Chaptr 2
Tuesday
May 10, 2011
House

Liesl had to admit she liked House day least of all. Every Tuesday she got up at 6 and spent nearly every moment from then until she dropped into bed practically comatose, cleaning, scrubbing, sweeping, and dusting – all the most monotonous tasks that never seemed to stay done for more than a second or two. “Lord, help me to get through this day,” she muttered, crawling out of bed.
Upon finishing breakfast, she walked into the summer kitchen to transfer and start a new load of laundry. Mom was there in the sewing corner, creating something in a pretty pink calico while the babies played on a blanket near her feet. Liesl lifted the lid of the washing machine.
“It looks like it’ll be a nice sunny day.” Mom said “Why don’t you put that first load out on the line today?”
Liesl glanced out the window. The blue sky was dotted with puffy white clouds and the leaves on the trees rustled invitingly in the light spring breeze. “Okay.”
Pulling out the wet, cold fabric from the load that Mom had started early that morning, she plopped each handful into an empty wicker laundry basket nearby. She grabbed a stool so that she could get the last few things without practically falling in the washer, bemoaning her lack of height once again. “A growth spurt would be nice, Lord,” she prayed. Unfortunately genetically there wasn’t much chance of that. Mom was only five feet tall, and Liesl could already look her in the eye.
She started running water into the machine and added a spoonful of their thick homemade laundry soap. Mom had used a bit too much lavender essential oil in this batch of soap and Liesl breathed through her mouth to avoid what she considered its musty scent. “Is dat for a custober?” she asked Mom, indicating the calico fabric.
“Yes. A rush order,” Mom replied. “I need to get it in the mail by tomorrow. The customer requested it for a Laura Ingalls Wilder festival this weekend.
Liesl finished loading the batch of diapers into the machine and closed the lid.
“That sounds like fun,” Liesl commented.
Mom agreed. “There’s a place in Northern Wisconsin that has a festival like that each year. I’ve looked at their website and I’d love for us to be able to go on vacation there someday.”
“That would be neat.” Liesl lifted the heavy basket of wet laundry to take outside. “I’ve often thought it would be fun to go on vacation anywhere,” she said. “The Smith’s go somewhere every summer. MaryBeth said they’re going to Gettysburg this year.
“I’m sure their family will have fun and learn a lot.” Mom’s green-blue eyes stared at her, the sewing machine momentarily stopping its incessant chatter.
“Oh, I’m not being jealous,” Liesl assured her. “I know it’s different having just four children like the Smith’s have. A lot less expensive to go places like that.”
The look on Mom’s face was strangely enigmatic though she said nothing.
“Anyway.” Liesl opened the door with an awkward smile, shifting the weight of the basket to her other hip and brushing her hair out of her face. “I’ll go pin these up before I dig myself any deeper.”
Closing the door behind her she heard the sewing machine start again. Inside, Mom sighed in relief. Out of all the children, Liesl was the most likely to figure out their plans and she wanted it to be a secret for just a little while longer.

