Firsts

There have been a lot of "firsts" for us in the last year. Unfortunately this week my family experienced our first accidental death. Just as we didn't know what to do with our other "Firsts" in life, we don't know what to do now.

My Dad's brother, Ben, was killed on September 23rd while stacking bails in his yard. It has been an awful week trying to figure out what to do next and how to work through our grief. As a family we have experienced the loss of other members, but never so suddenly. No one could have been prepared for such an event.

In the last few days I have learned that we all grieve in different ways. Some are quiet, some talk. Some cry, some stay busy. Some need to be surrounded, others need solitude. I have been amazed at the inner strength and faith of so many of my family members. The pain is deep, but there is still hope underneath.

It seems that most of the pain I feel is for those that are close to me that are hurting so badly. I hate seeing those that I love in pain. We try our whole lives to keep those we love from hurting. We can't avoid this and I can't take it away. Pray for my family as they push through this tough time. Pray for us as we learn how to support each other.

We went to go help Mom with processing her apples. Lots and lots of apples. We had a great time. We were greeted with apple aprons. When all was said and done we did 31 bags of apples. 10 cups in each bag. 310 cups of apples. We still had 1/2 of a laundry basket of apples left. Mom figured when all was done there would be over 550 cups of apples from that tree. Yikes.

Trev noticed a big wasp nest on the back of Mom and Dad's house, so in the evening Dad climbed up on a ladder, put a garbage bag around the nest and then burned the nest in a pail filled with gas. It burned for quite a while. There was no pail left. Wasps don't like being in a garbage bag. So this is a random observation, but I think that Brook looks a bit like Aunt Beth when she was a baby. Waddaya think? Anyone have a baby Beth picture for me to post beside this one?

Warm Weather...Finally.

It has been so warm the last few weeks that we have spent more time in the kiddy pool in september than we did all summer. Here are a few pictures.

It's Finished!

Our fence is done, and it looks fantastic. Trev has done an amazing job of the entire project. Here are some pics of the finished product. It has been so nice to play in the kiddy pool in the back yard and not be worried about everyone watching me in my swimsuit. Sam is loving the freedom, and Milo still hasn't figured out how to escape. We are loving the new fence.

Brook's First Steps

I can't believe we caught her first steps on video. We had tried this a few days ago, but she couldn't quite do it yet. Tonight it just seemed to click.