Mama’s home, more travel, adapting

Mama got home yesterday afternoon about 2:30. She made good time on the trip home, but she did not have much time to relax. Without completely changing, she went out with me to feed the chickens and gather eggs – just to make sure all things were still as required to meet her expectations. Mama has been gone since Sunday afternoon last week. I was gone Tuesday through Friday. I think everyone was much happier to see Mama than they were me when I arrived back at the farm Friday evening. That is as it should be. Victoria, Grandma and Grandpa can all relax a bit now. Mama is back on duty.

Mama had a wonderful visit with Brittany, Andrew and the girls. Audrey is adorable. She seems to be a very mild baby. Mama loves holding a caring for newborns. Newborns have always been more her pace. Zoe and Sophia are whirlwinds of excitement and energy. Hilarious. Clever. Entertaining. Exhausting for Mama. Don’t get me wrong. Mama loves that energy too. She is just more suited to the newborn activity levels. The picture of Mama, Brittany, Zoe, Sophia and Aubrey was taken Saturday afternoon. It was hard for Mama to leave. We have yet to see Gailyn but are tentatively planning a trip to Amarillo later this month. It will be a short trip. I do not have vacation time for more than a day visit with Chase, Makaila, Owen and Gailyn but we hope to make the most of the visit when we do get to go.

I will be traveling again tomorrow. Gone Tuesday through Friday again. This time I will be in Richmond, VA teaching back to back classes for a client there. This will be a tougher trip starting out because I have to carry a lot of materials with me. About seventy pounds of books and class related materials. Throwing around those fifty-pound suitcase is a little more demanding for me than it once was. After last week’s travel and classes, it was nice to have the weekend break. Both to rest my voice and my back. It was nicer still to see Mama before I had to head out again.

Saturday was a very fast day for me. I went to Muenster to get feed early in the morning. Once I got back to the farm, I got all of that feed put in the shop other than what was needed in the various feed stations around the farm. Other than that, I did a lot of cleanup around the farm. When I had gone out to feed Saturday morning, I killed a rooster that Mama was unhappy with and set the carcass in the burn barrel. The wind was blowing too strongly for me to start a fire right then, but I did get to that later in the afternoon. all the trees are blooming. The blackberries, the blueberries and the grape vine are all coming alive. Warm afternoons are coaxing life into everything around us. My favorite time of the year.

In spite of time change, services were great yesterday. We had to recruit someone to play the piano. Our regular pianist is still out with her newborn. Our substitute pianist was home tending to sick kids and a sick husband. One of the BBTI students filled in as best she could. She played so softly that even I could barely hear her. But she played. I had to let her pick the songs we would sing that morning and I had to recruit someone else to play for me as I sang the special. Before Sunday school I let the pastor know the situation with the musicians and that it might not be possible for us to have a special. When I told him that I had taken the special for that morning – the person supposed to sing was not there that morning – and what I planned to sing, he quickly recruited a familiar visitor to play the song for me. I was very thankful because she was able to lower the song to a comfortable key for me. I sang, “His Eye is on the Sparrow”. I learned as Pastor got up to preach, that that is one of his favorite songs. It also served to emphasize the sermon he planned to preach that morning. It all worked out.  Obviously, we recruited our honored guest to play for the service last night.

Being flexible helps when life throws a curveball at you.