~*~

Liesl kicked off her shoes as she hung the clothes up on the line, relishing the feeling of the cool morning grass on her bare feet. One by one, she pegged up the dresses they had worn yesterday until the first line was a sea of sage green gingham. Liesl reached into the clothespin bag for another handful of pins. Mom had made the bag a couple of years ago from an old pinafore that had belonged to Liesl as a baby. It was made of a dainty blue calico and had a white band across the waist that Mom had cross stitched with blue flowers to match. Pretty soon a line of boys’ jeans and polos waved in the wind behind the girls’ dresses. The basket was getting lighter as she moved along while she worked. Rhythmic clopping of horses’ hooves came from the road in front of the house. Liesl caught a glimpse of big strong black Amish horses pulling a wagon in which were a pair of equally big, strong Amish men. One wore a blue shirt and the other a rust color. Their heads were both covered with the typical flat straw hat, their faces both bearded. Many Amish lived in the surrounding area, so it was not unusual to see them going by in their wagons and buggies. Liesl recognized these two men as Samuel and Eli Mast. Father and son, they ran the lumber mill up the road. She raised her hand in greeting, but it was already too late. They’d passed on to where they were hidden by the house and the Fairy Grove.
Liesl dawdled with the last few clothes, drinking in the sweet scent of the fresh spring air, the peaceful sight of the violas growing in big purple tuffets in the Secret Garden, the warbling sound of a house wren calling for a mate. Her reverie was interrupted by an angry shout. That sounded like Sarah. She slipped on her shoes and followed the sound to the front yard near the Fairy Grove. She was not terribly surprised to see Collin there with Sarah, who was almost in tears.
“I’m doing my chores! I only stopped to say hello!” Sarah yelled.
“And while you were out waving and being useless that goat got out and smashed Mom’s flowers, so tell me again, why couldn’t you have at least tied it up?” Collin asked, his hands on his hips and his voice full of venom, daring her to try and defend herself.
“I thought she was tied up. I slipped the normal loop over her head and I was only gone for a few seconds.”
“Really? Only a few seconds? And in only a few seconds it got free, ran around to the house, and ate Mom’s flowers? All in a few seconds?”
“Well it may have been a little longer.” “Like what? Five minutes? Ten? How long!”
“I don’t know!” Sarah said, the tears starting to run down her cheeks.
Unable to stay silent any longer Liesl walked up behind Collin. “What about you Collin? How are your chores coming?” Liesl almost cringed as he turned around, his face contorted with anger.
“My chores were going fine until I had to do hers!” He said, jutting his thumb behind him at Sarah.
“Oh, and yelling at her is going to help get your chores done, is it?” she asked, quoting what Wesley had once said while defending her.
“I was not yelling at her. I was explaining what she did wrong.”
“You were too yelling! I heard you!” Liesl said, blown away that he would deny it.
“Was I?” Collin said taking a step toward her. “I’m sure I would remember it if I had yelled.”
Liesl looked up at him hating the fact that he was a good five inches taller than her and liked to rub it in. “Well apparently not, since you don’t remember yelling! But if it made you so mad why didn’t you put the goat away?”
“I did. I told you that I had to do her chores for her! And I made sure it wouldn’t get away again,” Collin said with a sneer.
“Well then what is your problem? Why did-”
“My problem! I’m not the one who let the goat out!”
“Come on Liesl,” Sarah said, wiping the tears away from her eyes. “Let’s just go away from him.”
Turning to follow her, Liesl heard Collin mutter something under his breath. “What?” she asked, looking back.
“Oh nothing,” he said with a sick smile.
Taking deep breaths in an attempt to control her anger Liesl walked with Sarah down to the lower field where the goats were usually tied up to graze during the day. Glancing around she saw Jenny, their chocolate brown goat quietly munching on some leaves, but Mimi, the white goat who was usually more mischievous was missing. “Sarah, where’s the goat?”
“I don’t know. He said that he had tied it up again, so I assumed he meant down here.”
“Alright, why don’t you start looking over there,” Liesl said, pointing toward where the chicken pen had been wheeled to for the day, “and I’ll check in the barn.”
“She’s not over here,” Sarah called. “I even checked in the pen itself.”
Liesl closed their miniature horse, Peewee’s pen and climbed back down the ladder. She’s not here either. Do you think she might have gotten away again?”
“Oh that’d be funny! Then he can be the one who’s wrong. Let’s go check the flowers.”
Liesl laughed as she followed. It would serve Collin right if the goat had gotten away again after he had treated Sarah so harshly. Turning to lock the door she heard a strange groan from the other side of the barn.
“Hello?” She called walking toward where she’d heard the sound. “Hello?” It was times like this that Liesl almost wished she didn’t read so many mystery books because her imagination always ran away with her. “What are you doing?” Sarah walked up.
“I thought I heard -” as Liesl spoke the noise came again. ”That!” Running to the other side of the barn she looked into the big empty watering basin and gasped. “Hey, Sarah.”
“Yeah?”
“I found the goat. Do you have a knife?”
“Yes. Brandt gave me one of his old ones. Why?”
“Because I think we’ll need it.”
Walking over, Sarah looked into the basin. Inside was Mimi. She was gagged with duct tape and hog tied, lying on her back. “I can’t believe he would do this!” Sarah said, handing the knife to Liesl.
“Neither can I,” Liesl said cutting through the tough rope fibers, “but apparently he did.” Grabbing the tape she started to rip it off as gently as possible.
”What’s so funny?” Liesl asked as Sarah giggled.
“Well he was right about one thing. That goat wasn’t going anywhere!”
Liesl helped Sarah put the goat back where it belonged just before Mom’s voice came over her walkie talkie.
“Where are you, Liesl?” Mom asked. “Your chores are calling you.”
“Be right there.” She’d let Sarah be the one to tell Mom about what had happened.
“Time to get back to work,” she thought to herself walking through the back door. Liesl couldn’t fathom how the old books talked about “Wash day” being a once a week job. Laundry was a daily job in the Keller house and took up a good bit of time too. The washing machine was still doing its noisy, almost violent dance in the summer kitchen as it finished the last spin cycle. They had tried and tried to level it, but the old barn wood floor was just too uneven. Finally Dad had simply built a sort of frame around the bottom of the washer so that it couldn’t run away no matter how hard it tried. And boy, did it try!
Josiah had scooted himself off of his blanket in pursuit of a toy car. Neither of the babies crawled yet, but Josiah had perfected the art of pushing himself up on his arms and then flopping forward, walrus-style to get wherever he wanted to go. Lynnsey watched her brother triumphantly chewing on the toy car and let out a howl. She had managed to push all of her toys just out of reach and now she demanded that someone return them to her.
“Silly, lazy baby,” Liesl said with a smile in her voice. She gathered up the blocks and returned them to Lynnsey.
“You know, she’s never going to learn to crawl that way,” Mom reminded her.
“Sorry.”
“Oh, you don’t have to be sorry,” Mom said with a wink. “Because you gave the toys back to her, I have a few more minutes to sew before she totally melts down.”
Liesl quickly transferred the laundry to the dryer. “Do you need some help with that order?”
“Perhaps.” Mom stopped sewing with a groan.
“What?”
“I ran out of bobbin thread a long time ago. I’ve been sewing with air.” She pulled out the bobbin to re-thread it. Lynnsey chose that moment to decide that she was now bored with the toys she had. “So much for a few more minutes before she melts down,” Liesl said with a wry smile.
Mom sighed. “When you finish folding the laundry and doing a quick pick up, I’d be more than happy to accept some help.”

