Summer of calamity.

Our summer was hijacked by injury and sickness. I had plans for swim lessons and water activities. But one night a very dusty Merle was brought in by Reed who thought he needed to get to football practice. There was little explanation of what happened just a crying Merle who said he hurt all over. Millie was crying too and didn't share many details. I knew something was wrong and took Merle to Greg who gave him a blessing then we proceeded to the urgent care clinic for x-rays. He said going over the train tracks hurt. That was weird. I kept asking where he hurt he pointed to his elbow. They had him put his arm on a table for x-rays. He was not very happy or cooperative about that. They saw nothing in the x-rays and sent us home. He was not holding his arm normally. I did not believe everything was ok. Again he complained about the train tracks. 

The next day I had the prompting to put the arm in a sling. We went yard saling and happened to find a squirt gun. This seemed to be a good exercise to get him to use his hand and arm if he could. He proved he could and enjoyed squirting his sisters from the sling position. The next day Anna and Joey spoke in church he did not wear a sling. The rest of the week he mostly wore a sling and didn't go outside or do much. His arm mostly just hung at his side. We finally determined raising it was the problem. I took him back to the doctor and they had him stand against a wall to xray the whole arm. Sure enough a spiral fracture near the socket. So no cast just a sling. 

Finally Millie was able to remember, I think she may have had a concussion. She had several bruises from her leaving the four wheeler too. I learned that a few days after the initial accident. Merle was holding a bucket of tools and a tool box. Millie got spooked with oncoming and following traffic on the paved road. Reed was following in a tractor. She somehow turned the four-wheeler and Merle flew off along with her. They both were spared pavement and the full canal. We are so thankful they are both on their way to completely well. I'm aware and understand angels watched over them and prevented worse outcomes. We are thankful. The orthopedic doc just said wear the sling and no running or potentially harmful activities. 

The nurse at the orthopedic office added the safety pin and removed the belt strap. This made it more secure and more useable. Gotta go to the high professionals for a best fit I guess. 

Jake is too curious for his own good. He touched the hot insta pot and burned his finger tips. He liked cool water for a few hours on the injured hand. I remembered this from other babies who had burned themselves. 

Livy came home from girls camp with a serious burn on her pasty white legs. This hurt for days and is just now peeling off in sections 10 days later. While they really enjoyed the floating the river the sunburns were not enjoyable. Hopefully she will learn and I will invest in water leggings for her in the future. 

On the evening of father's day Jake crawled over to some four wheeler batteries and pulled one down on his hand. It swelled and I watched it. How could I take another kid to the doctor for broken bones. 

Mind you I had been going to the doctor daily for the next kid who got strep because they won't just give antibiotics to the whole sharing family. Nope one at a time for 8 people. UGH! That was 2 weeks of doctor visits right there. Then some 160 doses of medicine. 

In the midst of all this I cut my own hand with my nicely sharpened cutco knife. I was so mad. Thankfully Addie was home and bandaged me up as blood and dangling skin makes me light headed. I was able to recline on the couch while she wrapped it up and managed the dinner prep from there. It healed well too and wasn't too bothersome after a few days. Alia and Afton had to do a lot of dishes while I couldn't. That was part of the problem why I cut myself is I was doing things they were supposed to be doing but had skipped out on. We are working on doing your jobs not disappearing. 

Jake with scrapes from diving out of bed headfirst. He hasn't done this again since this picture I'm so thankful his spatial awareness is also developing. 

His finger has persisted in looking like this. Yes he's grouchy he's also cutting two teeth that I can see and has a head cold. He has had sleepless nights. I don't bounce back from those well and driving back and forth to doctors is challenging on little sleep. But we all survived. Finally Greg demanded we get an xray. We did four days later the pediatrician demanded I rush to get him splinted. That this was a serious injury. I said it's three weeks old. She said you don't understand he must be cared for. Seriously. So we went the attending PA was superb. He laughed he talked he held Jake and let him play with his ID tags. They worked this splint out. It lasted about 1.5 hours. Jake hit it on the cart, he bit at it and finally it unraveled.

