Today (written March 22, 2024) was a great day. Elyse and I woke up to the boys playing their instruments together. Not fighting, but joyfully playing together! We then started with family exercise, family Bible time, family announcements and Breakfast (… as a family). And everything went smoothly and all were involved and encouraging each other, continuing on the great start… It’s interesting how very not well this simple routine can sometimes go, making today a great blessing. :o)
Two of the “Special” tasks for today were to dig holes and plant three fig trees and clean up and sort the siding and decking from removing a rotting deck and siding). (“Special” tasks, not counting all the “regular” activities like preparing three healthy, freshmade meals a day, doing laundry, and keeping the house orderly while homeschooling three ages with a baby in the house and house repairs still ongoing. Thank you, Darling!)
These two tasks reminded me how great it is to work together joyfully. For the trees, I was the full time pick-axer (the Ozarks have a LOT of large stones) and went from hole to hole and the boys shoveled them out behind me (three trees, three holes and three boys). Our neighbor and older friend who has basically adopted our family happened to come by and was working with us for the last hole. It was great to see the boys joyfully jump into the work and be down on hands and knees removing the dirt and stones. It became something of a race, but with them helping each other if wanted.
We then had one hour before supper and decided to see how much we could get done on cleaning up the siding and deck scraps. I had low expectations and was amazed. Everyone jumped in full force. All were grabbing and stacking the siding. One of the boys and I sorted the decking wood for keeping or burning, while another got busy removing nails from the keeper boards, and another was in charge of organizing the finished wood on a dolly.
I thought this would take hours or even days. We went through the piles and cleaned up scraps on the ground in one hour. I was amazed.
It is amazing how much can get done, quickly and well, when everyone sets their minds to do so and works together joyfully.
Now, if only we can learn from today and hit future tasks with such joyful teamwork. That doesn’t always happen (it often doesn’t), but today was a great picture of what can happen when it does.
Our yard is no longer an obstacle course of rotting boards and we now have three different fig trees added to the two apples we recently planted and the two apples and two Asian pears that we planted in the fall (which are now getting leafy with flower buds!).
Between that, collecting eggs, taking care of the chickens and rabbits and the countless other jobs, life is full and a joy to learn more about God’s amazing creation and how we may plant and water, but it is He that makes things grow!
Lord, grow in us a spirit of love. Love for you and for one another. Thank you for the snapshot of “how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1)
Update (2024/05/06) – Today we finally finished picking up the piles of rocks that were created by digging those holes. Again, it was a joy seeing the boys jump into picking up the rocks, trimming the weeds (to find more rocks), etc. This doesn’t always happen so joyfully, but this whole project with the trees has been such a joy. We have been rewarded by seeing all of them growing well. The apples and pears are already showing fruit, but we picked them off to promote root growth this year instead of fruit growth. We are looking forward to seeing how our mini orchard grows and how our family, through hard work, persistence and the work of the Holy Spirit, can grow along with it.
3rd Culture Living 