7 1/2...

Whoa, were we busy on Mother's Day!

First our devotionals - a time when we worship together and are reminded of who we are in relationship to our Creator - joint caretakers of His Earth and family to our neighbors. This gives us a bond in purpose, peace, and childlike wonder. Our decision to worship our Creator together has brought understanding between us that talking didn't do.

Then jump into the day with the laundry...and a great day it was for line drying. Breakfast, catch up on dishes, replace the board steps on the back porch (the old ones were a bit wobbly), bring out the trays of seedlings for a day of real sunshine, plant more onions - this time along the foundation of the house where the chipmunks have a highway. What does it mean when your "soil" beads up the water rather than drinking it in? And is cat manure useful as fertilizer?

But hey, the rhubarb, potatoes, garlic, radishes, peas, and onion sets that we planted within the last few weeks are showing their little leaves. Radish sprouts are fun to eat when thinning them out. Oh, and I bought some marigolds to plant around the garden.

While I had my hands in the dirt, David was splitting wood. About one third acre of our property is our "wood lot". It is across the driveway and down the hill from the house. Many of the trees are mature. In the past couple years three large trees have fallen over in different storms. They were not dead but top heavy. We see our tree harvesting as our Creator's care for us. The trees landed totally on our property - not out in the road or on power lines, good the fuel, and conveniently located. One of the trees was a large birch and the other was a two-trunked green ash. Today David was splitting the ash until the axe maul steel head split. He's still my superman. He just tires more quickly now.

There are pictures of the climax of the day. They'll be posted as soon as I figure out how to do that. David's youngest son, his monkey-boy, climbed the hickory on the south side of the house to trim off a large limb that hung over the roof. No one was hurt, including the roof and window, but the ladder is now slightly bent.

LESSON: Worshipping the Creator together with your partner brings purpose and direction in living harmoniously with each other, the Earth, and your neighbors.