Simple Woman's Daybook 4/28

Outside my window...

It's supposed to be sixty degrees today with rain expected. We still wake up to a 64-degree house. Spring means warmer days, but the nights and mornings are still cold. The grass has greened up beautifully, but the leaf buds are late on all the trees around here, and many people, like us, were disappointed that their tulips didn't bloom (too cold for too long, with one April snow). Or, it's time to put in new bulbs this year. The library's tulips look great.

The girls are riding their bikes around the driveway and the boys are playing basketball.

I am thinking...

This is nearly impossible to answer because I'm always thinking. My life is lived in a cloud of thought, and only the children's needs, my love for them, and my responsibilities toward them and toward God propel me forward, doing the next thing. If left to myself, I would read and write all day. The good news about this is that it's easy to remember to pray throughout the day, and the bad news is that I'm not always fully present, unless a lesson, cuddling, or read-aloud is happening.

The chores give me plenty of time to think, though a mother's thoughts are always interrupted. My need for quiet solitude keeps me up late at night at least 4 nights a week. In fact, Jane Eyre was finished at 3:30 AM one morning, because I couldn't read uninterrupted during the day. I can survive on 5 hours of sleep, but it isn't ideal. The kids get up between 7:15 and 8:15 every morning.

I am thankful...

~ for spring and the joy the outdoors gives my children.

~ for online friends and church friends.

~ that the fuel pump went out in the van in our driveway last night as we were getting ready to go to the spring church picnic, rather than in the AWANA church driveway twenty minutes earlier. That would have been a disaster. Only the boys and my husband went to the picnic, as husband's car is 25 years old and can't accomodate car seats or all six of us. The girls were crying and angry at first but they got over it.

Paul entered the dessert contest at the picnic with peanut butter eggs, which taste better than Reeses. You won't be able to stop eating them so don't try the recipe. Just my two cents. :) He didn't win but he did get complimented, so he was happy.

~ My father-in-law's air conditioning went out a couple weeks ago in Florida, and he had just gotten it fixed the day of our regularly scheduled phone call (4x week husband talks to his father for 90 minutes at a time. His father is still living alone and doing well, at 91 years old).

Our AC has been out since last fall. Husband mentioned it and asked if it was the motor or the compresser that went bad on his father's. Anyway, the next phone call his father said he sent money to help fix our air conditioning. We have thus far collected $300 in an envelope for AC repair, so we didn't really need money for it, but for whatever reason his father took this problem to heart. He sent money for the children's education funds, but he doesn't otherwise send money. This is a new thing.

About the same day he wrote the check, we had prayed earnestly at morning devotions and lunch prayer about the $76 we owe for our two sponsor children. We usually pay it at the first of the month, but that couldn't happen this month. The AC money from Grandpa was God responding to our prayer on the very day we prayed it. I had great faith and I wasn't worried (this learned from experience only), because if you seek first His kingdom, your daily bread and your tithes and offerings will be provided for. Not so all your wants, but that is part of God's chiseling of our hearts and minds--that we wouldn't crave so many things.

The rest of the AC money will go to the fuel pump repair on the van. God is so amazing always--especially when we give him the chance to be amazing.

I wish we could meet all our obligations ourselves, but if that were the case we wouldn't see the hand of God in our daily lives, and we wouldn't pray for our daily bread. Being low-income is bittersweet, but without choosing it I wouldn't be able to homeschool.

In the kitchen...

It's roast chicken tonight with sweet potatoes and steamed veggies, and homemade chicken noodle soup with honey cornbread tomorrow. Other plans this week are navy bean soup, shepherd's pie, chicken enchiladas, and spaghetti casserole. 

I am wearing...

long jean skirt, nylons, long-sleeved pretty fitted tee, and a sweater. The house is still cold around lunch time.

I am creating...

chaos with the spring clothing switch. It would be done by now, if not for all the books I've enjoyed reading lately. There's a pile for Goodwill, a pile for a child at church, a pile that will fit the kids in a couple months, and the remaining clothes that need to be washed or rinsed and hung up in the closets. Right about now, it always seems ideal to dress as the Indians do, with a couple leather dresses or loin cloths. We spend too much time with clothes around here, partly because I like the kids to be clean, and our yard is full of mud this time of year. I make them change when we go somewhere, and that only creates more laundry.

I am going...

no where until the van is fixed.

I am wondering...

if anyone actually reads all my ramblings. Daybooks are usually short and sweet.

I am reading...

A Noel Piper (the famous John Piper's wife) book entitled Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God, which a woman from church gave me, and a book entitled King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry, a Newbery medal book that is part of the boys' curriculum this year.




I am hoping...

to be done with the clothing switch today.

I am looking forward to...

a living room cleared of all clothing.

I am learning...

something new everyday about being a mom.

Around the house...

the carpet needs vacuumed, the floors need sweeping, and then there's the clothing and dishes. I had headaches Saturday and Sunday so only laundry, dishes, bathrooms, and cooking got done.

How is your day going, my friends? How can I pray for you?