We Survived a Week On Our Own

Phil was out of town last week. I had such wonderful support from my friends: one came down on Wednesday, another on Friday; we had Bible study on Thursday. A church friend was working at the airport and helped Phil check some gear, and then made sure I had an invite to play volleyball with a group of people. Another friend was on email/text/phone support. It was, overall, a great week.

The most stressful moment for me was when I went to get the milk cows and saw that an amorous bull had joined one, and the other cow had gotten out. I thought about it for an hour, and then managed to corral the cow all by myself, without any real fear. And without tangling the electric line. I am horrible about tangling lines, so that felt like a small triumph.

In fact, it felt like such a triumph, I wandered around telling myself that I am a "woman of valor," which is, as I understand, a more proper translation of the "virtuous woman" of Proverbs 31. My friend emailed, "eshet chayil!" which was entirely perfect: woman of valor in Hebrew. I'll take props for managing cantankerous electric line any day.

Phil had a great, great week away. He had meals with different people every day, and had great times of fellowship, prayer, laughter. He saw a homeopath. He went out to do one job and ended up doing four, in that beautiful way of provision that God has.

The boys had a good week, too. Abraham learned to ride a bike (mostly).

Caleb sometimes vocalized long and loud. It's good to find a voice, though it is sometimes hard to read over it.

Isaiah made pineapple juice popsicles that were well received.

And we read several more books in our beloved Squire's Tales series. When Phil left, we had started book three, and when he came back, we were starting book six.