One of my discoveries, while shopping in the dollar store, was stained glass paint. I bought a bunch of colors and began to think about how I could use them. This is what I came up with. These little Mother's Day gifts are so fun to make. I actually used black fabric paint for the lines and then filled in the spaces with color. They look so pretty hanging in the window.
This was the month that we celebrated Breanna's birthday. It is so fun to decorate for these occasions. In college I began to collect fold up fans. When I saw one in the dollar store I felt it would be perfect as a centerpiece for Breanna's birthday celebration.
I found a fun party hat, got balloons, paper plates, and a pretty tablecloth. We were ready for a party! I decorated the dining room while the kids were at school. It was so much fun to see Breanna's face when she walked into that room.
She had some pretty big smiles during gift opening as well. It was a good birthday. We had so much fun celebrating with her!
The kids who go to school for shop in Bow Island, usually make a birdhouse every year. We have put them out in the yard, painted bright colors and this year they had little birds in them. It was fun to go outside and observe from a distance, the watchful parent birds as they came and went. Birds put so much time and energy into building a nest, and hatching their eggs. I think they live for that purpose. There is great joy in posterity. I think society could learn a lesson from birds. We need to be fully focused on raising our families, looking out for them not just physically and temporarily but also spiritually and emotionally. As parents we must look beyond ourselves and live lives that are rich in time spent with our children, nurturing, encouraging, building and loving them. There is no greater work or purpose in life than to give ones-self selflessly to their children. It brings a great deal of joy and happiness especially as they take flight and leave home and you see the good and decent people they have become. It is delightful to see your children confident and successful, able to make decisions, interested in helping others and motivated to become the best that they can be.
In fact, May was a month in which one of our children prepared to leave the nest and take flight under their own power. Naomi was a beautiful graduate. She has been blessed with so many talents, a goodness of heart, and an ability to see humor that others others might miss. But one of her greatest talents and gifts is the spirituality she has cultivated in her life. We are so grateful for her in our family and we will miss her in our home.
Graduation was a great celebration. We were honored to have in attendance, her sister, Alisha and Alisha's fiancé, Brandon. Grandma and Grandpa Harding came down too, along with Adele. Myles was a handsome grad escort. Now that is a funny story. Two days before grad I asked Naomi if she had decided on an escort or not. She had been saying for some time that she was not going to have an escort however, I had suggested that Myles would make a good escort if she couldn't find somebody that she was comfortable with. So the day before grad I found out that Myles had indeed been asked to be her escort. I was not prepared for this. So I pulled Myles out of school, and we went into the city and bought him a suit and a few other things that we needed for our celebration. Once we got home we were ready. The day was beautiful. Naomi was lovely and Myles complimented her perfectly as her grad escort. What an honor it was for him to be able to escort his beautiful sister on her graduation day.
The day after grad Melodee got to spend some time with the horses. This is something she absolutely loves. She needed some pictures for school and so she had a great big picture session at the farm. She came home with so many pictures of her and her horse. As I looked through them I could certainly detect the love she has for these majestic animals.
Only two days after that Chad and Myles were doing a little painting on the roof of the front porch to finish up the steel that we put up there. The ladders were set up side-by-side with a plank on the ladder jacks that the guys could walk on as they worked. The ladder was resting on the facia on the eaves. They had almost finished when the latter closest to the house sunk into the soft dirt which caused the top of the ladder to slip down under the overhang of the roof. Since both Chad and Myles were standing on the plank, the movement of the ladder cause them to be pushed off the plank by the overhang. They both went down. It was a 12 foot fall. Chad went over backwards, hitting his head and shoulder on the rungs of the ladder as he went down. As we look back on the experience, even though he was banged up and bruised, that ladder broke his fall. If he had just fallen backwards and landed on his head he could have broken his neck. Truly, he was watched over by guardian angels. Myles followed him down landing on his bum. Chad was rolling around in agony and when Myles saw that he ran into the house to get me. Once we determined that he could move he went into the house and both Chad and Myles were administered to. Later I took them into the hospital to be checked out.
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| The ladders after the fall |
The hospital guys didn't like that I had not called the ambulance. Chad was pretty stiff and having a hard time moving around. They immobilized both of him and Myles, securing them onto a spine board and then doing x-rays. Chad had a concussion and was having a hard time staying awake. It was everything we could do to keep his attention focused and his eyes open. Because of the bump on Chad's head they decided to send him to Medicine Hat for some tests. Myles opted to come along, so I bought some sandwiches and we followed the ambulance down to the hospital in the city. It was a long day in emergency and if I had been thinking better I would've left Myles home because he was sore after having fallen so far himself. It felt like forever before Chad was given some answers. It was such a relief for him to finally be able to take off the neckbrace they had put on him. Even then we seemed to be doing more waiting than anything. It was hours after we arrived, when I finally decided to get his wounds cleaned up because nobody even seemed to see them. He had scraped the skin off of a couple of his finger tips and had a big scrape on his head. At about 8 or 9 o'clock they finally decided he was going to stay for the night. It was late when we finally had him settled in his room and Myles and I headed home.