~*~

“Liesl Minuet Keller!”
Liesl looked up to see Mom standing there, one hand on her hip, the other at her side, as if her hands didn’t know what to do with themselves when not holding a baby. She was not happy. Liesl could see the disapproving look in Mom’s eyes as she glanced pointedly at the still very messy living room.
“You’ve been called to lunch three times! And how much of your work have you gotten done?” Mom asked.
“Well, I did finish the laundry.” Liesl squirmed. She was in trouble and she knew she deserved it. “I’m sorry, Mom. I picked up the book for just a minute. I didn’t mean to get so caught up in it.”
Meg Keller looked at her oldest daughter and saw herself in her. “I know you didn’t mean to,” Mom said with firm but gentle understanding. She picked up the paperback that Liesl had set down on the coffee table and returned it to the shelf. “You know, I was the same way at your age. I’d get so buried in my books that I was completely oblivious to everything going on around me, not to mention the passage of time. I can still easily do the same thing even now. That’s why I’ve grounded myself, for lack of a better word, almost completely from fiction. It’s too dangerous for me.”
“Dangerous?”
“Yes. Nothing else tends to get done when I get buried in a book and a household can fall apart pretty badly in the time it takes to read a book – even if I am a fast reader!”
Liesl was mortified. “No fiction? Is that a requirement of motherhood?”
Meg Keller laughed, putting her hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “I should guess that there are many moms who read fiction regularly. I just know myself a little too well. I do at least get my daily dose of fiction from reading aloud to you guys.”
Liesl grimaced. “But if I’m like you were at my age…”
“True,” Mom agreed. “How about this? I think you should be grounded from your library books for the rest of this week – partially as a consequence for letting them interfere with your responsibilities, but more in training. Grounding myself from fiction has trained me to be a little more attentive now. Maybe if you start with small groundings of yourself, you’ll be able to train yourself better by the time you become a mom.”
“The books have to go back to the library on Friday.” Liesl said sadly.
“I know.” Mom lifted Liesl’s chin to look her in the eye and Liesl knew she really did understand.
“We can request this book again, “ Liesl said with a smile.
“Yes, we can,” agreed Mom happily. “Now let’s go get some lunch before the others eat it all up. Tori made bread.”
“Mmm!”

