Just Down the Road...

I'm not very good at estimating distance, but it's not very far down the road from our driveway.
A new roadside cross.

 

M'Lynn & Erica's senior classmate's life cut short.  Silence throughout the High School on Monday.  The strange site of cars lined up and down our gravel road as the Senior class came to stand vigil on Monday evening.  Class schedules adjusted for grief, teachers and students unable to think, and a funeral so devastating classes are cancelled at the Senior High.  Our hearts ache for all the kids, and they break thinking about the grief of the parents.  We pray for understanding and for the right words as we talk with our children.  This one moment will speak so loudly in its silence.  The programs, the officers, the parents, the teachers - they were not lying.  Wear your seatbelt.  If you drink, don't drive.  It's as simple and as important as that.

May God hold us all in the palm of his hand.

Lists

It is a time of lists for me.  That's my geeky way of handling life's stresses.  I've always been a list person, and at this time in my life, I find I'm waking up thinking in lists.  So, I think I'll share a list or two... aren't you excited?!


Excitement:
1.  Twin Hereford heifers.  Healthy.  Adorable.
2.  District FFA contest accomplishments for Erica and Alecia
3.  College found for M'Lynn.  We were sweating this one.  Iowa State it will be!
4.  Erica and Dustin begin dating.  After years and years of friendship.  
5.  Brody's "Highly Superior" mark for his Tuba solo at 6th grade contest. 
6.  Stacy & Kai & Raelynn hoping to move back to the U.S. yet this year!
7.  Two of three prom dresses purchased and girl's happy!


Challenges:
1.  Chris' sprained/torn (?) MCL and coming Mayo check on his R leg.
2.  Complacency in my good habits has set me back several pounds.  Time to start anew.
3.  That graduation thing.  Planning, paying, letting go.
4.  Keeping Brody focused on *school* when he wants to *work* (on the farm)


There, see, listing is good for me.  Much longer excitement list than challenge list.  And less than half of the challenge list items that my actions can affect.  All of it can be addressed in prayer.  I'm odd in this, I know, but listing has always been good for my soul, and my perspective.  

Beautify babies

Experience the Action

and 

Parliamentary Procedure

... and signs of SPRING make me giddy

Winter Wonderland

Baby, it's cold outside...

I've stopped looking at our handy dandy digital thermometer with the remote outside sensor. The number is big, and it's been continually negative for days on end. We're all excited about the prospect of a zero degree day in the forecast.

Beyond the weather, I've got some random stuff on my brain this afternoon...

I'm impressed by the toughness and resilience of my children in taking on the weather twice every day to go out and take care of their cows and calves, the horse and chickens. Lots of days the dogs won't even go out with them! They stay in the house, safe and warm, while my four determined kiddos head out into the tundra and take care of those that rely on them for food and water. I shouldn't leave out the hubby, because he is out there longer than the rest and does all the other maintenance items - grinding corn for feed, hauling hay, moving snow - so that chores can be as quick and painless as possible.

Chris and I spent some time with his grandparents this morning. It's made me a little melancholy. Grandma has been the rock in their marriage, and very healthy. Just before Christmas, aggressive cancer was found to be the cause of her stomach problems. She has lost about 50 pounds and is fighting a tough battle at her 88 years. Grandpa is not dealing well with her illness and has decided he'd rather not eat, thank you very much. They are both in the care center for the time being, where there are people to help with daily needs for Grandpa and keep an eye on Grandma. She starts round two of chemo this week, and she's not really recovered from round one. I pray for them so many times a day...

Speaking of melancholy, M'Lynn and Erica are just about done with the first semester of their Senior year. I have not quite kept up with my timeline for getting ready for their graduation celebration, but am being mindful of enjoying these last few months of our whole family being 'intact'. Mostly, I had hoped to be done scanning in their photos by now, so its not one of those deadlines that will cause too much trouble that I've missed it. Quite frankly, I now have enough photos to do a slideshow, I'm just working to get all the printed photos scanned in because I want them scanned. We had a few get wet in the basement last spring, so that motivated me to preserve them more permanently.

On a more positive note, I spent some quality time outside with my camera yesterday. It was therapeutic. I am one of the few, crazy people who really appreciates the beauty of snow. I really love it. Which is good, when you live where it snows. a lot. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me to live somewhere and hate the weather 3 months out of the year!!

My last 'me' thought for this entry - I finally stepped back on the scale last weekend and then again this weekend. It was a pleasant surprise to have only gained 5 lbs over the Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Years eating extravaganza. And this week I took two of those back off.

I thought we made it...

... but Brody woke up this morning (at 3am, mind you) with a fever. I knew it was coming when he slept - slept on a SATURDAY during harvest time - from noon until 4:30 pm. Went upstairs by his own choice and slept through the rest of our normal Saturday noise... Today he slept through me dismantling his TV stand - dropping a couple things even though I was trying soooo hard to be quiet - about 5 feet from his head. He is so very upset to be missing Lego League and school tomorrow. I'm mostly praying it doesn't go through the whole household. I went through with anti-bacterial wipes and did all the door knobs, cabinet pulls, remotes... anything I could think of!

