What Happens Next?

Life has been a whirlwind since my last post. It was the first of May - and May ended up being one of the busiest months I've had in a long time. On the 4th of May, my dear friend and sister Kari went home to be with our Lord. She passed very early in the morning, and things were just as she had wanted them: her family all around her, except for her kids, who were each with a non-family "family" member. She didn't want them to have to see her in that state, and it was her wish that they not have to go through that part of it. Things were just as she wanted. She was completely coherent until the moment she went home.

I got to see her on the afternoon before she passed; she was alert and coherent; however she was unable to speak (unless it was *absolutely* necessary). She "spoke" with raised eyebrows or short vocalizations. She just didn't have the energy. And that was ok. Because we all knew that she knew exactly what was happening. I got to talk to her a bit, pray with her and for her. I thank God for that privilege.

The next week was when the whirlwind started. Because Kari was a part of a quartet that we sang in together, we were asked to sing at the memorial service. 4 of us gals got together for a couple days before the service to practice a song to sing. At different points in the quartet's history, there were 5 of us who sang at different points in time. We've become a little family. This quartet is one of the greatest blessings God has given me in music. The song we chose was "Circle of Friends", because 1), she was such an important part of our lives, 2), we knew how large a circle she had touched, and 3), it was a song that we knew and (some of us) had sung before and could prepare quickly. :) What a blessing, to be able to sing at the service, and God held us up through the entire song - we made it all the way through without any tears. I know there's no other way *I* would have made it through. (Thank you Lord!!)

So on Wednesday we had the memorial service at our church, and what an amazing sight to see how many people her life had touched. The place was packed, standing room only. There were probably over 600 people there. There were people from all walks of life, and so many people had wonderful things to say about her and how she touched their lives. I think every one of her girlfriends felt like Kari was her best friend. That's just how she affected people. I'm not usually one to claim a "best friend", except for my husband. But I know that for me, she was definitely one of my best girl friends - really, she was a sister. I've said it before. It's simply true. She was one of the people who I felt knew me for who I *really* am - not who I used to be, and not what they *think* I am. Just who I am, now, who God has made me. I appreciated that so much about her.

The day after the memorial service, 3 friends and I got in a van and drove to Montana, to be with her family at her graveside service on Friday afternoon. It was one of the most amazing times. On the 8-hour drive (each way), the four of us bonded, shared memories about Kari, and had a wonderful time sharing "Kari's Montana" with each other. The weather couldn't have been more perfect, and what a blessing to be counted as her family, *by* her family. We were so blessed.

The graveside service was very special; the pastor of her parents' church gave a wonderful message, and a gentleman sang "It Is Well With My Soul" afterward - what a sound, hearing all these people, including many family members, singing along, and the truth of the song ringing through the air. It really *is* well with my soul. God is in control, and for some reason, unknown to us at this time, has a purpose to taking Kari home at this time in her life. Although we have to now live with that "unknown", we still have peace because we understand that God's plan is perfect. We trust in him. It is will with our souls.

After the service, as is a tradition in their family, the sharpies came out and everyone who wanted to was allowed to write a little note on the casket. That was so special. At first I wasn't sure what to think about it, but as it turned out, it was amazing. What a wonderful way to send off one more last tangible thought - to say one "last word".

Later that day we returned to Kari's parents' house up on the hill...they have a beautiful place. We sat on the porch, visited, just had a good time sharing together. Later that night we got to experience another family tradition: Pinecone Baseball. What a fun time together with this family that we love and that accepted us as part of their family. When the day was over and we drove back to our hotel, we all agreed that it was one of the best. days. EVER.

Honestly, I wasn't sure I really needed to go on this trip, I felt I probably had enough closure at the memorial service. But I'm so glad I went, it was so healing, and a wonderful way to bond with these 3 amazing women who I also count as very dear friends. I am so thankful for them, even more now than ever, since we had the experience together saying goodbye to our friend and sister, Kareen.

The next day was my birthday; my girlfriends took me to breakfast, and then we "crashed" a birthday celebration to surprise Selah (Kari's youngest daughter, born on my birthday 12 years ago). After that, we drove the 8 hours home and again, had a wonderful time together.

