How can you pass up a tomato named Mr. Stripey?

Eric has been resting in bed these last few days. He was walking with the walker on Tuesday at the beach but Wednesday morning it seems his right leg decided not to work any more. It's difficult for him to bear any weight on his legs which, makes moving him difficult for me. It just might be the first time in my life I wished I weighed more than my current weight. Moving someone literally twice your size is not an easy feat! They're supposed to bring some sort of lift tomorrow that will make it easier for us to get him into the wheelchair. It makes me think back to my college days, all those pulleys and mechanical engineering stuff.

The kids arrived home today, as did the dog. The house is no longer quiet but at least it's getting back to normal. I've gotten everything in the right room, now all I need to do is unpack and put it away.

I decided in the spring that since the lot behind us had not been sold, I would plant a garden this year. It's the first time I've had a garden in a long time and I think I may have gotten a bit excited when I was buying plants. There were just so many interesting tomato varieties, I never quite got out of that area. I came home with a pepper, a watermelon, a cantaloupe and 6 tomato plants. Nevertheless, I am still very excited about the progress of our little garden.

A friend of mine agreed to come over and water the yard and our garden when we were gone. The thing about living in a new neighborhood is that until the lots around you are sold, you are surrounded by a big dirt patch which in the summer, grows a lot of weeds. Now, weeds in general, are indiscriminate about where they grow but, I've found, they tend to grow much larger around the perimeter of your property because of the runoff when you water. The same is true of my little stolen patch of land I call a garden.

When we came home, you could barely tell the difference between the weeds and my dear tomato plants. This is not a particularly big problem except for the fact that our builder's solution to the weed control is to periodically run the front loader over the empty lots. They were kind enough to spare my garden last time, but it was more clearly marked a few months ago. So, high on the to do list when we arrived home was to weed the garden and clear some space around it so, the front loader might spare us again. I began with just the garden, picking out a little weed here and there. I started to think about what the bible says about God "pruning the vine so it will produce good fruit". I tell you, weeding is not the most comfortable thing to do. You're on your hands and knees. If you're soils anything like mine, there are rocks digging into your knees. After a while, your back starts to hurt from being bent over. It's hot in the sun and you get dirty. I always thought of that passage about pruning as being something that was painful for us, the ones being pruned. I don't suppose it's all that pleasant for God either, allowing pain and hardship into our lives in order to refine us, making us able to bear more and better fruit. We are his children after all.

And yet, in another week, I'll head out again to weed the garden. I do it not because I enjoy weeding, but because I know it strengthens and protects my harvest. I figure God has the same in mind.

A lot of you have told me you can't understand how God might allow this to happen to Eric. I wish I had an answer but I don't. I do believe it must sadden God to see Eric struggle with cancer as much as it saddens us. And while I don't understand the pruning God has been doing in our lives, I have already begun to see the fruit of His labor. And that, will be enough for me, until my day at the pearly gates comes.

I hope you enjoyed the picture of our biggest young tomato.

Blessings,
Amy