My Not So Typical Wednesday

As this day got underway,  I had to laugh to myself and out loud (except for when Seth wasn't well). 


Some days we Moms just don't need to plan, God takes care of every detail for us. In fact, had I planned this day I would have been disappointed for it would not have gone the way I wanted it to! I heard some one say once  "Stay flexible so you won't get bent out of shape" - that little saying has  often helped me.

Every now and then we take pictures and name the folder "A Day in the Life of" so I did that today too. Of course, times are only approximate!




This is about how is went:
5:00  - shut off alarm :)
5:15  - get up, wake up James to rake our field on the tractor before he goes to work, make coffee
5:20  - read devotional, try to wake up
5:30  - take coffee out to James, walk property, turn off sprinkler on potato patch, check garden for sprouts
5:45  - read book of Esther, get ready for "Preparing to be His Helpmeet" class
6:30  - cook breakfast and pack James' lunch
7:00  - wake up Seth to send to the shop to hook up the trailer that someone wants to borrow - wake everyone else up
7:10  - Seth tells me his neck is swollen and hurts and almost passes out while I'm examining it - send girls to wake up Jeff
7:15  - gather family and pray for Seth

7:30  - Jeff leaves to hook up  trailer - George the butcher arrives to butcher our steer and two goats - I go out with George while Hannah watches Seth and the girls make breakfast - Grace arrives home  with her charge, 9 month old Abigail,  after house sitting for my sister overnight.
8:00  - Jeff comes home and we eat breakfast
8:30  - Grace leaves for another babysitting job - Jeff leaves for work - we discover Pete hadn't gotten up yet by finding him out on the deck with Jeff's Father's Day canister of mixed nuts, munching away
8:45 - I call a knowledgeable older lady for advice concerning Seth and study Buffalo Gnat bites online and conclude that's the culprit since he has an apparent gnat bite along his spine and was at the lake
last evening - Sarah starts the laundry
9:00 -  I walk out with Peter and watch the slaughter for awhile, explaining all about everything, and I notice he's really holding tight to my hand :)
9:30  - friend Gina drops of baby Patty for Hannah to babysit
10:00  - Hannah and Sarah go pick up  another goat from shop for butchering - George and Robby continue cutting up one steer and the goats
10:15  -a  neighbor calls to borrow our mower and Seth offers to mow for them - I get Seth to sit and read a book instead as he's had another dizzy spell
10:30  - I make phone calls, catch up on email, write this blog post and look into spending the weekend in Genoa, NV with Jeff - little girls dote over babies          
11:00  - Neighbor friend William comes to watch butchering and ends up getting his haircut by Seth and then the kids all play on the tire swing instead of watching the butcher
11:30 - We discover that little Abigail seems to have the chicken pox and rejoice because now Pete and Joe will be exposed! :)
11:15  - George the butcher goes over my order with me and I choose my cuts - He tells me all about going to the Catholic church and his girlfriend and I share some scripture with him
11:45  - Hannah leaves with Patty, to attend vacation Bible school and babysit for the rest of the day.
12:15  - George leaves and we organize lunch - open face turkey melts with pepper jack cheese - Sarah
 continues doing laundry and plays the piano -  Seth still has a head ache so takes some ibuprofen and lays down
12:20  - One little girl complains that another woke up the baby she just got to sleep - I say "well, you wake
 her you take her" but it doesn't work..they tend to fight over babies here
12:30 - I try again to find a minute to plan a special weekend
1:00 - We send lunch plates outside with all of the little people so that Jeff can have a quiet, cool, relaxing lunch break
1:15 - nice relaxing lunch break
2:00 -  Jeff takes a nap while kids play and I go back to the computer
2:30 - Mary makes cappuccinos for us :)


3:30 - Grace has finished her dress Ruth makes a smoothie for me to take to Jeff as I get the mail and

           pick up cast -off produce for our chickens etc. from the local market. Joe calls Dad to ask if they can play with BB guns and he says NO!

4:00 -  Grace takes a nap with Abby -the boys are playing croquet in the yard

5:25 - back from town and presenting my ideas to Jeff, Hannah's home again, kids still playing croquet 

5:45 - Abby's aunt comes to pick her up - Hannah and Mary make supper - Sarah's does laundry - Grace is

         packing for  a weekend trip to Utah. I'm getting ready for our book study tonight

6:00 - We eat a hurried, odd meal consisting of steamed broccoli, salad and quesadillas
7:00 - Elizabeth arrives and we begin class. Jeff plays outside with the boys. Mary and Ruth start cleaning the kitchen. James gets home from his after work - work, that of swathing his Uncles pasture.

