Stuff...

May was a long, long month.

May is, generally speaking, my favorite month of the year... it was the month in which we married, and it contains Mother's day. It's when the garden looks like you're serious about something, and the 'greens' of summer arrive. You invariably have kittens and chicks and babies of all kinds on the farm and new life abounds. The days are warm, and if you're lucky, the nights are still refreshingly cool and the night noises are amazing... On the edge of the woods, with the lights turned off, sitting in the dark, you hear the frogs and owls and all the little bugs. By far my favorite night sound is the whip-poor-will... that first time you hear it in the spring is a true gift of living where the night is quiet and dark. Fireflies or 'lightening bugs' spread their gentle blinks about, ascending to the trees in the warmth and darkness.

Many nights, when my children were small, I cuddled a sleepy infant, and sat and watched and listened to the beautiful nighttime 'show'. As toddlers, they chased the fireflies and rolled in the grass with the pups, until bedtime called.

All of these things have happened this May... and savoring the moments of recognition of all of the above things have been sanity savers... I tell ya!

Early in May, my father in law was hospitalized, after collapsing before some scheduled tests. He's been super healthy and one of those solid sturdy souls that never complains and never whines. Quite suddenly, we were all pitched into the world of diagnostic tests and waiting, more tests and more waiting, all the while dealing with some scary symptoms. The end result, after two weeks, was a diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma. A particularly unhandy part of this has been acute renal failure, so we've been on the learning curve of dialysis as well. A chemo regimen began yesterday. His spirit is strong and his will to fight is in place.

We, as a family, covet your prayers for strength to deal with the days ahead.

And just in case you still need reminding, take your loved ones out and sit in the dark and listen for the night noises.