Birthday Week

 

I turned 55 this week. Angela made me a chocolate cake using almond flour, which was excellent. Rose made me a fake little cupcake out of playdough, plus two paper 5's. She is so creative.

My birthday was excellent. Good weather, plus two fun gifts from Kevin, namely a new Kindle and a new Fitbit watch.

Tuesday, some dear friends of ours visited for dinner. We had our 9 children and they had their eight younger children (their eldest lives elsewhere) and we had a wonderful time. We mostly were outdoors on the porch, where we set up tables. The kids haven't seen one another in three years, as our friends were in Germany for military reasons. Now they are back in the area. It was great.

Friday morning...

Sigh...

Friday morning I was doing my devotions when I got a call from a dear friend, and she was crying. She told me that her seven year old had died a few hours previously.

He showed every signs of a stomach bug the previous day and seemed to be improving, and when they got up in the morning, he was dead.

It is just... hard to put into words how wrecked they are. Of course they are. But there are no words.

It was a freak medical thing and not their fault at all. But as she told me, how do we go on?

I honestly don't know. They do have other children so they will go on because they have to, but to lose a child?

It is so easy to get upset and angry and irritated about little things and then when a child dies, suddenly all those little things seem far less important, don't they?

I look around at our children and they have their struggles, but they are alive and healthy and I am so grateful.

I know it is a cliche, but I am hugging my children a bit harder.

So yeah, at the moment I feel sad because my heart breaks for my friend and her husband and other children.

But I did have a good birthday, and am thankful for that.

Mid October

 

Kevin made swings and they are very popular, even with the older kids!

I was hilariously reminded of a scene in the Avengers movie, the first one, where various Avengers are striding toward the camera looking buff and ready to fight.

I think it is wonderful when the posse, the Horde, goes out and walks up and down the driveway together, chattering away as they do so.

We released a book in early October. So far it is shaping up as a Beast, which is to say very popular. It hit like 250 in the Kindle store, which is stupidly good.

Thanks to various odd circumstances, we are almost done with ANOTHER book. I am currently doing second edits on it. I hate second edits so much. I whine every time I have to do it.

Of course, I could just publish as is but second edits make the book much much much better.

So yeah. Why do I dislike it so much? It is hard work, and painstaking, and not fun.

But necessary.  So quit whining, Laraba!