Jubilee's Garden

[I've been awful about keeping up with my blog this year, and its time to bust out some posts-in-waiting before Miss Mowgli arrives and I have nothing to say other than LOOK AT THIS SWEET BABY and THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS TOO MANY PICTURES OF A BABY GIRL IN HEADBANDS BIGGER THAN HER FACE. ]

I've been wanting to write about Jubilee's garden forever and today is the day!

Last year when we said goodbye to Jubi, I wanted to do something special to remember her and the impact she had on our hearts and the hearts of others' too.  I wanted it to be something that would last, and something that would remind us of the Hope we have knowing we'll see her again.  I also wanted it to be a reminder to "Shout for Joy" in all things.  I KNOW.  Big ambitions.  I'm nothing if not a woman of high expectations and standards. =)  Despite the tall order, we managed to cram all of my hopes and dreams into a reality when we decided to plant a "Jubilee Garden" in our backyard.

As we planned for Jubilee's funeral, we asked family and friends to bring a perennial flower or plant instead of bouquets of flowers. I loved all the bouquets that filled my home in those first weeks after she was born, but I was also thrilled to have the gift of some flowers that would come back again the following year.  A perennial takes the sting out of the end of something- knowing it will come back again when the cold flees and the sun shines.

We were blessed with perennial upon perennial after Jubilee's birthday and Heaven Party, and while my little family snuck off to Disney World for some much needed time away, my mom and several of her sweet friends came over to our house and transformed the perimeter of our backyard into a beautiful  flower garden.  I can't begin to describe the amount of heart and effort that went into putting the garden together- we were so blessed by everyone who joined in to make it happen.  It was all grass before we left for Disney, and we came home to such a beautiful gift!

(Do you spy Newbie's Mickey Mouse?  His great grandma gave it to him, and another one this year- such a fun reminder of our special time at Disney as a family of three after Jubilee's birthday last year)

(The pictures really don't do it justice...the garden spans the entire length of our backyard and it filled to the brim with blooms!)

I can't really put into words how much God speaks to me from the birth, beauty, and life cycle of Jubilee's Garden.  In remembering the hands that gifted us the flowers and plants and those that dug and watered and planted, I'm reminded of how He rescued us in those hard days through the kindness and caring of others.  In seeing the bright blossoms and gorgeous colors of the flowers sprinkled throughout the garden, He reminds me of His beauty and His goodness and Grace- He reminds me that because He is so very good, we always have a reason to shout for joy to the Lord.  In seeing the flowers wilt last fall and disappear under the snow throughout the winter, and then peek up through the dirt and bloom again this spring, I'm joyfully reminded of the new life He offers us through Jesus and the new life my sweet Jubi girl is embracing now that she is Home.   Jubilee's garden speaks volumes of the eternal.

This garden makes me shout for joy and long for Heaven.  My heart squeezes with thanks for our girl and her story and the story He has written for my little family.  And I'm so humbled when I walk through the plants and remember who gave us which flowers- its a reminder of how sweet friends rose up to be Jesus' hands and feet to us last year when we were hurting, and it is a motivator to reach out and be someone's rescue as so many people were our own last year.

And then there's the perk that a garden can never have too many flowers.  Each year on her birthday, we're going to find a special something to add to the collection of life-giving joy in our backyard.  This year we might have gone a little overboard...Newbie was swamped with flowers in the backseat after my mama and I left the nursery a couple weekends ago, and our trunk was full of sparkly garden trinkets after shopping with my mother-in-law on Jubi's birthday.  Hey, a girl only gets one first birthday after all.  We decided to celebrate BIG. =)

A HUGE thank you to each one of our family and friends who extended love in flowers last year.  I remember where each of your little blooming bits of love are out in Jubilee's garden, and we are so grateful for the ways you carried our hearts while Jubilee was here and after we said goodbye.

Wishing you a wonderful day, friends.  Now go plant a flower and shout for JOY!