Hurry-Hurry

The day we had to walk about town, we walked by this house. Right off the square. I had never noticed it. Lily's thought on that? Of course we never notice it, we are usually in a hurry-hurry and in the truck, why would we look at the houses?

What else do we miss by being in a hurry-hurry?

What else indeed. Time to slow down, I think. We'll be walking more on purpose very soon. I am looking forward to it.

VBS Snapshots

Issac still won't participate in the workshops and crafts, but the social and music time he really gets into. He is such a ham too. Holly is fine tuning her own personal style and that is more and more evident this summer. Lily is in the throws of pre teen angst. That's ok, I'll love her through it. Though, hearing, "All you really care about is XYZ and not me!" about 100 times a day is wearing me thin.

I need to remember to accept help when it is offered. Too many times this week, I said no when I should have said yes. Saying yes would have built on relationships. Saying no left me stuck. This was on my mind this morning as I contemplated how I was going to deal with the kids disappointment that the truck was broken again and they would miss the last day of VBS after missing the first three days. It rained and operation distract the kids with a boat ride in princess costumes was thwarted. Just as I was moving to plan B, my phone made a noise. A FB message from a family at church offering to drive the kids there and back today.

Remember to say YES more when offered help. So I said yes.

And the day was saved. Girls were dressed, hair brushed, shoes on in 90 seconds. They had a great time today and I am filled with gratitude. I need to say yes more. It is outside my comfort zone. I'll work on that.

Stranded

Today was kind of a go with the flow what else can go wrong lets make the best of it kind of day.

First, I forgot the actual dates of VBS. Thought it was next week. Nope.

So, then we managed to make it to today's only to have the truck break down right in front of the church. Seriously.

I got it started and drove the 5 blocks to the local mechanic.

Only to realise that he had not yet fixed the leak on my other vehicle.

No problem. We'll walk down to the square and eat and go to the library and take care of passport paperwork.

Only. It. Was. A. Mile. Or. More. To. Walk.

Three kids, one who is not a great walker for long distances because of hypotonia, no baby carrier or stroller, my work backpack and camera gear, and Lily's art bag from the truck. We walked. And walked. And walked.

Got to the courthouse and the square. Cool.

No cool? My drivers license* will take 10 days to three weeks in the mail and without the hard plastic copy, no passport application is valid. BUGGER. So did that.

*It seems that for about 16 years I have had and renewed a technically illegal drivers license. Not kidding. I've flown. I've bought and sold property. I worked for the State of Iowa. All the time, my license was incorrect and no one, not even me, took notice. Until now. Of course.


So, finish up there and head to Lindy's. Find cute stuff. Forget that what I buy I have to carry. Add to load.

On to get an early lunch while we wait for Chad (2 more hours to go). Complication. Dining room is closed for cleaning and the bar tables are not safe for Isaac. Wait for lower table.

And wait.

And wait.

Run into local babywearing/homeschooling mama friend. Chat while kids start to bite each others' arms. (Internally sob.....)

Finally, food. Then they offer to move us to a back table where there is a charger, but Isaac is getting wound up.

Instead we head to the park 4 blocks away. Full charge on laptop, charging my phone, hot spot= blogging.

That's not quite the end of my day. Still, the kids are fed, really well exercised, and still in a pretty good mood. I'll have pig chores to do when I get home and that will suck, but still, could be worse.

I think, today is a good day to go to bed early, read a book before that, and just be thankful that it was nice out and not 100+ degrees or raining. Thankful that I have a life partner on his way with a working car. Thankful that through the ordeal of today's events I could stay connected to so many people who offered to come get us and expressed concern or just commiserated. Feeling loved, feeling appreciated.

That's where we are at folks, playing in a park on a gorgeous summer day, sweet wind dancing in our hair, laughing, playing. Not a bad day after all.

This Week on the Farm, in Pictures