Isa's Song

Isa wrote a song. I thought it was so adorable! I love this stage of "phoentic spelling." I feel a bit reluctant to teach her correct spelling because I love the way she writes her words. Just in case you can't read her song, I'm going to type and interpret.

Wot [what] do you do on Sunday...you go to church and you eat lunch aftr...wot do you do on monday...you wach [watch] schos [shows] and you eat an appl...wat do you do on Tuesday you war [wear] green to school and you war green to Grandma's...wot do you do on Wednesday...you make some crafs [crafts] and you paly [play] with yore mom...wot do you do on thursday...you look at hawsese [houses] and feed the triops...wat do you do on Friday...you reed [read] book's and you wach [watch] a moovee...wat do you do on Saturday you kleenup [clean up] the haws [house]

She did this on a Sunday, before any of this had happened. I was amazed at her perceptiveness-- the fact that she knew Tues was St. Patrick's Day (we were to go to my parent's for a green dinner that night), and also that she knew at least one day we would go out to look at houses. Also that she knew Saturday is job day (I'm not that consistent about this-- I'm not sure Kaedon knows Saturday is job day!) See this link if your curious about Triops: http://http://www.science-city.com/triopskit.html. Ugly little creatures, thats for sure, but fun (one time!).

A Late Tribute

I know, President's Day has come and gone, but I am still reading John Adams, and have been thinking a lot about the sacrifices the founding fathers made for us. I read a passage a few weeks ago that really touched me. I had been feeling sorry for myself, because my dear husband has had to work 60 hours a week for quite a while now, and has to travel every other week.

It just so happens that while I was feeling sorry for myself, with a new baby in a new place, that I was reading about a time in the Adams life when John was working for the Continental Congress and Abigail was pregnant. They had only lived together for half of the fourteen years they had been married, and she desparately wanted him to come home to Braintree, Massachusetts, at least for the birth of their child. (this was to be her last pregnancy) He wanted to be there too, but knew he was indispensable to the cause for American independence. She had to manage their farm alone, as well as their four children, and all this while rampant inflation made necessary goods all but unaffordable.

One night two weeks before she was to deliver, she had a "shaking fit," and wondered if the life inside her had died. Two weeks later, she delivered a sweet stillborn daughter. It made me so sad! I can't imagine losing a child, or the difficulty of living without a husband most of the time. To go through something like that alone would be so sad! She rarely complained.

Abigail Adams not only did her part at home, but she wrote letters of encouragement and inspiration to her husband. John Adams had to be one of the finest men of the day, and I can't help but think that he would have been half the man without her. (she told him 'affliction is a good man's shining time,' a quote from a favorite poet)

It made me realize that while we honor the men who founded our great nation, the soldiers who gave their lives, and the leaders who built a unique political system on a foundation of equality and justice, we owe an equal debt of gratitude to the women of the time! Who will know what sacrifices women made to give us the freedom we enjoy. "Remembering these years long afterward, Adams would tell Benjamin Rush they were 'times that tried women's souls as well as men's.'" (from John Adams, by David McCullough, page 172)