Granted

We've been here in the country for 18 months. I've been in the Howard family for 18 years. I'm starting to realize that my life will always be an adventure and that I shouldn't be surprised at anything anymore.

It doesn't faze me anymore when I'm searching a desk for paper and nearly spill an open bucket of animal bones someone found.

It doesn't bother me anymore when I'm sitting peacefully outside and the dog comes waaaaay too close to my face.

It doesn't give me a second thought when I find egg shells piled in bowls and sitting all over the kitchen. Like underneath the onions.

I don't even stop to stare at pictures like this that I find on my camera anymore:

It doesn't faze me when I'm washing dishes and hear a cricket in the sink.

It doesn't bother me anymore that we sometimes find the dog in the bathroom closet during a rainstorm. Even if she smells.

I didn't surprise myself when I tried (and succeeded...) to do the actual killing part of chicken processing today. I did two- it's a start. :P

Hay in the refrigerator? Baby playing with a petrified frog on the porch? Sitting on a dog food bag to drive the truck 'cause the seat is wet from the window being broken during a rainstorm? No biggies.

I am so over the shock of having to drive 45 minutes to Walmart. I could care less whether or not our white van is covered in mud. Doing math with grease on my hands because I was just fixing the tractor is soooo ordinary.

Finding my mom outside in the garden in her pajamas? --So what? Loosing my new favorite earrings in the yard? I'll live. Laughing till tears are streaming down my face? Every night at dinner. My sister making a movie? Every other month it seems like. Elsie changing clothes 5 times a day? Forgettaboutit.

I take rain for granted and mud is the best thing ever. I'm covered in bug bites and don't really care. My fingernails are dirty, but there's nothing I can do. I just know that I'll never know what's coming next.

We are milking a cow every day now. It's in our field and we get evening milking shift. I'll be honest and say I'm still slightly in shock about the whole, "I'm Olivia and I'm milking a cow" thing, but it'll be gone soon, I'm sure. I shouldn't be surprised at anything after this.

Flexibility is something us Howards have always been mostly good at. I'm thankful for that. But you know, all these weird backwoods-hick-strange-family activities I really enjoy- even milking. None of this fazes me and I'm used to it. I can't really think of anything we would do that would actually surprise me or be something I just couldn't get over.

Except this life. I am astounded every morning I walk outside (even if it's 5:30 AM and we're on our way to remove roofing from a dilapidated building...) and see the beauty of His creation. The depth and breadth of His magnificence portrayed in the scenes around us and the love that is shown in the relationships we have is just amazing. No matter how many times I lay down and just look up at the sky (even if it's on top of a water tank in the bed of the truck while waiting for Emma so we can milk), I just cannot get over my God.

Which is a very good thing. :)