Jenna's Hideout

Jenna has a vision and creativity that alludes me. She is always coming up with interesting and innovative ideas. Her first idea was to make a hideout behind the shed. This idea occurred when she  was helping her Dad clean out his work shed. She noticed that the area behind the plastic shed contained some old broken bikes and other useless items. She thought it would be fun to clean out the area and decorate it so that it could become a little hideout for her and her friends. She cleaned it up and decorated it like a little home. It looked so cute! The only problem was that the sky was cloudy and threatened rain and so I was worried that her cute little decorations would get ruined. It was a nuisance trying to cover everything up whenever it looked like a storm was coming! But she and her friends had a great time playing in their new little home and spent hours playing house there. When Jenna was in isolation with Covid, her friend Clarissa would leave little notes in their hideout for Jenna to find! It was really sweet! 

This led to Jenna's next project -- cleaning out the entire shed for a new hideout -- this one a little more durable since it was "inside." I wish we had a "before" picture of the shed before she went to work on it. It was filled from floor to ceiling with who knows what. Everything was just thrown in there with no organization whatsoever. She did think to take a picture while they were in the process of emptying the shed. I had been meaning to clean this shed for years, but you know how it is -- out of sight, out of mind! 

Jenna called Clarissa and Anna over to help with the project and they got to work. They worked Thursday night until it got dark. Then again after school on Friday for several hours and then most of the day on Saturday! I tried to come out and help a few times but Jenna kept kicking me out. They took everything out of the shed, braving the spiders, and then swept and mopped the floors and the walls. 

They filled up both of our big garbage cans to overflowing. (I did check in to make sure they were not throwing anything away that wasn't supposed to be thrown away.) They also had a pile to be donated to the DI and another pile of things that could be kept but that needed to be cleaned and washed first. They pulled all of our 72 hour kits and went through them. Jenna's 72 hour kit contained diapers and pull ups! That is how old they were! She is 12 now and was probably 2 when we filled them -- so they haven't been switched out for ten years! Pathetic, I know! One of the items in the shed was leftover carpeting and so they used that for the floor of the shed. When they finished I got a couple of pictures. The next day they decorated their new "home" with Christmas decorations and spent hours playing in it! 

Now I just need to figure out what to do with the leftover items that we normally store in the shed! 

 

Sunday night Rick even had our Come Follow Me in this new space, along with the sacrament. The lesson was on the Brother of Jared and his family departing across the ocean in the barges with the stones of light. We all sat down and it was cold and very dark. Then he turned on the lamp which lit up the "barge" and we talked about the symbolism of having the light of Christ lead us in our life's journey. We sang a few hymns, including How Great Thou Art. If any of our neighbors were outside I wondered what they must be thinking to hear this hymn, sung in beautiful harmony, emanating from our little shed! We closed with the sacrament. Leave it to Rick to come up with a lesson in our shed! These are the kinds of lessons our children remember for years to come!