Ordinary

I ran across this quote the other night in a book that I was reading:

"The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children."
G. K. Chesterton

The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. I don't know exactly what he had in mind when he penned this quote, but I feel that I am an ordinary man that God has blessed with an extraordinary family. It's humbling and I am grateful.

A few more Chesterton quotes:

"Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions."
"Customs are generally unselfish. Habits are nearly always selfish."
"To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it."
"Once abolish the God, and the government becomes the God."
"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried."

The old farmer asked his wife to help him load hogs today. There was no one else around to help this week. This may have been the first time in our marriage that she had to help with this job. We got the hogs loaded and shipped, and I appreciated her help.
There will be no further comments on her participation.

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
Matthew 7:6

Winter Week

Another typical winter week has passed.
A few inches of fresh snow.
A few hours of fresh snow removal.
Daily chores and some maintenance work in the shop.

We took an afternoon off to attend a visitation. This seems to be too common this winter.

I finally installed the new toilet in our remodeled bathroom. I thought I had all the parts that I would need. But I still had to make a run to the hardware store for a part to adapt the new toilet to the old plumbing. Then I started on the sink installation. I thought I had all the parts I needed for that job also, but I had to make a trip to the hardware store, and my wife made a stop at Ace Hardware for me.
The sink still was not functional. It would take one more trip. I even try to keep spare plumbing parts on hand, but it seems that it is rarely just what I need.

Sunday the whole family went to T-town for church, followed by a lunch call at Bob and Jenny's. They had a full house. Family birthdays in the evening followed by a taffy pull. We enjoyed the day.

Monday I spent the day at farm meetings(in two different hotel conference rooms in two different cities), so I stopped for the last plumbing parts on my way home. The sink is now functional! We have a second bathroom again.
This little bathroom will be the nicest room in the house.


So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.
Exodus 30:21

Foolish

One cold day last week, I came in from working and showed my wife my cut and bleeding hand. "I guess a person shouldn't use his fist as a hammer," I said.

Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
Jeremiah 23:29

Update

Our snow is all gone. Last week we had two days of spring, but then it was back into the deep freeze. I took my long johns off for two days, then forgot to put them back on for work Saturday. Big mistake.

We had the Young Group in New Year's Eve. I stayed up past midnight, but was in bed long before the youngsters left.

We drove to Champaign Sunday morning for Hannah's wedding. It was a blessing to be there and we were honored to be invited. The reception was in the pavilion at Lake of the Woods Park. Our family used to picnic and swim there when I was in grade school. I think my eighth grade class trip was there also. It had the only water slide that I remember seeing back in those days. I think you rode down the slide on a little wooden sled and skimmed across the lake until you lost velocity.
We had to rush back after the reception for our last holiday family gathering, which we were hosting. About 40 people showed up for the evening and my wife's baked potato bar. Our cousins from Alaska were here again and I enjoyed their stories and their take on current events. Uncle Bill told me a joke which I promptly forgot. Lots of food and visiting. It was a good day.


So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
Matthew 22:10