Mostly Pictures...and Our Long Week

I looked through Hope's camera and found pictures from their weekend with Grandma and Grandpa.

...of the school carnival in Bradford

Grandma suddenly had more heads to comb than she ever did.

Shekinah turned 6 last week, it was a busy Saturday, so she got her gifts first thing.

Then Ben and Jana took them on a picnic and fishing.

I don't think she likes holding fish.

The kid that didn't think he was going to go, caught the most fish.

New experience for her, I think.

The birthday "cake" waited until Monday night.

Of course the cheesy smile.

Monday we picked rows of peas.

Then VBS in the evening

Tues we went along for Joe's driving evaluation, it took all morning and they decided...

he doesn't need much adaptive equipment, just a spinner knob on the steering wheel.

I am a little surprised and am not sure how I feel about the news.

It means we have more freedom on the car we will get for him to use, but

it also means that we get to do his driver training.

The evaluator said he would benefit from some additional training with him

hopefully that eases my mind a bit.

The evaluator also noted that DOT issued the wrong driver's permit- it was issued for dual controls which meant that during driver training the trainer would have had braking controls on their

side of the car too.

I didn't know that was available! How many times would that come in handy?

After we came home from that appointment, I took the girls to Oregon Dairy Farm Days.

Free ice cream and chocolate milk samples.

Bunnies to pet and sunflowers to plant.

The weather was perfect.

CPR class to teach for me and VBS for the rest of the family.

Wednesday was a work day for both Joe and Hope.

I used that day for a trip to the post office, bank and a few groceries.

Somehow all that driving around took all morning.

VBS in the evening.

Thursday morning found us on the road headed for Shriner's for the yearly 

"limb difference" visit. They decided that Joe needs new sockets (legs) and will get him new 

feet too while they are at it. These Rush feet thankfully lasted for two years this time. A few years

ago we were breaking feet every spring.

That involved casting and measuring, I was glad that I took the 8:30 appointment even though

it meant hauling everyone out of bed at 6AM.

We got home just before lunch.

The youngest two were in a rank mood and I told them either I take a nap or they do.

They took the naps, I needed to work on "the quilt".

"The quilt" is a theme that will run 'in the background' all summer. Hannah got a 

special order from a man that wants like six quilts for Christmas and I need to make three of

them. Then there is the annual Christmas Quilt that we try to put on the market, that has to be 

completed by October so that people have time to buy it!

Friday morning found us back in the pea patch...this picture makes the patch look

extra long, but that's how it feels when you are at the other end.

I found out that peas were selling for $50 a bushel at the produce auction last week

so we looked on them as 'green gold' and I tried to make it sound fun.

We took them to the "pea huller"  and as always were amazed at the small amount of peas

you get from ALL those peas you picked!

I wish I would have felt comfortable taking a picture at the pea huller. It was a microcosm

of small town Mennonite life. When we were there on Monday, there were two Amish buggies with 

a Wenger Mennonite lady standing at the one horse's head. My children

probably didn't notice that she didn't belong to that buggy. It was that lady's 

kindness that allowed the Amish lady to take care of her produce and 

be sure that her horse didn't decide to take off down the road with her children 

bouncing around inside.

Looked closer at the one lady and realized that I knew her. She really hadn't changed much from when I was a young girl and saw her biking along the road.

Friday when we were there, two little Stauffer Mennonite boys biked in with their peas and 

had a time trying to figure out how my girls fit with me.  My girls were doing their

own share of staring so I didn't worry too much.

Friday, Faith and Shekinah convinced me that they could hull one small bag of peas.

I should have known better, but I let them bring them home. They started strong,

but in the end they realized how much time we saved by stopping at that farm on the way home.

This week I hope to get back on a proper schedule again. We didn't even use the 

job selection and it seemed to put everyone off stride. 

I finished "the quilt" last night--will get pictures tomorrow before I deliver it.

DH and Zeke went to the Maker's Faire in DC and should be home this afternoon

so I can stop worrying. You see, I sent my two most directionally-challenged family members

off on a trip to a large city. It sounds like it went well, they used the Metro and used it to get around

from the Shady Grove area.

QOTD:
I went for groceries alone on Friday afternoon and while in the store two little girls about 4&5 were darting across the aisle like little kids do...and their mother scolded them "No, don't do that! People are going up and down here."  I smiled to show her that they really didn't annoy me, they were too cute. When the older child said "mama, don't you mean 'back and forth'? Up and down would be this way." as she motioned to the ceiling.  Mom and I both cracked up.