Relief

Thankfully all the damage to our house was cosmetic. Our insurance responded quickly. Our new landscaping survived (yea!), and the old did too (oh well). We huddled in the basement hallway with blankets, pillows and our portable DVD player. We have ordered a emergency weather/cell phone charger/flashlight/NOAA radio since we found out that WIFI is gone along with the power. The kids slept, Jeff monitored the storm on his cell phone, and I tried to calm down a dog who needed a Benadryl. We are very grateful.

Civic Duty

Back at the beginning of the year, you may remember we had a water line issue. The water was leaking in the snow for about 3 weeks and we found ourselves thankful for all the "Little House on the Prairie" books I had read as a child. The KUB crew took approximately 90 minutes to move our line once our name came up on the schedule. We've been living with a hole in the landscaping (check above picture) since then.

Well, Jeff took off work all of last week and set about the landscape as one of his task lists. Here are a few of the happys that are now gracing our yard.

Snowmound- a darling little plant with touchable qualities (per my request for our munchkins)


"Otto Luyken" an English Laurel- ubiquitous, but a good evergreen to sit under our windows and not take them over



Cherokee Chief flowering dogwood in Madeline's favorite color- pink!

This is the civic duty part; we are one street off the dogwood trail and nary a dogwood tree in our yard. Scandalous! Knoxville is the home of the Dogwood Arts festival after all! Don't worry, I am thoroughly ashamed each time I drive down the road.

I am on the lookout for a bench to go next to it, so I can watch the girls walk home from school in the future. And maybe a little table to go next to it, just to hold my iced tea and book.

I'm hoping that in the distant future; like 20 years, this will help block the view of my neighbor's roof line.





Manhattan spreading Euonymus

For some unknown reason, the previous owners were one plant short on finishing off the hedge to hide our iron retaining walls. The birds like to spread their art here. We prefer to cover it up.






Isn't this a glorious view??? We enjoy this each time we sit at our kitchen table (up one level ). It is depressing to look into your neighbor's lattice and dog house and feel like you have to wave at them when they come out to feed the dogs. Blech. And, exactly 3 days after we planted these arborvitae's, they started an addition. The current back porch is the new footprint for the addition and they will be adding a porch onto the back of that. Yippee!!! These arborvitae's are supposed to grow up to 60 feet and about 12-20 feet wide. They can grow 3 feet a year, so Madeline and I have begun to sing to them and give them hugs.

The tree on the far right is a Blue Spruce we planted on our wedding anniversary our first year in this house. I love them, but they just don't grow fast enough to kill that view.

It's funny for me to look at the front of our house. You don't have to be a "Where's Waldo" expert to spot the line where our landscape budget ran out. Ah, well; the fall is a better time to plant anyway.

He is Risen!

Christ the Lord is Risen Today

Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your voice and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth, reply, Alleluia!

Vain the stone, the watch, the seal, Alleluia!
Christ has burst the gates of hell, Allelua!
Death in vain forbids His rise, Alleluia!
Christ has opened Paradise, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once He died, our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where they victory, O grave? Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

Hail, the Lord of earth and heaven! Alleluia!
Praise to Thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail, the Resurrection, thou! Alleluia!


Our family's Easter anticipation was greatly heightened by our church. Redeemer will be releasing it's first album, Rise O Buried Lord, in the near future. Rich, full, and inescapable in it's poignancy, please visit!