JB had off all week. Not “off” as in “vacation,” but “off” as in a week of “lay-off,” from Delphi.
He did school with the kids Monday and Tuesday, and the balance of the week he is trying to accomplish a lot of outdoor work, without spending much, if any, money.
Today he borrowed Nan’s truck to go borrow a rototiller from a friend. The friend also had a bunch of raspberry saplings for us to plant. He then used the truck to get a TON of free mulch from the town. After he came home from picking up the mulch, Skeezix saw him pull in the yard and took off outside. This left Angel in tears [she is not allowed outside unless the adults are available to watch 100%]. I dispatched Beau to go color with her as Champ and I finished history. [And by the way, when I say finish, I mean finish! We finished his history for the year! Woo – Hoo!] We also did our language and geography in the lovely quiet!
When we finished thirty minutes later I thought I’d venture out to see how they were doing. I had a moment of panic when I didn’t see the truck. I worried that JB left without realizing Skeezix was out there. But I then heard voices and they were in the back where he’d pulled the truck.
For those of you who have not been to our house, we have a walk-out basement with a deck over it. It is really an eye-sore. Under the deck is a mess and we store some of our outdoor, plastic stuff under it in the winter to minimize some damage. The “gardens” that surround it were hideously out of control when we moved in and while we tamed it SOME last year, we didn’t have the money to invest it making it more maintenance free, and we really haven’t had the interest or time to keep up with it, otherwise. Well, since we were thinking about working on the house this week without spending money, today was the day to work on it some.
And JB had one of the cutest helpers in the world! ♥ When I found them, my heart danced for joy to see her working with here Daddy. I soaked it in for a moment before I remembered my blogging responsibility and ran to the house for the camera. By the time I had gotten back she moved to a less photogenic location, but I snapped away anyway.
When she noticed me she proudly exclaimed what a good helper she was to Daddy. She also informed me she had found an orange worm, a bug with red wings and a black body, and a “dirty worm, who was dirty from the dirt.”
Together they weeded the garden area and raked it smooth and put down a ton of mulch.
Skeezix broke for lunch with me and her siblings. We met Nan for Pizza Hut today; we needed to use up the last of our Pizza Hut Book It! meal tickets. After we returned she helped Daddy, again. He had dug up sod and planted his raspberry saplings. She helped him pick the large rocks out of what he had dug up, as he used the sod to fill in some uneven areas of the lawn in the land south of our house that we just reclaimed from the wild last summer.
I am so tickled. This was yet another way this new home, with all it’s bumps and bruises just blessed us! As much as I would love a “perfect home,” I see how working together on this place grows our family. God’s plans are SO much better than our plans.
Dayspring Disciples 