and He placed Man in a Garden

Today Adam and I went shopping. We haven't done that together for awhile because, 1) there's been nothing we've really needed and 2) recreational shopping is pretty much a Saturday activity, and we're normally at karate on Saturdays.

But today there was no karate, and we'd almost run out of our stash of Twinings decaf tea (mmm!), so we decided to go shopping.

We went to where they sell the tea we like, Cost Plus World Market, and while we were there looking at tea, we met a girl who we ended up inviting to church. God works in mysterious ways: the conversation started because of Adam's Utilikilt (turns out she worked for their office down here) and led to where we'd lived led to being MK's, led to religion. She's a cultural Catholic, who isn't very religious, but nonetheless is leading a moral life (no getting drunk and sleeping around) and is frustrated with Christians who "preach at me" durning the day and then go "get wasted" at night. So we told her about our Anglo-Catholic church - suggesting she might feel at home there because of the mass - and about all the college students there and how welcoming all the older members had been to us. I ended up giving her my phone number, and she sounded like she'd probably call me to go to church with us sometime.

So, please pray for her! Amateur me, I didn't get her name, so just pray for the girl-at-Cost-Plus-who-Adam-and-Jess-talked-to-on-Saturday. :) I hate witnessing - in that it scares me - but thanks to our priest, Fr. David, I had in my head, "Just invite them to church". Hooray! I love clear instructions! It was great to hear his voice in my head, and be able to pay attention to that instead of to being scared I'd say the wrong thing or (so much worse) NOT say the right thing. But yes, anyway, the reason I'm writing this is to ask you to PLEASE PRAY FOR HER. And for me, because I'm still scared.

Here's the funny thing: after the incident, I thought, "I really ought to carry around cards with the church's name, address and phone number on them." :)

Anyway, we got our tea, and proceeded to Joann's, where I got some embroidery floss I needed, and then to Trader Joe's, where we had fun pretending we were the sort of people who only buy organic, and then to Home Depot where I got something wonderful: PLANTS.

I'm slowly working on growing a green thumb. My biggest advance in the next month has been - no kidding - learning to water regularly. Anyway, I've had a plant I really wanted to repot, so I bought some potting soil, and then I bought plant food, because I've some plants that could use it, and then I bought (sigh of delight) some herbs. I now have a little oregano plant and a little basil plant in our apartment. I'm hoping they grow big and tall so that I can use them to feed my other new hobby of cooking from scratch. And I spent some happy time tonight potting my new plants and repotting my old one (which, for those of you in the know, is the one from the convent. it was the root-boundest thing you ever did see, with thick, woody, pink, earthwarm-looking roots).

I think there's something just inherently good in gardening. Remeniscent of Eden you know, takes us back to our roots.

Heeeheeeheee . . .