I always look forward to Monday: the start of a new week and routine. Weekends are wonderful with Adam home but there isn’t much routine. Don’t misunderstand; it isn’t chaotic but we are very busy and we never know what project will jump to the top of the priority list by the time Saturday arrives. I’ll let you guys guess by the end of this post which task you think will “go to the head of the class” for this upcoming weekend.
I didn’t sleep well last night and I was awake by 4:20 this morning. This might sound odd, but I was excited about having an extra hour to myself. I was able to read and study my Bible, milk Reba, read a chapter in a book, go for a walk and start a load of laundry. The kids’ alarms went off at 6:30 and they were diligently out feeding/watering animals as I was wrapping up my morning duties outside. I was thinking, “Yeah! We are going to rock this school day!” We had plans to go to the library and swim with friends after lunch so I was excited about finishing our chores and school before heading to town.
Well, the Lord had different plans. I was outside hanging the second load of laundry and I heard a car honk several times on the main road. This might not seem abnormal to you guys but when you have two Houdini dogs, my red flag went up immediately. I walk around to the front of the house and I don’t see those two rascals. I called the reinforcements out (children) and the dogs were nowhere to be found. I told the kids to start their Spanish class while I drove around the neighborhood looking for the dogs.
I’ll spare you the details but I drove around for thirty minutes with no luck. But on my last circle around, I saw a beautiful bunch of elderberry that I couldn’t leave behind. Then on my way back to the house, there was a turtle in the road. I put the elderberry in the front seat and the turtle in the back and headed home. When I arrived home, the kids came out and said “Mama, the Spanish lesson was short, so we did Biology as well.” And then they headed out to Woven Hand Wood (more details to come on that soon) to look for the dogs. Turns out they were out there frolicking the entire time.
You might be wondering while I provided so many seemingly useless details. Here is why: instead of coming home frustrated with the dogs, frustrated with the loss of thirty minutes of my precious time, I decided to look at the silver lining. I went straight to the kitchen, de-stemmed the elderberry and made a beautiful, aromatic, delicious elderberry tea (cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, lemon juice, turmeric, ginger). The kids were forced to be more independent in their lessons today because I was unavailable. We are beginning a study of turtles with our nature group for September, beginning Friday. We now have a live specimen to study. So we set aside our normal school subjects (minus Bible) and focused on studying this Panhandle Box Turtle. The kids created a beautiful habitat for him (I have a video of his habitat but pictures don’t do it justice. They fastened three rabbit hutches together. They buried a pan for his pond and planted plants around the pond. They made a “play” area for him with a log and then a “sleep” area for him with a glass jar filled with rocks). They sketched drawings of him. We learned what he likes to eat, what his habits are and how we can best care for him over the next month. And we will forever remember this day. Graham said to me later, “Isn’t it so neat Mama that because the dogs got out, we were able to find the turtle!”
I want to create a habit in myself of seeing the good and being thankful for the interruptions that sometimes seem like a frustration. I want to see the silver lining.