Just one of the MANY perks of a homebirth/waterbirth...

Two evenings ago, Gregg came home from work and walked in the back door with a big grin on his face.  He had made a trip to Lowe's...

And he was carrying a large, heavy duty garden hose under one arm!

Gregg: "Hey, Honey!  I bought you a new waterhose!"

Me:  "Really!?!?  And it's GREEN so it matches the kitchen!  (I smiled really big back at him.)  Awww, that is so sweet...Thank you!"

Gregg poked out his chest and continued to grin like he was my knight in shining armor - my hopeless romantic... 

And, then we both burst out laughing!

Then, I told him I thought I'd finally figured out why he's REALLY so supportive of this whole homebirth/waterbirth thing - he gets a new garden hose out of the deal!  ;)  Meanwhile, I'M the one that gets to look forward to all the garden hose currently represents...

He agreed, and made sure he gave me a kiss...and thanked me for HIS new hose. :)

(For those who may be scratching their heads and wondering what in the world is up with the hose, let me explain.  In order to quickly fill the birthing tub for an impending waterbirth delivery at home, you must attach a NEW (for sanitary purposes) hose to your washing machine's hot water spigot.  You run the hose to the waiting tub...and voila!  Ready for action!) 

So, I didn't really think of it last time, but one of the MANY perks of homebirth/waterbirth, is that Gregg gets the excuse to buy a new garden hose.  :)

As you can guess by now, we're all getting pretty excited around here. Only a few more weeks to go.

I'm getting a little nervous...but I'm also getting pretty excited and anxious to hold Baby in my arms and kiss those sweet cheeks, and smell that new baby smell.  :)

"Many Hands Make Light Work"

This summer, we weren't able to grow enough tomatoes to put away for the entire coming year. 

We eat A LOT of tomatoes!

So, we began to look around for some bulk buys and found a local produce store that sold us 75 pounds of tomatoes for a really good price.

And, through the purchase and preparation of 3 boxes of tomatoes, I was reminded of the Haya proverb:

"Many hands make light work." 

(Did you know that I thought that was a Bible verse until I tried to find it?  There are Biblical examples to support this proverb, but it isn't technically found in the Bible.  I should be more familiar with scripture...)

So, here's the deal:  2 parents + 8 children + 75 lbs. of tomatoes + 2 hours = Work Complete

For those of you who garden, you know what a big deal this is.  For those of you who don't garden, trust me, this is amazing!

Everyone in our family had a job to do.  Everyone was part of the process.  Even baby Kedesh supervised and encouraged us by blowing us kisses. :)

The littlest children washed and rinsed the tomatoes.

The older children cored and cut away any flaws.  They then  passed the tomatoes to Daddy.

Daddy put the tomatoes into boiling water, then cool water.  He passed them to me and a younger child.

We took away the peelings from each tomato.

After all the tomatoes were peeled, we all worked together to cut them up. 

We put some into labeled freezer bags, and some into pots in order to cook them.

We washed pans and countertops, and we carried away the empty tomato boxes.

I absolutely could not believe we finished the work so quickly!!  We completed a task that would normally have taken us the better part of a day - in only 2 hours!

I was so proud of my children. 

I enjoyed all of us being in the kitchen together having fun with our little assembly line. 

I enjoyed seeing the satifaction in their faces when the work was done.

Thought I'd share a few pics:

Find a challenging project to do as a family, and give everyone a way to help - no matter how big or how small. 

Work together. 

Be a team.

It's true...MANY HANDS REALLY DO MAKE LIGHT WORK!