Hymns in the Hills - To the Work - Part 1

Hi!
It's a bit of a challenge trying to come up with something to say right now. I mean how many of you can write things that make sense when you have a ranch run by polices and General George Washington right behind you. As well as boat building, rocket launching, gold hunting, and whispered conversations which you are supposed to not only hear and understand all the time, but respond to at the appropriate times. :P Yep, two of my nephews are here playing lego in my room. My youngest nephew is sitting on my sister's lap in the other room. It's been a crazy week! We've had these three nephews since Wednesday morning. For most of Wednesday we also had my two nieces while my other nephew was in the hospital for dehydration. Now my brother, sis-in-law, Sissy, Funny Boy, and Ti-K went down to TX for the homeschool conference. We have these three boys until Sunday afternoon.

Like you may have figured out, it's been a different week. No time for writing now. Lots of time spent outside swinging, riding bikes, playing. Lots of books read, lego played with, and all kinds of things.

I really can't concentrate because Doodle Bug seems to start every-other sentence with my name. :) I guess I'll go then. ("Ooopsy, I lost my pants," says a lego man. "Oh, the door won't open. Now it will. I will go out on the porch.") That's a sample of what I'm listening to. :)

Enjoy! And yes, I still read the comments.

Hymns in the Hills

To the Work

Part 1

    When Belle opened her eyes in the morning, she couldn’t remember where she was at first. There were strange sounds in the next room, and then she felt a small hand pat her face. Quickly glancing over, the memory of yesterday’s experiences returned at the sight of a baby face staring into her own.
    “Oh, Mattie,” Belle whispered, sitting up and reaching out her hands. The little one went right to her, and Belle, with a sigh of delight, pulled her into her lap. “I’m going to love having you around.”
    The soft light of early morning drifted in through the curtains of the two windows, allowing Belle to notice that Jess and Riss were no longer in the room and that Ali and the others still slept. “I wonder if you are used to waking Ali up,” Belle murmured in Mattie’s ear. Then she frowned. “I don’t think you got a bath yesterday, Baby. You’re rather dirty. Perhaps there wasn’t time. Do you want to listen while I read my morning verse?”
    Mattie stuck her thumb in her mouth and leaned back against Belle’s shoulder for answer.
    Opening the little book which sat on her trunk, Belle read the next verse, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.”
    “That is a good verse for today, I think, Baby. I don’t know anything about life here, but I’m sure I can find things to do, and I am supposed to do them with my might because that will please Jesus.” Still talking to the little tot, Belle continued her musings. “We must ask Him to help us though, because His might is stronger than ours.” Bowing her head, she prayed for strength to do what she found to do that day.
    It took but a few minutes for Belle to complete her own toilet while Mattie, still silent and with her thumb in her mouth, sat on the bed and watched. When she was finished and her hair braided in its usual braid, Belle turned her attention to the baby again. “I know I could get you dressed,” she whispered, “but perhaps you are supposed to get a bath first. What shall we do, Baby?”
    Right then the door to the room opened and Jess stepped in. “C’mon girls, get–” She paused at the sight of Belle and Mattie. “Did she wake ya?”
    Belle shook her head. “No, and I would have gotten her dressed, but I didn’t know if she was supposed to get a bath first, since she didn’t have one last night.”
    “If we have time today she kin have a bath, like as not, if someone wants ta mess with it,” Jess answered shortly, tossing the baby’s clothes to Belle. “If’n ya want ta get her dressed, go ‘head.” Without waiting for a reply, Jess crossed the room and pushed open the curtains, letting the morning sun stream in. “C’mon,” she urged the little ones, pulling back the blankets and slipping nightgowns over tousled heads as the younger two sat up sleepily. “Ma an’ Riss ‘bout have breakfast ready, and Pa an’ the boys have ta git t’the fields ‘fore it gits hot.”
    Belle listened to this talk with only one ear as she quickly dressed the little one, whispering her verse over and over. Mattie, contrary to Jess’s expectation, gave no trouble but allowed the new hands to fasten her into clean clothes. “There,” Belle said, kissing the little face involuntarily, “now I think you’re ready.”
    The call to breakfast was heard from the other room, and, leaving the beds unmade and clothes lying about, much to Belle’s dismay, the girls hurried to the table.
    The boys were already there, and at the head, where Ez had eaten the night before, sat a tall, lean man. His shoulders were broad and his face unsmiling. There were some grey hairs about his temples, but the rest was brown, and he was clean shaven. Belle went up to him at once and greeted him with a kiss.
    “Good morning, Uncle Benjamin. I’m Belle, and I’m so glad you made it home safely last night. I was a bit worried when you didn’t come before bed time, but I prayed for you.” She smiled brightly up into his face.
    A bit of a smile crossed the man’s face as he looked at the bright faced girl beside him. “You slept well?”
    “Oh, yes, sir! I didn’t wake up once until this morning.”
    “Good. Sit there,” Uncle Benjamin motioned to an empty place on the bench beside Ali, “an’ we’ll eat.”
    Almost as soon as the last bowl of porridge was set on the table, the clatter of spoons began.
    But Belle looked around puzzled.
    “Don’t ya like porridge?” Uncle Benjamin asked her.
    “Yes, sir, but we forgot to thank the Lord for our food.”
    “Supposin’ we ain’t never learned how?”
    Belle lifted a shocked face, “But . . . but . . . then I could thank Him.”
    Silence had fallen about the table at Belle’s first words. Into the hush came the sound of a giggle.
    “Kade, ya want ta go outside?” asked the head of the family sternly.
    Giving a quick shake of his head, Kade looked down at the table.
    Uncle Benjamin turned back to his niece. “If’n yer wantin’ ta say grace, go ‘head.”
    To Belle, who was not timid, the thought of talking to her Savior before others was no trial. Hadn’t she done it often enough in prayer meeting? Her prayer was simple, thanking the Lord for the food and asking that He give them strength for the work of the day. When it was over, the interrupted meal commenced again, in silence.
    Only when it was over did Uncle Benjamin speak. “Zeke, Ez, let’s go. We got work ta do in the fields.”
    “Kin Rome an’ me go too, Pa?” asked Kade.
    “Ye kin come up with our lunch an’ I’ll see then.”

Would you have had the courage to offer to pray?

Do you like getting little ones ready for the day?

Will you be back?