A huge blessing!

 

Remember this post?  http://stamfamily.blogspot.ca/2012/05/i-am-missing-my.html

Today marks the beginning of a whole new era for the housewife over here.  A joyful beginning.  After trudging out to the line on which to hang clothes two times over the past two weeks and coming back in with snow inside my knee high boots I called it a truce.  No more hanging stuff out until that white stuff is gone.  At the rate of it's current decline that may be in mid-May!  BUT then one day I ventured out my front door - you know, the one that is in my back yard?   Well, what a blessing that has turned out to be.  For outside that door is one of those concrete steps and I had the very BRIGHT idea that we could put a clothesline up next to that stoop.  And although that idea is now only a few days old, guess what is outside my office window?  YES, clothes - on a new line.  Henry thought my idea was good and passed the information along to Jake, who works for us.  And he must have thought it a fun job to take up some of his time for he began the project immediately.  And after a couple waits for someone to take the trip into town for the little winch thing and the wheels for turning the whole thing is together and working!!  At lunch time today I noticed it was up and IMMEDIATELY went to throw a load into the laundry.  It is so nice!  It is so beautiful.  It is so wonderful.  I can't wait to take it off the line and smell it as I fold it.  I can't wait to wash my sheets and hang them out so I can sleep on them. 

There is a slight problem that could arise with this sun loving line.  Just to the right of the photo is an enormous Manitoba maple that is strapped together to keep it from splitting.  Another of my desires is to have that tree vanish.  It provides lovely shade but considering the fact that I have about 50 other trees that provide that same thing, I am wishing this one gone.  Once it has left I can plant some vegetables along the front of my house - you know, in my back yard!  What a bonus.  It wouldn't be proper to put vegetables there if it was my truly front yard.  But since it is only the front of my house but my back yard, this would be very acceptable for me.  How does one convince a farmer to chop down a very large tree next to his house when he is not a tree climbing or tree cutting fellow?  Anyone looking for a fun job?  I promise to feed you and give you a wonderful bed in which to sleep!

 

 

 

I took this photo through the glass of my front door and the next one from on my precious little stoop.

                                     It thrills me just to look at the photos!  Yippee for me!

Spots for learning

We have dug into the books at home this year and things are going well.  Both girls are diligent in getting assigned work done and there are several things we are doing together.  We have just finished reading the book 'In His Steps' together and both girls would love to have me read it aloud again!  They are both reading other books continually and we also do readings for history and science.  The best part of it all is having them climb out of bed in the early morning (7 am!) and climb under blankets on couches and chairs in the living room.  There we begin with devotions, some worldview study and some medieval history.  That's before we get unsnuggled and have breakfast and family devotions.  You can't have too much of devotions, can you?  Lots of scripture getting us hearing from God and time to pray so he hears our voices too. 

By nine in the morning when most kids are pulling out their pencils and books, our kids are onto the 4th or sometimes 5th subject.  Nuts eh?  And we have school wherever it works.  The kitchen table is often plastered with many books.  The living room is the comfyest place to read and sometimes the girls even do math and language work there.  But there are other spots too - in front of a sunny window, outside near a fire, and science fun in the kitchen or outside!  Kierra and science experiments usually equals a lot of fun and a mess.  And mostly understanding.  She is a learner on a roll and carries the rest of us along and we work to keep up.  Her thoughts often seem to be one ahead of us all. 

We are enjoying the year thus far.  Hopefully we will survive the winter ahead of us without too much cabin fever. 

Kierra's first choice of book was to finish and re-read 'Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry'.  She read that with her class back in Stratford and would often comment on the way that certain readers had read parts of the book.  I think she enjoyed that almost as much as the book itself.

Dayna packed up some books and worked outside near the campfire one beautiful morning.  I would love to have some more of those mornings in the next weeks.  Maybe after this snow melts we will have some gorgeous fall weather.

the lineup.

Several tractors have loaders and one can choose from this line-up to find what you would like to attach for the current job!  Kierra is getting better at this job.  Because she is, I am spared the job of trying!