"Maybe we can do that tomorrow, " I said to Jonas yesterday when he asked if we could go to our friend's house to look for snakes.
"But tomorrow is soooo far away! Today just started!" Isn't that a great line?! We don't want to wait until tomorrow because today just started!
The long weekend is over and it was a beautiful weekend - warm and breezy and not too hot, really perfect weather-wise. Earlier on in the week, someone had come over to the house from the city. She wasn't really sure what to do with our farm, not to mention the dandelions. In the city, dandelions are unacceptable. Trust me, I know, I lived on a property where every weed was handpicked out. Having her around made me feel so apologetic for all that was undone on the farm. I had to stop myself from explaining everything, why this isn't done, why that isn't done, etc. I was so conscious of the farm-look, instead of remembering we have the farm look because we live on a farm!
A couple of days later, my hairdresser came over to pick up a kitten with her daughter-in-law. (I love the fact I have that kind of a relationship with my hairdresser!). Interestingly, she came from the same city I did, which is why we connected in the first place. She walked around the farm with her little granddaughter and just kept saying, "I envy you. This is so great." I told her about the other lady who had come over and couldn't believe how many dandelions we had, but how living out on the farm now gave us a certain freedom to have a dandelion-filled farm! She laughed as she knew what I was talking about. I asked her if she would ever go back to the city and she said, "No way. There is more to life than a $150 bottle of wine!" It was good for me to be reminded of how living on the farm means life isn't as tidy. I have manure and hay on my floor pretty much all year long. I try to sweep and vacuum, but it just doesn't have the city look that I long for, but then I have to remember, I DON'T LIVE IN THE CITY ANYMORE!!!! So, I must learn to not worry that my farm (and house) may just have the undone look a little longer, but that is ok. There is more to life than $150 bottle of "tidy".
We usually do fireworks on July 1, but the kids always want to do them every long weekend. Fortunately for us, we live on the top of a hill surrounded by countryside so I told the kids, "You watch. We won't need fireworks. " Sure enough, as soon as it got dark, the party started all around. From nearly every way we turned we saw some. We must have counted fireworks from at least 10 different locations! It was awesome! Just another blessing in my opinion.
My daughter got it in her head to have some of her friends over and have a kind of youth worship night around the campfire. That was super neat. First they all tired themselves out with soccer and volleyball (my volleyball, I might add, from Mother's Day! Ha. I wondered if they might claim it as their own....). Then off to the campfire for all the classics, hotdogs, marshmallows (I wish we could come up with something a little healthier....)... and their guitars. It seems they are all trying to pick up this versatile instrument, pardon the pun. I guess piano just isn't as transportable, so my two oldest are determined to learn, fortunately for us, on their own. My daughter is quite good already and my son saw how quickly she picked it up and is now trying as well. It works real well for campfires! It was nice to listen to it from inside. Teenagers singing hymns? Amazing. I have to admit, a couple pop songs came out, but it was still really neat. I was so grateful that someone thought to build a fire pit years ago on this property as we use it all the time.
Earlier on in the day, the four older children and RM went to pick up a huuuge car engine that he plans on putting in one of the Porsches. Remember that car idea? Fixing up the sports cars to sell and make a profit? Still happening, just slower than I imagined. Unfortunately for us, it isn't a quick drop of an engine into the old car. This engine needs to be repaired, too. But we are once again turning it into "Shop Class" and he'll be teaching the boys how to fix an engine which I know they'll need to learn one day. I watch my husband fix cars all the time, even this weekend he replaced all the brakes on his truck! But it saves us so much money. I know our boys need to learn this stuff, so even if it takes a bit longer on these sports cars than I pictured, it is still a worthwhile project. Perhaps the payout will be right when we need it.
I was on my own with the little 4 and wondered what I could do for free! I didn't want to go anywhere and spend money on anything, but it was so nice out! How could I keep them outside with no pool to speak of in the warm weather. I pray about even things like that, so I prayed, "Lord, what can I do with the kids that would be fun?!" I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to garden, but there's no way I can even think about that until there is another cheque and RM is done his current contract. I also wanted to clean the basement, but I also need RM to clear out the garage so I can move everything out of there so I can move all the basement bins in his shop to avoid all the flooding we've had. He has to be done his contract to do that, too. Not to mention, generally speaking, the kids don't like cleaning the basement.
Suddenly, it occurred to me, "Hey! Why don't we wash the van! I'll get a hose and some soapy sponges and you guys can surprise Dad when he gets home to a clean van!" To my amazement, they loved the idea! Thank you, Lord! So they worked on the van with the cool water and a window washer for a long time. Then I said, "Go get your bikes!" They were into that, too! Then I got all the old kiddie toys for Brock and they washed those, too. So it was fun, outside, with water, for a good long time. Another great activity - for free!
Meanwhile, I was a little disappointed with my hopes for a garden even from last year! But I've learned, if I allow myself to stay in the place, it does me no good. So I thought to myself, what could I do with this gift of time (as the older kids and RM were going to be gone all day)? I have been avoiding the windows for months. They were so covered in kid prints and residue from the winter, I couldn't bring myself to do it. But I thought, no this is a good way to be outdoors, near the kids.... why not now? So I braced myself for the challenge and believe it or not, I did every single window on the main floor, inside and out. Impressive! They aren't perfect, but they look way better! It was quite the task! I took out every screen which is impressive enough as I wasn't even sure if I knew how to do that! AND I even got all the screens back in!!! Seriously, this is not a task for the faint of heart! Now, I LOVE looking outside! It's all so clean! At least it was for 5 minutes. My 3 year old woke up from his nap, went outside, then decided to come back in and while he was waiting for me to open the glass front door, he just had to put his sticky freezie lips into a pucker and kiss the glass. Sigh.... clean for 5 minutes......
Final note - I love barbecuing. That has to be the greatest thing about warm weather. I don't know who told me I couldn't barbeque. We do have a meat guy in the meat business in the family and I do know I am no expert compared to him. Not to mention, don't guys just barbeque? So I never did, my whole life. Until we built the house. RM was so busy, if I wanted a barbeque I would have had to wait until 9 pm, so one day, I got up the nerve to learn how to turn it on. I didn't even know how to do that. Then I learned to put meat on the grill! And I learned how to use the tongs! Sounds funny, but it's all true. I had no idea how long to cook things, a lot of stuff got burned at first. Then one day, I read the outside of the burger box and it told me how long to cook each side! Fascinating. The box was right! If I just did what it said, the burgers came out great!
Now, I barbeque all the time. Yesterday was a first though. I put two chickens on the grill, whole chickens, that is. Seared them all over (see how professional I sound now?) and then put them on the upper shelf for an hour and a half on low and voilà! Perfectly BBQ'd chicken! One of my kids said, "I don't know how you cooked that chicken, Mom, but could you do it again? It tasted just like it was cooked in a restaurant!" It really did, I have to say. This is why I love BBQ'ing so much. Everything just tastes better. I get to stand outside, enjoy the weather. Oh my goodness.... it is eternal moment, one after another when a BBQ is around. I'm trying to figure out a way to cook eggs on the BBQ. I'm sure there is a way....
So, the end of the weekend, start of a shorter week. The end of school is coming. Summer is such a blessing from the long cold winter. I continue to lift up our life to the Lord and even our summer - what plans does He have for us this summer?
No comments:
Post a Comment