Long weeks, coverage

The week of Mission’s Conference and the week of Revival are two of the hardest weeks or me to make it through. Maggie and Aaron are being faithful to attend the services with me and Mama – that is a blessing. It is hard not to enjoy Bro. Ogdie’s preaching. It is about as down to earth as it gets. He reminds me of Bro. Joe West in the simple life applications he uses to communicate the message.

We are having dinner before the services each night and I was careful to not eat too much last night since I have to lead the singing. I have enough trouble breathing as it is. With a full belly it is far more difficult to get the breath I need to keep up with the songs. Though to be honest, as uncomfortable as it might make me, I enjoy the song leader duties.

Cathryn is getting a little cough. The dryness here is definitely not helping her respiratory issues. It was made worse by the screaming fit she had in the nursery last night. Grammy was with her but that did not allay her anger as she protested her incarceration. I still think she is a good baby. She is adjusting to the ever changing demands of life as she grows; less time in her mommy’s arms and more time by herself is her current life application study. She will more readily adapt to a more independent life as she learns to walk. That is when the fun of training a child really begins.

We are still struggling with getting adequate coverage for the farm duties in our proposed absence. The family we were counting on to come to the property and care for the animals and gardens is not available during that time. They too have a wedding planned during that time so their plate is too full to take on additional duties. Several other sources of help are rapidly drying up as well; one of the constraints of having a farm.

I guess it’s a guy thing but I do not feel comfortable with asking people who are already leading very busy lives to take on my responsibilities just so I can go play on the beach. I would have been very comfortable with Grandma and Grandpa taking over for us in our absence but I really wrestle with imposing on others to do it. Mama does not seem to share that struggle but she is starting to get pretty concerned.

If it was only checking the chickens and making sure the cattle are okay I would not be so hesitant but with the special needs of the new baby pigs, Mama’s neurotic rescue dog and the watering of the gardens I am very reluctant to shift that burden to anyone other than family; especially for the stretch of time Mama is considering.

We’ll see how things turn out, but I am not all warm and comfy right now.