Notes from Nicole

Most nights when I crawl into bed I expect to get a full nights sleep. Don't we all? Well, let's just say that what I am expecting to receive and what I am actually receiving are two very different things. Lately, I feel like my sleeping pattern, or the lack thereof could become a book with the title of one of my favorite books, "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens. Only my title would be slightly different, "Great Expectations....peaceful slumber or periods of pondering?" You see I can't seem to turn my thoughts off at night. It isn't that I worry about things beyond my control....most of the time. It isn't that I am trying to reconstruct how I will have my classroom set up for this school year....most of the time. And it isn't that I am going over my list of "to dos" for the next day, week , month, etc....most of the time. You see, it is a culmination of them all! I pray that I will be blessed with a good night's

In the bible there are 47 verses about seeds and 46 verses about plants and 28 verses about gardens. (https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Gardens) I live in the Midwest, Central Illinois to be exact and we love our gardens and our farmers! This year we have had enormous amounts of rain. So much rain, in fact that some farmers are not even going to be able to plant their crops this year! I usually plant a garden, but again because of the weather and work I had not done so yet. Yesterday I decided to "git 'er done!" As I was doing some weeding-well, if I am honest it was a garden of weeds that had to be pulled before I could even attempt to plant anything in that same space. I was pulling and sweating and I was very dirty and then when I finished I still had to plant the vegetables! Once I was done, however, I stood there watering my garden and thinking about the work I had done in my garden and how my life has felt a lot like my pre-weeded garden lately. Negl