October is Almost Over

This week was busy and full with just the everyday things.

We did home school and stuck to the schedule, despite everyone feeling tired and draggy.

I realized that I have not been checking up with Peach Pie’s assignments. sigh. Must find time to do that more regularly.

Thursday morning was so beautiful, sunny and warm, I threw our schedule under the couch and took all the little kids to the park. We tried to fly our kites, but the wind was inconsistent, so they didn’t stay up for long. We still had a great time.

I’m glad we took that time to enjoy the outdoors because it has been rainy and cold for the last 2 days.

Our chickens started laying eggs. So far the Man of the House has collected four.

He has been hurrying to build a chicken coop with nesting boxes for our pretty hens, but it’s been slow going, and rain and many responsibilities have limited his time. I pray the Lord multiplies his time this week because next Sunday or Monday he has to go to 2 weeks of training for his new National Guard assignment. Besides the chicken coop, he also needs to write out 2 weeks of plans for the substitute teacher, and I know that is worrying him.

As I write, it is midnight, Saturday, and the girls and I have succeeded in removing the mountain of sweet potatoes from our dining table! I am waiting for the last batch of sweet potatoes to be done processing in the pressure canner. We have 21 quarts in glass jars. I wanted to can all the potatoes that way, but sweet potatoes take 90 minutes in the pressure canner (not counting the time to parboil, peel, and chop them and the time the canner takes to come up to pressure and cool down from pressure.) Also, the canner only holds 7 quarts at a time. So as I put the current 7 quarts in, and it was nearly midnight, I hollered “Uncle” and put the rest of the parboiled and peeled sweet potatoes in quart freezer bags. I have 13 quarts in freezer bags now in the deep freeze. Adding the sweet potatoes that looked like they would winter well in cardboard boxes in the garage, I bet we have close to 50 quarts of sweet potatoes. What a blessing.

Current Family Read-a-Loud: Adventures with Waffles by Maria Parr

Poem for this week:

The Human Touch by Spencer Michael Free

’Tis the human touch
in this world that counts,
The touch of your hand and mine,
Which means far more
to the fainting heart
Than shelter and bread and wine.
For shelter is gone
when the night is o’er,
And bread lasts only a day.
But the touch of the hand
And the sound of the voice
Sing on in the soul always.