I (Robin) just committed to being the soccer coach for my son’s team. It’s going to be a lot of fun, but I’m going to spend a lot of time doing it.
Spending time. That term says a lot. Spending time like spending money costs us something. There is an investment of energy, focus, minutes. It means that something else won’t get done. Something else will have to wait. Is that worth it? What is more important? What should we do first?
A couple of weeks ago we were planning to go to a friend’s wedding in Waco, TX (a couple hours north of San Marcos). It was the last week of summer, so we decided to make a very-mini vacation out of it and have some fun along the way. We looked up a movie to see and potential museums in Waco (no, we didn’t look for the David Koresh museum).
Thursday, the day before we were to leave Erica said, “I think our minivan is having problems with over heating.” That’s never a good conversation. I woke up early on Friday and drove the van over to a local mechanic. He said, “You have a severe leak in this part of your van. We need to order the part and install it later today.” The only problem is that we were supposed to leave at 11am. What do we do?
We had 2 other vehicle options: my Ford F150 and my mom’s little Honda hatchback. Keep in mind, we have a daughter in a wheelchair (that weighs around 100lbs). There was no way that our van was going to be ready in time for us to leave. There was no way that the Honda would fit our family and the huge wheel chair. Our only option was to take Kennady out of her chair and put her in a special oversized car seat. Then, we would load the massive/awkward chair in the back of the truck. She is 12yrs old at this point and around 70lbs. She doesn’t bend real well because of her muscle stiffness. All that to say, it would cost us a lot of energy and time each stop we made.
What were we going to do?
Spend some quality time with our family!!
We went for it.
We loaded the truck and took off for Waco.
We found a movie showing for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
We got to the theater extra early and let the boys spend $4 in quarters on one really bad arcade game. That was a huge highlight for them. We are usually so tight with our money that this felt like a huge spending spree.
The kids LOVED the movie. Erica thought it was awful. I thought it was fun. It was a almost too violent for us, but was within reason for our family. We had looked it up on KidsInMind and felt good with the review.
After the movie, Avery gave us a presentation on his Heelys. These are the hottest thing for 6-10yr olds these days. Move over figure skaters!! Check out his skills.
Finally, we headed out to the wedding. We looked up the address on Google Maps. The address it showed on the map looked too far away from where we thought the wedding should take place, but we decided to trust it. Wrong idea.
It took us 45min out of the way and by the time we got back on course, WE MISSED THE WEDDING. However, we showed up right as the party was kicking off. It was so fun to hang out with these folks. They have unique wedding traditions. We enjoyed the conversations that followed and the delicious food we ate.
All in all, the investment of time and money was WORTH the quality family experience we had. We made memories in the midst of the sacrifice and sweat. Fun times!
In 2007, we were living in a 100 year old farmhouse. It was situated on a 130 acre farm north west of Lockhart, Texas. There were beautiful rolling hills, clusters of mesquite and Spanish oaks, hay fields and a handful of cattle to keep things interesting. We were renting the house from some close friends who had owned the farm for a few years. Our kids absolutely loved roaming the fields and fishing in the bass ponds. They are amazing on bikes now because they learned how to ride on bumpy dirt roads.
Jude watering the front yard. Barn in background was originally built in 1903.
Working our first garden. Jude quite possibly eating dirt.
A whole lot of that life felt like we were living back in time. The house was fully remodeled, but creaked and shifted all the time. We loved sitting on the porch in the evenings and watching the sun go down. We often would watch huge thunderheads form over the fields and bring much needed rain to the hay fields. As we sat on the front porch and the wind breathed on our face, our minds would wander back to the folks who settled the frontier over a century ago. They saw the same hills, animals, and sunsets. There wasn’t a whole lot that separated us from them. Of course, then we would flip on a light or turn on the ceiling fan, launching us back into the 21st century. Erica loved living out there and started to channel her inner organic, sustainable living self. “We need to get some chickens and eat eggs from free range chickens. The poor chickens we get eggs from are shot up with all kinds of hormones.” I’m the typical American man. I said, “What will they taste like? If the chickens get exercise every day will they taste better? I’ve heard if chickens are able to eat from the yard, then the eggs taste nasty.”
