Hope grows

 One of our new partner families this past summer was Krista, a young single mom raising 3 children with limited, and questionable, help from her extended family.

Before ever realizing that the house we were working on was to be hers, I had several delightful conversations with her while she was working as a cashier at the local grocery store and I was doing a supply run for our group.
We were both pleasantly surprised when she showed up in the kitchen of the dorm to start preparing dinner for us - with the food I had just purchased from her hours earlier!

Our conversation during meal prep, which continued when she, her children and her sister in law joined us for dinner, gave all of us the chance to get to know each other better.

Kristas house was moved at the end of July, from Bishop Hare Center where it was constructed, to a site approx 8 miles from the center of Mission, SD. While she's not moved in yet due to last minute hook ups and things that have to be 'fine tuned', the end of her and the kids sleeping on the floor in a relatives home is almost in sight!

Krista hopes that her family will be in THEIR home by the end of September. (It's even possible that her fiancee will be able to join them by the end of the same month). She's very excited about all the good things that are to come.

During our talk while preparing dinner this summer, she had wistfully mentioned how much she had dreamed of having her own home as well as a garden and a few flowers; "especially roses; it just seems like there's so much to be grateful for in a world that has roses".

On our trip back to Rosebud this past weekend, Andy and I took several plantings for Krista's new yard.
I took two yellow Knockout shrub roses and Andy donated a cutting from his butterfly bush.

It's a 'garden' in all of our imaginations but the reality is that its a patch of cleared off dirt and shale with some indigenous plant life on it but little in the way of true natural beauty.
The obstacles, when looked at realistically, are formidable.
The winds will be persistent and strong, the heat unrelenting, intensified by the lack of any shade and the winters bitter and snow-laden.

But to cultivate a garden is to know hope.

We broke up soil, we sited the plants away from the house and somewhat protected from north winds.
We hedged our bets with root stimulator, peat moss, a good soak of water and fertilizer pellets.
We will give Krista tips on how often and when to water.

We prayed and laughed about exercises in 'letting go of control' and about the very real possibility that all our best efforts are a crapshoot - like anything else in life!
In other words, we did all we can do.

The analogy of gardening to any form of service or ministry was not lost on us.
All we can do is plant the seed and tend the garden, using the tools we have at our disposal.
God will decide the conditions, seasons and what will grow and flourish and what will wither and die.

I know that - and on most days, I even accept that.

I can't help though but hope that His plans include the flourishing of roses and a butterfly bush in a small desolate garden in South Dakota to remind Krista - and her gardeners - that there is indeed much to be grateful for in a world that has roses.

(The top 4 pictures are of our plantings; roses at either end; butterfly bush in the middle. The bottom 4 views are from the Rosebud Children's garden at Bishop Hare)

"Green fingers are the extension of a verdant heart"
Russell Page