They'll be days like this

This week was definitely a busy, up-and-down roller coaster. We had the usual: 2 days of clinicals, 3 days of lecture, 2 trips to Manhattan for speech, 1 trip to Abilene for food pick-up, 2 nights of dance, 1 night of religion, and a whole lotta gardening. (Hmm, that list makes me question where our priorities are...but that's a thought for another day.) Add to the usual, Katie's art night and Katie's fine arts program, and it was just going to be busy.

So, to make things more exciting, my brother flipped his car on Wednesday afternoon. He ended up with only 4 staples in his head, but no broken bones and one totaled car. (I am responsible for him up here and was the go-to person to get him through the crisis.) My mom has been/is sick with something to do with her gall bladder and made a trip to the hospital for that. And, Lainie added excitement with her own minor complication.

But, on the bright side, Katie had a really good week, with quite a few self-esteem-saturating successes. Maggie was a super-duper helper and just a joy to be around this week, and Natalie's two-ness wasn't near as intense as weeks past. I also got good news and wrapped up some portions of my nursing stuff, and finished half of my microbiology course, which is as far ahead as I can work.

It's easy to be happy and thankful when things are going smooth as silk. It gets tougher when there are obstacles in the road. When too many pebbles coagulate, they become one big mountain that seems insurmountable. And this week, we had lots of pebbles.

What made the mountain manageable is the amazing friends we have here. When Anthony had his wreck, I was waiting for Maggie to get off the bus so we could go pick up Natalie and then Katie. In 3 minutes and 3 phone calls, we had someone taking responsibility for each of the girls, not only to watch them, but even to feed them and get K&M to religion as planned. Amazing. Just humbling-ly amazing. Proof that, together, we can move mountains.

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Next week is going to be just as busy, but hopefully no pebbles get in our path. Three days lecture, 1 test, 2 days clinicals, 5 days teaching (Jay!), 5 days gardening (Jay!), 2 trips to Manhattan for speech, 2 nights of dance, 1 night of religion, plus Maggie's fine arts program, K&M's spring dance dress rehearsal and spring recital on Sunday, and a 10K and 2 tests to study for me.

Between last week's craziness and next week's craziness is one beautiful weekend, full of outside time, garden planting, a trip to the zoo, and family time.