This week has not been one of little excitement. It's Taekwondoe spring nationals this week, the one week of the year that the owners and operators of our gym leave for competition and learning, and they leave me in charge... It was also the week before spring break when all the teachers give together all the tests and homework they can cram so less leaks out during the one week break, or something like that. Our house was a nut house. Oh, yes, and to top it all off, it was also the week our kids' teachers had parent teacher conference. It's safe to say we survived it all.
First, our kids are doing fantastic in school. Every one of them is above and beyond their grade level and most have exceptional teachers that further foster that development. I am so proud of each of them and how far they've come, especially Kyriahna and Kaldon. They are learning to accept the consequences that come from their actions, and are changing their actions to receive the desired consequences. They are all sure growing up. I guess there are always positive and negative things about having very bright kids!
Every spare minute of my week (which wasn't much) until Friday at 10 was taken up with homework and preparing for my tests. I never cut it so close, but I also didn't have to ask for an extension. I was really blessed with just enough brain power to pull it off just in time. I have also been EXTREMELY blessed with a wonderful husband who filled way more than his fair share of gaps this week. He was the one who was able to meet with all the teachers for the parent teacher conferences, and was a perfect gentleman. (which is no small feat, at times). He even made me several batches of brownies to thank those that helped me not be by myself teaching the at the TKD place. I love him very much for all he is and does for me, and I'm super excited to spend some time with him during this spring break.
Finally, Saturday :). So, as I mentioned my husband made several batches of brownies for me to take to leadership class, but only 2 others showed up, so I had plenty left over. It had been a long week and after the place was all clean and ready for the owners to get back on Monday, I locked it up and headed home. All I felt like doing was going to bed and taking a well deserved nap. But when I got home, Josh was burning the ditch with one of his new favorite toys, and doing a nice job of it, I must say. He even burnt the weed block which had been exposed and torn and really mucking up our front lawn, so it looked a lot nicer. Because of the wet weather we have been having, we have a lot of green coming out and it looks nice. Now we just have to get a permanent watering system in this year to keep it looking like that.
Anyway, I digress. I was eating my lunch, debating on spending the wonderful day outside where the weather was just perfect, or going inside for a nap. In the midst of this, my husband was burning some dry cheat grass under our pile of tree branches and didn't realize how perfect the conditions were for a nice bonfire. So, a bonfire it became. (Told you so, honey). With a nice bonfire going without much of an effort, Josh talked me into finally cleaning up and burning some of the half burnt shed wood we've had stacked for years now. So we gathered all the wood and cleaned up our yard that much more. But I didn't want a half job so we burnt it all the way to ash. That took a long time.
Meanwhile, as I am seeing all the yard shape up so nicely and how quickly the dry weeds burn down and the green grass is showing, I ask Josh to burn the ditch also to the side of the house by the shop so we can move the goats there for a good spring feast. We cleaned up the bank and he started it. As soon as I asked "what if it jumps the bank?" It did, and Josh nonchalantly said we grab the hose and hose it down. Unfortunately I knew that the hose had been broken off at the spigot, but he didn't. I also knew that the other long hose had suffered some great trials by children or nature last fall and was cut in two. So the fire had jumped into the straw field with no barriers and just enough wind to keep it stoked.
The field is south of our place, and the wind was coming from the south, so it wasn't too bad. But with no hose and just some buckets the fire quickly was past my ability to contain it. It is a big field! About 1/4 of the way down, I was exhausted, and poor Jolanna wasn't taking the heat well. I was learning how to stop a fire, but after the week I had, I didn't have the strength to keep going. We were far from any real property being in danger, but I insisted to my husband to call the fire department. Our poor firefighters had been out since 4am and fighting fires left and right as well as a lot of other disasters. Yet they were very grateful that we called when we did, because ours was not a rush job. It was out of our immediate control, but slow burning and 1 1/2 acres from any damage. They said they had 2 fires that if people would have just called sooner like we did instead of trying to do it on their own, property would have been saved. Needless to say, we gave them the rest of our brownies and were so grateful to have the field put out. We moved the goats to their new favorite feeding spot, and got them all settled in.
There was still the first bonfire we had started, so we brought out hot dogs and roasted them. As you can see from the pictures, all the kids were "fired" out and more than happy to get inside and shower and get ready for Sunday. You can also probably tell how much they love playing with charcoal and ashes. (wow). I didn't even go inside until there wasn't a hint of any heat anywhere. It was a phenomenal (and safe) end to an exceptionally busy and crazy week.
Overall, we are still continually being blessed, in spite of our human shortcomings. We are looking forward to next week for Conference, a break, and spending more time with loved ones.
Oh, and about the eyebrows growing back? I'm not THAT crazy. We all have our eyebrows. That was just a little poetic license :). Have a great week, everyone!
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