This Week at Our House #19 and #20

North Carolina remains mostly under lock down while some states have opened back up and others have locked down even more. It's such a strange time in a strange world. We continue to stay put, although that's not much different from our ordinary slow paced life. If this hadn't happened, I'd be working, but the kids would only go out grocery shopping or for beach trips.

At first it was reported that kids were not affected so much by the corona virus. Now, there are reports that it's causing autoimmune issues in children after they're gotten the virus and healed. It's affecting the vascular system, heart, and kidneys. I have a friend who started having some autoimmune heart issues. She believe that she had Covid 19 in January and now she is having some long term effects from this.

I have felt from the beginning, that this is not a little thing, and likely the beginning of something more and bigger. It is obviously been used politically to change the government and restrict the people in a very communistic way.

D&C 45:31 says: "And there shall be men standing in that generation, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge; for a desolating sickness shall cover the land." I do not believe that this is the desolating scourge, as it is by no means desolating. But, it comes across as a warning of things to come.

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We've had the coldest May so far in North Carolina. We can't complain because in the past it would have been very hot by now. My garden is smaller because of the cooler weather, but on the other hand, we have spent hour upon hour outside enjoying our yard and our animals in the lovely temperate breezy springtime. 
I got twenty chicks. One died from a cat trying to catch it. We tried to save her, but she must have had internal injuries because after we got her away from the cat, she only laid still for a week before passing. All the other 19 are alive and well. I had them in brooders in the house, but they jumped out and walked all over. We could not keep them contained nor was I inclined to keep them in

such a tight area when they wanted to spread out. But they poop where ever they go, so I built a large pen in the garage for them. In another month, they should be big enough, fast enough, feathered enough, and aggressive enough to safely go and live outside with all the other animals.

The ducks are all outside now, and not penned up. I am going to keep my little outdoor pen though, and use it for nesting ducks and chickens in the future. I will need to build a loft in the shed for so many animals and we will likely need a little more fencing.

 

This past week was blackberry week. We've gotten buckets full of blackberries. I think we will get one more. We've enjoyed fresh blackberries, blackberry pies, blackberry crumble, and blackberry smoothies. It's a delicious week.

The kids went berry picking with me in a part of our yard that we call "snake and spider soup". It's over grown, but not wooden. There's a great many baby trees that we have allowed to grow up there. The kids never go in because there are  a lot of poisonous snakes in North Carolina. But I have taken them berry picking and we have enjoyed that time exploring a new section of our land. It reminded me of berry picking wild blueberries and blackberries with my mother growing up in Maine. 


I am working hard on my gardens this year. I have four separate plots and some randomly planted bell peppers and turnips. I do pray over my garden. With 14 people to feed, anything helps. This is the first yea, I am trying beans out. Yesterday, we put stick for bean poles in one section of garden. The little kids keep telling me that I need to take my sticks out of the garden. We all learn together.

   

Ruth, my dear, continues to work on illustrating books. Gideon adores her and hugs her with arms wrapped all the way around. Susan adores her and talks about going to visit Ruth. Ruth calls Susan her cat because Susan curls up in Ruth's lap and licks her.

Kate's been cooking up a storm. She makes desserts almost daily. We all appreciate that. 

Johnny, Adam and John hang out together a lot in sweet camaraderie. It's nice to have boys that have such a strong relationship with their father. 



I saw Adam reading the History of the Church volume I. I about passed out. I have been trying for years to get that boy reading. I think Kate did it.

Rachel has a bit of an agenda of things she's supposed to do daily, but she likes to mostly play.

 

Anya continues to draw and draw both on the computer and on paper. Unlike her older siblings, she has been able to make this her daily focus simply because she does not have to put so much time into homework. I think it will give her an advantage as she grows up.

Joseph likes to be on a computer. I think it doesn't matter much what he's doing as long as it's a computer. But then, that seems to be the world these days. Why are screens so addicting?



Joshua builds with legos a lot. He plays and he wrestles and explores. He loves the animals and likes to hold them.

Arwen cares about looks. She seems to analyze girls faces and figures and always has something to say about it. While we were picking blackberries she chattered on in innocence about how Anya is the the pretty one.

 

I'm trying to teach Suzy to do her chores. I gave her 4 days to clean one section of the house. When she did not, she did not get ice cream treats or computer games. She seems surprisingly okay with that, which shows a sign of maturity that's she has not had in the past. I'll try again this next week to get her to do her chores and to learn stamina and hard work.

Sam came to me one morning

and said there was a monster. I asked if it was in his room. He said no. I asked him where. He could not describe it and said, "Just come with me." I did. He took me to his room and pointed to his window, and said it was there. A vine had grown up outside his window and the shadow of it on the curtain did look monsteresque. Arwen said that it had tricked her into thinking a monster might be outside that window too. I

trimmed all the bushes. Another time, I told Sam to eat his crackers outside. He told me that he could not because it was hot and helicopters were trying to get him.  We live near 3 military bases, so we do get a lot of military helicopters and jets and they're very loud.

Gideon or rather Getting Giddy continues to tyrannize our house and stuff in a clever baby way. Sometimes he's a little tornado. He'll grab things and throw them on purpose. He thinks everyone's frustration with that is funny and he'll sit and laugh at us.