~*~

Liesl worked hard the rest of the afternoon to get everything done in time. She managed to have the bathroom shining and the floors swept and vacuumed and even some sewing done for Mom by the time Dad walked in that evening. His slightly hunched walk showed that he was tired and his back was hurting again, but he had a twinkle in his eye.
“Daddy!” The little ones were clinging to his legs in the biggest hugs they could manage the moment he came in. She wasn’t sure why, but even though Liesl was practically grown up, she still felt the same excitement that the little ones did each night at Dad’s homecoming.
He seemed happy tonight. Really happy. He didn’t even get annoyed with Wynter when she asked him if he’d brought her a surprise. Liesl saw Dad wink at Mom. Something was up.
“Go sit down,” Dad said, motioning toward the table. “I’ll be right there. I have something to tell you.”
It took a while to get everybody seated and quieted down, but finally it was done. Mom, Dad, and twelve children all around their long dining room table that Grampa Jewell had made, with Josiah and Lynnsey only missing, having already been tucked into their beds.
Dad grinned as he looked around the table at the faces of all his children. “I love seeing this,” he said. “It always reminds me of Psalm 128, ‘You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How joyful and prosperous you will be! Your wife will be like a fruitful grapevine, flourishing within your home. Your children will be like vigorous young olive trees
as they sit around your table. That is the Lord’s blessing for those who fear him.’
Liesl followed his eyes around the table. The little ones seemed about ready to bounce out of their seats with excitement, except for Savannah, who was oblivious, chewing on a graham cracker that Mom had handed her to keep her content. The boys sat looking at Dad impassively. They all knew that the more they acted impatient, the longer Dad would draw out the suspense. Liesl tried to follow their lead and not look anxious on the outside.
Carl Keller pulled out his Blackberry and started checking it for emails as he hummed the tune to “The Song that Never Ends”. Finally he took pity on his curious children. “I have a surprise for you,” he said. “Your mother and I have been working out our plans for quite a while to take a vacation.”
Krista’s dramatic intake of breath was accompanied by her mouth literally hanging open and her eyes getting all starry. Wesley rolled his eyes at her dramatics. “A vacation!” Krista was a blonde in every sense of the word, though they loved her dearly anyway.
“What’s a cation?” asked Wynter.
“Do big families take vacations?” quipped Wesley. “Some do,” Dad parried. “Actually, we weren’t so sure this one would work out either. I’ve got next week off…”
“Next week already?!” exclaimed Brandt. “What about the restaurant?”
“That part’s already worked out,” Dad reassured him. “I’ve already spoken with Michele and she’s agreed to keep things going for the week. Her sisters, Amanda and Brittany will help.”
Michele Winslow was the oldest daughter of some family friends. She’d always dreamed of owning a little bakeshop, but had never gotten her idea off the ground. When Wesley and Brandt had suggested that she help them in their own culinary endeavors, she’d been more than happy to do so. She worked there most days, alternating between cooking and supervising the wait staff.
Dad continued, snapping Liesl out of her reverie. “Your mom and I have been talking about driving out to Pennsylvania to see her best friend, Elizabeth Wright.”
“That’s an awesome idea!” Collin interjected. “I know it’s been years and years since you saw her, Mom. Not since Dad got out of the Navy and we moved here to Wisconsin. And they have how many more children now?” Liesl was struck by how differently Collin acted when Dad was around.
“Four more since we saw them last,” Mom said. “They have ten altogether, and three grandchildren!”
“That will be so much fun!” exclaimed Janessa. “So when do we leave?”
“Well, my vacation starts Monday, Dad said, “and I have to work this weekend, so that’s the soonest we could go. Uncle John is willing to come and stay and take care of the animals while we’re gone. But actually, as I was saying, we weren’t so sure it would work out. We have the money for the gas to get there, but not enough to stay in a hotel that whole time – and the Wrights don’t have room for all of us.
“So what will we do?” asked Stephen. He was already planning on sleeping in his little red pup tent out under the stars.
“Well, God gave us the last piece of the puzzle today,” Dad said. “At one of the places I needed to go to for work today, I met a man.”
“Was he a nice man?” asked Mara. Her serious ice blue eyes that matched Dad’s stared up at him, listening to the story intently.
Dad smiled down at her. He had an especially soft spot in his heart for this little girl. God had used almost losing her to pneumonia when she was three to teach him how very precious his children were. “Yes. A very nice man. We had a wonderful conversation. He asked how many children I had, and when I told him 14, he didn’t bat an eye – just said, ‘Good for you! Good for you! Do you homeschool too?’ It was great. But then he told me that he and his family had taken a vacation last summer and they’d gone to Pennsylvania too. They’d stayed at a place called Blessing Lake. They have cabins to stay in and they’re used to big families, and it only cost them $300 for the whole week! They have worship services every evening too. It just sounded like the perfect place.”
“That’s incredible! Three hundred dollars?! That’s like one night in a hotel!” exclaimed Wesley.
“Yes, it is!” agreed Dad. “So when I got back to the office, I looked the place up on the internet, and not only is it perfect, but it’s only about 45 minutes away from where the Wrights live! I got on the phone with Paul on the way home and worked out the details, and we have reservations made for both of our families! We’ll pretty much max out the place, but there’s enough room for all of us, no problem!”

