As I am reflecting on this past week I am encouraged by moments of hope. There have been a number of things that have brought a smile to my face (I'm not going to deny that there were plenty of times of frustration/saddness, but I'm choosing to focus on the hope for now).
1. After learning that Jessie, our lab, had been hit on the road while we were at church one evening, Jeff came home to find her huddled in her kennel, refusing to come out of the dog carrier. I prayed that if we were going to have decide to put her down the next day, that she would just die in her sleep. She was still breathing in the morning but still wouldn't come out. I called to get her in to a vet and Jeff helped me put the dog carrier in the back of the vehicle. When I got to the vet, the first sign of hope came when I looked in on her and she was perky and excited to have been on a ride :) When we got the carrier on the ground, she willing got out and walked around. She was limping so we knew she had been hit, but she was back to herself.
2. One day on our walk home from school Emily was telling me about her Financial Management class. She is a brave soul being the only freshman in a class of juniors/seniors, but she loves it. She said, I am so glad I'm taking this now, I have so much to learn and went on to talk about the US debt, taxes, etc. She said the next day in class that they were having a cafe and reading the Wall Street Journal :) The more we talked the more I liked this teacher, it reminded me of the years I taught business and some of the non-traditional ways of teaching that I incorporated. It was great to see Emily excited and wanting to learn - another sign of hope.
2. On Friday night we watched our first Pettisville girls varsity basketball game with the invitation from a couple from church - it was fun to watch one of the youth play and to see them come from behind to win in overtime. It's amazing that we are beginning to see people from our past and it helps me to realize that we do know some people here. Stan Roth lives in this area and helps to coach soccer around here. He mentioned that he's seen my brother Ed (Eddy as he said, which let's you know he was a friend from high school days) at some of the state soccer games. It was also good to be a part of the Pettisville community.
3. Kate had her first home basketball game-so it's the first time we've seen her play. It was fun to see the progress throughout the game from a tentative player to a more aggressive defensive player and an offensive player that worked hard to post up inside and had four points!
4. Saturday morning we were able to bring Jessie home from the vet. She had a dislocated femur and they had her back leg bandaged up so she couldn't use it. Today we were to take off the bandage. She is very hesitant to use it and we can tell that she is still sore. Tonight I sat in the garage with her for over an hour trying to coax her out of the carrier. Finally with Jeff's help she emerged, ate, went outside to do her business and then Jeff caved to my begging to let her sleep inside tonight in the kitchen :)
5. And probably my greatest hope for the week came today after church when someone came up to me and wondered if I had any interest in using their garden patch this year. He usually had corn in there but this year he thought he'd put it in cover crop unless I would have interest in using it. Just three days earlier while waiting for Kate to finish practice and I grabbed a paper and pencil and just jotted down a few thoughts. They were: find some sponsors to grow fresh food for the community; provide local food for the community meals that just started, for our church meals, for youth fundraisers, for some local families who can't afford to buy it. Of course my thoughts also went beyond veggies to fresh eggs, bread and meat. Obviously I can't do all of that, but this conversation today brought me hope that maybe some of this could become a reality. So needless to say I pulled out our Four-Season Harvest book and am scouring the pages for what I can learn. We'll see what emerges, but for now it has provided me with new found energy and hope for what is to come.
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