It’s Monday. My favorite day of the week. It’s our quiet day at home. And with no irrigation water to change, we can even sleep in.

Doughnuts for breakfast. A book on tape—Shane by Jack Schaefer. Brunch of eggs, sausage, and heart-shaped biscuits with leftover garlic gravy.

The breakfast dishes takes twice as long with my husband watching me. Every other dish is an excuse for running to give him a kiss.

It’s wash day. Bright sunshine and 99 degrees, the clothes dry faster on the line than they would in the dryer.I hang them carefully, letting the wind and the sun do as much of my ironing as possible.

Iced tea and lemonade. A game of Clue with my husband and brother-in-law. Tortilla chips and homemade salsa. Brownies and more iced tea.

The laundry is done. The bed made up with crisp, sun-dried sheets. The house still neat and tidy from having Bible study here last night.

Now it’s peach yogurt, watermelon, and a quiet evening with my husband. What a happy Monday.

I love having my husband home with me all day. I could get used to this, except for the pain he’s in. But each day we see such progress. And when I compare his leg to the pictures I took in the hospital, there is drastic improvement on the outside. We will get the official report from the doctor tomorrow when the stitches come out, but I don’t need any letters after my name to know my husband is doing better. He hopped around the house with broom in hand and swept the floor. He did the dishes twice, when I wasn’t here to make him go back to his recliner. And he’s reading a book without pictures.

Each day brings new blessings to count. When Merritt called the hospital about our bill, they gave us a forty-percent discount because we are with Samaritan Ministries. That means that Samaritan should be able to cover nearly everything. We are so thankful. Our family and friends have been so kind, and our new church family has been a special encouragement. Each day the mail lady brings a new stack of cards, reminding us how we are being prayed for. Truly, we have more blessings than we can count.

Though it seems strange to say, in many ways we are thankful for what happened two and a half weeks ago. Through Merritt’s accident, God has shown us His faithfulness in so many new ways. We have been surrounded by the family of God, showered with gifts of time and money, and covered by so very many prayers. It has meant so much to have people step up to the plate and help out Merritt’s family with the farm and store. We are overwhelmed at the generous checks we find in our mailbox. And every one who has told me they were praying for us—if only I could tell them how much we felt those prayers, holding us up, giving us strength when we had none. It was not something I would have chosen for our first months of marriage—but oh what a blessing it has been. Truly, great is God’s faithfulness.