Saturdays

What do you do an Saturdays?

At the Johnson house we do chores mainly. Win always works now that he is in private practice. This weekend he is doing his weekend Reserve duty. This is his last weekend at this assignment. He is moving to another job and will no longer be doing the weekend thing.

I have given each child chores to do. Some are to be done each day and some each week. This month is William's month to do the trash. He handles that each day. This is his month to clean the bathrooms. He is also in charge of the yard and he gives Davis and Anna jobs to do in the yard. We have given him full charge of the yard and the other children have to follow his orders when it comes to the yard.

This is Davis' month to clean out the litter boxes. He has to do them daily. This is his month to vacuum the entire house. This is done weekly.

Both he and William share a room and they both clean it up each week. They share the kitchen duties as well and alternate each night of the week. On Sundays I or Win do the dishes.

Anna has her room to keep clean, she dust and cleans the glass doors and she picks up around the house.

William also has Youth Smpthony on Saturday mornings. It is his job to get his chores done and be at this practice. This year Anna is swimming with a year round swim team and she can swim on Saturday mornings. So that has to be factored into our day. Last week I took her and I worked out at the YMCA while she swam.

I have explained to my boys that doing these jobs is not "woman's work" but it is teaching them to do a job well and be proud of their work.

We also pay our children an allowance and if any of their jobs are neglected then we will deduct from their allowance. This way we are teaching them the value of a dollar, how to save, spend and give. Plus they see that with work comes reward.

You might ask - what do you do Beth? Well, I cook, shop, mop and I do all the laudry. And I have to admit, I am additicted to working out and I do that 6 days a week.

I don't ask Win to do much around the house. He works so much. He is in charge of the pool and keeping our money straight.

So, what do you do on Saturday's?

Father's Day

My parents divorced when I was 4 years old. When my father left my mother, he also left his children. He chose not to talk to me for the last 2 years of his life. He died when I was in college. My mother has always been both parents for me. I always call her and wish her a happy father's day.

When Win and I had started having children I for the first time had a picture of what a two parent home looks like and what a father looks like. Win is hard on himself when it comes to his parenting but to me is the best. He truly lives out Deuteronomy 6 in front of his children. He is always training them in righteousness. He loves our children and our children love him. Back in March Win was gone for 2 weeks and both boys commented that they missed him a great deal and don't like for him to be gone. This is all so strange to me and yet so wonderful to watch. I find myself enving my children.

Since I never really lived with a man, except my brothers, I had no idea what it was like to live with a man in the house. I had bitterness toward my father for all of childhood (none now, dealt with it) I was scared of men and didn't really like to be around them and often wondered if other men really loved their families and their wives. After living with Win for 21 years, I can say that yes, men do love their families and wives.

So, thank you Win for being a wonderful husband and father. I am grateful that our children have the privilege and the calling to be your children.

What a day

Yesterday, here in Montgomery we had flash flooding. We had about 10 inches of rain in just under an hour. We have new water behind the liner of our pool because there was so much rain in our yard.

But the real tragedy of this was my mother's house. It had about a foot of water come in and all of my family had to gather to get her stuff out and get the water out. I was assigned to be with her. She is 75 years old and this was very hard on her. She cried all day. She is a pack rat and that only made cleaning out her house all the worse. My brothers, sister, sister in laws, brother in law, husband, children, nieces and nephews were all there working until after dark. It will be at least 3 months before she can return. She and her two little dogs are at my brother's house. I thought I would have some pictures but Davis only took pictures of the back yard. Maybe today when I go over there I can take some of her empty house.

There was a man in Montgomery whose car was swept away and he drown. Many roads are out and some are still flooded.

What a day.

Play Ball!

Let the games begin!

Anna is our softball player. The boys have never been interested in playing baseball but Anna loves softball. We are able to be in the same league as my brother's children are in and we enjoy seeing them more during ball season. My brother has a little girl who is Anna's age and they were on the same team last year. We have asked that they be on the same team again this year. It makes it easy for the extended family to come and watch both girls play at the same time.

I will post a picture when I take one of her in her uniform.

Now, I just have to figure out how to go the ball field and not eat the wonderful hamburgers and hot dogs they sell there.

The Beginning

The Beginning

I have thought about blogging for a while now but like many others have wondered if I really have anything to say that others might be willing to read. And it dawned on me recently that I want to write about "my menagerie" - the people and animals that I live with, who struggle to live with me. So here it goes. Now I have to learn to post pictures. I hope you find me and my menagerie interesting.