It is to be expected that I'd be having Philippine Flashbacks...the season of traveling and being between homes is very similar to "iteneration" between mission assignments....
I lay on the beach of the Smith River yesterday and was taken back to lazy Sunday afternoons at Faith Academy. 15 - 20 girls sunbathing on a roof, slathered with baby oil, hair rinsed in calamansi juice, listening to KC and the top 40 (or was it 20?)....ah peace, total relaxation.... does anyone else remember how the dorm united when "The Rose" came on the radio? ::snort:: Yeah, tell me about skin cancer....seriously....if I'm going to get it it will be because of all those lazy Sunday afternoons in the Philippines and in Liberia....I'm not going to worry about one perfect hour or two on the Smith River in 2009. ::snort::
My family, not having lived across from warm, tropical oceans, are convinced that COLD river water is made for SWIMMING....ah well.....it's more relaxing in the sand if I don't clue them in. ::snort::
This boy understands the exhileration of sand.
But before we played...we worked...which is, afterall, a specialized form of play if we view work as a gift from the Lord.
I did laundry (no photo - do we really need photos of mountains of underwear, towels and shorts?) ::snort::
Krista and the young ones showered, cleaned the trailer and made a picnic lunch to take to Mom and Dad G's. The younger ones gave Krista a makeover (that is NOT a black eye...it's creative eye design). ::snort::
As previously mentioned, Mike, Jared and Nolan went to tackle a dead tree. It fell over the bank....
Then they cut it up...and hauled it UP the trail/bank to the garage...
Nolan did most the hauling...Mike and Jared dreamed of tools left behind...and did the sawing, hacking, chopping...
Dad Earl is 93. Mom Mary is 83. They like antiques. Not to sit and collect...but to USE....the old coal/wood stove has become a summer fireplace...the ringer washer works...Dad Earl thought we'd enjoy mowing the lawn. I'll admit it WAS on the list of things that Krista and I planned to accomplish...but we had no idea the type of mower we'd be using....
This is certainly harder than it looks....though it could be a lot of fun if you did it weekly. I suddenly understand Mom Mary's comments of 10 years ago about doing 10 minutes of mowing a day....ah....she enjoyed the daily workout of pushing the mower around parts of the yard. We got about 1/6th of the yard done yesterday. I quickly realized instead of hours on the elliptical machine preparing for hikes...I should have spent time on the rowing machine preparing for pushing a mower around acres of river front property (ok - maybe just an acre or 1/2 acre...but the river view is motivating).
No electric or gas powered weedeater either...which begs the question WHY the gas powered chain saw???? ::snort::
One of many such shots...he's hopeless, Roy.
Jared continues to learn the game of Chess...Mike hasn't played in years....but these two are enjoying the game.
Dad Earl hasn't played chess in years and YEARS, but he got out of bed to play a couple of games with Jared. He was the KING at chess in years' past....I think it's good for him to play again.
Stacia explains her "apan" (Japan) book to Mom Mary.
I brought dinner over to the house. We ate. We looked at photos. We called it a day.
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.
~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...
