Bright Lights and Angel's Wings

Wednesday afternoon a group of Bright Lights girls, their siblings and their parents descending on our house with their own version of HGTV's "Yard Crashers".

Bright Lights is a local branch of a national ministry to young girls. The group's mission is to encourage young girls to grow in their faith and develop Godly character. They are also encouraged to reach out  to the community in various service projects. My oldest daughter Hannah co-leads this group. However, it was two of the parents that decided to put into action the call of scripture to "care for the widows and orphans" and decided that getting our yard in order would be just the thing. So on about 24 hrs notice they organized 7 or 8 families to bring their weeding equipment, wheel barrows and enthusiasm and tackle some of the mess. 

A while back I thought leaving this "pretty" pink wildflower (weed) would be harmless...I was wrong...it had fairly choked out my columbines, overshadowed the lily of the valley and had managed to travel the width of the garden to to beds on the side of the house and infiltrated my lavender.  The hosta should have been divided when they first began to come up...but it was still February!! so that got delayed. While they will still have to be done in the fall, they have been given a face lift with the removal of the tiny floating "pretty" pink....WEED!

from this:

to this:

and this:

to this:

What a gift that was for me.  I planted the garden 18 yrs ago when we moved in;I wanted plants that would return year after year and grow so that perhaps I could one day have a maintenance free garden. Well, that doesn't exist! Maybe I should have just added shrubs back then, but I enjoyed some gardening. My back, however, does not, I'm literally laid up for days if I even start to haul weeds.  My cheap work force has dwindled over the years too as none are too keen to work all day and come home to weed, especially my landscaper, Andrew, who came home yesterday after a full day planting put in another four hours in ours. A fact that shows me how much needed to be done, and what a daunting task it would have been for just one of mine, on their own. Many hands make the load light.  There wasn't a lazy bone in their bodies even the youngest little ones made a game of taking wheel barrows of weeds to the back end of the lot...our 'forest'. They were flying the wheelbarrow through the yard...literally lifting it instead of rolling it along! So much energy. Ah, youth! 

We grilled hotdogs and served some frozen Snapple fruit sorbets that were a hit and then they went back to work determined to finish before they left. In one of the bushes they were trimming they found a nest of baby birds...around the sheds as they trimmed I was afraid the groundhogs might venture out and chase my help away, but they didn't and even the raccoons stayed away last night from raiding the garbage. Must not have recognized the place!

zoom lens shots

Even my windows got done! Hannah and a couple of the girls washed all the windows and screens. Even one of their brothers had to get in on the job! They declared they "loved doing windows!"

They tell me they are returning Friday night to lay more mulch! How nice the yard will look all spruced up...I love it, and I know my neighbors will too!

So how do you possibly say thanks for such a blessing? I don't know. It was so nice to have some one...actually several someones who came and said..."we are doing this to glorify God...He's called us to take care of the widows and orphans" What a blessing indeed!