Honor your father and mother. It never ends.

"Work while you work, Play while you play;
For this is the way to be happy all day."

Author anonymous (and in this case, dead wrong)


I feel like several apologies are due.

One for not posting.

And one FOR posting - at least for posting about the same subject ad nauseum.

I have lots of semi-valid excuses for not posting in so long. Winston's back surgery (which went well, thanks for asking); getting ready to teach 5th grade at the local classical school (more on that later as I compare and contrast for you on this new experience vs. my previous life as a homeschooler - Just a little hint about which was easier, I now have to use a rubric- which to me sounds like it should be some kind of huge, shiny, fake ruby that gets hawked on the home shopping network - but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with grading...); and then life in a big family. Those are my semi-valid excuses.

I'm not a faithful blogger. There, I said it.

But I am blogging today, so I should get some points for that on the Big Bloggy Scoreboard of Life.

Today's post, as stated in the title, is about honor.

Real honor. Not just the kind of honor that sends a card now and then with nostalgic sentiment about what a great parent you were.

I'm talking about the kind of honor that causes a grown, married child to drive down to Florida, from places northward (too northward if you ask me...) under the pretense of enjoying a restful Staycation at a parent's house - - - - then finding things like "Replace rotten bathroom flooring under house" on the Staycation To-Do list, sandwiched in-between "go to beach" and "eat at nice restaurant".

Some sons-in-law would complain when they realized they'd been duped....er, I mean..that the plans had been changed. But not mine.

Here's a picture of their smiling, servant-like, honoring faces:



And here's a picture of their dirty butts:



(also pictured - the father-in-law/boss, and two younger sons who were displaying "forced honor")

Why do they look so dirty, you may ask? Is it because they all went into this small hole?


And I would answer, Yes - and here's proof. This is Justin under the house.He actually looks like he's enjoying himself. When else can you wear a cool head lamp, skateboard around on your belly with a flashlight, and get as dirty as you want? I asked him why he was making such a silly face - but he said it just looked silly because he was holding his breath (ew....!)


And here's Warren - congratulating himself (?) or maybe just praying and thanking God for giving him such wonderful in-laws.


Pop's recent knee replacement came in handy as he was banned from crawling under houses. Instead, he manned the board-cutting station (and made sure none of his sons tried to sneak out of the hole....)


Not to be left out of a chance to serve their aging parents, the married daughters did some honoring of their own by sewing new curtains for their younger sister's bathroom. They also helped fashion a velcro sink skirt out of an old shower curtain. (I can't find a decent picture of the finished bathroom - and don't hold your breath until I do - but I'll try to find one. It looks amazing with these big black checks on the window and sink, and black toile on the shower curtain. The walls are white with black/white framed pictures on the walls. It took the girl's bathroom and turned it into a lady's bathroom, fitting for 11 and 17 yo sisters to share.

This is Brite -trying to remember how to thread my cheap ol' Brother sewing machine (which I had to buy after she took her ultra-modern, computerized machine when she got married and left me small appliance deprived.)


Jacqueline, who would rather cook than sew - and would rather have fun than cook, assisted her sister by ironing. Did this make Jacqueline miss her teen years when she ironed for the 13 of us? Rhetorical question.



And who says you can't have fun while you work? (other than the guy who wrote that poem at the top of this post..)


Well, dear readers, this is the end of my staycation posts. Feel free to go back and read them over and over again. Or....you could check out my daughter's blogs (on my sidebar) and read something fresh and inspiring. One will make you hungry - and one will make you want to order a pillow.


I'm going to try something new as we head back to school and my time gets even more scarce.
I'm going to try blogging regularly (not daily. My memory isn't that bad. I remember May.), but I'm going to blog shorter. Little short blog spurts.

(And yes I also remember that I've tried this before and they weren't all that short. But I'm growing and learning - and maturing - and I think I'd like to try again. Come back and see!)