That's what living in the country provides...oh, but what a blessing:
1. To see my 7 year old son mowing the mega grass yard for the first time.
2. To hear my 3 year old son say over and over "I want to help Dad"
3. To have my 13 year old daughter offer to help me with my ES duties when I'm overwhelmed.
4. To have my 10 year old daughter make dessert from scratch and write out the recipe for others.
5. To have my 15 year old daughter learning guitar by herself and playing worship songs throughout the house for the entire family to enjoy.
6. To have my 5 year old daughter offer to help watch the baby while I cook dinner.
7. To see my 7 year old son clean 5 toilets without complaining.
8. To see my 10 year old daughter mentor her younger siblings on how to wash windows and mirrors.
9. To see the joy in my little guy's dirt ridden face (3) when he got to help his Daddy outside all day.
10. To see the happiness our little baby girl brings to everyone when she wants to help too and brings you your shoes or a toy to put away.
11. To see the joy in my husband's face after borrowing the neighbor's riding lawn mower to mow our property instead of having to use the weed wacker to mow all the newly grown grass.
12. To watch my 13 year old be so efficient in everything she puts her mind to and clean the kitchen faster than me!
13. To see my 15 year old watch all of the children without complaining to bless Wes and I so we can go to Bible Study at our new Pastor's house.
14. To hear my 5 year old daughter comfort Josh when he wakes up from a bad dream in the middle of the night and help him go back to sleep.
15. And to see my husband working sun up to sun down on the yard in order to make our place safe and beautiful.
I feel so blessed to live in the country now AND to live in the part of the Country that we live in. It is ABSOLUTELY beautiful here and living here has made character qualities be refined and surface in my family that I've never seen before. Or maybe I never had the opportunity to notice and appreciate them? At our old house we had housecleaners that came each week and gardeners who took care of our little 6000 sq. ft. yard, but we don't have any of that here. You'd think we wouldn't be able to handle the extra work being that our house here is twice as big and our property is 16 times the size as well. But, all six of the older children have stepped up to the plate and we can "Deep Clean" our new house in about an hour. We do this on "Freaky Deep Clean Friday" We have a plan for each day of the week thanks to Large Family Logistics, a book I bought from Vision Forum. I tried to come up with a creative name to match the day of the week...
Monday, Meet with Mom/Office Day (Clean and organize office area, meet with Mom for school planning)
Tuesday, Town Day (We run all of our errands. I make my todo lists on Monday Office Day along with our menu plan for the week.
Wednesday, Wash Day (We do all of our laundry on this day including sheets and towels)
Thursday, Thankful Day (We are thankful for our food and we work in the kitchen this day. We deep clean fridge and cabinets and also make meals for the week)
Friday, Freaky Deep Clean Day (We clean bathrooms, vaccum/mop floors, walls, and rooms, etc.)
Saturday, Stay Outside Day (We do our outside chores - yardwork, clean cars, garage cleaning)
Sunday, Service and Worship Day (We go to church for worship and spend the rest of the day as a family serving/blessing another in some way usually by practicing hospitality and having someone over for fellowship)
Things aren't always perfect, but this is the plan. We have been doing it this way since we moved 5 weeks ago and so far so good. I am just so proud of my crew for doing such a great job and for the character traits that are being strengthened. Many hands make light work. Thank you Lord for our new life...each and every day is a BLESSING from YOU!
