Patching boys' jeans

If you're like me, you often pick up a pair of jeans, wondering whether or not to fold them up one more time, or add them to the burning trash pile. A few months ago I came up with a new idea how to fix pants. Since my hubby also uses jeans, I had no problem getting matching pieces. See the photos below and notice how I sewed the pockets from big jeans over the worn knees, which in this case all happen to be on the same knee for some peculiar reason, :), and used the bottom part of the big jeans to replace the worn part I cut off of Joseph's jeans.

Now that summer is here and there is no more school, he will be wearing these pants out one more time, and then we can worry about buying new ones. This saves me money for now, and he loves them! no more boring patches, although I never was much of a pant patcher before this.

8 years old

Joseph with his Hero Dog

I decided I wanted to post a picture of Joseph with his dog in front of the exact place his incident took place. I thought it would give you a better picture if you saw it this way. This brave dog deserves to have his photo posted!

Saved by God -- through his Dog

Baby sleeps. I am in the kitchen. High pitched screams come from the corral, where the children are helping their cousin with the cattle. I wonder why the screams. Again. I look up. This sounds wrong! I see Daniel's worker come hurrying to the house. I see Jessica come running, screaming something as she comes. I grab my cell phone and hurry toward the corral, as fast as a woman two weeks after a c section is allowed to go. Thoughts tumble through my head. Who is hurt now??? A few days after baby was born Jessica cut her finger, then Timothy developed an infection on his arm, and what now?

"The cow kicked Joseph!" she screams.

O dear God, no! Why now? How bad? Even before I reach the corral, I fumble with my phone, dialing the ER number. I just had the feeling it was that bad. I call Daniel too, who had just gone out for a moment. I get there, and there he lies on the concrete inside the corral, dirty and pale, and having a hard time breathing. I call to him through the fence. He looks at me. Good. I talk to him, he responds. Very good. I tell him to stay still, try to relax and keep breathing. "Keep your eyes open". In just a matter of minutes the first emergency responder arrives. Is it just coincidence that he was visiting the neighbor who lives next door from us? I like to think not. He is a family friend and knows Joseph very well, so this is wonderful. He checks his vitals and says they are good, and is able to keep him calm. But his painful breathing and hurting ribs tell us we need to have him taken to be x-rayed. I walk close to Joseph, take his hand and tell him I am very proud of him. He is a good and tough boy, and to remember that whatever happens to him, mommy loves him very much. Within what feels like too long of a time, the ambulance arrives. At this time I go to the house, getting this instinctive feeling that I need to check on baby, who screams at the top of her little lungs so I pick her up, trying to calm her down, or letting her calm me down as well. I hold her close as I look out the window, knowing there is nothing else I can do for my boy except pray. I see him being carried on the stretcher to the ambulance. It hurts. It makes you wonder why things like this need to happen. It makes me want to appreciate him so much more all of a sudden, and realizing what if it is too late?.... Perhaps this is why moments like this happen; to make us realize how precious the short time is that we have with our children. It could be the last anytime.

Daniel accompanies him to the hospital, which is about a 20 minute drive. 

I ask a dear friend to come over and spend the time with me, as I fear it will be a long evening. She comes and is a big comfort to me. It does not take too long for us to hear good news: no broken bones, and he is coming home! I thank the Lord. He has been so good to us once again.

Now for some more details. Joseph stands close to a door in the corral, and there is one cow in that area. He does not see the cow coming on, but all of a sudden feels the head in his stomach, pushing him against the boards of the corral. The cow does not let go, but continues for a while to 'knead' him, pushing all breath from him. He tells me at this point he had thought he was just going to die right there. Then, his dog barks fiercely at the cow. Little did we know when we got that little pup for him this year, that he would play such an important part in this event. This deterred the cow, and allowed our cousin to grab through the fence and pull Joseph to safety on the other side. He worked with him to get him to breathe, as it was a struggle at first. He has some bruises on his back that he received from being forced against the corral, and he still has some pain as he moves out of bed. We are watching his appetite, and need to keep an eye on him just to make sure there are no serious internal issues.

I asked him if he had been ready to die, and he said yes, he is ready all the time. ARE WE??? O to have the faith of a little child! For now, I appreciate him a little more, and am so happy I have the chance to tell him that--again. 

