I suppose this is a bit of a more personal story, but I really want to save it, so on the blog it goes!

I got home last week on Friday around suppertime, and the very next morning, we had to get everyone up and out the door to the lake! We needed to be fully prepared to get the place packed up for winter, decorated for a Christmas event, all the while leaving the house perfect for a showing that was taking place that same day. It was a LOT, and I was literally running from place to place, trying to get things in order as seamlessly as possible.

Coming out of the garage, I closed the door behind me, and somehow managed to whack my elbow on the door. It wasn’t a funny bone situation, but it was a boney bone thing, and it zinged in such a way, I cannot put into words how much it hurt. I gasped and crouched, and just started saying “Its ok its ok its ok” in an effort to stop everyone from running in my direction. You know when everything hurts and then people touch you? Yup. It sometimes just makes it SO much worse. Brady was at the top of the stairs, and he got my drift. He gave me a minute and asked gently what had happened. I could hardly answer him, and in that stupid moment, I realized what was fully happening.

I grunted my words out, and told him I was trying to stop a panic attack. The shock of the pain had sent my body into a tailspin and I could feel a panic attack ramping up. If you’ve known me long enough, I had never had a panic or anxiety attack until Brady went to the hospital. They were common and rampant at that point in my life. I rarely have them anymore, but they do show up from time to time, and Saturday was one of those times. I sat on the floor of the entrance and tried to manage the attack but it was ramping.

And then one kid got past Brady and came down the stairs.

My Rowan.

With his Rowan heart.

The kid who can’t bear to watch someone be in pain.

The kid who probably understands panic attacks better than anyone else in our family.

He got down beside me, put his arm over me, and started whispering:

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

And he did this a handful of times until my breathing slowed down and my body had calmed relaxed.

He walked me through my panic attack. Which was WILD, because he’s a child, but man. Rowan has something SO special and SO different than anyone else in our family! Don’t get me wrong, they are all incredibly precious children! But this kid is his own breed, and I do mean that in a VERY good way 💜

I am SO excited to see who Rowan becomes as he grows up. I think I’ve said it many many times, but he will either be some kind of travelling adventurer, or in some kind of caregiving career. Perhaps both. Missionary work, even. Go do medical care across the world, Ro. You could do it!!

Anyway. I sure love this boy. And I feel very loved by him.

Cher and I celebrated our sixth friendaversary today! We are getting old!

I’d have written more. But. We were hanging out. Sorry not sorry!

💜💚🧡

Remember a couple of weeks ago, I baked up a whole bunch of muffins and a few other things? I was so excited to use my pumpkin, hahaha! Well, that stack of baking ended up making a lot of things easier this last week while I was away. So I decided to spend today baking! At least a bit of the day. I didn’t do anything else that I should’ve done, haha! No laundry. No unpacking of the random camp stuff that came home and needs to somehow reintegrate into our home. I didn’t wash my hair. I just baked.

And guys. I actually really enjoyed myself!

I started with muffins. Pumpkin muffins. I used up the end of my pumpkin with the initial big batch, but rather than losing time to cooking up my pumpkin today, I used some canned pumpkin to make a SECOND batch! Now, a second batch it no big deal, but its already a doubled recipe. So, a couple of hours later, I had 12 dozen muffins! Plus two, lol! ✌️

While I waited for the muffins to bake up in their batches, I assembled and refrigerated two pans of granola bars. These are still not completed because they have to set for longer than I’d like. Merp.

What else did I have on hand? Frozen bananas. TONS of frozen bananas. So I broke up a bunch of banana hunks and made a couple of loaves of banana bread! I love the idea of wrapping big thick slices for individual servings. The kids took the last ones for lunches and they were met with rave reviews.

At this point, I figured I could be done. But there was one random recipe I came across when I was away last week that I wanted to try. So I made just a single batch of these oatmeal-to-go things. If they go over well enough, they would keep everyone full longer than the other options. But the other options have all the good poop stuff in them, so, trade off, hahaha! Made just shy of three dozen.

