Busy.

It's been a busy few weeks around here.  Lots of little projects to keep us from being slothful (remember Bill's list?) or unproductive.  Nobody here is eating the bread of idleness, that's for sure!  I've been working in the garden:  planted early potatoes, a row of carrots, a row of beets, thinned last fall's onions and turnips, and weeded the garden in its entirety.  Oh, I watered the baby peas, too, as the ground was really dry and those wee sprouts needed a drink.  I cleaned up the chicken coop and attached a portable run so the ladies can still free range without pooping all over my yard.  There's nothing worse than chicken poop on bare toes.  Except maybe dog poop.  We're also waiting on the imminent birth of Sissy Cow's baby.  Any day now.  It's downright comical how much time I've spent peering at that cow's hind end.  I'm a certified cow butt expert.  Or at least darn near.  There's also a batch of baby chicks coming at the end of the week.  I need to get a temporary brooding coop set up for them quickly.  Aren't baby chicks just the cutest?  At least for a few weeks.

The little kids and I just returned home after a quick trip to Baker City to celebrate my nephew Max's 4th birthday.  I've always enjoyed the drive, long as it is, to eastern Oregon.  It never fails to amaze me at how the landscape changes so dramatically along the way.  Verdant Fir forests with winding streams, spectacular snow-covered peaks, pine forests, wind-swept high desert, desolate sage and juniper hills, colorful rock formations, back into more pine forests and mountains.  And that's just one route!  While in Baker, I also had the privilege of meeting the nicest group of homeschooling moms.  These amazing ladies (who I should explain had never actually met me--they learned of our story through my sister-in-law) sent me the loveliest, most generous care package a few weeks back.  Their thoughtfulness and words of encouragement made such an impression on me that I just had to meet them in person.  Gosh.  The outpouring of love and support from this group of women will forever be a bright spot in my life.  To extend their friendship to me, someone whom they did not even know but felt a connection to because of similar life choices and values, could only be a gift from God.  I will always believe that.  I only wish I lived closer and could spend more time with them all.

I should probably also take a moment to apologize to any persons whom I have not returned a phone call, email, text, message, etc. to.  I'm finding it all so overwhelming and responding to every single one is simply too much right now.  I just feel like cocooning with my family, keeping our world very small and simple.  Please don't assume my silence is based on anger or disinterest.  I'm simply too exhausted, both emotionally and physically, to play by Emily Post's (etiquette, you know) rules these days.  Just come by, anytime. Don't wait for an invitation.  My door is always open to our friends and we love company.  Come by and I'll make you a cup of tea or I'll put you to work scrubbing the fence or you can hoe a row of veggies with me.  Or we can sit and visit while the kids play in the sun.  Just don't stay away because you don't know what to do or say.  Love and friendship have this beautiful way of filling in the gaps and bringing light to the darkest days.  Just come.