(See a photo of him with his dog by the corral)

My big boy is 7!

When I think back to those days they were tiny in the hospital, I am so happy we are on our way to have another one, in a little over 3 months. It is very exciting indeed, but for now I want to focus on Joseph, the big birthday boy. He just isn't small anymore, as you can see in the photos.

 He loves dressing up cowboy style, especially when it comes to helping Daddy, his uncle and cousin with cattle.

 

 This year when we found out our friends had some puppies they wanted to get rid of, we decided to give him one for his birthday. I went there on his birthday and let him pick his own, although they all looked very much alike to me! He knew exactly which one he wanted. Since we are moving to a big farm in a few weeks, this dog will come in very handy. It is precious seeing the boys take care of and play with him.

 We looked online for puppy names, and it didn't take him long to pick. It was Rusty, a name we others all approved of.

 Perhaps the best part of his birthday was that Daddy took him on his very first fishing trip ever! I packed a nice lunch for them of fried chicken, fries, pineapple and cookies, and packed it in this neat little bucket I found at a yard sale--for free.

They did not catch any fish this time, which I expected. Isn't fishing all about having fun, swimming, eating and walking to the river anyway? Just having a grand ole boy time with his Daddy. It was very good for him. He learned the basics of fishing, and how to handle a rod, and that is a big accomplishment already. Maybe next time they can fish somewhere where there are more fish, or another river. For now, he had all the fun he needed for his birthday. No toys, no fancy gifts, just a dog we got for free and a fishing trip with Daddy, something I think he will remember for the rest of his life.

Want some chocolate?

Today I witnessed some genuine brotherly love in our house. I had sent the oldest son on a small errand, and when he came home I noticed he hurried up, and it looked as if he had something in his hand. I thought he might have a treat or maybe a pretty stone. When he got inside he asked little brother if he wanted some chocolate. There, on one his not-so-clean fingers was a little bit of melted chocolate, which he had tried so hard to save all the way home so he could share it. What could I say? Little brother licked it off happily...

May we all learn from a child the joy of sharing!

Farm life and health care

Today went pretty well until my big boy came home with a bloody face. His cousins took him along to get some compost for the garden when he had jumped and fallen on the trailer and cut his forehead. I rushed him to the clinic to have him taken care of. I sure hadn't expected to do something like this so soon! but living on a farm one has to be ready for incidents like this.

One bad thing is, Joseph cut himself on a rusty steel edge, so they want me to take him back to give him the tetanus shot. I always knew that would be one shot our children might not be able to avoid if we live on an active farm, and I think in this case we might have to 'err on the side of caution'.

They don't have any doctors at the community clinic, but the nurses are taught to do a little more than first aid services. It took only two stitches. Here's the great thing; they only charge 4 Belize dollars for one stitch, which would be 2 US. Altogether I only paid $19.oo US for the whole procedure. Talk about a great health care system!

Other than that incident we are all doing great; no more weather complaints around here.

Our little boys

What do you do when it is January, and your little boy has a birthday and asks, "Mommy, can we barbecue chicken for my birthday?" Well, you try to make do as best as you can, at least that's what we did!

We put two tins at the sides of the stove, and put a rack on top of that, and voila, an instant barbecuer. It worked! And we enjoyed our bbq chicken, in the middle of winter.

Then we let him choose where to go for ice cream, and guess what, he picked Mcdonalds. This is probably THE first mcflurry he has ever eaten, so its ok. Once in 5 years is probably not too often.

Here is the little man, enjoying his papa.

I just love this one. He thinks he has the best place to sit!

My little Pea

Little, yet not so little anymore. He turned one! Sorry, I have no cake to prove it... :( But I DID take photos on his birthday!

I was fortunate to catch him in a great mood.

I wish I could say he's always in such a good mood, but no, not when he's working on 3 or 4 molars!

"But look Mommy, I got up here by myself! (I know I'm not wearing any pants, but Mommy didn't know I was going to climb this 5 gallon bucket with bare legs...)" Hey, I'll bet it worked better without pants anyway! Yeah, otherwise he probably couldn't have done it. Now there's one reason to go pantless.

...my little pea...