yummy bits

Hello. Recently things have been really enjoyable:

Sharing my testimony at camp with the staff and worshipping with them. That was yesterday...and today, hearing other's stories. Sarah and I went to church today and I got to stand up and thank people for caring for us during this time through bringing meals, sending cards and cleaning our house. We get another house cleaning this week but said the meals could stop since our garden is picking up and we can eat at camp now.

Salad! Our garden is producing excellent lettuce and spinach. Also some brocolli raab we steam and we had our first brocolli tonight which received a thumbs up from Sarah. I weeded for 1/2 hr. in the garden before dinner. Bye weeds, let the veggies grow. Some were getting quite big...Andy can't keep up with them all.

Just finished "A Deeper Shade of Grace" by Bernadette Keaggy (thanks Denise). Bernadette is the musician Phil's wife. She had 3 pregnancies that ended before the child reached term. Then they had 3 other children later. I am starting Beth Powning's "Shadow Child: An Apprenticeship in Love and Loss". Very well written.

Tomorrow is the one month anniversary of the death of our second child. I am finishing editting the detailed story. I am thankful for being alive and getting more energy as time passes.

Sarah had a swimming lesson in the tub last night. She brought up the idea to do this. She floated on her back with almost totally relaxed head/shoulders and she blew bubbles out her mouth and nose. First try she got water up her nose so we practiced blowing out lots. She was so excited, after I dried her off, she jumped up and down in the hallway about 20 times, clapping her hands and then was asking when we could go to the Princeton swimming pool because, 'now I like floating on my back' and she'd raise her hands and put her head back in the air while saying, "like this, whoop" (like a little sound effect, you know?). We are making a plan although the public swim time are fairly limited...we are talking about our lake, but it is so cold...This is all very exciting for me because she doesn't like water in her face or ears, so I sees this as progress. May have been heavily influenced by the book we read last week many times a day about a chicken who learns how to swim and does blow bubbles in the bathtub. "Olvina Swims" by Grace Lin. I recommend it for people who are a little scared of water/swimming. It's a penguin who teaches her to swim while they are in Hawaii after the annual 'bird convention.' Cute eh?

On a less positive note, I am having trouble sleeping (bladder calls again and again) and my afternoon naps just don't seem long enough.