Two Saturdays in a row have been devoted to ye olde Amish Envy Club, and while I admit that I went into this Amish double-header with some grumbling and stress about all the things being neglected on the homefront, I came out with no regrets. We spent the Saturday of the slush storm over at Amy and Jeff's- working to remake a laundry/office room into a bedroom as they try to find room in their house for their own exchange student who arrives in January. We arrived after a harrowing drive through the slush to find 7 kids in the front yard, in various stages of winter wear, pelting each other with the wettest snowballs I have ever seen. Within 5 minutes of arrival both of our boys were drenched. We let the kids continue their Lord of the Flies unsupervised morning outside while we got busy ripping up linoleum. After lunch Shannon and I walked the crew of kids over to Como Zoo. I was getting all uptight because none of them could resist the temptation to lie down, to lick, to roll, to throw the snow. I was thinking about how hot and humid it is in the conservatory at the zoo and how they were going to be steaming. But they weren't thinking about that. They were thinking SNOW and they were loving it. So I let it go. When we did arrive, they were literally steaming as we walked through the different rooms, but no one mentioned their soggy condition once.
Here's what I love about the chitlen: Of the nine, seven are boys between the ages of 5 and 11. One of the girls is right in the middle of the boy pack and she holds her own. I dare say she could kick all of their butts if she wanted to, and sometimes I think she wants to... But the other girl is only 2. And each and every other kid loves her dearly and looks out for her. As we tromped through the zoo with 9 kids and two adults, all of us in dripping snow gear, little Harriet would fall behind. She's of that age where when encased in snow clothes she is wider than she is tall and mobility is severely limited. But she'd fall a little behind and without a word amongst them, one of the boys would fall out, wait up, bend down to alter some piece of clothing and then hustle her back up to the crew. It was never the same kid- they just all had their eye out for her and stepped up when it was needed. It actually got me a little teary. Or that might have been the steam from my clothes.
Something less cute about the Amish at the zoo- each and every room we went into a volunteer was instantly at our side. The sight of 9 soggy kids with only two adults apparently made people nervous. But we were mostly in control. Harriet would have only fallen into two of the ponds if she hadn't had a boy bodyguard by her side.
That first Amish wrapped up early because the NeskeMoens had to light out to the big city for an evening engagement. That and the storm cut out their power. Cutting subflooring by hand saw did the pseudoAmish in. Eli was the one who pointed out the irony of an Amish gathering ending early due to a power outage. We had to take him out into the yard and give him a serious whitewash in the slushy snow for his blasphemous attitude.
The second Saturday of Amish togetherness was at Jason and Shannon's were we put up drapes, painted a bathroom and put in a new floor in their upstairs. There were no poignant teary moments for me this time, but I did laugh to the point of crying more than once. The crew is funny, if not always completely focused and productive.
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