When everything was cooled, I got to wrapping. I know this isn’t everyone’s preference but don’t come for me. It saves my butt. This time around, I wrapped the muffins in twos, because every single kid always eats two in one sitting. So. Two packs.

Oh and I ordered some smaller ziploc rectangle containers because I don’t have enough to prep lunch veggies for the week, and I want to.

*sigh*

I’m set now. Potentially, I might be set for breakfasts for up to two weeks, and some lunch stuff to boot! Productivity feels SO good.

I am so grateful for today. For our people. For our life, as bumpy as it gets from time to time. It is easy for me to see how smooth it also is, and how blessed we truly are. We thank the Lord for ALWAYS providing, even when it looks different, and when it looks like exactly how we picture. Which is rare 😂 as so many people understand hahaha! It can be a wild ride to say the least, but we are constantly reminded of Gods goodness and provisions for us.

Today we celebrate, and thank the Lord for all He has given us.

I am especially thankful to be home together with my family and friends, of course. Our village is just positively bananas, and somehow, it continues to grow. How – I couldn’t tell you, but I don’t desire to question it. I am just so grateful. For our beautiful close people who we’ve bother seen recently and to this we haven’t, our life is so deeply improved by your presence in it. Thank you, dear friends.

Let’s list three beyond the HUGE ones that I mentioned above.

I am grateful for:

💜 our beautiful oasis at the lake

💜 the incredible team of medical professionals I’ve become connected to and involved with in the last few months

💜 Brady’s job, and the way they have taken incredible care of Brady, and all of us, by default. We’ve hit some pretty decent snags in the last few months and they have never left us feeling insecure or not 100% looked out for

God provides all of these things for us, I firmly believe. No one else could have. Credit belongs where credit is due.

For these things, I praise the Lord 💜

It finally officially happened. I came home yesterday. Slept in my bed. And then headed out in the morning, but as a group! All eight of us.

Today was our LAST day of camp for this season of summer. 

We will be back at the end of November for a fun Christmasy day they’ve planned. I may even participate in their marketplace 🤮 that’ll be a first for me! 

Today, we packed our camper up, loaded up the shed, tarped off what needed to be tarped, and home we went. The kids were positively ROCKSTARS with helping. I was feeling somewhat under the weather/grossly overdone at first, so all I could do was shiver by the fire and delegate, but the kids were positively THERE for it. It was amazing. It ALL got done. Fight free. I even had the chance to duck away for a couple of pretty pictures. Not of the lake :/ but of other pretty things. 

We lurked for only about 3.5 hours, and had a chance to say proper goodbyes to our dear Dahlsjos. Unfortunately, I was not especially myself and didn’t think to take a group selfie or anything. Maybe next time 🤞 Surely it can’t be TOO far away!

We will see them again. And we will be back at camp again. Right now, I have real peace with being at home 💜 I haven’t spent a day around the home for about ten days, and it’s time. I am so thankful for all we go through and all we have gained and experienced. Thank you Lord for ALWAYS providing! 

I believe that tonight will be a night that everyone in my family spends in their own beds AT HOME! I’m so excited for that 💜 Not many things are better than home.

But! I have enjoyed being away, just one on one with a child 💜

I have enjoyed the learning experience that these times away tend to be 💜

Aaaaand I’ve enjoyed the coffee. Rarely do I justify Starbucks, but this is one of those occasions where I do, and its a really nice bright spot!

They even spelled my name right! 😍 Is anyone else loving the pumpkin cream Starbucks has for fall? Have it on a chai latte. You’re welcome.

While there are some fun silver linings to being away for a handful of days, I am very much anticipating home! 💜

Though. Home will just be overnight, and tomorrow is our actual LAST day at the lake, hahaha!! Ok and THEN home!! And THANKSGIVING!!!!!

😅

Have you ever been so tired that your brain decides to take a nap, leaving you to your own devices? 

But Cher, how do I know if my brain took a nap?

I’m glad you asked.

I will tell you.

The other day I was visiting my best friend and I wanted to bring to her attention that the way we have been pronouncing someone’s last name might actually be wrong. Now, if a person whose brain was awake were to begin this conversation, they might say something like: “hey, you know the last name Smith? As in John Smith?”

