On Children
Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let our bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Temperature has been in the nineties lately, and in my very pregnant state, the heat wilts me quickly. This has limited my ambitions in terms of outdoor projects. The porch plants are actually lucky if they get enough water. The vegetable garden has not been getting enough attention and has grown weedy and unkempt. I haven’t been checking on it every day, which has allowed certain pests to ravage away unchecked longer than I would like, and watering problems to go uncorrected long enough for the plants to become very thirsty in the scorching heat. Overall they seem to be doing okay, though. One tomato plant had been stripped of about a third of its leaves before I plucked the culprit and fed it to the chickens. Any remaining hornworms will soon get to meet their maker via Bacillus Thuringiensis. Can’t have them spoiling my ‘maters. The pepper plants fight on, and to my surprise they have even begun to flower. They got kind of a late start out in the garden, and have had a bit of a time catching up. Many of my seeds have gone unplanted, and will either get their shot in late summer for a fall crop, or will have to wait until next spring. The fence that I was going to grow some of the viney plants along never got put up, so they have been shelved for now.

We’ve had intermittent thunderstorms over the last couple weeks, so the deck isn’t finished yet. It has to be totally dry before the stain and sealer can be put on, and it has to stay dry for at least 24 hrs. before it gets rained on. This week looks good for it, though. We’ve shifted focus to the porch. It faces west and the bricks got so hot in the afternoon sun that you’d bake out there. Now we have some wicker furniture we picked up on sale, and a mister fan that hooks up to the hose (so awesome! 20 degree drop in air temp!). We busted out the old tiki torches, and have been enjoying the perfect nights outdoors, watching the fireflies dance. Eventually we plan to screen in the porch, but for now we’ve picked up some solar pull-down shades to block out the sun.

Some of our more ambitious landscape projects have been put on a back burner. The grass has largely filled in around the front area, so we no longer have a giant mudscape to contend with, but the back is still patchy. We’ve got some ideas involving an arbor and gravel walkways that are going to be fleshed out soon. The large trees I intend to have put in may have to wait until fall. That will also be when we put the fruit trees in the front by the vegetable beds. We finally had gutters put in, and the rain barrels will eventually be placed under the downspouts. The front planters are also in the queue.

So it’s been a lot of work, but it’s coming along! I have to mention that my sainted husband has been doing most of it, along with the laundry and cleaning and cooking, and working full time! Oh yes, the poor dear has been picking up the slack for me, in light of my awfully delicate condition. Delicate, and contorted, distended, and structurally compromised, actually. I’m sure not the only one looking forward to meeting the new baby!

I find it rather amusing that every time I go out, people do double-takes and comment on how I must be due any day now, and then I tell them I still have another month and a half to go, and a mixture of horror and incredulity comes over their faces. Then they invariably ask if I am having twins. Nope! And yes, it’s another boy. And then they look like they are going to pass out. It’s become a routine now. It gets even worse if I’m wearing white. I sure am feeling it too; I can’t imagine getting any bigger. Standing for long stretches is out of the question now. You name a body part and most likely I’ll tell you it aches persistently. Doc says late July is most likely for baby’s arrival and I’m counting the days!

-Mother Teresa

Supermodel Kathy Ireland Lashes Out Against Pro Choice

It’s no secret that the majority of Hollywood stars are strong advocates for a woman’s right to choose whether or not she wants to terminate a pregnancy, however former “Sports Illustrated” supermodel-turned-entrepreneur-turned-author Kathy Ireland has gone against the grain of the glitterati and spoken out against abortion.

“My entire life I was pro-choice — who was I to tell another woman what she could or couldn’t do with her body? But when I was 18, I became a Christian and I dove into the medical books, I dove into science,” Ireland told Tarts while promoting her insightful new book “Real Solutions for Busy Mom: Your Guide to Success and Sanity.”

“What I read was astounding and I learned that at the moment of conception a new life comes into being. The complete genetic blueprint is there, the DNA is determined, the blood type is determined, the sex is determined, the unique set of fingerprints that nobody has had or ever will have is already there.”

However Ireland admitted that she did everything she could to avoid becoming a believer in pro-life.

“I called Planned Parenthood and begged them to give me their best argument and all they could come up with that it is really just a clump of cells and if you get it early enough it doesn’t even look like a baby. Well, we’re all clumps of cells and the unborn does not look like a baby the same way the baby does not look like a teenager, a teenager does not look like a senior citizen. That unborn baby looks exactly the way human beings are supposed to look at that stage of development. It doesn’t suddenly become a human being at a certain point in time,” Ireland argued. “I’ve also asked leading scientists across our country to please show me some shred of evidence that the unborn is not a human being. I didn’t want to be pro-life, but this is not a woman’s rights issue but a human rights issue.”

Ireland also asserted that she believes “no justification is adequate” (for an abortion) unless another the mother’s life is in danger.

“In that instant, your intention is not to kill but to save the life of another. If we’re about to demolish a building we make absolute certain there are no human beings in there before we take a wrecking ball to it, but the unborn doesn’t have a voice so it’s up to us to speak for them,” she added passionately. “If I see someone abusing a child I am going to stand up against that, and that’s how I feel about abortion. Women are not given all the facts, they’re told it is a harmless procedure and now it has turned into such a political football.”

The committed Christian and devoted mother even dedicated the chapter “Faith & Your Family” in her new book to her foundations in Christianity and believes that this is what’s missing from so many American families today.

“You have to figure out your own values and why you have them. People are going to try and push and pull at your convictions, so you have to have boundaries and put them in place,” she said.

The last week or so has been very windy, with cold gusts around 50 mph tearing through our yard. We’ve had to revise our garden plans a tad. I’m glad we didn’t put the plants out yet because they would have been in shreds. Most likely we’ll be fashioning arches of PVC and enclosing the beds in 6 mil plastic sheeting until the weather stabilizes bit more, the wind dies down, and the plants have had some time to get established. In the meantime I’ll be planting some vines around the wildlife fence, so that will provide some kind of a wind screen when the plastic comes off.

Monday I’ll be attending a class on rainwater harvesting and household use, through our local extension office. Here’s hoping for abundant rainfall this year!

I’ve mixed up a batch of fertilizer for the beds, but the wildlife fence still has to be put up. I’m not taking any chances with the critters, wild or otherwise. The last couple days of cold winds probably would not have been wonderful for my tender little plants, either. Conditions permitting, I will begin to harden them off this week. The Meyer Lemon and Key Lime trees are flourishing in their pots out on the front porch. The lime was looking pretty bare and sad by the end of winter, but has since put out tons of new leaves and flowers. The lemon is also covered in large, purple-white buds. I can’t wait for that fragrance, not to mention the fruit!

This week Patrick will construct the chicken coop. The Neatos will be boarding their new Araucana, Mabel, with us. We also have several projects on the table involving desperately needed landscape/home additions: gutters, rain barrels, hydromulch for the backyard, completion of the fence, perhaps a screened porch, etc., etc., etc.

It’s been a busy spring!