Yep, we're still alive here in Watkinsville. It has been quite a week. We kicked it off last Monday with a trip to the dentist for Harrison. He had begun complaining of a toothache several days previously (in the van), and I promised I would check it out as soon as we got back home. Fast forward 1 and 1/2 hours to our hall bathroom where I am peering into my son's open mouth. "Well, son, I reckon you do have a little toothache, seeing as how half of your tooth is GONE!!!" How does this happen? Probably because I am not personally doing the brushing on my older two children's teeth. My younger two still have to "assume the position": back up against the wall with my hand on their foreheads and their mouth open!!! So funny when the dentist asks them to, "Show me how you brush your teeth..."!!

In the end, I wore a pretty good path to the dentist's office. Harrison had to go back on Tuesday to have 3 teeth pulled and 2 cavities filled. No, that is not a misprint or a type-o (would that it were!). Then on Thursday I returned with Sophia and Kirk for a routine cleaning. Thankfully, it actually WAS routine. Except for the part where beautiful-blonde-soft-spoken-dentist-lady tells Soph and Kirk they need to stop sucking their thumbs. (Crickets chirping....) Uh, what? She explained to my 5 and 3 year olds that this practice was pulling their teeth out. Kirk calmly looked at her and responded, "I still have all my teeth; I haven't pulled any of them out!"

At the end of the week, we finally found some time to till up what will be my garden. Rob is so smart. Yesterday, for instance, he decided that instead of tilling up this huge area of yard, why not just till up the actual rows to be planted? That way, I have grassy area to walk between the rows and less weeding (theoretically) to do. I don't think I would have come up with that. And it sounded like a good idea- looks pretty cool too. I just bet some of you seasoned gardeners reading this are going, "Tehehe! How stupid!" And we just might be. Time will tell. Honestly, I have never attempted to grow anything in Georgia. I have only successfully grown things in California (easy) and Michigan (semi-easy). My hope is that my children, who are enormously interested in planting, will suddenly develop an overwhelming urge to eat the produce from our garden. Ya know, V-E-G-E-T-A-B-L-E-S. Besides that, this is our "science" unit for the semester. So much science-y stuff to do when planting the garden. Whether it's explaining why we have to pull up so many little roots (Oh, hello there Mr. 100-year-old Oak Tree standing forty feet away from my garden plot!); or how it really is okay if daddy plowed through the body of an earthworm- it will regenerate itself; or why I actually want to keep the bugs in the dirt (soil aeration); and why little tiny seeds, given the right environment, will burst out of their shells and produce "fruit" for us.

And isn't that a great time to teach our children about the goodness of God. He regenerates us- gives us life ('cuz we are dead in our sins, let's face it) and then, by his Spirit, causes us to grow in that life!

So, tell me: how does your garden, literal or spiritual, grow?