What a year it has been. With more bouts of sickness and hospital stays than I would prefer, including the last 2 months of almost non-stop flu in our house, we are finally through the worst of it, as far as I can tell, and oh, are we ever thankful. Here’s a brief sampler of other items on our grateful list:
- All of the kids are thriving at Great Hearts this year, including Ruben in Kindergarten, who was very doubtful about the whole thing
- Natalie is a junior SVdP volunteer and a consistent helper on Tuesday nights
- Ellie is moving through her second year of RE toward confirmation and first Holy Communion
- Our vehicles are all in working order
- We have more than enough food to eat and to share
- We are warm and clothed and not at war
- Laurent bought a house and it is right in our neighborhood, so she and Geneva, and their THREE kitties, live right up the road. We love having them so near!
Our celebration this year was a little smaller than in past years. We missed Ana, Jose and Mark, due to illness. Efrain spent some time with Big E last weekend, and Malinda is due to have another baby any day now so she’s not doing much partying. And Jon and the cousins had plans on their side of town with friends. But Paul went and picked up Grandma and brought her back, and we got to see Megan and Patrick for a wee bit before they had to be off to further festivities on the Groft side of the family. Laurent and Geneva had Ruben and Ellie spend Wednesday night at their house, and they had fun making cookies and pies and getting sugared up before coming back in the morning. I was able, with good foresight and planning, to get everything ready before Thursday morning so that I had a very relaxing day and was just able to focus on being in the moment. After dinner and a little bit of clean up, we went over to the girls place for dessert and filled their cozy abode with our crazyness for a little while. Then back home for a couple of hours, before the kids went back for a fun time around the fire pit in their back yard under the party lights.
A beautiful day, all in all.
