What Did the Farmer Say...

When I was younger, like in elementary school, my friend told me this joke:
  "What did the farmer say when he couldn't find his tractor?"
  "I don't know."
   "Where's my tractor?"

So, ya, that is a stupid joke, but I thought it was hilarious!  (Still kinda do - just kidding).  Anyways, I hope that we never have to ask that question, because we are now the proud new owners of a tractor - a John Deere lawn tractor that is!  When we lived in our trailer, we just had a small plot of land that we had to mow.  We never owned a lawn mower, we would just borrow Matt's parent's push mower whenever the grass needed to be cut.  Then, we moved to our current house, which is on an acre of land.  The day before we moved in, we did a "walk-through" with our realtor to make sure everything in the house was just as it was supposed to be according to our contract.  When we did that, we saw how long the grass was and required the seller to cut it before we closed the next day, which he did.  But, as grass tends to do, it grew, and within a week or so it was in need of a cut again.  But we did not have a mower, so we borrowed the push mower again and Matt started to mow.

Now, an acre of land is not a HUGE amount, but have you ever tried to mow that much with JUST a push mower?  It took Matt, along with one of the teens in our youth group, THREE DAYS (consisting of a couple hours each day) to get our lawn all cut!  One thing you need to realize is that our yard is not flat by any means.  There is a small section to the front and the side that are sorta flat, but the rest is very hilly.  So that makes it harder to mow.  Plus, it was very, very hot, and you could get heat stroke if you were out there too long!  So we knew for sure then that we were going to need to figure something out for this summer.

Well, summer came before we knew it and, yup, its time to mow again.  Matt has been doing his research for quite a while now.  We knew we needed a riding lawn mower, so he did all his homework on every brand and style.  We finally made a decision (when I say "we" I really mean "he" because I have no clue what it means to have twin versus single engine, horsepower, etc..) and today, we bought the tractor.  Matt was so excited, he cut most of the lawn right away, with Liam along for the ride!  It is great!  Matt did about 3/4 of our yard in about 15-20 mins!  Wonderful!  So he is excited for his new toy to play with.  At least for now he thinks mowing the lawn is fun! :-)

So that was the big excitement of our afternoon.  We spent this morning over at my in-laws so I could do my work.  OH!  Have I mentioned that I am a "working woman" again?  Not full time, of course,  just part-time.  I am so excited about it, though.  Ever since my first job, I have done receptionist, administrative assistant type stuff.  I believe that the Lord has given me an ability to be organized and stuff like that.  And I LOVE doing that kind of stuff - you know - filing, typing, mailings, etc.  So, I am now the administrative assistant to Ed Sealy and Furtherance Ministries. (click for link to his website)

I am not sure how many of you are aware of this, but my father-in-law is an evangelist.  He mainly travels around the Mari times and Maine.  He is also a singer/songwriter and incorporates his music into his travels.  He often does gospel concerts.  He has put out about 6 different cds, all of which contain primarily his own writing and composing.  He plays the guitar as well.  Years ago he started Furtherance Ministries.  He and my mother-in-law are gone most every weekend, traveling to meetings and concerts.  Then, when he comes home, he has all kinds of paperwork and office work to do.  I have been doing little bits here and there to help him out with this.   But there is so much "little stuff" that needs to be done, that he finds himself bogged down with getting all that done and not as much time as he would like to concentrate on his studies and composing.  So, just last month it was made official and I am now on staff.  I go to there house and do the office work for several hours a week.  It actually works out nice all around.  My mother-in-law plays with the kids while I work, I help my father-in-law not have to do all the small stuff that really is "not his thing" and I earn a little extra money for our family!

I am very much thankful for this opportunity.  I love being a housewife and a mommy and such, but sometimes I just want to do something other than clean and cook and laundry!  So it is a nice change of pace.  I mentioned before about a new laptop that we had, and that is what it is for.

I suppose that is a good "summary" of our day!  The kids are still getting over their sickness from last week, but I definitely think we are on the better end of things!  The weather is warming up very nicely so we are getting to spend lots more time outside - which the kids love.

So there you go.  Thanks for stopping by!  Look forward to "talking" again soon!
Until next time...