Sunday

I was going to sit here and tell y'all all about a normal Sunday at Swede Farm. But as I was thinking about it while cleaning up the processing room, it occurred to me that there is not really a "normal" Sunday at Swede Farm!

Oh, there are things we do almost every Sunday, such as go to morning service at church, go to Central Market, and have 'dunch'.

But, it's never the same. If we go to Central Market before church depends on when we get up, whose milking, what animal problem comes up, who can find their shoes, who can't find the shirt they want to wear, do we have to change a diaper at the last minute? The reasons never end!!

What we do after church depends as well. If we did not go to Central Market before church there is a high chance we will go afterwards, mainly because a lot of our products have stuff bought at Central Market. Such as the coco powder, vanilla bean paste, and coffee extract. Then there is the bulk candy section for the youngers, bulk coffee for the olders and bulk tea for those that don't drink coffee.

After that we might need to go to Sams for dog food, HEB for detergent, or Wal-mart for food, sewing stuff, or printer ink.

Then there have been the days were we did nothing but come straight home, only to find that a goat has kidded, that changes your day right there!! Or to remember that we are out of a product and have to get it made before Tuesday’s market.

There also the days were we go to an Astros' game, park, museum, or friend’s house.

In truth there is never really is a "normal" Sunday in our house and never really has been.

When we lived in Houston, we might have had a normal Sunday morning where we got up around 8, eat breakfast together, all got dressed, and then headed out the door to Sunday school and Church. After that just depended on what our parents wanted to do for the day. Did they want to go to the Art museum or the zoo? Did someone invite us to their house or did we invite someone to our house? Do we have a birthday party to go to or is there one in our family? And then there was evening service to go to.

So, I could say we used to have normal Sunday mornings, but that changed when we moved to the farm.

Now, on the farm we have to get up between 5-6. Milk the goats, do all morning chores, get all thirteen of us dressed and out the door. If we are going to Central Market, then we have to leave no latter then 8:30, if not then we can leave no latter then 9:30.

We rarely get home before 1:30 and more often than not it is between 3-4 when we get home. We start chores immediately, eat dinner and all end up watching T.V., either Iron Chief America or Baseball, all depending on who has the remote control at the time.

The main reason we have to get up so early and get home so late is due to where our church is located. Our church is in Bellaire, it's the church we went to when we were living in Houston. At that time it was 10 minutes from our house and we loved it! Now, it is an hour away and though there are things we miss because of distance, we still love our church!

As I was thinking about our Sunday's and how there never really is a same Sunday any more. Or my other days, where I could sleep until 9 and stay up pass midnight and not have to worry about anything, I had a TON more time to read, play, and laze around. I was wondering if I would ever really want to change, go back to the days in Houston where they were a bit more predictable, laid backed, more church, baseball games, and reading. I came to the realization, that though I did enjoy those days and that I do still miss evening service, and a game a week, I don't think I would want to go back to them.

For one reason, I enjoy going to Central Market for breakfast and coffee. For another I LOVE my animals, I love seeing my siblings running around on ten acres and not being confined to the cull-de-sack that I was. (And even then it was the last 8 years of living in Houston, before that it was just the back yard!) They get to play more baseball and have less chance of breaking a house or car window.

And even though I do miss my 20-30 baseball games a year I would never pass up the chance to meet the people I have through goat showing, markets, and other farm related outings. I would never pass up the chance to milk a goat, raise a kid from birth to milking and showing. See those annoying chickens peck in the yard or hear the rosters crowing at all hours of the day and night. We have horses, which I never thought I would have, even though they do take a bit more money than I thought they would, I enjoy riding them!

No, if I had a choice of moving back into the city or staying in the country, I think I would stay in the country.

And no, I am not saying that I will live here forever, because for all I know God has planned for me to get married and move out of state, into another city. Though, I do not know what he has planned, I do know that I have enjoyed both ways of living that he has given me so far. :D

And that if you had told me on my 15th birthday that by the time I was 21 I would be living in the country selling our goat's milk at Farmer's Markets at least three times a week. That I would be planning on getting my concealed hand gun license, that I LOVE cooking venison, would own my own business, be helping with the family business and starting a new one with my three sisters’ right under me, I would have laughed and thought you were going off your rocker!

But, here I sit with all of those things going on and grateful that God has put me in this place and I can't wait to see what he has planned for me in the future, be it tomorrow, next year, or ten years from now!