Heaven on Earth....Or They're Alive!!

Look how sad they looked!

Sometimes God shows me that He is really in control of things, and regardless of what the experts say, it's still Him in control of things. This week was one of those times. A couple weeks ago, on July 4th, we moved and transplanted fully loaded grape vines. July is NOT the month to do this, but we are selling the house, so they needed moved...now! We dug as much of the root soil as possible to make the move as easy on the vines as possible, but I still didn't think they would make it. Not only did we move them at the wrong time of the year, we also moved them during the mid-day sun, the hot, South Carolina in July, mid-day sun. If one has never experienced South Carolina in the summer, think of walking on the sun, and you have a slight idea of what it's like.

We drove them to the farm, and picked a place where they had support and full sun....the fence. It's an old barbed wire fence that was used for cattle and horses. Why anyone would want to keep a horse in barbed wire I'll never know, but maybe they had a problem with them I don't know. We dug the holes, filled them with water, let the water soak into the red clay holes, then planted the vines. I meticulously tied the vines to the poles and to the barbed wire loosely, hoping to cut the ties next spring when they put those little curly cue things out to support the plants. Needless to say, all the unripe grapes turned into little black raisins within hours.

I went over daily to water them for the first few days, then every other day and so on, but they dropped their leaves, and I sincerely thought they were dead. My husband said we'll leave them there over the winter, and maybe  they will come back with new growth next spring....if not we could plant some new ones in their places. I was bummed!!! My Mother's Day Grape Vines, that the girls had not only went to buy for me, but also planted for me a couple years ago looked dead.

This was after 2-3 weeks. New Life!!

My husband and two youngest daughters have been working hard lately building a storage building. We were over there yesterday working, when I noticed the plants looked funny. Of course I went to check it out. I thought the birds had been pecking at the dead vines or something. No, the birds hadn't bothered them, bugs hadn't eaten them and no animal has been bothering them. They were all sprouting new leaves and new growth.....this season even!!! I am so thrilled to know that my precious grape vines are not only still alive, but they are starting to thrive in their new homes!!! Yay!!! I was so thrilled I squealed, scaring my older daughter a bit.

More new growth!

Yay Yay Yay! My vines will live!! To me seeing something like this happen reaffirms my belief that I live in my own little piece of Heaven on Earth.

Until later....Have fun playing in the dirt.
Peace!!