~*~

“We’re going on vacation, Lord!” Liesl said as she lay in bed that night. “I can’t wait to meet Eoin and Maleah. Mom said they’re about Nessa’s and my age. Thank you for working out all the details. Thank you for teaching me about being more attentive and not letting anything – even books control me. Thank you, Lord! You are so good!”

Before, we get to this week’s chapter, the last giveaway of the week…
One free copy of this book to hold in your actual hands, “Mystery at Blessing Lake”.
Comment here to be included in the drawing which will take place next Saturday. Each day next week will be a drawing – the music cd’s on Monday, the quiet book on Tuesday, the camera strap cover on Wednesday, the Thankfulness book on Thursday, the marshmallows on Friday, and this book on Saturday – so be sure to go back to earlier posts from this week and comment so that you can get in on the drawings.

Also – Tomorrow! Sunday, Feb 12, will be the drawing at facebook for the Daddy’s Little Princess gift certificate. Don’t miss the chance to “like” DLP and have your name included in the drawing.

Alright, on to the chapter…

Chapter 1
Monday
May 9, 2011
Littles

Liesl stretched and slowly opened her eyes as she woke up to the almost too cheerful sound of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”. She punched the button of her alarm clock on the little shelf beside her bed. The comforting aroma of coffee swirled through the house, calling to her with its siren song. Even though she didn’t drink it, she loved the smell. She thought about the day ahead. Monday… baby day, she thought to herself and smiled. Each day of the week had different responsibilities. Mondays were probably her favorite. On Mondays she was in charge of Wynter and Savannah, her four and two year old little sisters. Today she was planning a tea party for them with their dolls in the Secret Garden. She knew they’d love it.
Better get moving before I doze off again, she thought to herself as she peeked at her clock and saw that the glow in the dark numerals said it was five already. She wasn’t naturally a morning person, but she was learning. Liesl smoothed her turquoise batik bedspread and climbed down from her bunk. Victoria and Krista still snoozed in the bunks beneath hers, as did Janessa, Sarah, and Mara in the second set of triple bunks. Daddy and Grampa Jewell had made both sets a few years ago when they’d moved into this old Victorian farmhouse here on God’s Green Earth Farm. Liesl loved the smoothness of the pine beneath her hands. It brought back memories of Grampa taking time and care with the sander as he’d worked out in their garage, stopping to run his hand along the satiny wood, then turning the sander back on for just one more pass.
Liesl showered quickly and dressed in her green gingham skirt and creamy muslin peasant blouse that she’d set out for herself the night before. Grabbing the brush, she addressed her dark reddish blonde hair, wincing at the terrible knots that liked to form in the super fine hair at the nape of her neck. She expertly wove it into a french braid down her back. She picked up her One Year Bible and her notebook and found a relatively quiet place to read, plopping herself down on the over sized turquoise bean bag in the corner. By this time Janessa, Victoria, and Sarah were awake and dressing.
“Quit hogging the mirror,” Sarah grumped at her twin sister, Tori, her dark blue eyes snapping. “It’s restaurant day for me and Brandt will be upset if I’m late again. You just have the animals today, and they don’t care what your hair looks like!”
“Oh yeah? How do you know what the animals think?” Tori retorted, winking as she moved over to make room for Sarah in front of the mirror that topped their antique white dresser. She touched the curling iron with light, quick fingertips. It was almost ready to turn her stick straight blonde hair into pretty curls. Sarah was right. It was probably silly, given that she would be spending the day working with the animals, but it was her one vanity, and one way that she and Sarah expressed their different personalities.
She giggled, thinking about Sarah’s comment. “I can just see Peregrine and Rorschach clucking and gossiping with the other chickens, saying, ‘Oh, I can’t believe that girl would dare show her face here in the chicken house with such a rat’s nest of a hair-do! For shame!’ And the rabbits would sniff and raise their little noses in the air at me!”
Both Nessa and Sarah laughed along with Tori at the image she had painted in their minds.
“Like that song in the Music Man, “agreed Nessa. She started to sing, bobbing her head in time to the music, “Pick a little, talk a little, pick a little, talk a little, cheep, cheep, cheep, pick a talk, pick a talk a little…”
Collin poked his head into the open door of the girls’ room and sang the counter-melody to Nessa’s song, “Good morning, ladies, good morning ladies, good morning ladies, you’d better get a move-on now!” They laughed, shooing Collin out of their room and down the stairs.
Liesl looked at her watch again. 5:45. She put away her Bible and hurried downstairs to squeeze in some violin practice before it was time to wake up the little girls at 6:30.

