Part of the Whole

For the past couple of weeks, I've been working on re-doing a flower bed on one side of my house.  As I'm working, I'm discovering that there are lots of different stages to this project...there are different parts to the whole.  :) 

**The first part of this project I've focused on is sharing perennials with some dear friends!  Sharing is one of the funnest parts of having a flower garden.  Perennials always grow and fill in areas and just need to be divided and shared :)  

**Another part is digging out the existing border of railroad ties.  They were all different sizes...some longer than others.  I had dug almost half of them out last week, but there were some large ties that I hadn't gotten to yet.  Yesterday afternoon, my 10 year old and 6 year old helped me dig out the railroad ties that were the border of the old flower bed.
      I'm sure we were quite the sight, too as we were working!  The big ties COULD NOT be lifted out.  I had to wedge the shovel under the tie (and have my 10 year old stand on the handle) while I lifted it up.  As I was holding the tie, my 10 year old quickly moved the shovel down and stood on the handle again.  We continued to lift the tie and move the shovel down until I could tip it over...not so gracefully, either!  YIKES!  My dear husband even cut those HUGE ties in half so we could carry them. 
      Our neighbor also LOVES flowers and knew that I was wanting to tear up the area and make a walking path...removing the railroad ties...and widening the flower beds.  She mentioned that she would use the ties if I didn't want them.  Between yesterday and today, my family helped me to carry all of those ties right over to her yard for her to use.  How exciting that she is able to use them!!


**A seating area...because the existing bed will be almost doubled in length by the time we've completed the project, I'll include a seating area so that we can sit out among the flowers and enjoy them while we visit with friends or just read a good book :)  
      However, I really had to think about what kind of chairs I would put there, you see, I'm wanting to use mulch for the area around the flowers, and our lawn chairs might just sink in!  A friend suggested a local antique dealer to call, and on my visit, I found 4 metal chairs (vintage 60s) that I'll scrape, prime, and paint.  I started scraping them today!!  
      Now, I wonder what color I should paint them...

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Lord, thank you for the gift of weather that we can work outside in!  

Thank you for little treasures that You bring into our lives.  

Thank you for time with family and friends.