Gloria spends a busy day at home

These fall days have been a delight to all of us. The five oldest children are in the swing of school, and Joshua and I enjoy our times at home. I value time with friends and church folks, but when it really comes down to it, there is no place like home. In new ways, I continue to find more joy looking after things around the house. I still have moments of loneliness that threaten to choke me, but as a whole, I find much joy in simple things at home.

On a day such as today, you would possibly be aghast if you saw me in my house and, by the looks of things, wouldn't guess how much fun I'm having. Since I don't really have a sewing room, my sewing machine gets parked in the office, as does my ironing board, currently loaded with items to mend. My office tries to patiently balance between office duties, sewing, a shelf loaded with items in memory of Daddy, plus storage in the closet. On days I get to do sewing, everything else tends to get placed on the back burner. In a way, those days are healing. In the years before Daniel passed, sewing was one of my hobbies, then it kind of got lost with my grief. Today, I am again learning to like sewing; in some ways, it's like finding myself again.

So today was one of those days where all of the boys' pants were summoned, sorted, patched, and marked as needed. I always enjoy that adventure, which comes about three times a year. My boys are growing, and they are healthy, thus the pants get passed from one to the next, and yes, there are always worn knees in need of repair. So if each boy has a dozen pairs of pants, that adds up to about 50 pairs to go through. The kitchen table, or sometimes the floor, becomes my sorting center.

Once each pair is examined and fixed to satisfaction, it's time to mark them. (Joshua would insert here that Mom did not mend his everyday pants because she said she will have to pitch them one of these days instead of fixing them, as they have run around many miles with his older brothers and are getting too close to shreds.)

Marking them takes a bit of time, but I have found that unless I want to be the only one folding and putting away pants, I'll need to mark them so the children know what is what. I borrowed an idea from Mrs. Mast, who had a row of boys herself, and kind of built onto her concept.

So I start with Austin. Since I pass the pants down from one boy to the next, I do not use names to identify the current owner. On the inside of the pants belt, Austin gets a single dot for his Sunday pants, two dots for school, and three for everyday. When his school pants downgrade to everyday, another dot is added.

When Elijah is ready for Austin's pants, I'll add onto Austin's dots by making a little line over them. The same concept is true for him — one line is Sunday, two is school, and three everyday. Once Elijah has outgrown them, they are about the correct length for Jesse. Jesse's pants have lines as well, only I add an extension to each line. So when we are folding pants, the ones with the longest lines go to the boy who is shorter. Thus the pants remain in circulation until they are ready to be retired.

While the paint is drying, there is an array of pants that everyone knows not to touch until the danger of smearing it on their clothes has passed. Today the stash landed on the office floor. Among the pants was a stack of marked shirts for Austin, as his shirts are a tad bigger than his younger brothers'.

Though Jesse and Elijah are not twins, they wear the same size shirts and enjoy matching. I've been amazed many times how it kind of falls into place that they end up with matching shirts without me shopping for them.

The last time Daniel's oldest brother from Ohio came to visit us, his wife brought two large bags full of secondhand clothes that she and a few of her church ladies got while shopping for us at thrift stores. How my heart was touched! And yes, among those clothes were matching shirts for the boys, plus one that exactly matched with one I already had on hand. I smiled — God knew I had that other blue shirt in the closet for them. I don't know if they'll keep matching when they're teenagers, but for today, I'll enjoy it.

Matching was always a big deal to me. When I was with the youth, I would make matching clothes for my brother and me. When I got married, I'd match with Daniel, and when I had a little girl, I loved matching with her whenever I could.

Okay, I know we are running out of space, but I have a quick little story I really need to tell you about, that goes with the subject. So over a year ago, I randomly told God I'd love to have fabric to make all of us matching clothes. My heart knew it would happen; I just had no idea when or how. Months passed. I planned to go shopping in Indiana where they have lots of fabric shops. Guess what — I came home without fabric for our matching clothes. For one reason or another, at each store, it just did not work out. On the way home, I felt so silly coming home minus that fabric. Then I thought of my prayer; I knew there must be a plan somewhere.

Another week passed. We were invited to Nate Zehr's, where we enjoyed time with his extended family. After the busload had gone home, Mrs. Zehr asked, "Gloria, could you come down in the basement with me for a minute? I have a few bolts of fabric here, and I would like to give you enough for your family's new clothes."

There it was. What do I say? This dear lady had no idea of the prayer and the waiting (she did find out, though)! Since then, the clothes have been sewn, and the children and I have enjoyed matching in our purple clothes many times over. Not only that, purple is special to me as it stands for 'daughter of the King.' Praise His name — He answers even simple little requests because He cares.

Mrs. Zehr has served me Chunky Monkey toast several times when I was at their house. I was impressed and later made it for my family at home. Try it for yourself — it adds a unique twist to a breakfast menu. The children were not only fascinated with the name of the toast but were also impressed with the flavor.

Chunky Monkey Toast

· 1 slice of bread

· A dab of peanut butter

· 1/3 banana, sliced

· A small handful of mini chocolate chips

· A bit of coconut, toasted

· Honey for drizzling

Toast bread in butter then spread with peanut butter. Arrange banana slices on peanut butter, top with chocolate chips and drizzle with honey. Sprinkle with your desired amount of toasted coconut. (If you are like some people I know, and think that coconut is akin to sawdust, you may omit the last step.) Enjoy one crunch at a time!