Sunday June 7th
Last day that Mom was here, so sad! I forget how close (relationship wise) we are when we are physically apart for a while. I don't worry about it though, because it all comes back when we are together again. It's fun to have a companion to do stuff with!

Funny story: I tried to tell her funny stories about the chicken slaughter, but she wouldn't have it. None of it. So here I will tell the "world" (or the 5 people who read this blog) a good story. When the chickens had died, were defeathered, and headless, someone accidentally squeezed their breast too hard. This created a wheezing/squawking sound to come out of their dead bodies, which was really hysterical. This was thanks to the trachea was still intact. We found this really funny, then realized we were not "honoring the process" as we should be and quickly viscerated it. Story complete!

After a hearty meal at Food for Thought, I went to Ashley's apartment to read/write/talk and help her "focus" on her work. I was so thankful at how interested she was in my farm life! Sarah also called me, which made me doubly thankful! To think that people would take time out of their busy schedules to ask specifics about my life...I am so blessed. Such genuine people...what more could a girl ask for? Love you both.

Today I am having trouble reconciling farm life vs other "out there in the world" life. They are so different. One is full of conservationism, hard work, good eating, fantastic conversations, enjoying the slower life (in the afternoons), reading for pleasure, and admiring God's abundance in nature. The other life is full of thoughts of the potential future, financial concerns, health concerns, my future life in general! Sure there are overlaps (hard work, good eating, wonderful friends, supportive family, etc), but how can I mesh these two worlds when I go back to summer school in July? This will be the question in my life for a while, the main focus point that I will need to figure out. If anyone has any suggestions, please share.
I am also confused as to why some people are born "have money" and others have "lack of money." In other words, those that never really worry about money versus those who constantly worry about it. They may not be so cut and dry, as there are probably multiple groups, but I am talking those who are third world vs those who have more "stuff." I am trying to say this as kindly as possible and I do not mean to offend. Just throwing the question out there.

To answer a bit of my own question #2, I think that life is truly what you make of it. In Honduras, yes they had little wealth and education, but they made the best of it, they still worked hard, and they enjoyed the company of others in their community and family. I am going to use that partial answer as a spring board to answer this question later on.

Saturday June 6th

Slept till 10 am on Saturday. READ THAT. 10 FRIGGIN AM! Do you realize what blog you are reading? This is my quota for sleeping in that late: once per year. Apparently I have reached it for 2009, can't remember if I did it in 2008. But I did sleep in once til 10:30 in the fall of 2007. Now you know what a miracle this actually is. Means that we slept for 11 hours. Those blackout curtains are wonderful! This was also the first time that I didn't eat breakfast. Growing up, we didn't ever skip meals or "not" have breakfast. You ate at least three meals a day, that's it. No reason to skip breakfast (and I still firmly believe in this today!). So that was very unusual just to have 2 meals that day. I can see how people who skip breakfast might weigh less/more because they skip breakfast. Doesn't convince me that breakfast is unnecessary.

Went to Panera for lunch, which is always amazing! They ended up bringing us an extra plate of fruit, which was delicious! In case anyone is keeping score, we don't really have fruit on the farm. Except last week when someone went and bought some peaches. We eat lots of veggies and bread, but I try to have protein at the meals that I prepare myself (breakfast and dinner). We planted canteloupe and watermelon last week, so no home grown fruit until then.
Now, I know that you are going to excommunicate me forever for saying this (bear yourself), but I think that home made bread is a lot better than Panera Bread. AH! Sorry! For one lunch at the farm someone just ground up loose grain and put it in the bread machine..it was amazing!

Anyways, after this we did some errands: Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Michaels, Sams, Target. All were extremely overwhelming for me. I have been around the antithesis of what those stores symbolize all week. I have been completely separated from materialism, from the "I need more stuff" syndrome, and then you plop me in a store where they mass produce tables and computers and fake art and frozen chickens?

It was daunting at first, but then I was able to grasp onto it and be fine with it. Just think about THAT. THAT thought is more scary than anything else I have encountered...it basically shows me how easily I could forget everything I have learned here, how EASY it was to forget the whole week and how much I have learned, how I simply slipped into this other worldly and amazingly secular world so quickly. That's terrifying. Absolutely terrifying.

For dinner Mom said I "had to eat meat." With that forceful statement, I decided to go to Texas Roadhouse, which, not so surprisingly was formed in Kentucky in 1993. wait, what? Ok, so I had a 6 oz steak, steamed veggies, and a dry sweet potato. Letmetellya, it was absolutely bliss. Wonderfully made. I appreciate all of it. I noted the person who dug up that sweet potato, washed it, scrubbed it, shipped it off to Waco. The person who peeled those carrots and froze them up to ship off to Waco. Try not to think about the "ship" business of that meal and it all works out fine.

Friday June 5th

Another HARVEST DAY! Yes! Tomatoes, snap beans, really-long-skinny-green-beans (scientific name, verified), and squash. The squash had all these little prickly sticker thingies on the stems and stalks...must be a defense mechanism for the plant. It worked pretty well as I wouldn't have been able to do that forever. Taught me to be really careful and diligent when plucking the harvest. I will kind of feeling down today, just energy wise, not emotionally/spiritually/whatever-lly. I don't know if it was the sun, the lack of wind, lack of energy...just don't know.

But, something special occured that completely altered the day. David, our farm manager, gave us some sweet corn picked right off the stalk. RIGHT OFF THE STALK!!! DID YOU READ THAT!?!? It was amazing. It was so Honduras. Heaven. Melody immediately gave thanks and started singing a song about praising God for the wonderful harvest. So wonderful.
This made me start thinking about something else that God has given us: an eternal harvest of life with Him in heaven. What a cool metaphor! I will think about this more and let you know.

At 11:30, Rachel and I went inside for a water break (is God punishing us with this heat?). Found that Amber needed serious help with lunch for the 12:30pm meal. I ended up frying the veggie burgers (read: lentils, rice, shredded carrots, beans) and Rachel fried potatoes. Amber also made fresh whole wheat buns which were great! I shaped the veggie burger mixture into large balls and then placed them in the oil. Since I don't eat fried food, I put a large scoop of the mixture aside so I could eat it for lunch. Here's where you say..."you would." If you did think that, then I fully appreciate your concern and knowledge of my personal mannerisms. Well done!

Friday afternoon Mom came into town with the intent of moving my stuff into my Baylor apartment. Yes, you're right, it is weird that I am paying rent AND living here. I couldn't sublease it for a month, which is sad that that money gets flushed down the toilet basically. BUT we couldn't move stuff in, as there is extreme mold in under the vinyl in the kitchen/bathroom, so we couldn't really move anything in as it would get dusty and that would equal more cleaning work...and who wants more work to do than absolutely necessary? So we unloaded everything from the minivan and pushed it shut in the closet, hoping that the dust from the construction won't seep in there. This also means that I will have to move in, or rather "put everything in it's place" by myself, which is always unfortunate. It's ok, as that what loud classic rock music is for. No doy.

Funny story: we were moving in, and as the evening crept upon us, Mom started getting really hot. Check the thermostat, it's 80 degrees. Mom said that we HAD to go to a hotel. Well, I was not going to argue with her if we were going to get A/C and a plush bed to sleep in. Needless to say these two things spoiled me rotten for the whole weekend!

The rest of the farm folks went to a wedding this weekend. I felt like I missed out on it, as it would've been a great way to get to know people outside of the work that we do, but I was glad for the little break.