Summer Adventures: Installment Four: Our Korean Friends

We were approached by an MSU organization that offers the final course in an ESL program for Korean school teachers to be a host family for a weekend in July...and this is how we met Alex and Song. Both fathers of boys in Korea, they fit right in to our family and farm.

The program director assured us that they were interested in learning about a "normal American family" and to do what we'd normally do on a weekend. So we did! We spent one day in the garden they both seemed to really enjoy it.

We also took a drive to Fennville and picked organic blueberries at Pleasant Hill Farm (Matt works with these farmers..they are a wonderful couple), saw Lake Michigan and ate some Korean food at a local restaurant. Both Song and Alex assured us it was very authentic food and my first time! It was delicious. The boys even enjoyed eating all but the very spicy things.

Being a host family was a new experience for us. We've wanted to share our space and large home with other families and this was the perfect way to do it. We all learned so much about Korea (they calculate age different there!) and the children made some new friends. It was hard to say goodbye to Alex and Song...but, we'll be hosting again next year!

Summer Adventures: Installment Three: Camping with the Traven Family

Jeff, Michelle, Meera and Adelina are some of our very best friends here in Michigan. The four of them, also transplants from across the country (except Addie, she was born here and I was there the night she came!) are such a sweet and wonderful family. Michelle is a real friend to me. I can speak so honestly with her and know that she'll be understanding and open to what I am thinking. We feel very comfortable with all of them and our children love one another! Truly a treasure to have.

Just because we love each other as families, doesn't mean that spending 3 days together camping is a good idea...except that it was!! We had such a fantastic time! We stuck close to home and camped at Sleepy Hollow State Park. This was our first time Otis camping and with all 9 of us, we felt like it would be safer....we realized how smart we were when I forgot to bring COFFEE and drove home the next morning to get some!

Lots of fishing and eating (we made fish tacos from our catch), games, swimming, napping, camp fires, music, laughing, running, washing dishes in a bucket....it was a great weekend of family time, community bonding. We hope to do it again next year!

Summer Adventures: Installment Two: Annual Fourth of July Party

Our second adventure of the summer came one week after we returned from Maine...our 3rd annual 4th of July Party. We had morefamilies attend this year than the other two and we had five families camp out and enjoy a really sweet brunch the next day. The sparklers were a big hit along with some glow bracelets. The food was fantastic and we had music with singing this year! We also have families that put this event on their calendars a year in advance (we do too) and it means so much to us to have this special gathering with our family! We had another set of families arrive the next day just for the brunch and our last visitors left at 5 p.m. It was a 24 hour party and we loved every minute!

Summer Adventures: Installment One: Returning Home

The boys, Lindsey (our babysitter and friend) and I drove to Maine (via Niagara Falls, ON) to visit my Dad and help him sort through some of my mom's things. We ended up doing more vacationing than sorting, but I managed to help him some. Lindsey had never been to Maine or through Canada, so it was quite an adventure...the two of us with three wild kids...14 days of traveling all together...5 of them spent on the road! We both needed a vacation from our vacation.

Delicate Little Flower

This afternoon as I laid in bed, my dear friend Jane, said in a sweet voice as she walked away, "goodbye my delicate little flower friend". I have never thought of myself that way, but in the last few weeks I have certainly felt that way.

Almost two weeks ago I was diagnosed with pneumonia. It came on very quickly and grew from a mild cold to serious ick within 24 hours. Matt's mom, Pat, flew all the way from California to help us for a week and I had a solid chance to rest in bed, in the hammock in the sun...wherever I needed to be. She left on Monday and last night I ended up in the emergency room with a serious relapse. After five hours of IV antibiotics, fluids and some wicked pain medication, they sent me home with a bag of drugs and instructions to remain in bed forever. Not forever, but it is beginning to feel like it.

I am so fortunate to have such supportive family. Pat's visit here last week was like magic. She arrived at 7:30 p.m., dropped her bags and had kids in the bath before I could say "thank you". While she was here she nursed me, nursed the kids (Sam and Arlo had Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease, and Otis had a nasty weeping ear infection), helped Matt butcher and process 12 of our broiler chickens, cooked and baked and fed us really well, did copious amounts of laundry and house cleaning....the list goes on and on. She seamlessly walked into our home and took over my job and did it better than I do! It was fantastic. The boys loved having her here, because, you know what else is in the repertoire of a grandma...reading books for hours. That make all three of my sweeties happy as can be. Thank you so much Pat. We love you!

Pat returned home to her life and here I am in bed again, worse off than before, and

we've turned to our community of friends for help. I posted a request on facebook for any info on a nanny and within an hour I had nanny contacts, a food train set-up, babysitting offers....I am truly blessed.

Jane, one of my dear closest friends here and pictured to the right, is here today helping with Otis and taking care of me. She and her family are our family here. She has come over to our house in response to late night calls because of illness, birth, flat tires, house fires...more emergencies than I'd like to admit to. I just can't thank her enough.

I am not forgetting my dear husband, who has taken on my job and his in between the extra help! Both our jobs are more than one person can handle, so for him to do both is pretty amazing. He is being quite militant with this relapse and only letting me out of bed for bathroom visits. I am so lucky to have his support. I know how scared he was in the hospital on Tuesday night. It can't be easy to watch your wife looking like she is dying...and he has had to do that twice in our marriage now. I love him so much.

Hopefully after I meet with my new pulmonologist in a couple weeks, we'll have a better understanding as to why I keep getting so sick. I was told that after my lung surgery two years ago, I wouldn't have anymore problems with this...I'd like to be thought of as a strong bunch of glowing flowers, not a delicate little flower!

The flower image above is borrowed from here.