Every Saturday around here almost invariably turns out to be different, unique in it's own way. I strive to reserve this day to be a Sabbath rest.  I try to organize my week in such a way, that by Friday evening, the house is clean, the laundry caught up, and the yard work "doable" until Monday (yard work, 40 acres worth of it, is never "caught up.")   I do my best to structure our week so that when Friday evening comes, it is a time reserved and set apart for enjoying my family, God's creation, and relaxing.

Although I aim at this, I don't always hit my goal. Sometimes I fail at planning my week as well as I should. Other times, the unexpected happens, and the entire week is just off skitter. It might be a big event of a close friend that was planned on a Saturday that will cause us to spend the day getting ready and traveling to the event.  But over all, I find if I aim at something, I hit it more often then I don't. By the virtue of just having that goal in my mind, and for the most part planning my Monday through Friday accordingly, I have enjoyed many a blessed Sabbath.

This very past Saturday, was a vivid reminder to me of the many blessings that come by reserving this day for enjoying and resting. The day started when I went out to the pasture to lead one of our horses into a fenced off pasture where he would be by himself. I have a major bonding problem going on with the three of my horses, and it makes it difficult when we want to go riding. This is a long-standing problem and we are trying to solve this problem by separating them at intervals.  While out in the pasture, my little 8 year old girl came running out to see me, being one of the first of the sleepyheads awake for the morning.  She has such a happy countenance in the mornings. 

 After separating the horses, we sat on the 4-rail fence together, admiring the horses and the beautiful day, talking about God's creation and how blessed we are to live here. I shared with her how much I enjoyed sitting outside, feeling the sunshine penetrating on my skin, enjoying the soft breeze, and listening to the different sounds of the birds. I told her to close her eyes, as I did at the same time, and just stop and listen to all that is going around us in God's creation. It is like orchestrated music. This was a wonderful way to start my Sabbath, spending time with my dd, teaching her to enjoy God's creation.

After a while, my 15 year old daughter came out to be with us.  We decided to go down to the lake and sit on the pier.  My little 6 year old boy was now outside and he came with us. We sat on the pier for hours, listening to the birds, watching the ducks frolic in the water, and listening to the heavy stomping sound of horse hooves, as our horse, Major, was having a first class temper tantrum for being separated from his two girlfriends. He'd run back and forth, stomping the ground, and then stop at the fence line and put his head on the top rail of the fence, looking at us, wanting to know if we understood his displeasure.

It felt so wonderful to be enjoying God's creation with three of my children, just sitting and enjoying the sights and sounds around me.  They got a fish net and scooped it down right beside the pier and pulled up one of the smallest baby turtles any of us have ever seen.  A little while later, my 6 year old put his fish net down and with one scoop, pulled up the mommy of this baby turtle. We were all shocked!  She was a biggie!  We had a sort of biology class, right there on the pier, looking at the seaweed we'd scooped up also, watching the little organisms swimming around within the algae.  My older daughter found that fascinating. She is the one that has so often tells me that she hates the study of Biology. I used this moment in time to point out to her that what she was enjoying right now, was the study of Biology, the study of life. 

After a while, my older dd decided to confess and tell me of the secret she has been keeping for some time now. A salamander that she has been harboring in a secret place. She wanted to show me so we got up from the pier and went to see her Secret Pet. She took great joy showing me the giant worm she had captured that lived among the salamander. We came up with a great plan for the summer. We would try to find some used aquariums, perhaps off of E-bay, and set up different aquariums of various insects, turtles, frogs, and other things we came across this summer.  She suggested we get some nature books so we could identify the different varieties we would find.

We meandered from there to the swingset.  We recently just bought and set it up, this being only the second weekend we have enjoyed it. I had seen it a year ago at Shipshewana, and my oldest daughter, Becky, (25), was with me at the time. It was her that planted the seed of thought in me of how wonderful it would be to have a swingset like this. It's huge, made out of aluminum. Even the big people can sit on it and have a good time. That idea was planted in me and all winter I considered it. The seed of the idea grew, until about a month ago, we went to Shipsehwana with the sole purpose of getting this swingset.

We placed the swingset right center in our yard, between two giant Black Walnut trees. It's the highest point in our yard, and as you swing, you can overlook the entire property. To the left, is the pasture that slopes down to where a small lilly pond is, where three giant Willow trees grow beside it.  Straight ahead is the cobblestone barn and pastures with their 4-rail fencing, to the right is the 8-acre lake with an island in the middle of it, and next to that is the Black Walnut Tree Forest. There are trails that wind in and out of this forest, apple trees galore, and blackberry bushes everywhere.  As you swing, you can see the hilly landscaping of the property, and straight ahead, there is the rolling hills of dark green alfalfa fields.

As we all swung together on the swingset, I couldn't help but marvel and comment at the same time, at how God has been so incredibly good to us. To enjoy this every morning, to live here, is such a blessing. We enjoyed God's creation together as we swung and talked.

It was the kind of day that you wanted to bottle and save, if only you could. The kind of day you want to capture in your mind as a camera would, and preserve it forever.  It is day's like this that encourage me to always try to set this day apart for resting, enjoying, and praising God for all that He has done and given.