I don’t know where to start with this blog, except to say that God is SO very good!
This morning we ended the very first slumber party of my children’s young little lives with our good friends in West Ashley. . . what can I say – we haven’t had that much fun since the spring (daddy’s departure). . .
This afternoon I decided to take the children out to a blueberry farm to pick some blueberries (find a Pick-Your-Own farm close to you by clicking here.) It was cooler today, and by the time we got on the road out there it was well after 4 PM.
Right before we got there, we passed this massive field of absolutely breath-taking sunflowers! I had to stop, turn around, park the van so the children could see it (on the other side of the car there was a little horse pen with a mommy and baby horse in it too!) I had my camera, so I took a few photos. Sorry, Jeremy that these aren’t the most artistic photos, but I didn’t want to go into the field, so I took the picture from the road.
When I was done, I got in my van and was about to drive away, when an older gentleman, pulled up in his pickup truck across the road and rolled down his window “do you want some?” He asked. I didn’t know what to say! “Did you plant these?” I asked. He told me that the field belonged to a Mrs. Somebody down the road but she let him plant them just for the beauty of them for people to look at. Now, for those of you who are worried about me talking to a stranger and being out of my vehicle, this was on “Central” Road right off the main highway in Summerville, SC and Rt. 17, a VERY busy area with many cars around (it was also rush hour, and there were houses right there and roadside stand too with people selling).
So he tells me that I can have as many as I would like, that he wants people to enjoy them. He says people always stop to take photos and if he sees them he likes to give them some to take some home. “How many do you want?” He asks. . . how do you answer that? I told him, “oh, whatever you want, is fine, I would love any you want to give away,” to which he answers, “oh, no, it’s whatever YOU would like, how many could you enjoy, and do you want the bigger ones or the smaller ones that haven’t opened up yet?” I’m still in shock. So he cut me about 7 or 8 sunflowers and told me to pick more if I ever come back by and want some again.
I almost cried driving away. A complete stranger gives me flowers he’s grown himself (that was a generous heart). . .and he just happened to be driving by when I was taking a photo (that was God). 1 Timothy 6:17-19 describes the selfless actions of this elderly man: “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. {Instruct them} to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.” (NASB) As a footnote, the act of “instruct”ing was done in this situation by example, action and deed. Thank you Mr. Sunflower Farmer!
The blueberry picking was a very pleasant experience. I picked from the higher branches and took pictures until my camera ran out of battery life
Elijah picked from “the little trees” as he called the smaller trees or lower branches that held ripe blueberries
Merry picked from the ground while Elijah corrected her and instructed her to “dump ’em out, Mimi” when she would put the dirty ones in her basket!
By the end, Merry was picking very well from the lower branches too.
It was the quietest activity we have engaged in, probably ever, besides sleeping! Everyone was consumed with finding and picking. I conversed with them, recited Jamberry, by Bruce Degan, one of our favorite books, but we would get so intensely engrossed at times in our own picking that I would realize that nobody had said a word after about 3 or 4 minutes.
Elijah says after about an hour, “you have enough Momma, I have enough,” and he sat down in the shade of one of the blueberry bushes. We had two quarts total of sweet beautiful blueberries and it cost just $4.50 (plus gas, of course!) I think we will go back within the next two weeks or so before they are done ripening. The children said they enjoyed it and I’m going to see what tasty things I can make with the blueberries.
The Caskey Family 