Saturday Is A Special Day...

Josh and Mere were up and out for a breakfast date with her sister, Megan, and her boyfriend. OPHouse was the choice and the rest of us were jealous! Those Dutch Babies and 49er Flapjacks were calling out to our palates, but we decided to not 'cut in' on the meeting of the new boyfriend date and stayed home. Mike and Adrianne had Saturday errands and cleaning to do. And we got the garden cleaned out and began preparations to plant soon.

It's a little hard to fathom that we are in the middle of March already! Sometimes the day itself drags on, but when I look at a calendar they fly right on by so very quickly. So the garden beds are weeded and the soil cultivated. It looks and feels good! We will add some manure this next week, till it in, and plant soon. Duff is looking forward to the early peas. We've invested in some new tomato towers and are giving up our rusted cement wire cages that we made umpteen years ago! Happy and sad day on that one. Even though they are just wire, I feel like we are bonded. They helped us grow and enjoy many a tomato over the years. Job well done.

Josh and Mere, Mike, and Christine went back up to Heather's for the afternoon. They got to visit with Scott, her husband. He was grateful for their arrival and took advantage of the time to go and get their grocery shopping done while someone was there to watch after Heather and the kids. Christine got to play with Hannah. Mere entertained Aaron. I was thinking about that on Friday while I was 'observing'.

What would it be like to not be able to do the basic things to care for my family? Here she is watching everyone else take care of and play with her children. She is just fighting with whatever physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual strength she can muster to live. I can't imagine how she feels in those private moments only she knows about to come to terms with those feelings. On some levels it must be a battle between jealousy and gratitude. And yet, I watch her yield to the circumstances God has allowed with kindness and graciousness and civility and patience and she has let it work within her to mold and shape her spirit into one that ends up teaching us. She has every 'right' to be bitter, unhappy, mean, give up, and she doesn't. She chooses to press 'forward' . I watch and help her with those PT exercises. They are grueling for her. But she submits and does them in the hope that maybe, just maybe, it will benefit. It would be sooo easy to just say "forget it"!

Duff and I got our weekly marketing done. The Girl Scouts are out selling their cookies. They sure are cute!

Duff left for Utah to take care of some things for a few days. Josh took him to the airport and I went to Saturday night Stake Conference. It would have been the first time in many years that we could have sat together with him not on the stand. I guess it was okay, since I'm used to it. At first, it felt a little funny to not see him up there, but it doesn't take very long to realize that we all just get up and move a few chairs to the left or the right when it comes to service in the church and where you've been is hardly relevant to where you are currently or where you are going.

Patti and Richard came over after for some dessert and games and to visit with Josh and Meredith before they leave tomorrow. Adrianne and Mike supervised it all and when I walked in the door, Adrianne had a Texas Sheet Cake in the oven and they had the kitchen cleaned up from dinner. Meredith had taken Christine and J.T. to the pool and to get some ice cream for the cake. It is satisfying to see them as adults taking their places in the world and working together. Our family will be seeing quite a few changes this year with the kids and their lives. It is good!

I had a good long visit with Natalie on the phone today. Robert's parents are in town for a concert for Brian. So they are having fun with them. Shaun is gearing up for tests and papers and this semester has gone by really fast. He'll be finishing up and home next month already! He has done well and I'm proud of him.

And so it goes....