8:00  - Grace and Mary leave to my sisters to welcome them home from their road trip. We continue our

           Bible and book study.

9 or 9:30 - Everyone comes inside and returns home and we all talk and eat popcorn while Mary and Ruth finish the kitchen cleaning and make more quesadillas

10 or 10:30 Elizabeth goes home and we mosey off to bed.

I love that God never gives us more than we can handle. The day before this was very relaxing . Following a camp-fire the night before, we slept late (well some of us did), had a nice breakfast and spent a lot of time just talking around the kitchen table with our guest for the night, my son's girl friend. We didn't "do" much of anything at all that day. This not so typical Wednesday certainly made up for it though! God is good, his ways are higher than ours!!

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven--Ecclesiastes 3:1

Proverbs 16:9

In his heart a man plans his course, but the 

LORD determines his steps.

Of Such is the Kingdom...

      Jesus said that unless we become like little children we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. What is it like in heaven or to dwell in the kingdom of heaven now? 

     I love object lessons. I remember the things I see and do better than what I hear or read.  Thankfully, God gives us object lessons through the children in our lives.  Notice that they have no worries. 

Clean clothing galore

( Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

Goods from the garden

 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Matt 6:24) 






Children don't  stress about what to wear or what to eat or where to live. Days are taken as they come. I love it when my little ones ask me what day it is when they're getting dressed...(they want to know if they should wear Sunday clothes). 


Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.Matt 6:34


     Years ago, I was changing my baby (Sarah),  crying my eyes out. I had a heavy heart...the blues. (Probably feeling sorry for myself; that's the way it usually happens.) I remember looking into her face and seeing her return a look of adoration and trust that I will never forget. She had no concept of the heavy weight of worry that I had allowed to consume my joy. In that moment, God showed me that that was the way he wanted me to look to Him.
     Unfortunately, today with the way our modern society is, some people are not around children very much or even at all. Their children are grown, or live far away. And many of them postpone having families or opt out of having children at all, choosing rather, the "good" life of toys, career and plenty of money. They work in offices all day and go home to quiet houses. Where are they to get that daily example of children's trusting, joyful response to life?

  But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.Matt 19:14

Happy Baby Pete

     God meant for us to be around children through all of our days. Watching the way they take joy in and respond to life shows us the way we should be.  Their honest questions and certain trust inspires us. Seeing a few of my own children grow up and move on with their own lives has made me cherish the little ones we still have at home. I've cherished them all but, the realization that they will move on has taught me to savor the time more. Being Grandma is the next frontier for me and I can't wait!


Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.Proverbs 17:5-7 

                Mary, Ruth and Joe


Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
Psalm 8:1-3
      God, I thank you for the children that you have given us and for the children that you will give them. Help me to fully understand what it means to trust like a child, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Grace and baby Peter...does this look like drudgery?

Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our LORD: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
Nehemiah 8:9-11Psalm 8:2
 

Children Are a Blessing!

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD:  the fruit of the womb is a reward. Psalm 127:3 NASB

     When my little ones ask me where they came from, I tell them that; one day God told us that He was going to send us a very special present because He loved us so much. And that sure enough one day we got a gift all wrapped up in a pretty pink (or blue) blanket and when we opened it up, it was YOU!. They just beam to think of themselves as presents being opened but that is just the truth, that's what they are. I go on and on telling them how happy that made us and how we thanked God and called everyone we knew to come and see our beautiful gift from God.


      We should tell our children, and often, that they are blessings! We should speak that into them and say in front of others. When people compliment me on my children I reply that, Yes, my children are blessings! Pastor S.M. Davis says that a criticism aired in front of others is 100 times more humiliating and that genuine praise, sincerely given in front of others, is multiplied 100 fold as well!

     I've had to play the referee for countless squabbles. Trying to listen to both (or even more) sides of the story;  sorting through who said what and who did it first and on it goes like unraveling a tangled bunch of hopelessly knotted twine. It takes two to fight--always. So, when my children engage in this--rather than trying to get to the bottom of it, which can be quite time consuming and pointless, I sometimes simply take them aside and ask "What are children?"  Correct answer: Children are a blessing. "Were you being a blessing to your sister or ?" "No?" "Well, that's what Mommy and Daddy expect you to be because that is what the Bible says you are. So, I'm going to give you a spanking for not obeying us in that." That was the infringement. It no longer hinges on finding out who said, took, did, looked, meant or anything else. They simply fell short of living to bless others. They don't argue this point...they get it, fair and square.


Cherish and protect these precious treasures because they are gifts indeed, straight from the hand of God!

This one came in blue!  Peter Luke 2 weeks

James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.