~*~

“Liesl, can you unbutton me?” Liesl turned from her music to see Wynter standing in the doorway in her nightgown, her honey colored hair tousled from sleep. She was not yet wearing her glasses and her right eye drifted in toward her nose. “Fix your eyes,” Liesl admonished gently and Wynter looked toward her weak eye, a trick that helped her regain control of it.
Liesl chafed at the interruption. She was so close to getting those double stops in her Seitz concerto! She loved how it sounded on the cd – almost like two violins playing together, but she was struggling with getting one finger on each string in tune with each other! For a moment she felt annoyed about having to stop.
“Can’t you wait until I come?” she complained. “I’ll be there in just a bit.”
“But Liesl, my clock says 6:30,” Wynter argued. “I can’t sleep anymore.”
Liesl sighed as she looked at her watch and saw that Wynter was correct of course. “Is Savannah awake too?” she asked her little sister.
“Yes,” Wynter replied. “She wants to get out of her crib. She says she’s not a “seepy girl” anymore.”
A smile played around Liesl’s eyes as she imagined Savannah saying it just that way in her adorable lisping two year old voice.
“Alright, Wyn, go stay with ‘Anni while I put away my violin and stuff and I’ll be right there. I promise.” She quickly unbuttoned Wynter’s nightgown and turned to carefully set her violin back into its place in the barrister bookcase and loosen her bow. She’d get those double stops figured out tomorrow, Lord willing.
The spicy smell of cinnamon filled the air as she headed back through the kitchen to go up the stairs to the little girls’ room. Janessa was on kitchen duty today and it smelled like she had made coffee cake for breakfast. She reached the little purple room with its flowers and fairies making a border near the ceiling all the way around the room.
“Where’s Tigger? I want Tigger!” Savannah jumped up and down in the crib she was getting too big for, her light brown baby curls bouncing with her. Her imagination was good for a two year old and one of her favorite games was making believe she was Winnie the Pooh. She’d assigned characters to most of the rest of the family as well.
“Sorry, Pooh Bear, you get Kanga today,” Liesl explained as she lifted the little girl from her crib and laid her on top of the dresser they used as a changing table. “Today’s green day,” she reminded the two little ones, reaching into Savannah’s drawer for the little green gingham dress Mom had made for Easter a few months ago. She brushed Savannah’s hair and put it up quickly into a little fountain-like ponytail to keep it out of her eyes. She repeated the process with Wynter’s hair, handed Wyn her glasses, did a quick straightening up of the room, and directing Wynter to bring the dirty clothes down to the laundry room, scooped up Savannah (aka Pooh Bear) and headed for the stairs. She could hear the sound of Janessa setting the table with plates and silverware so she knew it would be breakfast time soon.
Only seconds later she heard Nessa yell for people to come for breakfast. The sound of her voice came not only from downstairs but also from the walkie talkie watches that mom insisted they all wear at all times. Walking down the stairs she was surprised to hear Dad’s voice saying goodbye to everyone. Normally he was gone before she got up. Running down the last of the stairs she turned into the kitchen and she and both of the little girls gave him a hug before he left. She stood at the window waving as he drove away, so intent on what she was doing that she didn’t hear Collin sneak up behind her.
“Breakfast!” he bellowed in her ear. Liesl shrieked and nearly jumped in the air. Hearing his laugh made her blood boil.
“That wasn’t funny!” she yelled as he continued to laugh.
“Oh, yes it was! You nearly hit the ceiling when you jumped and what I wouldn’t give to have seen your face!”
She scowled. “Why did you do that?”
“Let’s see, it’s breakfast? Meaning we are going to eat, and while you stand there the food is getting cold on the counter and the littlest ones are getting hungry? Any of this ring a bell in your thick skull?”
Liesl always hated how he could use words to make her look stupid without even trying.
“That’s no reason to yell it in my ear!”
“Oh, I’m sorry, were you scared? I’ll try to be nice and quiet next time,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm and a smirk on his face.
“Alright you two, that’s enough now. Both of you need to apologize.” Mom spoke firmly as she entered the room, catching the tone of the conversation.
