Human Error

I found three tadpoles swimming in the dish water. They had fallen out of a container when W, 8 years old, was portioning out individual pollywogs over the sink. He was going to give them away as gifts.

I recently made the mistake of pulling a few weeds without gloves on. Now my arm is covered with an itcy, oozy rash. A close encounter with something poisonous.

In my ticket office we've spelled Allegany as Allegheny. Typed 2011 instead of 2013. Included ticket office copies instead of customer copies.

It happens because we are human. Perfect messes every last one of us.

I'm worried that I've left a stem of milkweed in our large, new pasture area. One bite of milkweed and a sheep will blow up and die. It ain't pretty. It has happened before.

Mistakes seem more common when we are put of our routine. Yesterday I lost a pizza, the best supper I could manage, to the floor and the dog.

It's a very, very good thing that God is in control and not any man or machine. He's the only one with the perfect plan.

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The Funny I Hear

W, age 8, said this to me this morning..."You're really correct, Mom."

What I heard was, "You're really CRACKED, Mom."

I laughed when I realized I'd misheard him. There IS more on my plate these days, more than the usual, at least. I could be cracked.

Mr. WestberryMom is working across the country for a time. The boys' schedules are in flux thanks to the end of the school year. There is sooo much yard work to squeeze in between raindrops!

All the while I'm fascinated by this mismatch between what people say and what others hear.

It happened last weekend, when I was talking to a woman who was estranged from her daughter and grandchildren. We were talking about an incident where a man fell and died, without ever reconciling with his granddaughter. "That would be just terrible," she said.

I hear her say this and wonder why her words don't don't seem to match her behavior. I wonder if she believes what she says. Or maybe my perspective is limited, and I'm not really hearing or understanding.

I try to be very clear in my instructions to students and yet, at least someone in the group will go off in a completely unintended direction because of an assumption or a misunderstanding.

Help me Lord, to be a good listener and a clear speaker. Please give me wisdom and help me see the truth.

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The Hog Island Sheep Part 1

Three weeks ago I responded to a general Farm and Garden CraigsList posting asking about six sheep. "Good home needed, price negotiable." I described our home - 4-H family dedicated to rebuilding a rare breed,large pasture, caring shepherds. The person who owned the sheep called me shortly thereafter, describing the six animals he needed to find a good home for...a near-extinct breed of sheep called "Hog Island." We would be, he thought, the perfect family.

My Japanese friend Yuko thought that this was a very practical way to find the right home for such valuable animals. I'd compare it to the method used by Willie Wonka in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Focus first on integrity rather than the value of the gift. Focus on logistics later. (She also guessed that maybe I was chosen because of my lineage back to the Mayflower." Probably not.) :)

I'm still in a state of shock, quite frankly, over the "burden" (the privilege, really) we now have to care for these creatures. They arrived just in time for W, who is now 8 (the official coming-of-shepherd-age in these parts), to take ownership.

All seven (yes, seven, the final count after unloading the truck into our pens) were given to us "free of charge" and free of conditions regarding selling, butchering, breeding or housing.

They just spent a year at a research facility, being tested and harvested, in preparation for the possible reality of their extinction. I'm fascinated by the details in their lab reports - how many embryos were frozen, what diseases they are resistant to, what was discovered in their blood draws, etc.

They are surprisingly docile and affectionate for having run "hog wild" for hundreds of years. Yet, their personalities (and their appearances) are vastly different from the other breed we care for.

Their survival and their peaceful, trusting nature (along with "no strings attached" gift from the Dempsey family) has me thinking about Jesus, our Good Shepherd, in brand new ways.

Welcome "Betsy" "Martha," "Patrick," "Fraggle," "Belle," "Eva," and "Paris."

Changed for Good

(Glinda):
I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you...

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

Songs from the Broadway musical "Wicked" were very popular this year, appearing on students' Ipods and in the set lists for year-end performances. Our own High School Choir performed both a "Wicked" medley and this song, "Changed for Good."

I've been thinking on the lyrics lately, reminiscing about people who have influenced my own life (for better or worse).

I posed the question at the dinner table. It was interesting to hear my husband mention an 8th grade teacher who, in guy speech, "kicked him in the butt" (this being a good thing.)

Who will these people be for my children, I wonder. Who were the history makers in your life?

You're Never Fully Dressed Without A...

I use my IPad at work to listen to music on Saturdays, when my staff is off and the office is quiet.

It's loaded with the boys' music right now, as they "owned" the IPad for the last year or so.

I just let it play, listening to their playlists.

Then suddenly I have earworms that I don't recognize, like songs from "Annie." I'm dressing for church on Sunday, trying to place, and finish the line from a song,"You're Never Fully Dressed Without A ______."

A bowtie? A pinky toe ring?

As I'm drying my hair, wrapped in a towel, my  little boy throws open the bathroom door to show me a smooshed black ant.

Really?! I grumble inside but say, "oh. Cool." And then urge him back out through the door.

My toenail polish smudges when I put on my sandals. I truly feel there's nothing to wear in my clothes closet. I'm headed to a bridal shower after church...I'd like to look clean and pressed.

Instead, I'm simply, as a Boy Mom, Never Fully Dressed.

Later at the shower Sara, the bride to be, agrees to wear a crown of fruit to go with the theme of the party. We battle strong winds to keep the garden tent in place. Our paper plates and napkins blow away; drinks spill.

But still we smile. That's it!  The word to the song! "You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile."

You can hear our Pastor's Sunday School Lesson on "Encouraging Words" (It's a really good one!) At www.eastshelbychurch.com

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This Summer...The Sweet Life

Song, I'll Stay With You
By Cadia
(I can't seem to make links work, today. I can't copy or paste. And I'd planned on writing about things being "simpler and easier these days. Maybe not technology)

Life seems a little bit easier this summer.
We are getting more done around the farm. Not a lot, but more.

Yesterday we expanded the pasture and I ripped wallpaper off of the dining room walls. Today I picked out a color for the paint!

Last year I was on my feet at work and my shifts varied. There wasn't much left of me once I arrived home. It was difficult to make plans.

The summer before that were working through the process of selling the cottage. We are still managing three properties, but there's somehow less to manage...this year, for a change, there's only one lawn to focus on (for the first time in over 20 years).

I think God knew just how much we could handle then, and now. As I'm mowing and planting these days, I'm enjoying the sweetness of a little bit slower pace.

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"Uncle"

Amid the concerts, practices, and parades, I've had two things on my mind.

1. It's so very sweet to spend time with my cousins. Their father was one of my favorite uncles and, as children, we shared many adventures, mostly by the lake. Now, they are aunts and uncles to my children...fixing their training wheels, listening to their college plans, or setting fire to a pile of old porch wood they had torn down together.

I'm grateful that, despite the fact that we live many miles apart, we are still a family.

2.I lost my Mom two years ago. She was someone who gave me solid parenting advice, who checked in on us during severe weather events, and who always asked if there was something we needed when she was heading to the store.

Perhaps because she used to say, "Good job," I'm struck when I hear this (once in a great while) from an older woman. And it reminds me of how much I miss hearing it from her.

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