Church Work Day

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Last Saturday quite a few of use met to work on a house of one of our families at church. Cancer may be taking Todd Home if the Lord does not intervene. Meanwhile, he is getting very potent chemo treatments this week and must come home to a sanitized house.

Hard to sanitize an older home in dire need of repairs. So we did a little of everything. Cleaning, building an outdoor area so the dog will no longer be in the house, and repairs to the house itself.

Here are some pictures.

































Much more to do, but what a day of mutual blessing for all of us.

The obligatory pizza for mass snacking...





And here are some areas we finished up.





Not having storage was the killer. Oh, and getting the storage about killed me! One of those drawers came down on my face and I spent the rest of the day with swollen eyes, a fat lip, and bleeding gums. Real pretty. Yeah.













Please pray for them.

~Faith

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What Was.

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I have been busy. Doing what?

I have no idea! All I know is I seem to have accomplished little, and still been as busy as a manicurist in a mall for millipedes.

I have heard from my long lost, dear departed husband. For the first time in a year. In leau of actually coming through with court ordered support, he offered me the wonderful opportunity of declaring joint bankruptcy with him.

Oh happy joy. Mmmmmmm...no. I don't think so..... No.

Next audacious question?

Ah yes, there was another. :) Would I settle with him out of court? Only for my sake, of course.

Let's see.... NO.

No, I don't think so. I tried that once and he went back on his word. Thank you for the thoughtful idea though,

He spoke to his son for the first time in a year. Michael said he wanted to talk to him. So he did so. He told me me later that he told his dad exactly what he thought of his dad's actions and choices, and telling Michael that it was my fault he left. My 13 year old son has more courage and integrity than many grown men. I'm very proud of him for standing up for what is right.

Well, it was good for a jolt to my morning, though. Michael and I were both shaking a bit afterwards, so we just spent some comfort time together before getting back to schoolwork and chores.

Lesson relearned that day. Answers should be very short and sweet. "You will have to discuss that with my lawyer."

All kidding aside - I was sad to hear him remain so cold and deceived. There was no yelling or anything, just futile conversation. He remains in our prayers each day.

Meanwhile I've been busy working on ETSY shop ideas. Also canning and a lot of running around!

Here are a few scenes of what was...

What was found on the inside of our screen door...



a good four inches long.

What was a futile attempt to locate the garlic for canning spaghetti sauce...




What was a darn good example of accidental food art...




What was fun company for dinner...




What was found on the George Foreman grill...




What was delicious accompaniment...




At this very moment, I am reprocessing 14 pints of spaghetti sauce, of which I forgot to add the lemon juice in when I did them this morning. It's OK. I love to make sauce. Over and over again. Practice makes perfect, you know.

We have been blessed many times over this last week. I had a few rough days. It's not always easy to be cheerful when junk happens and, believe it or not, I have been known to occasionally dabble in the morose for a few moments or so.

I had couple of days like that, but refocusing on what I know to be truth helps me to see things in a proper perspective.

It was just after that, that help began to arrive in earnest! We were given a gift that not only bought us a replacement for our scary-bald front tire, but enough to even buy some other put off necessities. Yes, I admit it! I bought a lipstick. I'd been scraping bottom for a month now. I have no idea how there was ANY color left in that tube at all!

We were given an anonymous gift of cash from someone at church. When I shared with the elder's wife that we no longer needed to ask for help with our bills, she insisted that we do so anyway so that we can get ahead a bit. So we not only got bills paid, but had some money as well. We stopped at the store and bought some 1/2 price beef. It was SOOOO delicious!

I found out I had a cracked tooth. BUT - the dentist is going to fix it for me at cost. So the whole crowning achievement should be a hundred dollars or so, and my dad said he'd like to pay that for me. WOW! I'm so grateful to get this taken care of. It's been hurting a lot. We are hoping it will not need a root canal.

And we got a gift of leftover meat from the church BBQ. I love this church body. We truly are trying to live out what it means to love and serve. I have not much materially to give, which is difficult for me.

But Michael and I pray each day that we can find ways to bless, love and serve others in whatever way we can find. I hope we are doing so.

