Wednesday Hodgepodge #263

It's time for this week's Hodgepodge over at Joyce's! After reading my blog, hop on over to Joyce's to read about the other hodgepodgers.
1.  What was the last thing you did that could be described as 'taxing'?  Trimming our front hedges!  I'm not a particularly good trimmer but it was really getting out of hand.  So, last week I got to work on them and got it done.  And boy did I use muscles that I hadn't used in quite a while!  I was so sore the next day!
2.  If you could plant a garden of anything, what would it be?  Well, I'm not really a gardner just like I'm not a hedge trimmer!  I enjoy fresh fruits and veggies from a garden and by that I mean that I wait for all the gardeners at church to bring produce from THEIR gardens to share with everyone!  
3.  April 10-16th is National Library Week...will you celebrate with a visit to your nearest library? When did you last make a trip to the library?  What are you reading right now? What's a title on your want-to-read list?  We have a fantastic library here!  For a small town, we are fortunate to have a nicer library than a lot of bigger cities! They have great programs for children, classes of interest for adults and a great genealogy program.  I go about every two weeks or so to check out magazines and books.  Right now I'm reading Karen Kingsbury's "Brush of Wings" and I've got Beverly Lewis' "The Atonement" waiting on the nightstand to be read next! 
4.  Share a saying or an old wives tale you heard while growing up, you believed to be true or that you paid attention to 'just in case'.  I can remember as a young child the saying "step on a crack and break your mother's back".  I was SO careful to not step on a sidewalk crack just in case this could happen to my momma.  I did NOT want to be the cause of breaking her back.  
5.  Are you a fan of onions?  Garlic?  Ginger?  What's a dish you love that contains one, two or all three items listed?  I love to cook with onions and garlic but I have never used ginger in anything I don't believe.  I for sure have never used fresh ginger.  I recently found a new recipe on Pinterest that we like a lot-one pot chicken and potatoes  (you have to search for it once you go to that site).  It's a great easy dish and really tasty! 
6.  Where does nurturing end and indulging begin?  What are some skills or qualities you think a person needs to possess in order to be viewed as mature?  Oh my!  I could probably preach a sermon on this!  I believe that parents have got it all wrong and are taking the indulging to a whole other level than we've seen in past generations.  It seems like they're replacing true nurturing with more indulging, as if that will replace the nurturing that all kids need.  You just cannot replace quality time, teaching, training and discipline with indulging children with 'things' that make them happy in the moment. They will not be happy, successful adults because they'll always be looking for that new 'thing' that will fulfill some need...and the fulfillment is always short lived.  I think a quality that a person needs to have to be seen as mature is self-control.  Self-control is so valuable in so many ways...relationships, finances, behavior, etc.  
7.  What leading figure in any field would you like to hear speak and why?  This one is hard for me!  Oprah is who comes to mind first.  I've always admired her even though I've not agreed with her on a lot of subjects.  She is a very strong woman and has done so well for herself.   She literally came from nothing and now has this huge empire and has been so successful.  I think she has a huge heart for helping people and is a very generous person.  
8.  Insert your own random thought here.   Recently our church was challenged by another church to take the 30 Day Bible Challenge.  The purpose was to read through the New Testament in 30 days. We accepted the challenge and began it on March 1st.  And, we finished it!  I'm not sure how many in our congregation did it, but I know that quite a few did.  It was relatively easy after getting into it.  Now, we are doing the 90 Day Bible Commitment where we read the New Testament again but at a much slower pace so that more study can be done.  I have tried numerous daily Bible readings over the years and I always end up not finishing it but I'm LOVING this one!  I have to admit that I've learned so much already that somehow I've missed over the years.  If you're interested in knowing more about this challenge, just comment and let me know!