Johnny Appleseed

God met me in the apple orchard yesterday.

The whole family went apple picking. It's an annual event for us involving fresh hot cider donuts and cider, picking fall vegetables, wild flowers, and this year there was a labrynth to walk. The sky was pretty clear and the view of the hillside was breath taking and the air was crisp and the wind was just enough to be refreshing and not threatening.
...and John was healthy. (relatively speaking).

Remember, last year when we went apple picking, things were grim. The doctors had pretty much sent John home to be perpetually ill and early death still was a pretty good possibility. That's us in that pic over there to the right, 3rd one down. We look pretty happy except that we're all actually stressed out and pretending no one notices. John was still swollen from the steroids and still on insulin from the steroids and had just come off the chemo. I'd change the pic except I don't want to forget. I want to remember to live every day like it matters. I want to remember that I have an exceptional family that genuinely pulled together when things sucked ass. That's us pulling together over there, ... picking apples and valuing the time we have together even though we are all stressed and exhausted and worried. But I digress, which seems to be my way lately.

Anyway, so we went apple picking. And as John and Noah went one way (they like green) and Mary went another (she likes any apple that is small) and Isaiah went another (he likes MacIntosh) and I stayed right in the middle so as not to lose any of them, ... it happened. I wasn't alone. God was right there. S/he said, "you didn't think you'd be here this year, so how 'bought them apples?' (God's pretty funny). And as the birds flew over head and I heard my family bellowing to one another and my favorite season, ... a season of thanks, ... starts for yet another year, ... I was met in the orchard by God.

I love when that happens.
And then I cried. But of course they think I'm a big sap so they don't know. Don't tell.

All that having been said, all that peotry in motion, I just need to pepper with a dose of 'sometimes families are crap to deal with'. Isaiah climbed a tree and impaled his knee such that it spouted blood for about 20 nonstop minutes with not a tissue in sight to apply pressure. Mary declaired in the middle of the orchard, the furthest point form the entrance (where the restrooms are), that she needed to go to the bathroom (bc of coure she had not gone when we first arrived like i asked her to). The boys got into a pushing match over, ... I'm not sure what, and I had to spend the last quarter of the trail explaining why pushing and name calling are not acceptable options in this family, ... for the hundredth time this month. So, ya know, sometimes families are crap to deal with.
...But I'm thankful for the crap too.

And ps John is still exercising daily. Ony 20 minutes but it's a hard 20 minutes and is the start of a long road he has to go. We were in church today and he looked so handsome and HEALTHY, oh my, he has his color back. But when we sat in the pew and I held his arm it was startling how much his arm muscles have atrophied. It will be a long haul but at least he's on the road. I am so grateful.

He is at his office interviewing a potential new employee as we speak. Let's hope he finds someone today that does not have an aversion to actual work.

Keep praying please. Prayer is powerful stuff. Thanks.
k