God's Playdough

Today the big boys are leaving for two days for a Cadet exercise. I am so used to 'adult' company that I wonder if I shall be lonely.

While I was making pancakes for breakfast, the reader boy was reading in bed.


I love the fact that since his reading has taken off in the last three months he has begun to really read. Actually, in the last month he has begun reading books by the day. When Ray went home this week and then later today when I went home, we had to return with a stack of books because Austin is consuming books at the pace Cassidy began reading at two years ago.

It is a wonderful way to fill time that is not being used for chores, and fun. There is never a spare moment in a readers life! A devoted book lover will never go anywhere without a book in tow. There just might be a moment to squeeze in a page or two from a beloved book. I am so thrilled to see the love of books has been passed successfully onto the fifth child! This is a gift that will keep on giving. You see, my children that enjoy reading will most likely continue on to being adults who enjoy books. Their children will see this and realize that reading is an expected and desired activity in their home and the baton will have been passed.

A Devoted Little Brother

Since we only had until lunchtime before I had to go to town, we wanted to use the time to the maximum, so right after breakfast, we went out to the dock and sunned and played until the very last minute.

Everyone Enjoying Their Own Moments

Feeding the Flowers
(as Raine calls it)

I have discovered sitting and reading a book, while sitting in the sun. It has been wonderful! What a blessing this holiday has been to me. At home, there is so much to do that I rarely get a chance to just sit and relax. And when I do sit and have my lunch outside in the sunshine, I can "feel" the work calling me and I can't sit for more than a few minutes.

Here the kitchen takes me moments to clean, the children each have their jobs: Savannah tidies the bedroom, Raine sweeps and washes the main floor, Cooper and Austin clean the outside of the campground, plus kill and clean after dead bugs, Dane cooks and Cassidy is kitchen prep-cook. Noone spends more than half an hour on their work and the rest of the day they are playing, discovering, swimming, jumping, learning and so much more!

The children found 'concrete', or so they thought. But soon they started imerging from this spot on the beach with handfuls of this so-called concrete and I told them, "That is not concrete! That is clay! That's God's playdough." *smile*

Raine proceeded to show us what she and her friends had done in Ethiopia with clay. She made a cooking dish with a lid.


It was a neat moment of flashing me back to her being a dusty little barefoot, multi-braided girl half way around the world. It is so hard to envision that this same little girl that has blended so easily into Canadian ways was not born to us and our country. Just the other day, when she was telling a story, she said, "Well, actually..." It was too funny! I said to her, "Raine, you are so Canadianized!" She queried what that meant. I told her that she was getting so comfortable with the language that she can say all the odd little things now quite naturally.

Even the big boys got in on the act and began making dishes and different things. See what I mean? Every day brings new joys and new discoveries.



I took Austin's pictures, and so Briton had to show me what he 'made'. I don't see any recognizeable form. *smile* But he's happy and that's what counts!


When I headed to town with the boys I headed home and ran three loads of laundry, cooked some meals, and did some banking. It was amazing what we got done in three hours! We then dropped off the boys at the corp, went home and visited Ray some more and then headed back at about 7:30 pm.

Our days are so shifted now! The little ones got to bed at 9:30 and then Austin and I sat down to watch our routine Walton's show. We love that series. It is definitely worth going out and buying the entire series. We are into the middle of season four and thrilled to bits to know there are nine or ten seasons! Plus, we have seasons five and six just waiting for us at home!

As it turned out the day was so full that I didn't have time to miss the big ones, and the little ones were so easy to tend to in this small home.
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