Saturday, February 19, 2011

Being a rural pastor's wife post #15

I have a quote hanging in my bathroom that says, "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." (Marcel Proust) I bought this quote after we had lived here for a few years at a Crazy Days sale for $1.
It took me living here for a few years to look at living in this rural place with new eyes. Here are some of the new eyes that I can think of:
1. It is always windy here. -That's great because I can hang things on the line to save money on the dryer.
2. Many city people would be jealous that I can get raw milk delivered to my house for cheaper/or the same price as a gallon of regular milk from the grocery store.
3. Many city people would be jealous that my boys regularly go out to the farm to pick up eggs and once and awhile we get fresh farm eggs for free.
4. Many city people would be jealous that we have space to garden. We go pick blueberries in the summer. If our garden doesn't grow, we have friends that sell produce to make their living so we go buy from them.
5. Many pastor's wives would be jealous that our phone rarely rings from a church member and church members rarely stop by the parsonage. On the rare times that they do stop by the parsonage it is to deliver a present to us. It is truly an emergency if they call us.
6. Many would be jealous that Ram doesn't have office hours. His office is in our home. If I need him to take a break and change a diaper while he's writing his sermon, he does. Sometimes he doesn't get back to his sermon until the Lambs are in bed.
7. We have been blessed with a huge parsonage. If we move from here I doubt I will ever live in a house this big again.
8. We have time to read. Ram reads a lot. I read when I can. Once a mother asked me when I had time to read with three young boys. There's not a lot of other activities to pull away from our reading time. We read to the Lambs a lot.
9. We spend time as a family. Ram usually has 1 or 2 evening meetings each week. He usually teaches classes and has meetings 1 or 2 afternoons each week. Of course he has a long Sunday morning. But then the whole rest of the week besides what I just mentioned is just for him to visit people/study/prepare his sermon. He can set the appointments for what works with the rest of our schedule. The Lambs spend a lot of time with Ram and I know most children do not have so much time with their dad. I spend a lot of time with Ram. :)
10. We don't go from activity to activity like I see parents in the city do. We do take the Lambs to activities, but not often. I think sometimes children just want to stay home and play with their own toys, but parents have them involved in so many activities that isn't possible. This has also made the Lambs closer to each other. Their brothers are their friends.
11. The Lambs play in our unfenced yard and often play in the street too. I watch them but I don't go outside with them the whole time they are outside. (This has also made a problem when we are in a town or city-they aren't used to staying away from the street.)
I could go on and on about what a blessing it is to live here. I haven't always thought this way. It took some new eyes to be thankful for what I do have instead of complaining about what I don't have.
Can you think of other blessings of living in a rural place?
Come back tomorrow for tips about living in a rural place when you have young children.

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