Abe Home Plus Some Other Stuff

As Jesse walked past Abe yesterday, was quickly put into some type of hold or other, and then released, Abe said, "I'm sorry Jesse. Maybe we would have a more healthy relationship if I didn't try to beat you up every time I saw you."

Of course by that ridiculous reasoning, they might also have a more healthy relationship if Jesse didn't try to leap out from some hiding spot and shoot Abe with a Nerf Gun every time he saw him. 

Nonsense. Surely these actions are foundational to their healthy relationship. 

In truth, having Abe home has been pure joy. It has! He is thoughtful and kind and funny. And his being home just … I don't know … it slightly shifts and changes the dynamics around here; and everything is happier. 

He is currently working full time at IFA. Which I think the Lord just kindly arranged as a little blessing to help him out during this time of uncertainty and limbo while he awaits to be sent back out into the mission field … "when world conditions allow" (whatever that means). I didn't think Abe would be able to get a job. How could he? There's rampant unemployment right now. And who wants to hire someone who has zero idea how long they will be around? 

Daisy, who has been trying to find a good job to save up for college (her janitor job has become non-existent), had applied for a job as a cashier at IFA before Abe ever got home. They called and left her a message offering her the job the same week Abe returned. Only, in the mean time, and completely out-of-the-blue, our dentist called and asked if Daisy would want to work there until she leaves for BYU. She had never applied there. Mike had taken a bunch of our kids (including Daisy) in for a checkup a few weeks earlier and must have mentioned, in small talk, what various kids were up to and that Daisy was about to graduate and was looking for a job before heading off to Provo. 

And suddenly there Daisy was, after no luck for months, sitting with TWO jobs in her lap! Daisy wanted the job with the dentist's office. So Mike suggested Abe call back the IFA manager and ask if he would consider him for the job he'd been about to give Daisy. We all thought that sounded a bit unconventional. But Abe called him up, told him he'd just been sent home from his mission due to the pandemic and had found himself with a lot of time on his hands. The manager told him to come see him as soon as his mandatory two-week quarantine was up, and hired him on the spot! I don't think there was even a formal interview. He just said how his son was also awaiting a mission call, and he just seemed thrilled to take Abe on for however long he had. 

They put him to work in the warehouse. He hauls bales of hay and animal feed, and loads things into customers trucks, and stocks things, and makes sure chickens and turkeys are fed, and occasionally answers customers questions. And, when he was pulling a giant pallet loaded with stuff the first day, his manager asked him what he was doing with that silly thing and taught him to drive the forklift. 

It's constant and physical work that goes by quickly. His co-workers are good people. And he even enjoys the things he's learning (like what percentage of copper is dangerous for sheep to have in a salt lick, or what ostrich feed people often mistakenly buy for their pet rats [Ratite]). 

And when he isn't working? He's studying his Spanish Book or Mormon. And building rockets with Jesse to launch at the park (they even figured how to make these tiny rockets with tinfoil and match heads that they have been launching off our front porch). And taking the broom out of my hands as I go to sweep up some mess. And watching The Mandalorian. And biking or rock climbing with a friend or two. And just thinking of good ways to spend his time and be nice to his siblings and to us.

And me? I have ALL TEN of my kids together! SO together. With school and activities all cancelled, I have this space of time that I didn't think I'd ever have again with just … all of us together! 

Of course it's not all sunshine and roses. Whether it was the rapid succession of their arrival, a tipping point in the numbers beyond six, or a compilation of competing (collaborating?) factors, … I've been wildly behind in all things since the moment our last four little darlings began tumbling -- recklessly -- into my life. (I am never even remotely accomplishing all I desperately need and want to be. And there is a good chance that any given day will find me, at least once, hiding in the bathroom with the fan turned on so I can have a good cry as I try to figure what the Lord wants me to be learning from my largely failed efforts to manage the enormous needs of this home and family.) But! Thankfully! We can live with complete contradictions! Because it's so hard. But also … so so happy. And I recognize that it is.

In other news:

I overheard this last night from Mette: "Goldie, guess what fairy I'm drawing. It starts with 'Tinkerbell'." (I doubt Goldie figured it out.)

And some pictures:

Letting the kids goof off on bikes while Abe and Jesse launched their rocket.

And Anders in a hammock with a goat … and church clothes … and a top hat. Also Anders asleep on the couch. Cat is supposed to primarily be an outside cat, but he manages to sneak in for a spell most days. And we took it easy on him when the goats were here (we recently moved them to a pen at Mike's parents') as they took over his backyard and terrified him beyond reason. Cat never goes in the front room. But he spotted Anders sleeping there the other day and thought it looked comfy I guess. I like how they are both curled up and then both stretched out.

And a bike ride Mike took the oldest six on for Daisy's Covid-19 birthday.

And a hike the girls went on one afternoon. I love that boredom and loneliness don't have to be a factor for my kids during this time of things all shut down. It's a lucky thing to have so many siblings.

(These pictures were taken by some neighbors that bumped into them on the trail.)

All of us out waving to the stream of cars from our ward during the welcome home parade they did for the SIX returned missionaries from our ward (one who had actually just finished her mission, and FIVE who were sent home from foreign countries due to the Coronavirus). It was so fun to see the faces of friends from church who we haven't seen in weeks.

And just some random photos.