Maple Grove Farm

Thanking the Lord for the Average Day

Today is an average day, for which I am truly thankful.  After getting the girls off to school I had a chance to clean a little bit in my canning kitchen and freezer room.  I got a batch of wheat ground to make bread.  I got the laundry started and I got a cabinet cleaned out.  We then had breakfast/snack (DS 3 eats with his sisters but is then hungry again when DS 2 is ready for breakfast as he does not like to eat right when he gets up.)  We then got dressed, watched Seasame Street, and played outside.  My house looks pretty decent, the kitchen is clean, the children are clean and dressed, and laundry is moving along, and everyone is behaving well.  Ahhh!

I have been ready a great book by Debi Pearl called "Created to Be His Help Meet."  I have been very blessed by the book and am looking forward to implementing it in our home.  It has given me lots of good insight into raising our children.  When ever I get a chance I have been sneaking the opportunity to read a few pages.

I am also thanking the Lord today for our home and farm.  When we bought this place I loved everything about it except how exposed to the road it seemed.  It sits down as if in a hollow.  When you are here it seems very private, but from the road you are looking down on the house and property.  However, it really meets our needs with the small children.  I don't have to worry about the kids getting up on the road too easily.  The inclines are steep and brushy, making it very uninviting for them.  I know that they are safely enclosed in our little area and can play safely.  What a huge blessing.

When I was a child my family lived on a farm.  I loved the days of wandering the place looking for things to do.  From playing in the fields, to watching the clouds, to jumping in mud puddles, I always was using my imagination and playing on my own.  My parents did not keep us busy with structured activities and they both stayed home - Dad as a farmer and Mom as a mother and keeper of our home.  I love giving that to my children. 

Yesterday my husband stayed home with the children and last night they said they loved it and don't want Dad to leave every day.  This morning when I got dressed my DS 3 started crying and throwing a fit.  When I asked him why he said he did not want me to go bye bye.  Our children were designed to be with us - to be trained by us, to be loved by us, and to have life modeled to them by us. 

This is the true gift of homesteading . . .