Abundance

It has been a banner month in our household. (Read, we are surprised child protective services hasn't contacted us.) In the past 3 weeks Tobias broke his leg, all the boys had fevers that lasted several days, I was knocked out with a nasty virus for a whole week, David John and Elijah both required stitches on their foreheads, Marc and some of the boys had a stomach bug and Tobias pulled his leg out of his cast and had to get a new one.

Tobias really wanted to eat all the casting materials. They gave him an ace bandage to play with while they put on his orange cast.

It would be easy to see all of this as a curse or at least bad luck, but in response to injury and sickness we have received so much from our friends and neighbors. This fall, we are reaping not only fruits and vegetables but also generosity.

Acorn squash from our neighbor. I made soup with them but had no idea how hard it is to cut into these guys. The knife and I won in the end, but it was a close battle.

Supposedly you cannot reap when you do not sow, but that is how we feel. I don't know what we did to deserve this outpouring of love but we are so grateful.

Three different varieties of apples from the trees of three different friends. I love fall.

Tobias broke his leg on a Thursday night. When I say "Tobias broke his leg" what I mean is that his brothers were fighting over who got to hold him resulting in Tobias being dropped and breaking his femur. After a sleepless night of trying to keep his leg immobilized we got x-rays early Friday morning and then I was told I would need to take him to Bismarck to see an orthopedist. Marc's colleagues were amazing. As soon as they heard the news, they had cleared Marc's afternoon schedule so he could watch the other boys and one of them insisted that she would drive me the 1.5 hours to Bismarck so that I could sleep on the way there. While I went to the appointment with Tobias, she picked up lunch for both of us and then drove us home. I was floored that someone would spend their entire afternoon taking care of me and my baby when we had only chatted a handful of times. She is an amazing woman and the kindnesses just kept coming.

Potatoes and onions from two different gardens. Our friends add flavor and substance to our lives in a very real way.

Shortly after we got home, more of the clinic staff arrived with dinner for that night and the next day. A friend's husband agreed to teach my Sunday School class on short notice so I wouldn't have to go to church or stay home alone with a houseful of sick kids. (While I was sick, I lost my voice which meant that when sound did come out I sounded like Minnie Mouse. Have you ever tried to direct children, break up fights, or send someone to timeout with a Minne Mouse voice? It's less effective. They are more likely to laugh at you than obey.)

These carrots were a huge hit with our boys. They called them "creepy carrots" which also happens to be the title of one of their favorite books.

I received messages, texts and calls to see how our family was doing. More meals arrived from friends later in the week.

One of the meals was Filipino style chicken soup. It had papaya in it which is something I would never have thought to put in chicken soup but it was delicious!

Two of the moms in my Joy School group stayed with me when it was my turn to teach to comfort a very needy Tobias. Other friends babysat my boys last minute so I could go to doctor's appointments.

Farm fresh eggs. I had a hard time eating them because they were so beautiful. I think these were layed by artisan chickens. I couldn't get over the highly individual colors and speckles. It makes we want my own chickens.

Fresh produce from gardens flooded into our kitchen. The kind ward member we hired to do our family pictures let us reschedule again and again and then came and picked up our whole crew 30 minutes after our appointment was supposed to start because when we finally could do it, I lost my van keys. (After tearing our house apart and sorting through the trash later that night we found them on a bookshelf.... sitting in plain sight. It was awesome.)

The last tomatoes of the season. They were harvested early because of the coming frost. We will be enjoying them as they ripen in our windowsill.

Our next door neighbors let all the boys (including Marc) come over and play and watch football so I could catch up on some things. They even bought everyone pizza for dinner.

These giant pumpkins are from our next door neighbor. They boys were blown away when they saw them.

I am tearing up just thinking about everything that has been done for us these past few weeks. I don't know how we will every repay the debt. Right now, all I can say is "Thank You!" Thank you, to all of our dear friends and neighbors. Thank you for your love and your support. Thank you for your unselfish sharing of your time and resources. Thank you for treating us like family since our families are far away. We thank God for all of you every day and we thank Him for bringing us here where our life is so very abundant.