A Garden

Friday, March 28th Audrey would have turned 3 years old. Bryan & Sarah decided that they wanted to construct a prayer garden in a corner of their backyard as a place of remembrance, reflection, and meditation. Lots of able bodied helpers assembled at their house yesterday to help make their vision a reality. After rain the previous night the ground was a moist, muddy mess, but it was still manageable. Everyone pitched in and worked so hard to plant trees, unearth huge boulders under the soil, plant flowers & succulents, assemble a bench, lay pavers for a pathway, move dirt, wash & position hundreds of stones, put together a water fountain, secure & plant a small vegetable garden, and numerous other parts of the puzzle. The finished product looks amazing. I think it will be a nice, quiet retreat for them. I was so impressed at how it all came together.

The girls did a great job at getting their hands dirty and moving some rocks and dirt around themselves. They enjoyed finding doodlebugs as well.

Later, the kids helped blow out candles on Audrey's birthday cake. After sharing a slice with me, Matthew commandeered Mary Claire's piece and ate it as well. She said it was okay with her because she had already eaten all the icing off of it and that was all she wanted. My kind of girl!

Somehow we thought it would be fun to get all 5 kids on one swing. It worked! Matt was the last one to get squeezed in and his poor little belly is hanging out. Alright, so it's not so little. But, they all fit! We commenced to swinging them and Matthew loved it. He giggled the whole time.
We had a great day being outside with family and friends planting a garden in memory of our dear, sweet Audrey Kate.