My New Porch

This past weekend was the final Bible Quiz meet.  The kids were tested on Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians.  I'm sure I've said it before, but it BOGGLES my mind how they were able to memorize all of that, keep it in their heads all year and then recall it to mind under pressure.  I'm so grateful for this experience knowing that the Word of God will not return void. 

My oldest son fought to the death for top place but went up against one amazing quizzer and so came in second, but he knew she deserved the win, so he was happy for her.  My daughter who is only 12 had set a goal early on this year to be top rookie.  She worked so hard this year and managed to make her goal, bringing home a medal for Top Rookie!  She was thrilled. 

I stayed back while the older kids went to quiz as it was an hour away.  The younger kids always feel a little ripped off that they can't go, so I try to make those days a little more fun when they are "stuck with me".  I actually have come to really enjoy these special times as they are few and far between when it is just me and them.

The weather was hot and agreeable for a change.  I begged my older boys to bring out the little pool that we had from last summer.  They dragged it out and we set it up before they left.  Thank goodness we did that!  It was burning hot!  With no air conditioning in the house, it was the perfect way to spend most of the day.  But...you can't do that all day....what to do.....

These ideas might sound basic, but I loved how God would just bring simple ideas to my mind all day on how to occupy the kids in a way that wouldn't cost a lot of money, but would still be fun.  When we were at the peak of boiling hot, (and we were low on groceries....hadn't had a chance to run out....) I immediately thought of what I would have bought if I had wanted to go to a drive-thru....either a lemonade slushie or some kind of ice cappuccino.  It seems so simple and hardly profound, but I became very popular when I put a whole bunch of ice cubes, water, lemon juice and some sugar in the blender.....lemonade slushie.....the kids were sweetly amazed that it tasted "just like" (their words) it came from the local Tim Hortons.   The night before I had done the same thing with a little milk, coffee, ice and sugar (waaaaay less sugar than the restaurants.....) and had made an ice capp.  Again, seems simple, but it was delicious and cheap! 

The next thing that came to my mind was doing a bit of gardening.  Kids love dirt.  They love planting.  Flowers in the summer are so beautiful. I always put a few hanging plants in urns, as I don't have a porch area, per se, but then I thought....wait a minute...I DO have a porch....it's just a little ugly patch of cement.  I had never bothered to decorate that area.  I actually really hated looking at it.  I longed for the day when it would be chopped up, removed and replaced by some kind of deck....in my dream anyway.  But we're still trying to be careful with our money, not overdoing it, not doing unnecessary renovations, so there were certainly no immediate plans for that space.  I had used that area just for little tricycles, scooters, etc. 

On the Friday night when the older kids went for Day 1 of the two day quiz meet, my 7 year old daughter and I started talking about what we could do while the rest of the family was away.  That was when I said, "Let's plant some flowers!"  She got really excited about the idea, but in my mind, there was no where to plant these flowers as we really don't have any prepared beds around our house....we're still doing siding and any landscaping we would like to do won't be for awhile until the siding is finished.  Knowing that buying more urns from a nursery was not an option, I told her, "Come with me."  We started on a search in the barn.  You should have seen me.  I was a woman on a mission. 

My husband had found some "artifacts" he had set aside, knowing we could use them some day in some way.  Then I found some more things like empty bushel baskets, barrels, basins, wine crates.....the next thing you know, I moved, carried, rolled, just about anything that could hold dirt.  I found a gorgeous old bench, a rusty lantern, another antique ladder, all sorts of unique things.  My daughter was beside me the whole time suggesting, "What about this? or this?"  It was so fun running through all the barns and sheds, upstairs and downstairs looking for things that might hold some dirt and flowers.  All this for free, on sight, not a penny spent.

Once we had it all set up on my new "porch", we sat back and my daughter made a comment along the lines of  "Wow!  You've changed this whole place!"  It looked amazing and that was without flowers!  We were getting really excited.  That was when I brought in the little boys.  They had been playing around the yard that whole time, not interested at all in what I was up to.  But at the mention of dirt, shovels and digging, they came running.

We had a pile of triple mix dirt on the other side of the driveway.  I gave them the task of filling up pails of dirt and then carrying them over to tall the empty bins or crates or boxes.  They were at it for what seemed like hours.  They had so much fun.

By the time my husband and older kids had pulled in just after 9 pm, the ugly patch of cement at the side of the house was a whole new place....the newly arrived older kids were amazed!  My husband, as usual, just laughed.  When I get an idea in my mind, I can't wait.  I had to finish it then and there.

The next day, kids and husband gone again, we bought some flowers.  I stuck with the cheapest and the brightest colours I could find.  We came back, made more slushies, swam in our deflating, but awesome little pool, then went back at it with the flowers.  It was hilarious, there was dirt EVERYWHERE.  They had filled the crates so full of dirt that it was literally falling out all over the place, but it was great.  In a very short amount of time I had filled all the empty containers, but had somehow misjudged and had all sorts of extra flowers (I don't plant flowers very often.....)  That led me on a whole other new search looking for even more empty containers....what else could I use?  I found a few more and put even more flowers in them making the ugly cement patch a whole new lovely place to sit and spend time.  I added a couple of chairs and voila, my new happy place.

This time when the kids came home after day 2 of quizzing, the flowers were in and they were so happy!  Being surrounded by things that are beautiful, like flowers and antiques, really affects our moods more than I think we realize.  The cement before was literally just a dumping ground.  No one cared about it and would leave their bikes, garbage, old lawn chairs, propane tanks....it was like a garage without the door and I really couldn't stand looking at it.  Today when I came out, I saw a few dishes that the kids had left out the night before, the scooters, some toys.....I immediately tidied it up again and put it all away so that I could keep my newly flowered porch area neat.  I feel like God opened my eyes to something I had never seen before.  He does that a lot.  He doesn't give me a deck the way I wish He would.  Instead He asks me to be content with what I have.  Then, once I've surrendered my rights to have something the way I want it, when I want it, He gives it back to me.  That ugly cement patch had always been there.  The containers had always been around, but I had always begrudged the fact I didn't have a nice place to plant flowers, so for years, it has sat untouched, never prettied up, never "decorated".  I was waiting and waiting for the miracle deck to happen.

Today - I love my ugly cement patch.  There are flowers everywhere in all sorts of containers, big and small.  I have to say, this is not a big area, yet last night all 10 of us were out there!  Sitting on our two little chairs, or riding a scooter, or standing in the grass nearby.  It has become our new meeting place as a family.  So funny.  Two days ago I hadn't seen it.  I thank God for new eyes to see beauty even in the ugly.