

On the home front, I know Spring is right around the corner when the seed catalogs begin pouring into our mailbox with gusto! I LOVE to garden and will spend as much time as possible pouring over seed and bulb catalogs whenever I have the chance (which isn't often, but you can find me with a catalog shoved in my purse, one in the door of the car, a few stacked on the nightstand and you even might find one hidden in the homeschooling books - just in case I get a moment to thumb through it while Eli is contemplating an assignment).

Every year I try to set aside a small portion of the budget to expand my perennial beds and to add to/improve on the hardscaping around our house. Plus, there is the large vegetable garden that I love to toil over each year as well. Any excuse I can make to get out and play in the dirt, I do. I love spending the time outdoors in God's beautiful creation and I don't even mind getting dirty when it's for the right reasons. I also see that there is so much work to do on the landscaping around our house and I am motivated to get out there to experiment and beautify things, as the kiddos allow. We started with a blank slate at this house (I think it was as blank as it could possibly get) and all I see is there is still so much to do! I haven't even ventured to putting in the landsscaping around the front of our house yet (I have to wait for Kevin to fix the grading first)! I am both looking forward to and am completely overwhelmed by that project. :)

This year is going to be a HUGE challenge for me, however. With the birth of our fourth child due in late May, I am afraid my gardening abilities will be nil. Before the baby comes I will be too big and uncomfortable to really get down and dig in the soil. And after the baby comes I know I will be too sleep deprived and busy to devote much attention to the outside of our house (not to mention the inside of the house . . . the laundry . . . the cooking . . . the - oh, you get the idea!). However, this reality does not stop me from dreaming and devoting too much time to flipping through the seed and bulb catalogs page by page. I am sure that even if I do not get any flowers in this year, at least I will try to plant a few of the vegetable basics. Most years I start a lot of my own seeds, but this time I am already resigned to buy starts from the local nursery. The time commitment is much less this way, but the cost factor is majorly limiting. I will purchase as much as the budget will allow and pray that the baby will let me spend time in God's great outdoors. I'm hoping I will be coherent enough and not too bleary-eyed to enjoy the reprieve that being outside in the nice weather can be. Oh, how I am looking forward to the much anticipated arrival of Spring!