Side by Side

Last night when I went to bring in the last of the laundry from the clothes line I noticed one of my little ones had done Barbie's laundry too and hung it up to dry! :)

My next to youngest daughter LOVES to play Uno! We were playing yesterday morning and I finally HAD to stop to wash some laundry because I knew it was likely going to rain in the afternoon. Plus with all the humidity you need lots of time to get the clothes dry. I had put these things aside to spend as much time as possible with my children once I arrived so none of the kids had clean pajames. Therefore I had to end the game and my little one (who is either 6 or 7, the age keeps changing) offered to help.

I need to take a picture of this but picture a big cement tub divided into three sections. In one section is a cement or stone washboard, in the next is where the clothes are soaked until I wash them, in the third we rinse them. It is HARD, BACK breaking work. And with 6 kids and 2 adults here, it takes some time to get it all done!! 

This little daughter of mine is all of 35 pounds. She's a little bitty girl! Honestly I thought she would play in the water while I worked. NOPE! She set herself to scrubbing! She matched me clothes to clothes. She showed me how to make soapy water in a dish with the bar which is good because I was getting too much soap on the clothes and then you can't get them rinsed good. 

She worked and worked contentedly and quietly with smiles to Mama. After awhile I asked her if she'd like to stop and she said "no" and kept working. I can honestly say I have NEVER seen a child work so hard, ever! Finally my back could take no more and I had to tell her we'd have to stop until another time. Just a "Gracias, gracias" and a hug from Mama and she skipped off happy as could be!

My teens and my younger son squeezed out the laundry and hung it to dry. A very hard, kind of miserable job quickly became a joy! 

Life is hard here. I won't lie. I am a spoiled American. But...

There are so many daily blessings. All of them have to do with making one family out of two! All 7 of my children bless me more than I could ever imagine!! I could have missed this... It makes me cry to think of it, but I could have easily missed this with one little "no"...

"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4