Mixed Emotions

Bike riding for PE. Becoming a daily fun time!
Kim's poodle skirt for Halloween-I made it Sunday morning.
A friend gave us a karate set for Jordan. Halloween and activities in one!
Fabric for the older girls prairie dresses and bonnets for Halloween...the one on the far right.
Crayon rolls for each of the 4 youngest. Good for church, and so easy--no pattern needed.
Chrysanthemums planted out front for fall color.

This has been a week of mixed emotions. Clay left to go halfway across the country for business on Monday and is returning as I type. That in itself makes life interesting, but not nearly so much as in the past when the kids were smaller. It's no biggie now. But still, the house is not the same when dad is gone.
Then there was the sickness that began last weekend with Kim and spread to me and finally to Liz. It is basically a stomach bug that sometimes comes with fever, sometimes not, but makes you nauseous when you eat. That was not fun, but at least I was eating by yesterday and able to better care for Liz who had a very bad Thursday. The rest of the week we will call a natural diet--the closest I ever get to actual dieting. But the nausea gave me some small reason to believe i might be expecting. I look for any reason each month, and mostly there are no signs, but I was truly hopeful, though my dear husband would have been shocked. But alsas, today I learned it was only a bug, and the deep disappointment set in. No matter that he wants no more and that I am content with the blessings I have been given, every glimmer of hope that another might come is a big letdown when it is found to be false. Maybe it is because I always wanted a large family. I am not a "full quiver" person by any means, but I do hold the Christian belief of children as a blessing and I do desire them.
Then there was co-op. Always fun, but it was plagued with illness this week. We had lots of rearranging to do but everyone was gracious and helpful and it went well. I am teaching a preschool class and that is definitely not helping the "baby fever" i seem to have. So there are more mixed emotions.
Also my FIL was diagnosed with cancer this week. (A baby would have been a bright spot in the ugliness. Oh well.) We are praying for him and I have high hopes and expectations of a full recovery for him, though walking the path will not be fun, easy, or happy, especially for my husband who is close to his dad. He is a wonderful papaw to all the grandchildren and he is a wonderful Christian. God knows what he needs and requests are being made on his behalf.
And my sister in law lost her father (grandfather). I didn't know him, but it is hard for her, though the family is glad he is not suffering anymore. He was 95 and not in good health.
So that is the mixed week we have had. School went well, and we all seemed very God focused, and all of us seemed reaqlly close. The kids played well all week and had fun together and the weather changed for cooler and there was a bit of rain. Now if we only had MUCH MUCH more rain.
But all in all it was a good week, and there will always be mixed emotions. Blessings are here in this house every day. It is easy to see them. God is good.