I've been reading Wild at Heart and Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge, and am really enjoying them. In the books, they say the heart of every woman wants
a) to be romanced
b) to be an irreplaceable part of a great "shared" adventure
c) a beauty to unveil
As I was reading the section about being an irreplaceable part of a "shared" adventure, I realized why at the beginning of the summer I had such a tough time taming our property by myself. Normally, that's something I've shared with our oldest son, Caleb. We've patched water lines, repaired septic lines, tilled gardens, etc. But with Caleb in Honduras, the task has fallen squarely on my shoulders and there's no one to pursue this adventure with. So I started to look at my husband and think, "you should be doing this with me." But yardwork has never been his bag.
Rather than continue to expect my husband to be someone he's not, I used my SAM experiment to enlist God as my companion on this adventure. "Together" we've
- Cleared off the front porch that was piled with stuff.
- Cleared out from under the back deck which had become the junk pile for things that don't fit in the garbage.
- Took 2 full truck loads to the landfill from inside/outside the house.
- Cleared the back yard which had weeds as high as my head (mowed this with a push mower).
- Mowed about an acre around the house with a push mower and hired a guy to bushhog 10 acres of the property (it was as high as my waist).
- Hired a guy to fix a leaky outside faucet.
- Had a piano tuner come and unstick 3 keys on the piano and tune it.
- Hired a guy to pressure wash the house and decks.
- Put Thompson water sealant on the decks with a sprayer.
Now I can sit on either my front porch or back deck (depending upon where the heat of the sun isn't) and enjoy our property. In essence, we've unveiled a great beauty that was all around me and already mine! :)



Hi Marnie,
So that's why you look like you've lost a little weight in last video:)
You are my inspiration! This Friday I've enlisted my cleaning lady to help me clean out my sun room - which we haven't used in a couple of years because that's the room we put all the junk in.
She's been telling me that we should do it, but I've been putting it off because I don't want to deal with all the "stuff" that's in there.
Posted by: Joanne Musa | July 27, 2010 at 10:40 PM
Hi Joanne! Thanks for noticing the weight difference. I've lost about 8 pounds since mid-June. Between all the yard work and Laurel making raw vegan and vegetarian meals and desserts, I'm feeling great!
Go for it with your sun room! You're going to feel SO Wonderful when you have it under control. :)
Posted by: Marnie Pehrson | July 27, 2010 at 10:51 PM
There's nothing like that feeling of satisfaction you get when you complete something you kept on putting off. Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Karin | July 28, 2010 at 09:48 AM