Simply Family

Our first night in this farmhouse was spent with 6 of us trying to pile onto one air mattress.  We tried to make the most of what we had until the next day when the furniture arrived. Jett woke up crying for Georgia, which made me cry. We didn't have anything to drink and there weren't enough blankets.  But the next morning as the sun rose on our little farm, snow flakes fell like soft reminders that our time with one another is a gift. This was a dream! Unfortunately, there was no outerwear in our dream. 
 

So out I went to buy boots and bread, mittens and milk, and of course the one ugly Christmas tree that's your only option when you're right up against the 25th.   It wasn't until after the snow melted and we had to start scrubbing the toilets that we realized this wasn't a cabin vacation. 

 

Life got simple fast. There's no where to shop around here unless you are looking for fresh eggs or local honey.  And if you want to get out of the house, you go play in the woods, or shovel manure in the barn. Fast food means a lunch the kids can fix for themselves. And date night might mean packing a basket and driving the golf cart over to a neighboring farm. 

My point is that we are home. Alot. We are together. Alot. And the result is we love each other more and more every day. My kids are best friends and they depend on each other.  I think this is normal. They can't wait to finish their school work and build a fort or ride bikes or shoot arrows...with each other!  I don't run to this lesson and that meeting, doing things I used to think I had to do. We don't even take many field trips. We are living the field trip!

My idea of simplifying is saying no to things that swallow up my time so I can fill those precious moments with learning and growing and loving the people around me. I just can't allow the urgent to crowd out the important.  I'm making it my life mission to spend my time with my family first. Time is so limited. I want to treat it like the treasure that it is.

So what do we do all day? I'll tell you that in my next post.