Tea with Milk and Sugar

Hebrews 12:2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I am by no means trying to make light of the sacrifice Jesus made and what He truly endured. I do however relate to this verse so much. Much of my life since pregnancy and childbirth can be described as enduring for the joy. I have pretty awful pregnancies, deliver by c-section (how pleasant can that be?), so it is definitely for the joy of the child that I’ve purposely become pregnant 3 times in the past 6 years.

It doesn’t stop there… I’m sure this will continue to be a theme for the baby/toddler/kiddo years as well. Much of what I do is so very fun and also comes with a price I choose to pay. Doesn’t everybody do this? The best rewards have the greatest cost right? Even the simplest thing like letting all the kids run around at the beach for hours in their underwear means at least an hour and a half of sand retrieving from various crevices for me, instead of watching the lovely sunset with my husband.

So here’s my ultimate example this week. We go cherry picking once a summer and this was our 5th year. It’s kid heaven, warm weather, climbing trees, harvesting their own food, sweet yummy cherries. The orchard we love only opens for one day each summer and you are really on-call waiting for the “ripe” day. This year it fell on the morn after I smashed my big toe (see previous post). So off we go anyway because I’d hate for them to miss out on their favorite summer activity. Since my brain was on my toe I blew it as a prepared Mommy. We went to swimming lessons and Joseph Jr. wore his rain boots, fine for the van, not fine for climbing cherry trees. When we stopped home to pick up Daddy I took off his boots and went inside to get the lunches, my tea, his climbing shoes and things for Violet. 45 minutes on the road he asks “Mommy when are you going to give me my shoes?” I turn around to see him sitting with one sock on. We have no shoes and we are 45 minutes from home, headed to climb! We stop at a Payless and get his shoes for 7.00. We then get to the farm and when I get Violet out of the van her wet diaper soaks the side of my shirt. I then remember that the previous night when I realized I needed more diapers I emptied out the van and diaper bag for the house supply while Joseph Sr. ran to Fred Meyer for more. I never re-stocked. So I have a sopping wet baby with no diapers and we are 3 hours from getting home. Thankfully a kind lady gave me one. It was not fun hobbling about with my limp approaching strangers with my wet baby asking for diapers. The lady I found didn’t speak English so it was very interesting charades. It didn’t stop here. I then reach in my purse to offer her some change for the diaper and dip my hand into a purse filled with peach yogurt. I’d placed Violet’s lunch in the purse, lid sealed, but it didn’t stay that way. Thankfully the lady declined.

I’m thankful for:

nylon washable purses

flip-flops

stores that sell pleather shoes for 7.00

community spirit to help a poor mama out!

After all this it was still a joy-filled day and the cherries are so good!

Joseph Jr. was so sweet this week.  A very compassionate side has been showing up if somebody is hurt.  It was almost worth dropping a 2 quart conditioner bottle on my big toe, turning it bloody and black to see this side of him.   Until this year we had never seen him show concern really for anyone.  Even at a pet store he isn’t interested in the (mushy tone) cute little baby puppies and kitties that need homes.  No he just looks at the fish. 

I laid down on the couch, foot propped and on his own he told me how sorry he was I was hurt and that he’d be right back to help.  He came downstairs with a cup of ice water, a cup with water and garden flowers which he placed on a table, a blanket, a book, my slippers.  Then he offered to go in the backyard and clean the whole thing up!  This was not a ploy to go outside.  He doesn’t enjoy outside work. 

So sweet.  Again, really almost worth the pain.  I think it’s broken.

“I was either a total idiot or really cool”.  Yes you were really cool.  Tonight with the help of Jay, our neighbor, my hercules took out two enormous evergreen trees with a rope, and small electric saw.  These trees, 25 and 40 feet tall , were within 5 feet of our foundation and one was beginning to raise the cement path, foundation next.  Evergreens were not meant to be planted right next to a structure.  After much chopping and pruning he called me out to watch the big fall.  Jay on the ladder with the saw, Joseph 30 feet out with the rope ready to pull the tree exactly down between our house and the cedar fence, a 5 foot space.  I watched them prepare until Jay said “Joseph be ready to pull with all your might or this tree will jump and kill me.”  Jay doesn’t joke so that’s when I realized I was watching the equivilant of MTv’s “Scarred” and looked away.  Bam!  They did it and now we will continue to load truckloads of tree in the dark.  It’s 10pm and counting.  You never know what you are going to do for an evening at my house.