A couple weeks later, I was building a chicken coop. That is usually how discussions go in our house. Erica has an idea. I don’t understand it and don’t really see the need in changing or fighting the standard way of thinking. She has read a blog or seen a documentary on Netflix. That means we need to change our life. After a few weeks of “discussions” I go along with it.
Our plan was to get six or eight chickens after I built the coop. I come from a long line of carpenters. If I am going to build a coop, it is not going to be some little crappy shed. We are going to have the best looking and operational coop this side of the Mississippi! I grabbed draft paper, pencils, rulers and started the blueprints for our chicken coop. This was going to be epic. We picked out a bright red for the walls and bright white for the trim. There would be an enclosed yard with a two-story coop with doors to lock the chickens in. We would place small hinged doors on the outside of each chicken bay so that we could reach in and grab the eggs each morning. It took me around a week to complete the chicken mansion. I was proud.
Structure is up! Still need finishing touches and paint.
Tired. Laying down on the job. Showing the roominess!
We took the forty-five minute trek to Seguin and selected the finest chicks we could find. They were cute and vulnerable. We really didn’t know what we were doing. We weren’t sure how long it would be before we were going to start harvesting our delicious organic, free range, hormone free, eggs (that were not going to taste gross). We would let the chickens out in the morning and then open the door for them to enter at night. Sometimes, they would simply go in without drama. Other nights they were down right rebellious. I would try to round them up. Rounding up chickens…yeah not a good idea.
Check out these videos of us trying to get the chickens back in the coop! This was early on (rookies) If you are reading this post via email and videos aren’t available, you can click here to see them.
After a couple of months, we started to gather eggs. Honestly, they tasted really good. The shells were so strong. You could literally drop them on the ground and they wouldn’t break. They would last a really long time before going bad. In fact, we never really found any bad eggs. We would give some away when they would produce more than we could eat. Overall, it was not a big hassle. We would need to feed them daily, check their water, collect eggs. We would clean out the coop every month or so.
The biggest challenge was all of the other creatures on the farm that wanted eggs. Who knew that opossums, raccoons, hawks, coyotes, rats, and snakes liked fresh, organic, free range, hormone free eggs as well. They actually liked eating fresh chicken also. We were constantly fending off the predators. These animals would dig holes under the coop. They would tear the wire off the frame. They could pry the door open. Sometimes, we would hear the noise, run out, and deal with the commotion. I would go out at night with a shotgun and scare off the ‘possums. I might have thinned out the population a little bit. Other times, we would not be at home or the attack was stealthy. We would come out the next day to find no eggs, a dead chicken, or even a missing chicken. Those were sad days. We would have a little memorial service with our 1yr and 3yr old boys. They were learning the way of life on the farm. The circle of life.
One night we were putting the dishes up after dinner when we heard a large commotion out in the coop. The chickens were riled up. Really upset. They were calling for Erica to come help them out…please! Erica grabbed a flashlight and headed out to the coop. It took a couple minutes to get out there in the dark. When she arrived on the scene, she flashed the light around the coop to determine what the problem was. There was nothing outside of the coop, so she walked into the fenced area. She needed a better angle to see inside the coop where the chickens were bawking up a storm. Once she flashed the light inside, she saw a large black snake in the coop with a egg in its mouth!
“Oh, h@## no!!” thought Erica as she opened the small door to the coop. She reached in the coop with her flashlight and started beating the snake on the head. I’m not sure what the snake thought at that moment, but one thing was for sure. He had met his match and realized that releasing the egg and leaving the coop was a much better than getting beat in the head by this crazy monster. The snake spit the egg out of his mouth and slithered out of the coop. Erica harvested the egg, caressed the chickens and reassured them that they were her special babies. Just call out and we will come to the rescue.
The next day we ate the egg.
Wow! A lot has changed in the last 5 years. We now live in a suburban neighborhood and buy our eggs from the local grocery store. There are a lot of things about the farm that we miss. There are a lot of things about our new home that are incredible. It’s interesting how life changes drastically and we find the resiliency to thrive through the Grace of God, friends, and a little determination (beating a snake with a flashlight).
When does every word matter? When things have been really quiet, each new word seems to carry much more deep meaning. Our daughter, Kennady was born with a severe brain abnormality and has significant development delay. One of her major set backs is not being able to verbally communicate. If you haven’t heard that story, you can get more info here. How frustrating it must be to have something to say and no way to say it!
