... "Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."
Gen 3:17b-19
Addie's folks came down for the weekend and were very gracious by giving of their time and energy and working around the house. When I type "working around the house", I mean that literally. We spent most of the time aerating and mowing the lawn, and dethatching, raking and bagging moss. Lots of nasty moss. We filled 32 large contractor bags full of heavily compressed moss. Joy of all joys!
And who knew that a dethatcher could make a lawn look like someone just threw a grenade? Holy crack smoker. We also had a leaf blower to corall moss into piles, which suprisingly worked. Phil brought along his riding mower, and we took turns filling up the dual bags it carried (along with me clogging or stalling the thing) while Addie, Ann and Caley raked up piles and bagged. Actually, I think Caley spent more time un-piling the piles, but she was having a blast so we just let her do her thing. We worked it all Saturday afternoon and finally called it quits because of the dehydration and faintings. Sunday morning after getting back from Mars Hill we finished up the backyard, and then Phil & Ann packed up their truck to head off on their next adventure. A few things like re-seeding bare spots and weeding are on the agenda, but we got so much done it's amazing. Thanks again Phil and Ann. It's so thoughtful that of all the fun things you guys could have done on your weekend you chose hard labor at the Gerlachs. We really appreciate it.
This weekend of working the soil reminded me of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Basically what happened was they sinned and rebelled against God, and so God cursed the ground and made it hard for them, and us, to "work it". (along with other curses but I won't go into those) I think most Christians believe that the earth, including the soil, became cursed (ie. weeds, thorny bushes, etc) after Adam and Eve sinned. So the garden that God created, full of the choicest trees and plants for food and beauty, would have been free of moss, weeds, and brown recluse spiders. After the fall, only then did the garden become just like any other garden, full of weeds.
This brings up an interesting question in regards to God's command for Adam to "cultivate and keep it". (Gen 2:15). If that garden was "perfect", then what would Adam need to do in order to cultivate it? We know that God already planted the garden and it was watered by a stream, so what did God's commandment mean to Adam and what was his job? One theory that I really like is that God created weeds and thorns, etc., BEFORE Adam and eve sinned, but just kept the garden pretty much separate from the outside areas. This is different than the popular belief that after sin entered the world, only then did God "curse the ground" with weeds. I like it because it makes sense, for example, that weed seeds from outside the garden, via the air, may have made it into Eden to give Adam a little bit of "cultivating" to do, instead of him just bored out of his mind, walking around naked all day, plucking fruit off the trees like fast food. This would make it less about cursing the "ground", because the weeds were already around, but instead directed at Adam for his sin against God. This curse is obviously shown by them getting booted out of the garden and having to figure out how to plant, water, and deal with weeds on a much larger scale, like we get to today.
And lets not forget about the moss. Adam didn't have a dethatcher or aerator like we have today, so, all things considered, we had it pretty easy.
Caley's 2nd birthday. Bees!
For Angela's baby shower. It looks a little like Charlie Brown in a diaper...
For Jennie's baby shower. I used the wrong white frosting so it doesn't look like I wanted it to, but it was delicious! (And that's the whole point right?)