 The next day after another sleepless night we braved rush hour to be in Boise for an orthopedic appointment. I had forgotten the splint but the doctor agreed there was nothing to do that wouldn't cause more problems. That Jake is doing fine and like they said with Merle the human body is growing so fast and will "remake" itself so many times in the next years it will be fine. Thankfully he worked with other doctors and nurses and they agreed to see Merle two days early. He is also almost completely healed. We made it home and were able to stay just in our town for a whole day. What a relief. Merele has done well playing and waiting inside. Andrea has been his faithful sidekick and Jake is daily getting better able to play with them. 

Between being the only driver and the rules of modern specialized medicine this summer has been long on sitting and waiting for expert opinions. I'm thankful the experts continue to advice let nature do it's thing. I'm thankful for healthy kids. I'm thankful our flippant prayers for safety are indeed answered. And I'm thankful it looks like we may be well and whole for a while. Life is so good and life is absolutely amazing. 

Working through summer

In our family summer means work. Lots of work. Before the wedding there was a lot of electrical work on the pivots. Sitting atop is quite the view and so much more comfortable than standing on the rungs of the spans hours of that cuts the bottom of a foot in half. Thankfully the guys were able to get the pivot moving before it was hot and desperate. 

This lady is learning about sunburns this summer. She refuses to listen to the counsel to cover completely. This is from getting water down rows standing in the field all day long. 

After a long day work the walk home is a relief. 

Millie and Bruce are the tool bearers. Thy cart tools back and forth from farm to home and whatever needs to be fixed. Merle was on this duty too but then he got hurt so Millie and Bruce have been the main go- getters. 

There is pride and relief in finally getting the water down the rows. The kids had to really this year to get the water through. Thankfully after a month the water flows freely all the way to the end of the rows. The corn has now tasseled and is setting ears. We are pleased the kids are able to do so much together. This was especially tedious this year but life takes work and doing the job completely is absolutely necessary. 

We got a baby backpack for Jake. He loves being able to see and be part of whatever is going on. 

When Addie was here she packed him up and told him to be quiet they were going to work. She told me I babied him too much. She is probably right. I've been working to make him more independent feeding himself, playing more, and doing things on his own. 

My lillies have been pretty this year. I love having flowers around the yard.

One day Addie was out on the road and a neighbor stopped and asked if she would take their ducks. So now we have 6 ducks. They love the water we give them. We have plans to take them to a pond nearby. 

A friend has allowed us to pick her raspberries they have been so nice. We have made over 14 quarts of jam. The kids will eat all we can pick. 

More wildflowers. The yarrow make nice additions to bouquets. And my one remaining daisy, unfortunately the prime bouquet flowers failed to come up so we have no homegrown flowers to share this year. The roses are gathering steam for a fall show the heat is not their friend. 

The latest planted corn was knee high by the fourth of July. That was the old adage that it had to be that tall to make a crop. We met that. It is now shoulder high. 

From a distance you can't see the weeds in my garden. This year we have potatoes, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, peas, beats, peppers, cantaloupe, watermelons, and pumpkins. We are excited to enjoy what we grow. The garden effort has been minimal at best some years are like that I guess. Jake however is doing well. 

The summer is full of work but we enjoy the fruits of our labor and learn there are in fact worse things in life than school etc. Thankfully no catastrophic breakdowns. Reed, Bruce, Millie, and Afton are managing very well. Life moves quickly. The younger kids are learning to be more self-reliant to take care of what they want to happen. Lessons have come slowly but we are making progress. Almost a month from these pictures and its good to know how far we've come. Seasoned gardeners have told me for years that each year is a new adventure even with the wisdom of previous success that doesn't guarantee this year will be trouble free. I feel that. 24 years of parenting and I'm still needing reminders and lots of grace to get the job done. We are blessed.        

FFA banquet

The annual FFA banquet came and went with the rush of the last days of school. The officers began reciting their position parts. 

Reed received his chapter degree. 