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| Chad's neck brace. |
The following morning I return to the hospital after I had gotten the kids off to school. I had communicated with Chad before I left and found out that they would not feed him breakfast. The night before, in emergency, he was hungry so I had gone down and bought him a soup and a bun. I even fed it to him. Having done that the night before, I knew that he could eat and had an appetite. I also knew that he had not eaten lunch the day before and to miss breakfast was a hardship after having eaten so little. So I packed some food from home and a little extra, and brought it along. That way I could feed myself as well because I didn't know how long we would be there. Again the day was filled with all kinds of just waiting. Finally the MRI was done and we were released to go home. Chad was told that he needed to do lots of sleeping to recover from the concussion. He took that advice to heart and slept almost every day for the next week. But he healed. We are so grateful for the Guardian angels that protected him and Myles when they fell and as they recovered.
Six months later Myles put his neck out and it was at that time that we learned that he had dislocated a rib. We attribute that to the fall he took. Again I am so grateful for their safety and full recovery.
A short time later we finally finished up all our orthodontic visits. Not all the visits were encouraging, but we learned that Myles does not need braces. ☺☺☺ Another blessing. Because he sucked his thumb when he was a baby, I was surprised to learn that he would not need braces.
When Chad recovered, I took care of some of the things in the yard, which included planting the garden. The girls helped me and we looked forward to the vegetables we would enjoy later in the year. I love gardening. I think it is therapy for me. I love to be outside, I love to get my hands in the dirt, and I absolutely love to see things grow.♥
Myles didn't stay down long. In the pictures below he is getting the pergola painted. He was eager and anxious to get this done so that he could hang his hammock out there and have a place to lay down and relax on beautiful days in the sunshine.
Spring was absolutely beautiful this year. By the end of May the yard was green, the trees had leafed out, and the apple tree was covered in blossoms. The beauty of it all always gets me playing a little more with my camera. Here's a little sample of what I saw.
One of the girls favorite games is to run around the yard with sticks in their hands. They literally run pathways into the grass, but they sure have a lot of fun doing it. I love the carefree and happy nature of this game they play. It is always wonderful to see happiness in my children.
So the month began with a craft and ended with a craft. In 2013 I acquired a rock polisher and was thrilled with the results. I have always loved rocks. I did some research and learned how to wrap them in the wire so they become a pendant. This is a picture of a pendant I made for one of my children. It reminds me of her and I hope that it can be a symbol to her of my love.
On the last weekend of the month Myles attended his grade 9 graduation. This one was easy to prepare for because he already had his suit and everything he needed to be ready for the weekend. He was a very handsome young graduate. We are so blessed to have such a good son. His qualities and talents bless our home and our lives every day. He is such a help to me when I have projects outside to do. He is also a great blessing to his father as they work together on many jobs. He is dependable and thoughtful and I love the great desire he has to do what is right and help others.
The day after Myles's graduation, we went as a family to help our community clean the cemetery. We raked up bags and bags of leaves. The day was threatening rain, and we got sprinkled on a time or two. Naomi loves rain and I even caught her lying down in the grass enjoying it for a few moments. It was fun working with community members, some of which we haven't met before. It was a good day and time well spent. I am so grateful for opportunities to serve as a family. It strengthens and builds us in so many ways.
When Chad took his fall down the ladder he was in the middle of the job doing a roof. Thankfully the roof was not compromised when it rained. However he was concerned about getting it finished and so Myles and Breanna, Melodee and Beth all took turns helping and assisting him through the month and into the next to finish the job. What a blessing their willingness and help was to him and to our family. The location was beautiful and it was enjoyable being there. I myself helped out a few days as well.
So the month was full. In it we experienced accomplishments and celebrations, hardship and blessings, moments of service and moments of worry. We discovered creative energy, engaged in acts of faith, and even enjoyed some relaxation and rest. Of course, through it all was the joy of being together and loving each other. We are excited to welcome Brandon among our ranks. Not all our months are as exciting as this one was, but each experience holds within it a lesson and truth which has made us better people as we have sought out those gems of wisdom which work to purify and make us better people. I am thankful for all the events that filled this month. It is wonderful to look back on it having overcome the challenges that were experienced, and joyed in the promises of change that began then.
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