Friendship & Forts

Our friends were here. And they took this photo of their daughter coming down out of our new tree fort. (Our personal favorite of all the photos.)

Instead of traveling to MN for our annual summer vacation, we stayed home and hubby built a fort. Well, we didn't stay home to build a fort -- per se -- but to make the savings last as long as possible. But the fort would not have been built had we gone on a long road trek & kept at the usual bluster working-schooling-every-day-plus-every-minute-of-every-weekend-filled pace. Fort building has been a stress reliever for hubby during his job quest. Friends coming to visit refreshed all of us.

Our friends stayed with us for three days.

Warm sunny days and cool nights with friends that made it a priority to visit us. I mean really visit: to simply hang out and BE with us. With whatever we were doing or needed to do. Just so very delightful. And filled my love tank very much. We had long lingering conversations. Children that played well together (no tears until that last night!). We roasted s'mores and the four girls had a sleep-over in the tent in the backyard. (It rained a little in the morning. They were troopers and enjoyed running around the yard despite the chilliness.)


Their seven year old taught the whole lot of ours how to sew. My nine-year-old is thrilled! I did not realize that she had been yearning to sew!


After the sewing lessons, they mended clothes that had been on my to-mend-pile for quite some time. Who knew? It had never occurred to me to show them how to sew on a button or to mend a tear in one of their favorite pieces of clothing and thereby helping me to get rid of that stack! They mended their own stuff. In record time (except that it had been sitting around for a long time and some of which no longer fit them! Does that make it record time?) Sometimes it takes a seven-year-old to help you out.

The men went running. The women walking. We went out to eat Mexican. The adults ate ice-cream after the children went to bed. We delivered a meal to a friend that just had a baby. They read tons of the books on my shelves. How fun to have some folks devour books quicker than I do on subjects that I enjoy. It really couldn't get much better than all this!

Thanks friends.

I hope everyone will enjoy such a dose of 'being' time as we did this fall break.

Joyfully,
Kathleen

Sailing on a Sea of Saturdays

We've been sailing on a Sea of Saturdays since mid-July. There have been some becalmed seas and a few rough patches. But for the most part it has been sunny, smooth sailing.

This Sea, this Sea of Saturdays, what is this sea of which I speak? It is the Unemployed Life. And Why a Sea of Saturdays? Because for days and days and days on end (or at least so it seemed) as we'd round the bend toward evening, we'd think, "Okay, now who still needs a bath before church tomorrow? "And then we'd realize, "Oh, wait...it's not Saturday. It just seems like Saturday because Daddy has been home the whole day. Again." Sigh.

Now, we've graduated from thinking every day is Saturday to trying to remember it's the night to Take The Garbage To The Curb. Who knew that this could be such a difficult thing? Not I! We haven't got our bearings. And so. we are only getting the garbage out to the curb every other week.

Oh, to find our bearings on this Uncertain Sea of Saturdays is not found in asking these questions: Where will we land? How long will it take to get there? How many storms will we go through? They only lead to...well...Uncertainty.

Even though I would rather not be here and am eagerly looking forward to stretching my land legs on some job ashore, I do know that there is One Who is Certain about the future. It is He Who Has Been Providing for us for 171/2 years on land and for 3 months at sea. Things are Uncertain but He is not.

So while we wait to hear "Land Ho," I'm wishing you & yours:

Happy Sailing,
Kathleen