There is a Season

To everything there is a season...

A time for china dishes,

A time for paper plates.

Guess which time it is at our house right now.

Puzzles and Popcorn

In my previous post, I forgot to mention that puzzles are another good quiet activity that the children can do when they are sick.  Also Magformers have kept them well occupied and computer games.  We have eaten popcorn too.

One child has accidentally spilled a cup of water on herself and on the couch.  What I thought was a small spill turned out to be a big spill.  I found out after that child kept telling me how wet he was.  So I had this child move to the loveseat and found a big, wet spot underneath where they had been.  No wonder he was cold!

When I called the doctor's office yesterday to schedule an appointment for another child, the receptionist asked for her birthday.  I gave her mine instead.  There is only three days' difference between the two.  After a while you start losing it when there is this much sickness happening where you live.

Then there was the time two nights ago when I was administering medicine to two of the children.  After pouring the prescribed dosage in two medicine cups, I instructed each child to take their medicine before going to bed.  One child took both, and the other hesitated.  Thankfully we have lived through that too.

So we are surviving and staying in and getting well.  Today a little school (reading aloud by Mom) and lots of TLC.

I Will Sing

Even though all of the children are sick, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever.  With my mouth will I make known God's faithfulness.  The children are recovering, and our long week of sickness is over, and another week has begun.  The children are not well but are better in varying stages.  I can thank God that I am not sick and can continue to minister to each one of them.  I can be thankful that things are no worse than they are and that the children are getting better.  We have cut back on our routine and are keeping things simple.  When there is a lot of sickness, it is time for survival mode.

1.  Simple meals - sandwiches, pb toast, baked potatoes, soup

2.  Book reading, drawing, quiet play, watching television and lots of rest

3.  Lots of liquids.  Eat when you feel like eating.  If you don't feel like eating, that is okay too as long as you are drinking something.

4.  School only if you have no fever and are well enough to play.

5.  Extra sleep is encouraged.

6.  Lots of TLC.

White Clover Summer

This summer I have been making necklaces and bracelets for the girls with white clover. This is something I remember doing as a girl. Our yard has a plentiful supply of clover, red and white. If you have never made one, you can find directions here. It is fun and easy too!

When we are not doing that, we are picking wild blackberries. One gallon freezer bag is already full. Blackberry tarts are planned for our future. Then again we might be picking honeysuckle flowers and tasting the sweet honey found therein or picnicking in our yard on a blanket while watching the butterflies fly by or playing hopscotch or catching fireflies. Before summer is through, I want to get some jars for the children to fill with lightning bugs and take to their room at night.

Summertime!

You say tomato; I say tomato

This morning when I gave OBT the Morning Farm Report, I made sure to ask him if he had taken the trash out.  Now that is a job that I often do and sometimes it even gets forgotten until the week following, but since we live in the country where you can burn things legally and we have a garage, it is not that bad.

OBT assured me that he had taken the trash out.  I had gone out to take care of the animals and spotted the big, blue garbage can in the garage so that got me to wondering.  He took the garbage out.  Okay.  Later my mind said that I had better look out towards the mailbox to see if there was any garbage there.  I couldn't see any.  Uh-oh.

After lunch, I went to the garage and opened the garbage can.  Spying garbage inside and already having issues with my temper, my lack of desire to take out the trash today, and all of the things that are opposite to what I am trying to teach our children (primarily selflessness, i.e. do-it-anyway as you would have others do unto you, GRRRR!, basically fighting my own self), I decide that I simply must get this garbage to the roadside.  Since it is cold and there are about three inches of snow on the ground and our driveway is LONG, I decided to drive it there in the van.

Garbage can is in the van.  Then the van must be warmed up.  We are below freezing.  No coat for me.  This is going to be a quick trip.  While sitting in the van and listening to some new-to-me song on the radio and trying to figure out what it is about, I open the garage door.  As I am sitting there, I spot a car or two going by and then a big, white truck.  The garbage truck.  It goes by and then mysteriously backs up past our driveway.  Now is my chance or is it?  I jump out of the van and look to see one white bag of garbage lying in the snow at the end of our driveway.  He DID take the trash out!  The garbage men must have seen it too as they haul it in the back and continue on their way.  I also spot a FedEx box outside our garage and pick that up on my way back into the garage waving at the garbage man.  He waves back, and our garbage is on its way.  At least some of it.  The rest can wait for next time.  I get back in the van to turn it off and unload the remaining garbage and laugh.