Some of her amazing teachers from Negley Elementary
Her amazing teachers at school have been working with her for a long time with an augmentative communication device. Basically, a computer mounts onto her wheelchair with a large screen. She has switches mounted to each side of her head rest. She is able to click the switches by moving her head from side to side. She can toggle through different word choices with one switch and then select and “say” the word through the computer. She struggles moving her head because of her lack of muscle control. This means when she clicks on words to say them we often wonder if she is actually meaning to say the word or not.
A few weeks back, she was in the middle of therapy at school and was getting tired. She began to fuss at the therapist by whining and crying. Her nurse, Kimberly, positioned herself directly in Kennady’s face and said, “Kennady, it would be much easier for you to use your device and tell the therapist that you are done.” Then, Kennady used her head to click the command and the computer said, “Bye!”
Lately, my (Robin) favorite part of the day is the sweet spot right before the kids get in bed and right after the bedtime preparations have been made. The bedtime preparations part is usually BRUTAL. Homework done, dinner, Baths, PJs, brushing teeth, meds. That can often be like fighting dinosaurs. We have been trying to get that done a little earlier so that we have a few minutes before the kids actually crawl into the bed.
The kids have their pajamas on, their breath is fresh, they are getting sleepy.
This past Christmas, Erica and I casually got them an indoor basketball hoop. Little did we know how BIG of a success that would be. It easily is the favorite and most used gift of the year. We spend some quality time at the hoop each night before they are tucked in.
Here is a clip of me teaching Jude how to post up. If you are an actual basketball player, please keep in mind that I am 5’7″ and have actually never posted up on anyone myself. Jude will need some more accurate training at some point.
Wow! This Texas Winter saw three major weather experiences. School was called off twice for hazardous conditions! In the event this happens again, we all need a good lesson on how to survive this type of wintery onslaught.
Normally, our temps are in the 50s-70s in the winter. However, in a year like this one you will see the thermometer plummet to 30 or even 25! Add to that, precipitation and you have a deadly mix!
1. Dress Appropriately
Quit wearing tank tops and complaining about how cold it is. Seriously, you need to buy a couple sweaters and a ski coat. Or a parka. Wear socks every once in a while. I know that 10 months out of the year this is appropriate clothing. However, when we face blustery conditions, it is imperative to clothe yourself properly.
See the pics below. This might or might not have been me with Erica. A great solution for night-time clothing around the house. Hey! Don’t judge. We were warm and we slid around the kitchen.
2. Stay at Home and do Really Stupid Things
We have all watched movies of people who live in the north and actually have seen snow. Real snow. So imitate them! Find all the tools you can like spatulas, laundry baskets, butter knives, etc. Start scraping, digging, and clawing at all the accumulations around the yard. Don’t forget to find the deposits on the car too! In the pic below, look at the snow on the slide in the back yard. It was a goldmine! We immediately scooped it up and put it in the freezer. It was too special to waste. We wanted to keep it in the freezer so that we could take it out in July and reminisce about the hard winter of ’14.
View from Our Bedroom Window
In the winter of 2011, we had an actual accumulation of 2 inches. So, I strapped on the skis and went down the irrigation ditch (black diamond). It was about a 17′ vertical drop. The neighbors were pumped! We were all off school and work so there wasn’t anything else to do, but act crazy. Check out the Video!
3. Enjoy Family
Honestly, it is a wonderful time to forget about work, responsibility, problems in the world and get lost in quality family time. Build a fire. Play some games. Put a puzzle together. Watch a movie marathon. WARNING: don’t forget to watch the forecast and go to HEB (Texas grocery store) and clean out their munchies BEFORE the storm hits! You won’t be able to travel the roads afterwards. Remember there is black ice out there!! There are patches on bridges that haven’t been sanded.
We got to the theater extra early and let the boys spend $4 in quarters on one really bad arcade game. That was a huge highlight for them. We are usually so tight with our money that this felt like a huge spending spree.
It took us 45min out of the way and by the time we got back on course, WE MISSED THE WEDDING. However, we showed up right as the party was kicking off. It was so fun to hang out with these folks. They have unique wedding traditions. We enjoyed the conversations that followed and the delicious food we ate.
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