random notes and chit chat from the insanity of our life

Peek into our life and see how crazy it can get with 6 kids, homeschooling, sewing, and now farming. We're in our first year on the land, and entertaining the world with what we don't know. By the grace of God, we're learning, day by day, so pull up a chair and laugh with us!

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

The car guy

My husband is a car guy.  Driver, fixer, lover...of all things mechanical.  I...am not. We have worked out a very good division of labor regarding cars over the years we've been married.  Basically, he does the labor, and I do any necessary division, lol!  
Ok, actually, my job is to tell him if the car makes any odd noises or does something unusual.  Luckily, I rarely have to do this anymore.  Now that he's retired, I drive less.  We go almost everywhere together, and even 75% crippled, he's still a better driver.  So he usually hears the weird sounds and such.
Praise the Lord, too, because the conversations were usually...well...long.  
"Honey, the car made a really weird sound today"
"What kind of sound?"
"Um...like...a...uh...noise"
Sigh.  "Ok...where did the noise come from?"
"Well...uh...not inside the car.  I know that!"
Longer sigh.  "Ok...from the engine?"
"Um...probably."
"OK, what were you doing when it made the sound?"
"Well, one of the girls was telling me about a book she's reading, and I was yelling at the boys to quit burping at each other, and trying to remember if we had sour cream for your tacos tonight...by the way, we are out of sour cream..."
Very long sigh...then with slightly gritted teeth..."I'll listen for the sound while I go get sour cream".
And amazingly enough, he could always figure it out.  I'm so lucky to have him. If I had to tell that story to a mechanic, they'd be busy writing notes on their clipboard.  "Got a live one here.  Charge her double for the ozzoboznot".

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Reflections

I remember when she was a tiny baby.  She was so small and new, and there was so much time.  It seemed it would be several lifetimes before she was grown and gone, longer than years...almost forever.  And I needed to teach her to sit and walk and talk and...
I remember when I had 3 under 8...4 under 10...and life was so busy.  There was the cooking, the dishes, the laundry, the cleaning...and all around making sure they did enough pages in this workbook, spent enough time on that curriculum.  I had to be sure they learned enough of the right things, you know.
I remember when I had my first teenager... people telling me how sorry they were...how hard it would be...  others telling me how teens were.the easiest bestest things ever.  And there I was, stumbling through a minefield carrying fine China and wearing a blindfold.  So worried about letting her make mistakes that I never let her make good decisions either.
And now...forever away is here.  She has grown fine wings in spite of me, and is on her own.  An adult. ..married...and now to be a mother.  And I look back and see that I should thank her.
Now I know that forever passes so quickly, so I snuggle this newest baby of mine extra long.  He will learn to sit and stand and walk...but I won't waste time worrying at it.  I will enjoy this fleeting forever.
Now I have children at home from almost 16 down to 6 months...and I know it will all get done.  If we eat sandwiches some nights and relax...if we pull clothes from the clean laundry for a couple days...if we don't sweep often enough...it's ok.  And the workbooks and curriculums don't matter.  They will learn the right things at the right times...for them.
Now I know to relax the grip on that teen.  Let her make the mistakes.  Take off the blindfold.  Enjoy watching them become adults, and be a cushion when they need a soft place to fall.
Thank you, my firstborn.  You got stuck with a newbie, but you taught me well.  Maybe your siblings should thank you, too.  Good luck on that one!