Finding the Beauty

After a busy Spring Family Weekend at school, Scott had Sunday and Monday off and we had a blast spending some good, quality time together as a family.  These last six weeks since my Dad first entered the hospital have been a whirlwind of activity, travel, juggling the kids, stress, fear and sadness.  But it has also been a time of hope.  Seeing the community come around my family has been incredible.  Watching my Dad make significant progress at his rehab facility has been so encouraging.  Learning to appreciate the simple things in life that we most often take for granted has been a wonderful lesson to learn.  Seeing the faith of my parents tested and yet grow deeper and stronger has been a testimony of God's faithfulness and care for us.  I am doing my best to find the beauty in the world around me even when life doesn't feel beautiful.
On Sunday we had a great family day.  We went to church down in Concord and then went to visit my Dad as we have been doing ever Sunday since he's been in Concord.  We ate bagels out on the patio, watched the boys run around the grass and enjoyed seeing how well my Dad is doing.  He is such a trooper - it is seriously amazing to see how hard he is working and how high he is keeping his spirits.  It has been interesting to see how the boys have been taking in all of this stuff with my Dad.  We now play an imaginary game where Camden is in a wheelchair and he wants me to push him around the house.  We also play a game where I'm Bepa and I lie in bed and he's the doctor and Micah is the nurse and they check my legs and ask me all sorts of questions.  Every time we pray, Micah says "Bepa" before we even start.  When visiting with my Dad on Sunday, Camden told him all about how we were going to go to Beech Hill Farm after we said goodbye to him and was sure to add, "Hey Bepa, maybe when you get all better you can come to Beech Hill Farm with us too!" Camden and I brought my Dad back in for his next physical therapy appointment and as we were saying goodbye to him, Camden said, "Bepa, I think Ami really misses having you at home."  :(  It was so sweet.  He asked me tonight when Bepa was going to walk again.  I told him that we don't know if Bepa will be able to walk again, but we're hoping that maybe he will be able to by Camden's birthday in August.  Camden responded saying, "I hope Bepa is all better by my birthday.  I want him to walk to my party and have birthday cake with me."  I hope so too, Camden.

Here are some pictures from our visit with Bepa and our time at Beech Hill Farm.

 These little goats were only a few weeks old!

The boys love this peacock...

 A little boys dream come true!

 We actually sat down together in the sun and watched them play for a while!

 First ice cream at Beech Hill for the summer (yes, we hit it up on opening weekend!)...

 Sunday afternoon we worked on clearing out the lower part of our yard.  We're envisioning sitting around a fire pit on a summer evening on this little area over-looking the river. 

 Unfortunately, it's a lot of work to get this yard cleaned up.  This lower area was apparently used as a dump for years.  It didn't take long for us to fill up this entire barrel with old, rusty cans, broken pieces of glass, colored glass bottles etc.  It's nasty and we have a ton more to do before it's truly clean.

 The back of our little home from our future fire pit.

 An old car about just a few yards into the woods behind our neighbor's house...

 On Monday we tackled a big project of reseeding parts of our yard that really needed some attention.  The boys loved digging in the new topsoil and helping to spread grass seeds around.  Now for the challenge of keeping them off these seeded areas while it grows!

 Big boy!

 Camden and I were so excited to watch what we think is a red-tailed hawk in our back woods today.  This guy hung out with us all day.  He is huge and so beautiful!

So much to be thankful for. 

"God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear..."