“But I didn’t do anything,” Liesl started to protest, but from the look Mom gave her, she wasn’t in the mood to hear it. Mom was a firm believer in the philosophy that one can always walk away from a fight somehow, so it’s never just one person’s fault.
Liesl apologized. ”I’m sorry for not going to the dining room right away when I was called, Collin. Please forgive me.”
“I forgive you,” Collin replied. “I’m sorry for yelling in your ear. Will you forgive me?”
“Yes.” Though from the look in his eye she didn’t believe him one bit. He was only saying it because Mom told him to, and she knew it.
“Good, then let’s go eat before it gets any later,” Mom said, not even appearing to notice Collin’s lack of remorse. It always amazed Liesl how he could be so mean and not get caught.
Liesl brought the little girls into the dining room, snapped Savannah into the highchair, and sat down between her and Wynter. Janessa brought in the cinnamon and sugar topped coffee cake as the last of them assembled around the table. Wesley and Brandt and Sarah were up at the restaurant of course, and Daddy was on his way to work, but the rest of them were there, Collin, Victoria, Janessa, Krista, Mara, Stephen, Wynter, Savannah, and herself – and Mom just now coming out of the kitchen with the six month old babies, Josiah and Lynnsey.
Mom put the twin-lets into their baby swings and sat down at the table. She smiled as she reached for Savannah’s hand on one side and Mara’s on the other. All around the table they joined hands and bowed their heads in prayer.
Breakfast was delicious. They lingered at the table while Mom read the daily devotions, they practiced their newest song, and they each recited their Bible memory work. Lynnsey started fussing halfway through their song, so Liesl picked her up and paced the room, patting the baby’s back as she sang. She realized a moment later just why little Lynnsey was fussy, as her nose detected the unmistakable odor of a stinky diaper. She was glad when the last of the recitations were completed and she could pass Lynnsey over to Mom. Liesl knew how to change diapers of course, but she wasn’t exactly one to volunteer for that duty, and after all she did have an excuse. She had Wynter and Savannah to keep out of trouble.
They all cleared their own dishes and headed off to their separate jurisdictions – Nessa to wipe the table and start the dishes, Victoria to get the chickens wrestled into their mobile, open bottomed cage and moved to their pasture area for today, Collin to dust and scrub, Mara and Stephen to water the gardens, and Krista to study her math. Liesl set Wyn and ‘Anni with a phonics video while she packed a picnic basket with cookies and some iced raspberry apple tea. Once the video was over, she’d take them out to the swing set which ought to keep them occupied until snack time in the Secret Garden.
“Come on, guys!” Liesl called to the littles as the final music and credits rolled across the screen of the computer in the summer kitchen where they were watching their video. “Liesl, zip me up,” “Liesl, do I have to wear a sweater?” “Liesl, she took my dolly!” “It’s my doll!” “Mine!” Their voices rose like a siren starting up.
Liesl took a deep breath, quelling the rising irritation in her heart and mostly calmly said, “Yes, I’ll zip you up, Yes, you need a sweater. You can take it off later when it warms up. And Wyn, please give ‘Anni her doll and go get one of your own.”
“But…” Wynter started. Liesl stopped her with a look and a hand on her shoulder and Wynter handed over the doll with only a tiny stamp of her foot to show her displeasure.
The argument already forgotten, they ran happily down the path to the playground. Daddy had built them the coolest swing set ever with a playhouse, a climbing wall, and even a tube. Liesl had brought along one of her favorite Nancy Drew books to read while the littles played. She looked forward to delving into a good mystery and letting the little girls run off some of their boundless energy.
But God apparently had other plans. No sooner were Wynter and Savannah in the playhouse and Liesl just getting into the latest adventures of Nancy and George, when Wynter gave out a blood curdling scream and Savannah came running out of the playhouse crying, “Bad buggies! Bad buggies!”
