Lunchtime!

"TIME FOR LUUUNCH!" Caleb always announces the mid-day meal with an amazing display of vocal ability! He walks around the house yelling, goes outside to yodel the news, and sometimes makes a trip back to the barn or into Dad's office. Then he returns to be the first in his seat, sniffing, tasting, snitching, and spilling. As everyone assembles, the weary cook, mostly me these days, is putting the finishing touches on lunch and serving everything up.

Dad's arrival means that lunch has officially started. When he walks in, two or three people yell at the same time, "Daddy's here! Everyone sit down!" Sometimes Dad saves us the trouble and says it himself.

Everyone sits down at his or her special spot. I sit at the head of the table, with Beka and Matthew side by side on my left, Mom and Dad at my right, and Timmy and Caleb at the bottom. Once everyone is seated and all the food is on the table, we pray. Everybody has a day during which they pray for everything. Caleb's day is Monday, Timmy has Tuesday, and we work up from there, with Dad finishing off the week on Sunday. The prayer is always short and simple, because we're all hungry!

Once the prayer is over, everybody begins talking and passing dishes. Starting with whatever is in front of us, we serve ourselves and pass to the right. The conversation starts immediately. Mostly we talk with whoever is beside us. Beka and I talk all through the meal, Mom and Dad discuss things, Timmy and Caleb whisper and giggle, and Matthew carries on numerous conversations with everybody all at the same time.

Beka making lunch. Photo by Caleb.

The topics covered at the dinner table are amazing. Since everyone has varied interests and activities, anything can come up. But some things are standard at every meal. Everyone comments on the food. Somebody has to ask for a knife or fork. Another pitcher of juice is always requested. Somebody is sure to tell the dog to get out from under the table. The work of the afternoon has to be talked about. And, of course, Timmy or Caleb has to ask what's for dessert.

With everyone talking at once, it's sometimes hard to get people to hear you. That's why requests for an item ends with the name of the person who needs to pass it. "Pass the salt please, Matthew." "Pass the chicken, Mom." "Pour me some juice, will ya, Beka."

In twenty minutes at the most, everyone has eaten their fill. If there is dessert, it is brought in and served up. Then Dad asks for his Bible, and we go into 'devotion rules'. Everyone must sit (relatively) still, and be (relatively) quiet. We are currently reading in the Psalms, and are stuck deep, deep in Psalm 119. I think we still have half of it to go.

As soon as devotions are over (they usually take ten to twenty minutes) everybody sits around at the table to talk for a few minutes. And then Beka and I go into Mom's room and collapse on the big bed for ten minutes, to laugh, argue, sleep, and bounce before we have to do the dishes. Timmy and Caleb usually come in and start to wrestle, effectively driving us to our work. We head to the kitchen to face mounds of dishes, spaghetti on the walls, and all the rest of the aftermath of just one meal in our home!

The Weekly Bible Verse

Matthew 18:21-22: Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven."

Bits and Pieces

I am pleased to announce that my eldest brother Mark has done his duty as far as enlarging the Aardsma clan goes. His wife Jenn gave birth to a beautiful, healthy little girl on July 11, 2007, at 8:13 p.m. Her name is Keira Rae. She weighed in at 6 pounds, 6 ounces, 19" long. I am glad to say that both mother and baby are doing well, with no complications. Congratulations, Mark and Jenn!

Big brother Nathan holding his new little sister Keira.

As you may have noticed, I have changed the format of my Weekly, and added pictures. I am able to do this because I am working in HTML, web-programming language. Dad taught it to me. All those little dashes and slashes and arrows...hard work for the most untechnical person in the family! But I'm learning it, slowly but surely. The 'slowly' part is why most of these are posted kind of late. I still need help with much of the work, and we've been so busy lately, Mom and Dad aren't always available. (Come to think of it, I'm not available much of the time either.) But I'm very pleased with the way my Weekly looks now, and I hope that everyone is enjoying the pictures.

A Word About The Weather

Still no rain over here. I had to water the garden some this week. We've had some cooler days this week, which we enjoyed! Hopefully we'll be getting heavy rain soon. Our garden sure needs it!

A Word Of Wisdom

Cheezit crackers spread with peanut butter may sound awful, but they actually don't taste all that bad. Try it the next time you're feeling wild and adventurous.