This week Josh's commitment to braces expired and he is now the official owner of a (BLUE!) retainer. Yes it really is that shade of blue!
School is almost out, only 4 glorious days left!!! I'm not sure what summer break will bring, but I'm looking forward to a little while of no book work.
My beloved is out working fence, cattle, and general farm maintenance. He hopes to start the new fence around the house soon. He's finishing up the north fence line today. Our cattle are in calving season and so he watches the heifers daily to be alert for any trouble.
~~mini cattle lesson that I've learned since moving here. A heifer has never had a calf. She can be full term, but until the calf is born she's still a heifer. Once she's delivered she becomes a cow. If it's a steer or a bull it's never a cow, a calf is never a cow, only something that has given birth. It took me a while to get the concept of not calling the neighbors and saying 'your cows are out'...'are you sure it's not the bulls'...'I don't know, it just looks to be of the cow variety!' I'm sure they thought 'city gal' every time I delivered the message. ~~
People often ask about our oldest daughter. My response is to keep praying, for now I'm still asking that. I'm sure being a single, teen mother must be one of the most difficult things she will ever face in life. She has been blessed with a beautiful little girl who is super smart and cute as a button...at least if you ask this MeMe. I just pray that she will realize that.
Miss A did something so grown up this week it kind of shocked me. While listening to our dear friend Mrs. Click play the piano, she scooted up to the bench and said 'you teach me to play the piano'. Mrs. C. replied 'what song do you want to learn?' 'Jesus Loves Me please' she said. I guess I was just surprised that my 2 year old could phrase such a grown up request.
Miss K sat down with her bible last night and read aloud during family devotions. This was a first for her to show off her reading skills to the family and be really successful doing it. YEA!!
Joe changes a little more each day toward a man. He has put away more and more of his boy toys. It makes me a little sad to think no more Legos, wooden guns, and Hotwheels. Maybe someday the LORD will send another 'little brother'. I've sure enjoyed these boys!
Miss M is going through a rough spot at this point. She's always been my 'sunshiny girl'. Happy, content, cheerful was how I would describe her. Now she's trying to assert her independence in a house not quite ready for that. She gets more direction and correction than she'd like right now.
Grandma Mary has stepped back toward independence a little more too. She is now making a few of her own meals and asking to stay home alone when we go out in the afternoon or evenings. I think this transition has been good for all of us. We were pressuring her by having her go everywhere with us and she was pressuring us by asking us leave early from most events we attended. This new medium has been a happy one.
As for me, I'm always searching - changing- evaluating life....probably much more than I should. Daily, I'm searching scripture, but I also am reading, listening, and absorbing the things around me. I just read a good book called 'Plain and Simple' by Sue Bender. It gives a view into a journey a woman took to see for herself what the Amish lifestyle was about without becoming Amish. She wasn't looking for the spiritual side of their faith, just a reason why they chose to live life in the unhurried way they did. The answers she found profoundly affected her in her everyday life.
She said 'This quilt, this book, this life is teaching me to trust, no matter what life turns out to be--even if it is not what I expected, or what I thought I wanted".
Her other insights into their life she named patches, as in a quilt:
Patch 1: Valuing the process and the product. All work is important and all work is of value. All aspects are important...the process as much as the product.
Patch 2: Living in time. All work being honored evenly, this one was about not always rushing through your work to get to the next thing, but enjoying the work and the final results.
Patch 3: Celebrating the ordinary. The everyday things give life its stability and it's framework.
Patch 4: Home. As a woman this spoke to my heart. Home is an Amish woman's focus. The way she lives reflects her faith. It is a place she can practice what she believes.
Patch 5: Community life is an extension of the home. Entertainment and chores do not compete for attention, they are practiced together. The fellowship while achieving their work goals.
Patch 6: Life as Art: Every woman in their community quilts and sews, not for artistic reasons but to feel a need. Making a quilt or sewing a doll is just as important and beautiful as canning green beans or baking a cake. The beauty of the object or task is important.
Patch 7: Limits as Freedom: If your expectations and achievements match then you are content. Amish standards are to do the best you can. This helps them to accept who they are and they don't spent time questioning where they belong, bring them freedom from this endless game we play.
Patch 8: Power of contrast. Whether they are displaying simple homes contrasted with beautiful gardens or plain, geometric quilts with fancy stitching it is a balance of vibrant energy contrasting with peaceful energy to bring eye popping results!
Patch 9: Choice. She showed the difference between having a choice and making a choice. Making a choice~ declaring what is essential~~ creates a framework for a life that eliminates many choices while giving meaning to the things that remain. The satisfaction comes from no longer wishing I was somewhere else or doing something else.
These 9 patches represent this journey just as they are the first basic quilt pattern. I hope you enjoy the book if you choose to read it. I had to get it through interlibrary loan from OU's library.
Blessings...have a great week friends!~