Liesl moved fast. Running to the playhouse, she ducked her head inside the doorway. Wynter stood frozen in terror as several wasps buzzed angrily around her. Liesl could see there was at least one sting on her face and another on her hand, quickly swelling. Liesl grabbed Wynter’s other hand and yanked her out of the playhouse and across to the other side of the field where Savannah waited by the picnic table. By this time Stephen and Mara had come running from the nearby vegetable garden where they had been working pulling any weeds that were trying to gain a foothold around the fledgling plants. “What happened?” cried Mara.
“What is it?” called Stephen as they hurried over.
With all the chaos of Wynter screaming and the others’ questions, Liesl couldn’t think. Panicking, she didn’t do the obvious thing and run to the house with Wyn in her arms. Instead she sent Mara and Stephen for help. “Wynter’s been stung. Get Mom!”
They started to use their walkie talkies, but Liesl said, “No, just go! Mom will need you to stay with the babies so she can come here.”
Stephen and Mara ran toward the house yelling, “Mom, Mom! Wyn’s been stung by wasps!”
Liesl turned back to her patient, whose cries were turning to whimpers. Her mind began to find a place of logic once more. Savannah at least seemed unhurt. That was good. Liesl thought back over the recent lessons in her herbalism course. Plantain! She needed plantain! Her eyes scanned the field for the familiar broad green leaves. There! Quickly she broke off several leaves and stuffed them into her mouth, chewing them into a paste. Yuck! They certainly weren’t the tastiest things, but then that didn’t really matter much at the moment. Liesl spat the green paste into her hand and smeared it onto Wyn’s face and hand, looking to see if there were any more stings. Thankfully, there weren’t.
Mom came running across the field. “Is she ok?” Mom called as she came within shouting distance. Liesl realized she had worried Mom unnecessarily. It wasn’t as though Wynter were deathly allergic to bees after all.
“Yes, just two stings,” Liesl replied. Turning back to the little girls, she saw that Wynter had stopped crying and both of them were staring with a look of horror and disgust at the green gook drying on Wyn’s hand.
“Ew!” Savannah complained to Mom. Liesl spitted ickies on Wyn!” Mom and Liesl laughed.
“Plantain, right?” Mom asked. Liesl nodded. “That was smart thinking!” Mom gave her a quick hug. She turned to Wynter. “Does it hurt now, honey?”
Wynter shook her head and smiled, belying the leftover tears in her eyes. “Just a tiny bit. Liesl’s icky stuff made it better!”
“Reawy?!” Savannah was incredulous. Liesl could just see her spitting chewed up sandwich on her owies. Now that really would be ew!
Actually, come to think of it, a lesson in plant identification and a reminder that it was only something big people should do might be a very good idea. Who knew what plant a two year old might get it into her head to sample otherwise!
“Come on back to the house,” Mom said to all three. “We’ll get Wyn washed up and put some ice on the stings. Remind me to ask your big brothers to take care of that wasps’ nest when they get home tonight.
“Wessy make bad buggies aw gone?” Savannah asked.
“Yes,” Mom promised. “Wesley and Brandt will make the bad buggies all gone.”
Liesl gathered up her book, the little girls’ dolls, and the picnic hamper. So much for a quiet morning in the Secret Garden! ~*~

That night, Liesl lay in bed thinking back over the day. After the incident with the wasps, things had gone much more according to schedule – lunch, then nap for the little girls – (Liesl was reading Little House in the Big Woods out loud to them long enough to get them to sleep for a nap, leaving her free to do a little school work and then sew until they woke up.) – She’d helped with the babies while Wynter and Savannah each got time with Mom doing reading, math, and violin. – Liesl smiled as she remembered how she’d gotten Josiah to sit up on his own for the first time today. He’d looked so proud of himself too with his huge toothless grin! – Supper had been awesome! Janessa had made a wonderful lasagna and German chocolate brownies. Liesl could almost still taste that sticky, sweet caramel-ly coconut frosting that Nessa made so well.
Liesl yawned and turned over. – Dad had gotten home pretty soon after supper and they’d watched an episode of Marty Stouffer’s Wild America with him, leaving just enough time to give Wynter and Savannah a quick bath and pop them into bed with sweet smelling kisses and hugs. Liesl prayed God would watch over them and send them sweet dreams. She thanked Him for a good day, for helping her remember about the plantain, for delicious food, for good times with her family, and for all the wonderful blessings He’d given them. God was truly good!