For now, I'm off to bed. I've got to be up early to go down and have my face drilled on.

WooHOOO!

~Faith

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Dad, Mystery Squash, Summer, and Measuring Day

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Happy SUMMER! OK, we're hot and humid enough for me now! :) Rains last week, heat this week. Missing that pool already!

My dad has taught me more than any other person in existence. From him I got my work ethic. He knows how to do so many things and I voraciously am trying to learn as much as opportunity allows while he is here.

I respect my dad. He is a man of integrity. A man of God.

Last night, we went to his home to fix a Father's Day dinner for him. As usual, he had done more for me than I could do for him.





He even made this so that it could be dismantled and taken to our place to use if we desired. Amazing.

We sat outside as lasagna, summer squash casserole, and bread baked, and we fixed a table together. That's my mom, who is having a harder and harder time due to Alzheimer's.





At this point she does not like to go anywhere, and she does not do a lot around the house except for basic housework and a little cooking. She gets easily upset and frustrated by any thing that goes unexpectedly, even if something is in the wrong spot. She spends a lot of time on the computer game Bejeweled. She no longer wants to work on her genealogy hobby.

Dad is having to adjust to all this. Things are quite different than what he has been used to with her his whole life. But they are still going strong at 55 years of marriage. :)

Where in the world is Michael?









Isn't this interesting?









Here are some pictures of volunteer plants, which are doing better, of course, than the ones I've worked really hard on.

This one looks vaguely like a little scallop, but the plant is growing like something else, kind of like a muskmelon, so we'll see what changes occur.









This one is likely a cross between a zucchini and pumpkin, but I'm not sure yet. I actually love how those taste and call them Zuchins.









Here was our first harvest of wild blackberries on Saturday. I brought them up and shared them with Michael. It's going to be a TERRIFIC wild blackberry year, with all the rain we have been blessed with just before ripening time!





And, in comparison, here is the progress of the Doyle Thornless Blackberries we've got coming. What... maybe a week behind?





The progress of the baby birds. At my parents house yesterday, we determined that they are likely mockingbirds.





The parent birds in front of the neighbor's house, trying to distract Michael as he's getting the shot.









The first day of each new season has always been Measuring Day. I have carried a 2 x 2 with me and each of my kids was marked to measure growth. Michael grew another half inch through the spring. I also noticed that, for the first time, his foot is longer than mine! And I wear a size 9 or 10!





For a get together with friends on Friday, what fun it was to slice up cucumbers from the garden, and head out to the herb garden with a basket and sheers to trim just a bit of basil and fennel to mix in.

Are you like me? Does it just make you feel wonderful to tread across the grass in your bare feet, skirts swinging about your calves, carrying a basket filled with what you've grown? There is something real and beautiful about it. :)

The salad was tasty, crisp and refreshing.





On our day of rest Saturday, we also had some fun designing a dream outdoor kitchen.





Imagine a pavilion roof, stone floor and cabinetry, brick BBQs and oven, stainless steel. And gas burners for now, but the ability to use all wood if necessary. Everly Brothers. Dree-ee-eeam. Dream, dream, dreeean, dree-ee-eeam. Dream, dream, dream. LOL

I've been wanting lavender to make all sorts of wonderful things. Here is one of my folk's plants. I tried to use the Obamenomics logic to convince them that they had more than their share and should dig some up and give them to me, but no dice.

I will need to learn cutting techniques for them.





The dental office cleaning job took quite a while this weekend. I had to polish the formica countertops. I've never done that before and I had to figure out how it was supposed to be done, then all the extra elbow grease. I can't say I noticed a difference really...

Today - a GIFT! A friend is coming to work on the farm with us all day, just for the experience. :) And she's going to stay the night so we can stare at stars. Michael is always too tired and ready for bed, so it will be nice to have a star-gazing companion.

I hope it's not cloudy! :)

~Faith

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March 30, 2009 ~ Helping A Friend in Need

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Here is our church giving financial and physical help to a woman whose house was in need of repair. We had a few workdays. This is the day we could make it over to help. We finished up with dinner and laughter.



A good day's work!

Faith

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