Beauty and the Beast: A Bible Lesson

I love when my kids get excited for family devotions. And I love it even more when God continues impressing His word on their little hearts throughout the day. Currently, I've been letting my kids pick a verse to read and discuss at lunch time. They're always super excited that they get to pick, and seem to pay more attention when it's "their verse." Today, my 6yr old daughter picked 1 Samuel 16:7b.

"For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."

Perfect. This couldn't have come at a better time, I thought. With all the princess stuff out there, and jewelry, and budding interest in Barbies, and questions about makeup... Perfect timing. So we talked about it. Drew some pretty people with ugly hearts (writing the names of different sins on their hearts). And then some ugly people with pretty hearts (writing Biblical virtues on their chests).

But then a princess movie helped me out...

Later that day, after a few sweaty hours playing outside, we asked a friend if we could borrow a Disney movie- Beauty and the Beast. I remembered loving this movie as a child and wanted to share it's music and magic with my little girl. As I prepped her for the movie though, I realized how beautifully this would tie into our verse for the day. Pretty people, ugly people, one scary beast...but what was in their hearts? Belle, the main character, was of course beautiful inside and out. This is a princess movie after all. But, her actions so wonderfully illustrated self-sacrifice, patience, kindness and compassion. Gaston was beautiful outside, but not on the inside. He was the perfect picture of an ugly heart full of pride, rudeness and impatience. ( You remember the burping and the endless mirror gazing...) And of course, the beast. He was ugly on the outside and on the inside for a while, until he had a change of heart. Then he began to show gentleness, self-control and started thinking of others before himself.

A Bible lesson? I think so!

We had the best conversation about all of the characters, what their hearts were filled with, and how God can change a person's heart and fill it with good and beautiful virtues. And I don't know about your kids, but mine become totally obsessed with movies and TV shows. So when I can tie in their favorite characters with Biblical lessons...well then I say, "Thank you God for the insight"... and for princess movies.

Corny Experiment

I experimented with corn this year.

Daphne husking... And the final outcome... wait for it...wait for it...

Weirdness. Not sure why my corn looks like a hillbilly's toothless smile, but that's what we got this year. Not enough sun, not enough corn planted? Not sure, but I probably won't do it again next year. Too much work and space for what you get. It was a fun little experiment though.

New Formations

Our sunflowers are huge. Tim is 6 feet tall and they tower over him.

There are several flower heads on each stalk, and have just begun to open up.

Jalapenos are my new must have in the garden. I've never grown them before, but we're enjoying them on sandwiches, steaks, omelets and everything else you could imagine.

The pumpkin plant is well on it's way.

And so is my corn. Daphne calls it the corn maze. I'm surprised that they're doing so well despite the patchy sun... I guess we'll see how much they actually produce in this spot.

A tinny watermelon starting to form.

And a spaghetti squash that will be ripe in the fall.

Something else I've been growing... apparently she's sick of saying cheese.

The Minami garden has now been renamed to The Jungle.

Produce Prep

Daphne likes washing the garden veggies. This is her new thing.

Some yellow tomatoes are finally ripening. And a new variety of yellow squash today. The bumpy ones.

Camping @ 38 wks Pregnant

Two more weeks until I have this baby. Oh baby. Camping at Oak Bottom and catching some fish while I wait.

Cousins Lily and Daphne fishing too!

My hubs, being manly and starting a fire.

Mindy cooked some amaaaaazing food and she has 3 kiddos. Amazing woman!

Beach time was fun! Whiskeytown Lake.

Phil caught some.

Phil and Carter tubing. Thanks Kevin for the boat rides!

More beach time.

Family camping trips are THE best!

Kevin taking a break from driving us all around in the boat.

Craig got some too!!

And that's a wrap. Goodbye and goodnight.

Yellow Squash

Harvested today.

More of the same as last time, but added yellow squash!

My helper.

Plums are in abundance right now. They are all over the side yard. Luckily, Daphne eats like 5 a day.

Bigger and Better

Everything is getting bigger! Here are some different angles to show the garden. Yellow squash and corn. Sunflowers in the back. Some of my tomato plants in the front and back. Two of my zucchini plants in the middle. And my ongoing garden mural. A job never done.

One Super Fresh Meal

Cilantro, carrots, edible purple plant, zucchini, lettuce, spinach, beats, jalapeno, strawberries, chard and green peppers harvested today. Nothing like fresh food. Tim caught and fried the fish, I grew and harvested the veggies. Minami's are tearing it up in the kitchen tonight Caught at Brandy Creek, which runs into Whiskeytown Lake.

Flower Power

I've never been one to put a lot of work into a flower garden. I've always thought, "if you can't eat it, what's the point?" But I'm starting to change my mind. First of all, flowers actually help your veggies. They bring butterflies and bees and all those helpful little pollinators that you need to produce anything. But I'm also able to sit outside now and enjoy them more. And I gotta say- looking at those beauties each day makes me feel all happy, warm and squishy inside. The top three were planted from seed. The pansies below were given to us from a friend. I think I'll do more flowers from seed next year. But my favorite flowers are always the veggie blossoms. It means that yummy vegetables are on their way. So far, several of my squash have flowered (along with a bunch of marigolds that I have bordering the raised beds). All of my tomato plants, which were started as indoor seedlings have flowered. A few of them are even starting to grow tomatoes! I always feel super accomplished when seedlings actually turn out. Jalapenos are flowering and starting to produce. I bought these as starters- the seedlings that I tried needed way more time and heat than I anticipated. My cantaloupe are starting to flower as well. Hopefully these work better than last year. I produced one sad little excuse of a melon last time, but I still ate all 6 tinny bites of it with pride. A watermelon plant is on the left. And here's an overview of the general progress of the rest of the Minami garden. Corn... Yellow squash. Beds one and two...the back one looking a little sparse since I just pulled out most of the leafy greens and planted new warm-weather crops from seed. Beds three and four. And finally my peppers and a pumpkin that's starting it's four month journey to becoming a jack o' lantern.