This age of marvels like laptop computers and outdoor electrical wiring allows me to sit on the deck and write as I watch the boys' Sunday afternoon ball playing. But then the rain came (only gentle dropping that didn't come through the leaves over the deck but I didn't know how soon it would come and ruin my technology) and I moved indoors.Boo-hoo! 

It is exceptionally pleasant today. Nice and cool. Heat is in the forecast for the coming week so we'll enjoy this while we can. Now I sit in a pleasant location indoors and enjoy the cool air coming through the screen. 

Part of my day is being spent doing things in preparation for VBS which begins next Sunday evening. We are doing last minute scrambling this year. The ones who were on to help us, backed out and they were not replaced in a timely manner. We didn't want to just do our own thing so we patiently (with fingers twiddling) waited. The week ahead looks busy with getting all last minute details in place plus regular life.

Regular life includes a lot of baking. Monday and Friday are my bake days. Last week I made 18 pies and 20 loaves of zucchini bread. Strawberries are over and peaches have begun. I still have apples from last year's crop and bought some blueberries. That means three varieties of pies. Melvin and Christopher are my steady helpers and they are getting really good.

From this....

...to this! (Unbaked)

Here is my latest DIY project. A wall clock -found at Amazon.The clock we had here just couldn't keep time and it was totally frustrating. This one looked like something unique and that's my style.

On Thursday two of "my" girls from Kid's Club came over for the late afternoon and evening. We went swimming in the river and played with kittens. They did. I watched. Neither sport being down my alley of expertise. The girls were in no hurry to go home. It makes me sad to think about the homes they have.

My nieces Jean and Monica came to swim with us. Especially because I don't swim and I wanted someone along who knew more about it than I did. It helped to make it more fun for the other two also (who swam like fish!).

This morning contained another rude surprise. An impromptu need to teach the adult ladies' Sunday school class. Again! This happened to me just recently. Thankfully the lesson (Joel 2:17-the end) was full of wonderful things, so there was something to talk about. And I wasn't so totally unprepared as I was the last time.

A lot of people were missing this morning from our regular attendees but there were a lot of visitors! There were only five from our regular class and only two of us that regularly teach. We both looked at each other and said, Not again! The youth girls who were there joined our class so the total number of ladies was 17. At least, being visitors, some were kind enough to share their thoughts.

It was good to come home today and have lunch together around the table as a family. So rare these days. We even sang a few songs. Something we enjoy but rarely find time to do.

The garden is yielding more goodies these days. Zucchini, potatoes and cabbage. Melvin, Christopher and I were transplanting rhubarb (discovered we had at least 19 crowns!) near the potatoes one day and managed to dig up a nice looking potato. That made the boys hungry for new potatoes for supper. So they dug more. A wonderful treat.

And zucchini is delicious in so many ways. One evening I made a dish with burger, onions, peppers, garlic and lots of zucchini fried together and topped with cheese. The family really enjoys that. Another one is zucchini crust pizza. We had coleslaw for lunch today. Delicious cabbage. Especially when you know where it comes from.

A week ago (Saturday) we helped some friends butcher chickens. At least 75 chickens got done that day for three families. They gave us five whole chickens just for helping! Bless them. We had some of that chicken for lunch today. 

 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of
the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my 
people shall never be ashamed. Joel 2:26

Are you praising the name of the Lord your God?

Has He dealt wondrously with you? If you begin to praise Him, you will find that He indeed has.

Large beauty

Small beauty

Motivating boys to work

How do YOU do that?

Mama is going to town today. (Everyone in the house hates going to town but this is a necessary evil that must occur periodically.) There is clean laundry that needs to be folded, slops to be put on the compost pile, more laundry to wash & dry, dishes to wash & dry and garden work to be done. How are 10 (almost 11) and 12 yr old boys going to be motivated to accomplish these things while Mama is in town?

When I returned from my trip to town six hours later, the work was done and the boys were playing in the dirt. (They have a spot under a certain tree where they drive their cars and other matchbox toys, building roads and etc.)

Before leaving I detailed each son's work list, like so-

Melvin
Wash dishes (30 minutes)
Dump slop (10 min)
Fold laundry (1 hr)
Pull weeds from a garden bed $1

Christopher
Dry dishes (30 min)
Wash & dry a load of laundry (10 min)
Fold laundry (1 hr)
Pull weeds from a garden bed $1

"Fold laundry" included hanging up clean shirts and putting them in closets.

Here's the deal- If the job gets done in the amount of time listed in the parentheses, the child receives that amount of money. Thirty minutes = thirty cents. If the job is accomplished in half the time, the child will get double the money. Time listed is thirty minutes + job is done in 15 minutes or less = sixty cents. This method worked well for their older brothers. House cleaning got done lickety-split when I detailed it this way. So I pulled it out of the archives and revisited it today. Ta-da! It still works. 

The garden bed had its own reward beings it was a big job in the heat of the day. 

Here's the tally they kept-

Prayer meeting/Bible study was cancelled this evening due to a power outage at the church house. So we had a nice free evening to relax and ....blog. 

We have new critters around here. This one was ripping around near me while I typed. I managed to get a photo before he tore off in another direction. Most of the time the pose was lost by the time the camera "clicked". See below.