Hold on tight

There has been so much going on. Some of it heart wrenching some of it joyful and fun. I guess that’s life. It reminds of the quote from JoJo Rabbit- 

Let everything happen to you

 beauty and terror

Just keep going

 no feeling is final.

-Rainer Maria Rilke

Knowing sorrow, grief and pain helps us appreciate love, joy and happiness, right?  And we learn from it all.

The not so good things of this week  are-

Finding out that the two couples we use to trade of babysitting with for date nights are both divorcing. :(  We knew the one couple had been separated but the other couple was a shock. Glen described it accurately as a punch to the gut. 

Evelyn. Her heart keeps beating, though it more often than not is beating to it’s own tune. It’s leading to some hard conversations and decisions on how best to care for her. How to keep her quality and comfort of life in a good place to help her caregivers keep their quality of life too. It can be pretty emotionally draining to be there with her on bad days. She really isn’t sure why she still has to be here when her people are all on the other side. She tries really hard to stay positive but it’s hard when your body aches and doesn’t work like it uses too. 

Two of the four pairs of pants I rotate through wearing have ripped on the inner thighs in the last two weeks and the other two are getting pretty close to doing the same. Pants shopping is one of my least favorite things to have to do.

Planning on going on a date with Glen but then it not working out. 

The brighter side of things this week- 

It is spring. The trees are blooming. The grass is getting greener. The sun is shining more. Growth is happening. Even the seeds I planted a couple weeks ago have started to sprout.(They really tested my patience and faith that they would come up.)

Ruth passed off all her skills and has moved up a level in gymnastics. 

It rained several days this week. We need the water so much, it was great! 

Lucy is running for a 9th grade SBO spot.

As a family, we went to see Lilly as Patchy the Pirate in Sponge Bob Square Pants the musical. The whole musical was so much better than expected. I would see the musical over watching an episode of the show any day. Lilly did so great! Her number was probably the funniest of the show and she just crushed it. It is so fun to see your kids work hard at things and then perform well. 

Janae came with one of her co workers, who was one of Lilly’s favorite teachers, to see Sponge Bob. It was so good of her.

Teasing Evelyn and climbing in to bed with her Saturday morning when Ruth and Beth wouldn’t. 

Marian and Carrie, my cousin, are working on sorting and better preserving Evelyn’s pictures. It’s so fun to look back at all the things she has captured. They are a great treasure.

Marco Polos with Paige. I know they are probably hard on her because they involve technology but she is so fun! 

In neutral news-

 we are considering milking the goats. We would make cheese and various other things with the milk. It’s a big commitment so we are still pondering. 

I am trying to figure out how to be a better student summer semester, get more quilting done (I have such a back log.), and all the other things on my plate. It will all work out Iam sure. 

Lucy’s SBO poster

T-Bone the pony with (top left) Matthew and Joe on her and Roberta holding them, (top right) Matthew with Roberta back behind T-bone, (bottom right) Roberta holding Joe on T-bone Missy Gibson in front holding Rachel and Matthew by the barn, (bottom left) Matthew on T-bone  with Roberta behind him. 

Evelyn and Nathaniel feeding lambs before Evelyn cut off his curls.Nathaniel passed away not long after this. He didn’t wake up from the anesthesia from open heart surgery. My aunt had been so mad at Evelyn for cutting the curls off but it turned in to a blessing because she wouldn’t have had them otherwise.

Beth and Chocolate. She helped me round up all the babies one day when I forgot to put the clip in the gate again and they all got out.

Scooter

Goob not sure what to do with these creatures that are his size but smell so different. 

Streamers from the play on the fan are really fun.