This morning the kids and I headed out to finish up weeding the garden. The one thing I love about weeding the garden with my children is the conversations that come out of it. As we were half way into weeding one of the children asked why weeds came back into the garden we just weeded last week. I told them that it is something that we must constantly keep up with in order to keep the weeds out and so the plants flourish. One thing led to another until our conversation was about our hearts and how we must "weed" them out daily. It was a lesson for the children and a good reminder for me.
We took an afternoon break and had our normal yogurt, carrots, lettuce, cheese, and apple slices. While eating the kids noticed Tinkerbell their kitten chasing a mouse in the back field. They watched this and kept saying Mommy stop Tinkerbell. I did not need to interfere because Tinkerbell lost interest for some reason and the mouse ran off.
After lunch we decided to finish up the last row and plant some more things. The children thought they would rather finish it today and not work on it at all tomorrow. My boys told me I should just start up the rototiller and go around the garden as well. I have never used it and told them that. Elijah and Solomon both said eagerly that they knew how to start it and what to do to make it go. I hesitated but then decided to go for it after all it would make some things easier. Elijah started it and Solomon showed me what to do and it went well until we ran out of gas. I decided to go get some gas so we could finish up. We all got into the van and as we drove off we could see our cat Garfield on the side of the road. I got out and looked and sure enough he had been hit by a car. I told the kids to get back into the van and I told them he was dead. Driving to get the gas there was complete silence all I could hear was the sniffling and faint cries. I looked back and all the children had tears running down their dirt stained faces. How it breaks my heart to see my children hurt.
When we got back home I planned on just continuing to work and let Ken take care of the cat.
But the children were not happy about just leaving him there. So I mustered up some strength, grabbed the wheel barrel and shovel and we all headed down the road. I made the children stay back because it was a bit gruesome. I could barely take it myself. When we got back we buried Garfield and prayed. There was not a dry eye. Ruth cried so hard and kept asking when Hezekiah and Garfield were coming back. How can a 2 1/2 year old comprehend all of this. She cried and her entire body clung to me. At the end as we all clung to one another I told the children I was so sorry I could not keep them from all this pain. As a Mother I want nothing more than to shield them from all of this. But it is reality that this Earth is full of pain, tears, and sin.
We finished up and moved back to the garden in silence for awhile. Then the conversations started about Hezekiah. We love talking about our son/brother and we miss him dearly.
No comments:
Post a Comment