15 Tons of Rock for my Birthday

The night before my birthday Blair left for Catalina Island with Mariah and her 6th grade class. The morning of my birthday I decided I was sick of not having rock in our front yard. I had waited and waited (13 years) and I was going to do something about it. So I called MDI Rock and ordered 15 tons of Black Cherry rock. It would be coming the next day and I was excited. After the phone call in which I ordered the stuff, I started to get a bit nervous. Worried what Blair was going to do when he came home to 15 tons of rock sitting in front of his house that now he would need to lay. I started kind of laughing (don't know if it was because of joy or nervousness) at the thought of Blair's face when I picked him up Friday night at 11:30 pm after spending 3 days with all those kids and chaperoning etc. I started thinking that some of our friends and family would get a kick out of what I had done and also start laughing at the thought of Blair's face. So I emailed a few people. Oh, and in the email I kind of was joking around (because one of the people I sent it to was the Scout Master) that if any scouts needed any service projects I knew of one. Word got around and the Young Men's president called and had set up the project for 5pm on Thursday. I was excited at the thought that maybe I could get all the rock laid and Blair would be even more shocked, however I was a bit concerned at how irrated Blair would be at having us be a church service project. I knew that he would be more upset with me about that than the rock. The idea of it being all done was too great and I said okay, I'll provide the pizza.
Thursday morning I got up and started digging a trench along the sidewalk of our house (3 inches deep by 2 feet wide) and at the last minute I thought how great it would be if I had all of the pipe down and watering system down for the flowers. I ran got all the stuff and a neighbor came out to help me install the major pipe/hose whatever you want to call it. We were just finishing it up when the first crew started showing up. My neighbors said it was like watching bees. At first there was a few and then the swarm came.




Joshua and Aaron worked hard as well and I was very proud of them. Ethan and Jessah even tried to help where they could.




My mother in law came over and helped. She brought the pizzas and ran a got some more plastic. After awhile, and those of you that know and love her, know this about her, but she could not just stand there and watch while others were working. She had to work. I wish I had more of her drive to work.
After all was said and done, from 5 to 7:20 all of the rock was laid. I could not believe how hard people worked. One neighbor of mine said that she was thinking maybe she should join our church! We had neighbors watching the whole time and even taking pictures. They were really surprised that I wasn't paying anyone to help us. The were impressed that many of the people were young men and how they would be willing to give service. I told them that is what our church teaches. As I look at our front yard now and definitely do see how nice it is but the first thing I see our the images of all those that came and helped me. I look at my front yard now and see and feel love and kindness. I was very humbled by the gift that was given to me. The rock I got was very dark and the dirt that is around it was a dark red/orange color that seemed to stain your body.
Jessah said, 'Mom, how did you get your legs to turn colors?' 'Did you paid that ring around your foot?' I don't know if you can see how dirty my face is in this picture or not but I scrubbed my face and feet (and of course everything else) for 45 minutes in the shower. That was some of the strongest staining dirt I have ever seen. Okay, so I am sure that you are all wondering how Blair reacted when he got home on midnight the following evening. He got out of the car and grinned and then said, 'You got rock.' I said, 'Are you shocked?' He said, 'No, not shocked, maybe surprised and that it's all done.' 'Who laid all this rock?' I said, 'you don't want to know.' He said, 'yes I do.' Again, I said, 'no you don't.' He said, "OH NO, YOU LET THE CHURCH DO IT!!!" This is where I was really expecting to get chewed out. But he just shook his head and said, 'how embarrassing.' He hates to ask anyone for help and this was very difficult for him. I tried to help him see that they were helping me too. After awhile he realized how much work it was and really appreciated not having to do it. I think it was good for him to let others do something for him. He was very grateful to all those that helped.