Redneck or Resourceful?

Ok - Let me preface this with I believe that we are good parents. We have never left Blessing alone and if she is doing something dangerous, either one or both of us are right there with her....so, on with the story! :-)

Our daughter LOVES to swing. We discovered that on Memorial Day weekend while at a family potluck. Mr. Tall took her down to the playground and put her in the swing. She laughed, smiled, and giggled. Absolutely loved it! It was so awesome to see her smile. She hates the swing indoors, partly because it isn't quite as smooth and partly because she has to be buckled in so she doesn't climb out. The swings outside that we have found are designed for little tikes. At least at this point in time, Blessing can't climb out of it or even stand up. So, it makes things just perfect. Plus, the swing is outside where she doesn't feel confined and can enjoy the sunshine and the breeze blowing across her face. She is just like her daddy, absolutely loves the outdoors. I don't mind it either!

That leads me into today. We went to church this morning and listened to a sermon on two of the seven woes in Matthew 23. It was great. We didn't take Blessing to nursery as we sat in the back of the church at a table. She was a wonderful girl and just hung out. After church, we came home and ate some dinner. We put Blessing to bed and went out and mowed the yard. Blessing got up about 3 hours later (she didn't sleep for 3 hours, I promise you that - she sat in her crib and played for about 1.5 hours of that...maybe dozing in and out a little.) Once she got up, I got up and began preparing supper and a couple of casseroles to take over to some friends of ours. She is 31 weeks pregnant and started having contractions on Saturday. So, she spent all day Saturday and most of today in the hospital. We want to bless them and provide a couple of meals for them - at least ease the burden a little.

As I was busy in the kitchen, Mr. Tall took Blessing to her favorite place - outside! He kept buzzing in and out. When I asked him what he was doing, he just smiled and said dinking. When I got my casseroles made and the kitchen cleaned up, I headed outside to look for my two sidekicks. I thought I would find them in the garden weeding or weeding the flower beds. But, I didn't. Instead, I found Blessing sitting in a broken outside chair hanging from a tree and swinging. This sounds terrible, but if you look at the pictures, it really wasn't. Mr. Tall had rigged it up so that she could swing. Blessing was laughing, smiling, and giggling once again. It scared me to see her swinging, but I knew that she was safe. So, Mr. Tall took her out of the swing to make it even better, and she started screaming. She really enjoyed the swing!

So, Mr. Tall spent about another 2.5 hours making it better. He dinked with it and then tested it with Blessing then dinked some more. By about 7:30 pm, he had the swing all put together, hanging from the tree, with Blessing in it. He had even rigged a seatbelt to hold her in sitting down. It was so sweet. So, my question is are we rednecks or resourceful. I would say resourceful - we used a broken chair that couldn't be sat in again to make a swing for our dear daughter. It won't last a lifetime, but it will last long enough for us to scrounge up enough money to buy her a swing.

8 pm rolled around and Blessing went to bed. She crashed hard as she had played hard outside swinging and helping daddy! What a day!