Life is very rich right now, full of all the good things: faith, family, friends, and meaningful work. As always, trying to keep it in that order, though I sometimes find myself getting mixed up. I’m exhausted at the end of the day, but in a mostly good way. This week Jonny put in a few hours on the portable chicken coop and I made purple yarn. Jonny climbed high on a ladder to reach the muscadines for dyeing for me, and Beatrix helped squish them.
Job is starting to say things. He’s got “No,” “Mine,” and “Stop” down, all necessary when you’re the youngest. He also says “See it,” while pointing, and he’s starting to say the names of his brothers, sisters, and even our friends. It’s hard to believe that his second birthday is less than a month away. We still call him “The Baby,” all the while his weight in my arms reminds me that he’s becoming less baby and more child.
We sometimes lament the fact that our life and schedules don’t allow for as many adventures as we used to take: the mountains and meadows, the trees, the water. But as we work and grow together I am reminded that life is an adventure even when you spend most of it near home.
I think you might like this quote, Ginny, that I found twenty years ago in a book of G.K. Chesterton essays. I remember writing (a real letter!) to Father de Silva, asking permission to use it in a small magazine I published back then, and some notecards, and he very sweetly and graciously gave me that permission…
“Today there are fewer places to discover, and the real adventure is to stay home.” -Father Alvaro de Silva
Job in that first photo! His eyes say so much <3
Busy days full of meaningful work are truly a blessing! Though sometimes get my priorities out of whack (I am working on that), and some days all I get done is cuddling a sick baby. But knowing that I have so many projects and meaningful work to do as a wife, mother, writer, minister’s wife, and crafter, it really brings excitement to my day. I don’t like to brag, and some days are just plain hard, but I love my life! 🙂
Beautiful.
is that Intruder? how I missed seeing him :)) he seems chubby now, prepairing for the cold season, I guess.
Great photos. So happy that all of you have a busy and pleasant season!
They’re always babies, even when they’re old enough to give us grandchildren (not that either of us are old enough yet). That’s just how it is.
Also, yarn arrived….Little Man kept petting it. He’s weird like that. Or, rather, he’s a yarn snob 🙂
Oh, that purple color of your yarn is SO lovely!!!
The light is so pretty in all of these pictures
Ah, yes! Life is an adventure and home is such a nice place to be and I remind myself often of the blessing it is in and of itself. I’ve been re-reading some of the Anne of Green Gables books and I just so love how she embraces life and home. And I also think I could use my own Susan Baker housekeeper!! 🙂
I enjoy your posts. Your children are beautiful.
Marion
Too everything there is a season. I used to hate when people would say that, now I understand. With 21 and 18 year old daughters who are in or transitioning to college I find myself with all kinds of time on my hands! So I knit baby hats for the local hospitals. Just wish the hospital would let me rock them, but rules and regs deny me that joy.
Look at that great building! Are you sure that talented husband of yours couldn’t make you a bedroom addition?
🙂
Kim
What a sweet picture of Job at the top, he looks a lot like Beatrix! I have the least idea of his personality compared to the rest of your children.
I cannot believe he will be two…time flies and all that stuff. I enjoy seeing your days and snippets of life-enjoying nature and the children. My son was always a help in the kitchen whenever I made cookies that needed to be rolled in sugar. Now when I make them I think back at all of those tiny hands that helped (my impatience….) all good stuff!! Squishing sounds like fun and really messy and staining.
Love all of this – did you use a mordant for the berries?
Yes, I used alum + cream of tartar. 🙂
We still call the 3.5 year old the baby😊
Jonny’s dad still calls him, “Baby.” 🙂
The more kids we have, the more I’m convinced that the best way for us to live is to make our home the most pleasant place possible, so we don’t miss the fact that we don’t really go on adventures 🙂 Although it helps now that we’ve moved to the mountains, which is where all our adventures were to begin with!
My younger kids were looking at our photos albums of their older siblings and their “field” trips and complaining that they got to do all the fun stuff. I pointed out that their older siblings were stuck in a small house with a small yard in town, while they have all this land now. We’ve really worked hard to make our home and property “the most pleasant place possible” and it seems a pretty adventurous place to me. Last week the “little” boys got to see our lamb slaughtered and cut up, which they thought was so cool. Now they have a lamb’s hide they are trying to tan. I don’t know how I could top such adventures. I think they are mostly content and busy, but sometimes envy rears its ugly head briefly.
Beautifully full days and those are some really cute helpers you have there.
Are those elderberries? They quite look like grapes. I got two beautiful shades of yellow this wek with marigolds. I think I am going to try comfrey.
Enjoy it all!
They are wild muscadines!! I wish I had comfrey!
I wish we could trade! I could dry some and send them down! Are muscadines wild grapes? I have to look them up. In any case they make a beautiful dye!
Have a great weekend and be well.
The portable chicken coop is going to be fabulous. Love the purple yarn as well, a really scrumptious colour. It’s nice to be exhausted at the end of the day when it’s in a good way I think. Wishing you a good weekend. CJ xx