Sounds good right?

If your brain betrayed you for a fat nap, you’d say

“So you know how John Smith’s last name is John Smith?”

Well, I did that. And guess what else? I didn’t even notice. I kept going. It wasn’t until Hailey’s entertained expression answered my question, followed by my delayed reaction, that I was able to wonder how on earth I’ve made it this far in my academic career. 

Cher here. It has been a long time since I have written a guest post. Here it goes!

I wanted to share something that I have learned in my social control class that I keep laughing at. It is short, but still, interesting. 

So, when researchers define deviance in an objective perspective, they use four definitions to define whether or not someone is deviant. One of those definitions includes “statistical rarity.” Statistical rarity refers to a deviant act being labelled “deviant” based on population ratio. Say someone has green hair for example. Not many people in Canada have green hair, so statistically speaking, dying your hair green is a deviant act. We laughed about this in class. Of course researchers recognize that there are limitations to all definitions of deviance, but when you break it down like this, it can be pretty funny.

Consider that very few people decide to NOT watch TV. Those people would be considered a deviant if a person only used ‘statistical rarity’ as a source for defining behaviour. Social reaction is another defining factor. Many people would be confused or disagree with never watching TV. So then, two defining factors have the same limitations. It’s just interesting to me. I keep thinking about new bizarre ways people can be considered deviant. Basically, if you don’t follow the crowd, good or bad, you’re deviant. That is so flawed.

Thankfully, Objectivists have taken on subjective ways of thinking, so someone who does not watch television is not actually a deviant. I guess, they could be if they had other things going on. 

One last thought: Back in the day, women were burned a lot for being witches. Male doctors, Priests, and Officers were allowed to decide who was a witch(deviant) based on their own limited understanding of what a witch was. Did you know that even being financially independent as a woman in those days would constitute as witch craft? And people in the community would attend the horrific burning ceremonies who didn’t even agree with this, just so THEY weren’t labeled a witch. 

I leave you with these random pieces of trivia from class that I find the most interesting so far. I apologize if I have ruined your day. 

Today has been one of the biggest days. Truly. Just bonkers. Next to no downtime and LOTS of hands on work! However, here are a few small wins I can share with you! There aren’t a ton, unfortunately, but I’m sure many of you understand 💜

Starbucks! I’ve had a few yummy visits to Starbucks. I always order the americano nuevos. They always look at me like I’m a bit off. They same woman always yells “AMERICANO MISTO ADD SYRUP!” Always. I get a kick out of it.

The BLT was good, but really, this is to represent the AMAZING burger I had, and was too eager to eat to take a picture of. Cafeteria food isn’t historically known for being amazing, but the cheeseburger is crazy good. I blame the brioche bun. But sure, the BLT was decent, too.

In a rare opportunity to scroll, I came across this and laughed like a tool.

This is some bizarre fruit dish that Amazon showed me because they figured I’d super like it. They are wrong. This is not my style. Not in the kitchen, anyway. All I see are fancy bathtubs here, hahaha!! I want it for the little en suite in my (hopefully) next house!!

Aaaaand the real winner here. The lemon loaf. *sigh* This stupid cake speaks for itself. Its deadly. Yes, I occasionally eat cake for breakfast.

Thats all I have for you tonight, folks. I hope you’re content with your day, comfy in your bed, and far warmer than I am. Sleep deep, all.

Its been a really big day. Even knowing I was going to be away today, and having a bit of time to prepare, I am still reeling and tired. Whew!

I finally ate, just now. I am having a moment of peace, and I thought I’d punch out a blog while I have a minute 💜 I can’t share a whole heck of a lot, but I can tell you there is still up every day this week (except tomorrow,) and I may not be home for much or any of it!! Ack!! Sorry, Brady!! Rocking the single dad thing liker a boss! But I remain to be so grateful and humbled by our village of people who are eager to jump in wherever possible. You are how we stay afloat, friends!

Sleep well, all 💜