Howdy, FFFs,
I see you were all too busy to do much reading last week. That's okay. This story isn't going anywhere. Well, it's going somewhere as in I'm writing it, but it's not going somewhere as in leaving the blog. So you can read it later.
How was your week? I had a good week.
Friday we decorated for the Widows' Luncheon. We did a picnic theme this year and had such fun! It really didn't take long to decorate.
Saturday was the Luncheon. Everyone loved the decorations. And everyone wore a hat! We had invited everyone to wear their picnic hat, but since I knew many wouldn't have one, I brought all my hats, plus three from a friend, and set them all out so people could borrow one. I wasn't expecting everyone to wear one, but they did. Each person found a hat and wore it! The group picture was so cute!
Sunday afternoon I got to read. I finished my 24th book for my reading challenge, and then read another book. We watched "Chariots of Fire" while we ate supper.
Monday it rained, but it was warm. I wrote that night.
Tuesday it rained and got cold. It was almost 70ยบ when we ate breakfast, but within half an hour afterwards, it had dropped to the 40s. And by the time I taught writing classes, it was in the 30s. I got 1,200 words written that night.
Wednesday was cold and icy, and cloudy. Church that evening was cancelled because we were supposed to get more freezing rain. So I wrote another 1,200 words instead of working in the nursery.
Yesterday was pretty normal. Except my mom took my oldest nephew out to shop for his birthday, and then out for lunch. In the late afternoon and evening the kids were over here so their parents could have a date. The kids wanted to play dress-up. So I let them. Then they wanted to do a play. So, spur-of-the-moment me, had to come up with characters, get them dressed, and then figure out what the play was about. It actually worked! And "Newsy Jones" saved the day! I'm thinking of writing this story in a play form and posting it here. Would you enjoy it?
That's it. Here's your story this week. I'll be back next Friday with part 3.
Simply Trusting
Part 2
Monday was a blur of activity to Belle, what with the washing being done and the children rushing about here and there. Everything seemed utter confusion at times. Rome and Kade, as though to make up for their good behavior the day before, got into one scrape after another until Ali was sent up to the fields to fetch Pa or Zeke. Belle tried to help where she could, but not being used to the way things were done, felt as though she were only causing more trouble for her aunt.
“Auntie, should I take Mattie and Benny outside out of the way?” she finally asked.
Looking up from the washtub, Aunt Lillian pushed back her hair from her face. “Goodness, Child, if’n ya can keep track of ‘em, yer welcome ta take ‘em. Think ya can manage if’n Tabby goes ‘long too?”
“I can try.” She picked up Mattie and held out her hand to Benny who had been clinging to his mother’s skirt and crying. “Come on, Benny, let’s go outside and I’ll tell you a story.”
Tabby inched closer from the corner where she had taken herself. “Me too?” she whispered.
“Yes,” Belle smiled. “And Si and Sade if they want to. Come on, Benny,” she coaxed.
With Tabby there, Benny gave in and allowed his cousin to take his chubby little hand. As they started out of the house, Belle broke into song.
“Auntie, should I take Mattie and Benny outside out of the way?” she finally asked.
Looking up from the washtub, Aunt Lillian pushed back her hair from her face. “Goodness, Child, if’n ya can keep track of ‘em, yer welcome ta take ‘em. Think ya can manage if’n Tabby goes ‘long too?”
“I can try.” She picked up Mattie and held out her hand to Benny who had been clinging to his mother’s skirt and crying. “Come on, Benny, let’s go outside and I’ll tell you a story.”
Tabby inched closer from the corner where she had taken herself. “Me too?” she whispered.
“Yes,” Belle smiled. “And Si and Sade if they want to. Come on, Benny,” she coaxed.
With Tabby there, Benny gave in and allowed his cousin to take his chubby little hand. As they started out of the house, Belle broke into song.
“Simply trusting every day,
Trusting thro’ a stormy way;
Even when my faith is small,
Trusting Jesus, that is all”
Together the four children made their way to a rock on the sunny slope where they sat down.
“Now I’ll tell you a story,” Belle began, settling Mattie in her lap. In a sweet voice she began to tell of the little children who came to Jesus and the disciples who tried to send them away. “But Jesus loves children. He told his disciples to let the children come to Him.”
“Did they?” Tabby wanted to know.
“Yes, and Jesus let them sit in His lap, and He blessed them. Jesus loves all children.”
“What if they ain’t good?” Tabby demanded, looking over toward the house where Pa had disappeared inside with Ali.
Belle gave a sad smile. “He still loves them, but it makes Him sad when they aren’t good. If they will let Him, He will help them be good.” She watched as her uncle came out of the house with Kade and Rome and led them around the house and out of sight. A sigh escaped her lips, for she wasn’t used to children as determined to get into trouble as those two young cousins.
“Ya sing a song now?” Tabby asked.
“Yes, I can sing now,” Belle replied, and she began singing the song that was in her mind.
“Trusting as the moments fly,
Trusting as the days go by;
Trusting Him whate’re befall,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.
Brightly doth His Spirit shine
Into this poor heart of mine’
While He leads I cannot fall,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.”
Ali sat down beside her and Belle finished the chorus and then stopped. “Does Auntie need us?”
Ali shook her head. “She said ya had taken the young’uns out ta tell a story. Did ya tell one?”
“Yes.”
“What about?”
“Jesus blessing the children.”
“I ain’t never heard that. What happened? They won’t mind if’n ya tell it again.”
Belle looked at each young face. Four-year-old Tabby looked eager, Benny satisfied to listen to anything, and the weight of Mattie in her lap suggested that she had fallen asleep. “All right. I’ll tell it again.” It was a longer story this time, for Ali asked questions and wanted to know many things. Belle did her best to answer them until at last Ali fell silent.
“Hmm,” Ali mused, looking at her cousin. “How’d ya learn that story?”
“I read it in the Bible.”
“Kain’t ya teach me ta read soon? I ain’t never learned how, an’ I reckon it’d be nice ta know.”
“All right. We’ll have our first class here, but–” She looked down at Mattie’s dark head, “What do we do with Mattie?”
Taking off her apron, Ali laid it in the shade and picked up her sleeping sister. “She can take a nap out here’s well as not.”
“Everyone needs a little stick,” Belle began, spying a patch of dirt.
At that Benny’s eyes lit up. He loved sticks.
Soon Ali, Tabby and Benny were gathered around their teacher as she showed them how to write the letter A. Si and Sade, still hesitant and unsure about this stranger, hung back and watched for a long time until Sade ventured to get a stick. Belle, sensing that any word spoken to either her or Si might send them back into their shells, pretended she didn’t see them and went about instructing the others.
Benny didn’t do well in copying the A in the dirt, but Ali did and Tabby, after some help from Belle, made a remarkably good A which brought praise from her cousin and a smile to the shy girl’s face. And, although she didn’t say anything, Belle smiled at how well Sade traced the letter in the dirt.
Have you ever been in charge of younger kids outside?
Did you ever try to teach someone their alphabet?
Do you want to read about "Newsy Jones"?