Honorary FFA members were inducted. The Thomas Family made a generous donation after the father of the family passed away last fall. 

Harold came to town and immediately got his hands on Jake. Jake is a good sport and enjoys being up high. 

Addie received a scholarship from another family who's father died this past year. It was a tender part of the evening. 

The chapter that stayed and trusted Addie as the new advisor got her legs under her and began forging a new chapter culture. 

Addie getting her FFA cords to wear with her graduation gown. 

Her senior friends the group that made school enjoyable and lively. These ladies are fierce competitors, smart, and friendly. Friends truly do make life grand. From left Carly, Kesley, Izzy, Bailey, Taylor, Peyton, and Addie. 

One of the last days the school staff dress up as the seniors. Adaze secretary did a great job looking like Addie.

We are thankful for all that FFA provided and offered for these kids to travel, learn, lead, speak, and stretch while they navigate the years of high school. We are blessed. 
 

Family Reunion

All events are different this year with Addie being gone.I got a few pictures of the reunion this was one highlight. We found out Merle had in fact broken his arm a few hours before we left for the reunion. The kid activity this year was this train. They rode for hours. 

Aliza helped in the kitchen. Aunts, cousins, etc fed the masses again and again. Aliza called the large group to order more than once. Her strong voice and commanding presence makes her a force not to disrespect. Many marveled at her ability to bring order to the chaos. 

Our family served the meals we provided. Cousin Chance played with baby Jake. 

His dad Uncle Ben helped. I so appreciate the help from my in-laws. Jake did well with this family for an hour. 

Of course when you get that many people together you should take a picture. It is rare to all gather at the same time. One sibling was missing but she will be photo shopped in. 

As a mom wondering if my kids will every all choose to gather this was a precious picture. I have great admiration for the talents of each of these people. They have challenged and encouraged me and my family year after year. 

Jake was so tired after the long days. He travels pretty well. Again trying to take care of his needs and all the other niceties of a culture very void of babies is real.  

Greg wanted to go to a funeral in Utah he is a devoted friend and called his mission companion John South to ask  if we could quickly visit. We were greeted with a steak dinner and a smore roast after. The kids had a great time. It was nice to stretch out and gather ourselves. 

Greg's uncle Rex had asked the question what can we learn from the holy feasts of the Jewish people? One thing we can learn is making a bigger effort to talk of Christ more often and include Him in our gathering. This evening we shared food, friendship, and scripture study. This was a beautiful experience. I learned that when we pray to Jesus He prays for us. The more we pray to Him the more He prays for us. That is powerful. 

True friendship is beautiful and comforting. 

When we got home Jake played with some stacked batteries and broke his pinky finger. It's still swollen almost two weeks later. But nothing can be done so he deals with it and we try to be patient with his added crying. Each day is better. 

We are working to be more intentiontal and faithful. A podcast with Lilli Anderson suggested that motherhood isn't the leftover job for the weakest part of the human family. But rather a charge to attach her children to herself but more importantly to God and Jesus. To give children experiences with the spirit, prayer, and God's presence in their life. We are trying that in a number of ways. We aren't fancy. We are blessed and life is good right now. 

Leadership camp and little things at home

Addie had her first leadership camp with her home district. Cousin Michael was there. 

Reed also attended for the first time. She is looking very official. It was a good time. We survived her and Reed being gone at the same time. 

At home we try to go on night time walks. The corn has grown a lot since this picture. 

We were gifted some strawberries and made strawberry shortcake. Merle and Andrea helped me take the caps off the berries. We enjoyed this summertime treat. 

Jake is getting bigger and bigger. 

This guy is just changing every week. It's a lot more of a balancing act with the big kids, the farm, and the little kids. We are working to cover the bases but definitely we are often short. He is good at making himself known and getting what he wants. The month of June is over and when I looked at it on the first it looked pretty rough, the addition of sickness and miscellaneous other life things added to that. But we survived the crops are growing and looks fine. We are thankful to be able to manage. Life is good and we are blessed.