We missed my 25th class reunion last night. From the looks of the facebook posts and photos, it was a great evening! But, the dude was sick and wanted him Mommy. Who can argue with that?!

Halfway between one good weekend and expecting another....

Last weekend was just one of those enjoyable, relaxed, laughter-filled moments in time. I so treasure those!

Friday night was M'Lynn's last "Parent's Night" for XC. So hard to believe. She was very happy to be receiving her rose. Thanks to my friend, Erik, for the photos! It was COLD at the game, and the second half was very disappointing and W-SR lost but the half time show was, as usual, awesome!

Alecia and I had 3 hours of alone time on Saturday which we used to sort out my closet and clothes we are sorting in the basement. Time to change the seasons in the closets! I have been working on loosing weight for almost a year and am happy to report that I am two number sizes smaller in regulars than the size I bought a year ago in plus sizes. Trying on clothes was FUN! :-) Not that I'm done working on loosing weight, mind you... but this day boosted my determination and Alecia and I had a blast. Huge pile of clothes that she took a lot of joy in saying, "Mom, that's too big for you." They are gone - out of the house! =)

Next Friday is band SENIOR Night, so we'll again be walking across the track with a daughter. This time it's Erica's turn. She loves marching band, so this one could have a little more sadness in the excited emotion mix.

Saturday night is my 25th class reunion! Time does fly! It has been really fun to reconnect with so many on facebook; I think it will really help everyone relax and have fun earlier in the evening!

Hope your week is finding you flu free. Hard to come by state of being these days. We have been - so far - very lucky.

Fall Nesting

Fall seems to find me feeling slightly more domestic than normal. I'm cooking more (and better) meals, getting the laundry folded and ready for kids to take in a more timely manner (I'm never bad about washing and drying, it's the folding that can get me). Have more energy for picking up and "taking care" of my family in a more traditional manner than I do at other times of the year. I really enjoy it. Reminds me that although I have felt good about being a productive workforce participant these last 10 years, I would have likely been as happy to continue to stay home even after kids were in school... or maybe to have lived a couple generations ago when that was possible. Now, however, Chris is home and I'm at work.

Crops are coming out of the field ever so slowly and I'm hoping for a nice long Indian Summer. With some heat, please.

Reading Brenda's post this morning http://bkirkeby.blogspot.com/ I found a note of harmony in her feelings on facebook. I find myself checking in a couple times a day and yet staying more in the wings. Unsure of commenting - never wanting to come of sounding too weird or in anyway judgmental or whatever - and also caught wishing some would post more while others much less. And I wonder how other's feel about the frequency or lack thereof in my posting. But I do enjoy looking at everyone's pictures; starting to feel like I have an idea what is going on in my classmates lives. I have been really pleased to have found classmates from all three High Schools I attended - Wausau West HS, Sheridan HS and Decorah HS - as well as both colleges - Cottey and UNI. Many of the people I remember best are on Facebook and that has been fun. I am however, ready to give up the daily addiction of my games! The kids will be surprised to hear that.....

Unexpectedly Lazy Weekend!

The calendar looked full, so I was anticipating busy. Silly Mom!! Kids had quite a bit going on, but the only event that involved parental attendance was Friday night's homecoming football game! I didn't prepare for an open weekend! It was still full of lots of interesting events. W-SR football team won! First win of the season and it was fun for all - players and fans! The halftime show was awesome - not that I'm a biased band member parent or anything... Our youngest daughter has entered the world of boyfriends. We've been very fortunate thus far in this department. I think this will be OK, too. Nice kid.

Brody spent 8 hours of his precious weekend at hunter safety and he and his best buddy Jared are now certified to be out in the woods. Wow.....

Chris & I had a little ER fun this weekend. Nothing major. He had a lymph node in his neck go from zero to 120 in a couple hours and so we decided to have it checked out... of course it happened after 8 pm on a Saturday. Who wouldn't want to spend Saturday night in the ER?! Was as we figured - an infection of some unknown origin. Like I said, not major, but very odd. Dr. called it a rogue lymph node - only one on his body and it was about the size of a golf ball and hard. We get all the fun stuff at our house!

One of the little projects I finished today was cutting Alecia's Junior pictures and Brody's 6th Grade pictures and Alecia got the 8x10s in the frames on the wall. Now it's weird not to have updated pictures up of M'Lynn & Erica. My wall sports 3 junior photos... But, I'm not yet ready to tackle the gargantuan task of sorting through the 200 photos of M&E's senior photo sessions. The girls had two very talented photographers and 4 different sessions... Beth (http://playinwiththepaulsens.blogspot.com/) took some amazing shots outside and also did family pictures for us. She is "uber talented" as the kids would say. My good friend, Donna (http://www.donnabuschphotography.com/ ) has been taking their photos since they were 3 months old and they had a very good time together.... now the tough job of choosing is left.

Alecia - 16 years old, 11th Grade

Brody - almost 12 - 6th Grade

Otherwise, I spent my time this weekend doing some laundry, some dishes and some reading. Kids have tomorrow off school, so they think tonight is pizza and movies. Sounds like a plan to me!!