I stopped by the shop where Ben had been slaving away for hours. “How’s your first dad project going?” I asked?
He looked up from fitting a PVC pipe on a Little Tikes Truck and sighed dramatically “It’s going to be a long 18 years”
*note: I laughed and told this story to my mom and she hurried to assure us that the parenting projects aren’t completed in 18 years 😂🙏🏼
When I started thinking about an announcement, I had an idea for a picture prop for us and as is typical, the idea grew with some help from my sisters. I wanted to borrow the twins Little Tikes Car, and Em suggested giving it a fresh coat of paint. The ideas kept building and before we knew it, Emily had found a free truck on Facebook Marketplace.
Gideon didn’t see any reason for any upgrades. The truck ran fine. 😂
We took it home and ordered some things from Amazon and the fun began. First step was taking it apart and cleaning it. I helped with that. But after that, Ben took over and the magic happened.
I loved seeing what all he was creating.
Our fancy paint booth. We ordered paint that was supposed to bond to plastic. Not totally impressed with the durability of the stuff 😏
Totally impressed with the aluminum paint. It definitely gave the PVC pipes a new look.
And what super trucker doesn’t need a chrome visor?
Final touches
Ready for action!
It feels like a long ways out until the truck becomes a daily driver here at Glen Oaks… but we’re ready regardless. ❤️🙏🏼
Someone told me recently that being creative is an inherited trait from our Heavenly Father. I love that thought. This season is so chock full of the beauty He created for us to enjoy. And watching Ben lovingly slave over a silly little truck for Baby R to enjoy someday shows me our Father’s Heart at Creation in a completely new way.
I don’t know if you remember but back several years ago, the Rohrer’s published their first newspaper:
I’m not sure what’s with my fascination with newspapers. (My sisters agree) But for several winters back in the day, I’d rally the troops and we’d pull together “The Mountain Breeze” or something like that. The paper would include local news- who had a baby, who left for Bible School; random news; a mystery column by the masked muskrat; recipes; and what-ever-else we could squeeze in.
Eventually my entire staff mutinied except my dear sweet mother and the paper ceased existence.
When I got the idea to create a newspaper instead of a wedding program- my sisters nodded- seemed fitting.
Well we’ve got another newspaper printing:
Very excited and thankful for this little life. 💙💖 Thank you, Jesus!
Kendra
Bonus Pic:
The photographer’s assistants were quite broken-hearted when the truck got loaded up to head home without them getting a chance to take it on a test drive… so we unloaded it again and things were all smiles and Jake brakes 😂❤️
Nobody can accuse me of being super sharp first thing in the morning. Especially not before I’m about a quarter of a cup through my morning coffee.
This particular morning, I eased into the kitchen to get the coffee rolling. I rinsed the coffee pot out in the sink and refilled it for the next pot. I held the pot up to measure the water and blinked twice. Brown water. I must not have rinsed it properly.
Still on autopilot, I repeated the process not once or twice but three times before it dawned on me that the brown water was coming from the faucet. Ugh
We happened to have 2 house full of big thirsty birds and so the water rationing began.
We kind of hit a routine of coughing up bright red clayish water in the evening about an hour before the birds went to bed and Ben would hurry between houses rinsing filters, limping them along. Then the well would fill up at night and we’d be fine until they drank it down right before bedtime the next day.
I tried to save where I could- I ran to my moms to do laundry and filled the dishwasher during the day and set it to run in the middle of the night.
But the problem was unresolved.
Until suddenly things came to a head last Saturday in the middle of the day. The chickens drank the well down before lunchtime and a water alarm had us canceling plans and hurrying home.
One thing led to the next and eventually we had a crew of men here pulling the well pump on our main well and replacing yards and yards and yards of wiring.
They worked well past nightfall and I mostly stayed uninvolved except to attempt to clean water filters once again. By this point the well was only coughing red clay occasionally and then gulping air in attempts to send more water. We dimmed the lights and assured our chickens that water would come asap.
And water finally came. It took a bit to get the grime out of the system, but the water that’s racing through our pipes is the sweetest water and we wonder how long we’d been drinking from the clay well.
But we are in good shape now.
When I was about 4 years old, I remember being so impressed with a tape my Aunt Donna had. The group was called “ Acappella ” and we listened to “Water from the Well” time and again.
And I will thirst no more Give me water from the well that never runs dry Give me water from the well that gives me hope when I die Give me water from the well that never runs dry And I will thirst no more
Living water flowing from above Through the Spirit of never ending love And I’m the first to declare my longing thirst For the water that comes from above
I dusted off the memory and hummed that song over and over the past week. And then I got to really thinking about the meaning behind the words.
Jesus met a woman at a well and they had an exchange about drawing water and receiving living water (John 4) Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give will never thirst; the water that I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw water.” (John 4:13-15)
There’s no doubt that the water from our big well is sweeter and more satisfying that our clay well. Nobody in their right mind would chose to drink the stained water when pure water is an option.
How often do I settle for the lesser well in my spiritual life?
Sweet Living water, that leads to eternal life.
Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Isaiah 55:1
Thirst no more,
Kendra
Bonus Pics:
I’ve been enjoying babysitting Julia’s boys an afternoon a week while she’s in the dairy barn.
Last week we took a walk through the woods behind the farm. It’d probably been at least 15 years since I explored there. But wow the woods are timeless.
We even found the shack that we girls had remodeled back in ‘99. It’s a wonder we didn’t turn out to be Joanna Gaines. 😂 Its still standing more or less-so we have that in our favor.
God’s Creation is beautiful. And exploring it with enthusiastic toddlers- a winning combination.
paradisemtnmusings 