Sore aching muscles, a hot shower, and a homemade pizza all make for a perfect end to Saturday! Early this morning, my new friend and I headed to town to get her car fixed. The tire place was so gracious after hearing her story of being stranded that they offered to split half the towing fee with her. What a blessing!
My goals today were to do school with SJ and Little Man. We got that all caught up. For World History, we are reading an exciting book about a boy, Ali, who catches a Golden Eagle in Saudi Arabia and trains it to hunt like a falcon. I read this book to Joshua and Joseph years ago. They enjoyed it so much that I knew it was time to find it for the little kids. It is a true story which amazes the kids. The benefit to reading it now, compared to 2003 is that when we want to ‘see’ what they are talking about we grab my phone and look it up on the internet. These kids understand the context of these books so much better when they truly see the land, animals, clothing, even hearing the music of the land we are reading about. We learned that the Saudi Arabian desert has a canyon larger and deeper than the Grand Canyon in the USA. These people lived at the bottom of the canyon. We researched how big the Golden Eagles are, how long they live, and how old the boy in the story would be today. It brings it to LIFE!
David worked again in our tiny house. Every time I think he cannot come up with another great idea to do, he does! He is so creative! We talked about making a stone shower floor. He went and found the ‘river stone’ tiles to finish the shower out. The walls will be galvanized tin metal keeping with the farm feel. I cannot wait for the final touches to be put on it so we can share all the photos of it done. Our next guest plans to potentially show up in a week or two and we are getting it as close to done as we can by then. It has been so fun to actually decorate a space on a theme, rather than the theme being “Thrift” as my daughter in law calls it. Hobby Lobby has become our new friend!
We also cleaned out the front flowerbed today. We dug up all the bulbs, broke the clumps up and replanted quite a few. My Iris and daffodils were way overdue to be thinned out. I planted 3 potted mums in the bed. In a few weeks I will go back and get pansies. I enjoy seeing the pretty flowers. I placed Millie’s little ‘Angel’ statue in that garden today until we get her area done. We also ordered her trees and crepe myrtles today. This will be a beautiful flowering area when we get done. We plan to order her headstone this coming week…we will need you praying for us on that day. I am sure it will be hard to choose something so beautiful, yet cold…so final. We also plan to order a second miniature one to act as a memorial in her playground. It will be placed near her bench so that everyone will know it is her playground. As our family grows and new spouses and (grand)babies are added, I want them all to know Millie and her story.
Trying to gather my thoughts as a very inexperienced gardener, meaning I usually grow weeds better than flowers, has been a challenge. We have had a few of you commit to helping purchase memorial plants and a few others send things of beauty, like seeds, a windchime, solar lights, a plaque, and a sweet angel statue. Thank you! Each one has been a beautiful reminder of Millie’s sweet life. My goal for all these items has been to have low maintenance beauty. We want it functionable, yet welcoming. I would love to have my morning coffee and do my bible study in the playground garden area yet be able to welcome children without fear of them trampling something.
I know with my back problems, I will not be able to be down pulling weeds, digging, and such very much. When they built the playground, they used wood mulch to keep the weeds out. Sadly, they did not use any weed block to keep the Bermuda grass from growing through. We are now having to figure out what to do to fix this issue. There is too much, and it cannot be dug out. Options so far are Roundup (stresses me to poison an area kids play in), replacing with rubber poured mat (costly and HOT), fake turf (not sure of the cost or upkeep), or pulling the mulch back, adding weed blocker and more mulch. Do you have any other ideas that we ***Might*** be able to afford?
One other thing we hope to do…someday is put a shade butterfly in the playground. It would be custom bent metal in a butterfly shape with shade cloth on it. That is a HUGE wish, but maybe not so feasible. We will price it out someday, maybe when all the current projects get completed. My hope is just as our tiny house can be used for ministry, that Millie’s playground can also be used for ministry. The bible speaks highly about hospitality and both of these blessing should be put forth to bring glory and honor to God.
What is your favorite way to show hospitality? Who do you invite over the most often? Are you willing to allow people in to see ‘real life’ or are you hiding stuff and rushing around trying to clean grumpily (yes, I have done this!) right before guest arrive?
For us, we keep our house fairly picked up. That is not to say you won’t see toys on the floor or dishes in the sink, but they will be today’s dishes. I have tried to make a habit of keeping my house up enough that I can invite people in when they arrive expectantly. I try to have a go to meal that can be made quickly and will stretch for a crowd. But beyond keeping it semi picked up, I have also made myself okay if someone sees a mess. We live in our house, day in and day out, all week long. There is always lots of people around here, lots of noise, and the mess to accompany it. I would rather people come visit and see the real us, than not come at all!
Christ talks about us being hospitable to others is like we were being hospitable to him.
Matthew 25:35 “For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in,
Matthew 25:40 “And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.”
Who will you welcome in?
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