Thankful

I had a bunch of blank, white cards... and therefore I have created a little bit of art. The black and white one is pencil, but the colored picture was made with pastels and I'm worried that if I put it in an envelope it will smear. I guess we'll see.... ;) Or some lucky recipient will. As always the artwork was a pleasant exercise. Just as Jesus Christ created the universe and man in God's image, even so it is good for the soul to be active and design/create, I think. :)

I'm mostly back to normal after my experience with anaphylaxis, which is what a severe allergic reaction is called in the medical world.  I'm really thankful to have been so close to my sister and brother-in-law's house when I got stung and for Mr. Kubetz (a friend from church) who was able to bring me Apis Mel when I was at the hospital (a homeopathic medication that has helped me recover from bee stings in the past). I'm still feeling a bit weak, itchy and my head hurts at times, but I'm well enough to be back to work. I'm just thankful to still be breathing and to be alive. :)

That being said, hopefully all goes well since the next two weeks are going to be exceedingly busy. My dad's been working a full time job doing concrete while Channing and the rest of us run the farm, we're babysitting 3, sometimes 4 boys five days a week, and on top of that weekends are full of trips to get hay for the cows, visiting new babies (yay!!), planning my sister's baby shower, church and all of the usual events as well as random surprises that come up (such as a broken seal in the barn that is spraying milk whenever the pump runs but that we wont be able to replace until Monday!). I normally have 3 nights off from milking each week which give me a nice break and time to rest, but after our hired hand milked last night he won't be milking again till next Friday, so I'm gearing up for working for seven days without brake. I have a friend from NC who's in the area that I'm hoping to get to visit sometime this week and in August our relatives from VA will be visiting, and it sounds like my sister-in-law-to-be, Brittany, is supposedly on her way here to stay for a few days!!! I'm looking forward to all of this visiting!

My dear friend Sandy and her husband Matt are expecting a baby at the end of this year and so are my friends Eliya and Billy (who's wedding I blogged about in January). I also heard last night that a good friend from church, Tim, just got engaged to his girlfriend Hannah! New babies, new families, and new families-to-be, ...Congratulations all around!

On top of all of the crazy randomness we're experiencing abnormally cold weather. It was only 50 degrees this morning. *let me check the calendar again to make sure it's really July*

Summer sure is a blast, and I'm looking forward to whatever comes next!

The photographs I copied the artwork from were taken by my grandfather Perkins. =)