Keith had to have some fairly serious surgery last year and since he is 90% deaf, the doctor arranged for me to be in his hospital room as his caregiver 24/7. He does read lips fairly well, but lip reading is not the perfect solution to the problem. He must “fill in the blanks,” so to speak, as his mind tries to interpret the sounds his ears miss, which is most of them. It takes a lot of concentration, and when he is tired or does not feel well, he simply cannot hear at all. But over the years I have learned how to communicate in all the various ways, from hand signals to pantomime to pointing at people or things to carefully wording without overdoing the mouth movements or using too many words.
So for six days we were both away from home and wouldn’t you know it, it was the height of garden season. When we came home I had to do it all because he couldn’t even lift more than 10 pounds for two months, let alone bend over to pick vegetables or drag hoses. That first week was the worst. I picked every morning, sprayed the whole garden twice, (we’re talking an 80 x 80 garden here), pulled cucumber vines covered with blight, chopped out and hauled away the old corn stalks, placed folded newspapers under 50 cantaloupes so they wouldn’t rot on the ground (a very thin-skinned variety), cleaned out weed-choked flower beds, put up both dill and red cinnamon pickles, and picked and tossed 8 five gallon buckets of squash and cucumbers that did not have the grace to stop growing while we were in the hospital!
Of course we all know that is not going to happen. The plants continue to grow, the blossoms continue to set, and the fruit grows far larger than you ever imagined it could. The back field looked like a marching band had gone through throwing out big yellow saxophones as they passed.
It works that way with children too. I can think of dozens of things we planned to do with our boys when they were little—things we never got to. Sometimes it was a case of no money, but sometimes we just let life get in the way. I wrack my brain trying to remember if there was anything we planned that we actually accomplished at all! But just like gardens, children keep on growing. They don’t stop to wait until you have more time to spend with them, or more resources to spend on them. They won’t wait till you get a bigger house or an easier job or a raise. They won’t wait until your life is exactly like you want it. If that’s what you are waiting for, it will never happen. You have to set your own priorities and make it happen.
Every summer I made my boys a chore list. I am sure they remember it fondly! No, probably not, but on that list was this: “Play a game with mom.” Guess which “chore” they never skipped? Sometimes it was checkers, sometimes it was monopoly, sometimes it was even pinochle, a game they learned with some of their dad’s commentaries set up on the table to hide their hands because they were too small to hold all the cards at once. Sometimes it was one of the board games I made to help them with their Bible knowledge. And every day we had Bible study of some kind, whether just talking about things between the bean rows as we picked together or a formal sit down study.
These are just some ideas to help you along. We have all heard the old poem “Children Don’t Wait.” It’s true, and last summer I thought about that even more as I looked out over the overgrown garden. Maybe my grandsons will reap a little from the repeat of a lesson that is never taught enough.
And he said unto them, Set your heart unto all the words which I testify unto you this day, which you shall command your children to observe to do, even all the words of this law. For it is no vain thing for you; because it is your life...Deut 32:46-47.
Dene Ward
So for six days we were both away from home and wouldn’t you know it, it was the height of garden season. When we came home I had to do it all because he couldn’t even lift more than 10 pounds for two months, let alone bend over to pick vegetables or drag hoses. That first week was the worst. I picked every morning, sprayed the whole garden twice, (we’re talking an 80 x 80 garden here), pulled cucumber vines covered with blight, chopped out and hauled away the old corn stalks, placed folded newspapers under 50 cantaloupes so they wouldn’t rot on the ground (a very thin-skinned variety), cleaned out weed-choked flower beds, put up both dill and red cinnamon pickles, and picked and tossed 8 five gallon buckets of squash and cucumbers that did not have the grace to stop growing while we were in the hospital!
Of course we all know that is not going to happen. The plants continue to grow, the blossoms continue to set, and the fruit grows far larger than you ever imagined it could. The back field looked like a marching band had gone through throwing out big yellow saxophones as they passed.
It works that way with children too. I can think of dozens of things we planned to do with our boys when they were little—things we never got to. Sometimes it was a case of no money, but sometimes we just let life get in the way. I wrack my brain trying to remember if there was anything we planned that we actually accomplished at all! But just like gardens, children keep on growing. They don’t stop to wait until you have more time to spend with them, or more resources to spend on them. They won’t wait till you get a bigger house or an easier job or a raise. They won’t wait until your life is exactly like you want it. If that’s what you are waiting for, it will never happen. You have to set your own priorities and make it happen.
Every summer I made my boys a chore list. I am sure they remember it fondly! No, probably not, but on that list was this: “Play a game with mom.” Guess which “chore” they never skipped? Sometimes it was checkers, sometimes it was monopoly, sometimes it was even pinochle, a game they learned with some of their dad’s commentaries set up on the table to hide their hands because they were too small to hold all the cards at once. Sometimes it was one of the board games I made to help them with their Bible knowledge. And every day we had Bible study of some kind, whether just talking about things between the bean rows as we picked together or a formal sit down study.
These are just some ideas to help you along. We have all heard the old poem “Children Don’t Wait.” It’s true, and last summer I thought about that even more as I looked out over the overgrown garden. Maybe my grandsons will reap a little from the repeat of a lesson that is never taught enough.
And he said unto them, Set your heart unto all the words which I testify unto you this day, which you shall command your children to observe to do, even all the words of this law. For it is no vain thing for you; because it is your life...Deut 32:46-47.
Dene Ward
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