Kari's Montana: Circle of Friends

The next three weeks were filled with busy-ness! I'm not complaining; don't get me wrong. Not at all. It was just busy. And honestly, I'm not used to "busy". Life is not usually like this for me. :)

First, there was a Classical Conversations Parent Practicum. In a nutshell, it's a parent teaching session for our homeschool community. That weekend we went to Dallas (Oregon) to the Parker Estate (my parents' house). We celebrated Emma's 14th birthday on Saturday, and took in one of my mom's band concerts. The next weekend was my annual yard sale, which is always fun, and since Kari was always involved with us, it was another few days of memories (and garbage trucks). The week after that was the last week of May (thank goodness!). A couple of those days included homeschool testing. The state requires us to have our kids tested every year. So by the end of that week, which was the end of the month, I was so ready for May to be O-VER.

I know it's silly, it's just that I felt like once May was gone, I could relax a little bit. And it's true - June has been much better so far. :) I still have to get my house clean this week, but I feel like it's a job that can be done without quite such a busy schedule.

So that's it. That's what's happened since my last post.
It's been a whirlwind, but it's ok. It's life. Full of ups and downs!

So here's my question: What happens next?

What happens after you lose a friend and sister?
After so many of your friends have also lost the same friend?
After people who are family to you, have lost a wife and mother?

Well, what happens next, is that we keep on keepin' on. We keep moving forward, we keep living our lives. I will live one day at a time, and see what happens. I'll pray that I can be a good wife and mother, friend and sister, by the grace of God. And I will remember that He is in control.

I will remember that no matter what, this fact remains:

God is good, all the time.

It's just a fact.

What it's all about.

What started out as a Facebook status update soon became the beginning of a blog post. So I have brought it here to share. Unfortunately, it's a bit long-winded, but please stick with me, I pray it will be worth the read.

Please pray with me for my friend and sister, Kari, and her family. This woman is one of my closest friends. She is like my sister, her husband is like my brother, we are like second moms to each others' kids. This family is our second family. Diagnosed in late September with aggressive stage 4 uterine cancer, she has been fighting hard for about 7 months now, and it looks as though the end is coming near. And we continue to pray. We pray for healing, for her family, for her to be comfortable, for so many things.

God *can* heal her, we know this is a fact, but will he choose to do so? Of course we selfishly pray for such a miracle. But regardless of how we feel about his plans, we know that they are perfect. He is perfect. He is the blessed controller of all things. His ways are not our ways. We know and trust that he has a perfect plan, and though we pray for healing, and trust that he can do it, we also know that he may not grant that prayer.

We trust in him, and even if we don't get the outcome that we really want, we will trust that he knows best. We will continue to tell ourselves that truth, even if we don't feel like believing it for a moment. Or for several moments. But we will come back to the truth. We'll be real, and because our human, sinful, selfish nature wants to be mad at him for letting this horrible thing happen to our friend, we will still trust in him and believe that he knows best and has our best interests at heart. We will come back to the truth. 

We could choose to spend our days full of sadness that we may soon lose a friend, but I'm not sure that's the way for us to glorify God in this situation. Feeling sad is fine, but I think we are supposed to also figure out what God is teaching us through this. He's been preparing us for this loss for months now, and has been teaching us how to be selfless and helpful and think of others through hard times.

He wants us to see the truth. The truth is this: our lives are but a whisper, a grain of sand, chaff in the wind. We are nothing; he is everything. We deserve hell; he has given us the gift of eternal life. The truth is, he loves us immensely. The truth is, he desires good things for us. The truth is, he is constantly teaching us, molding us, yearning for us to seek him. Our desire should be to become more like Christ through every. little. thing. that happens in our lives. There is no such thing as coincidence. Every moment of our lives, driven by the choices we make, are filtered through God's hands. He will not give us anything that he hasn't allowed to be in our lives.

So what do we do with this? What do *I* do with this? I can tell you what I have been doing with it. All the while praying for God to heal her, either completely or in part, I've been simultaneously mourning the loss of my sister. I've been trying to figure out whether or not that's complete trust in God, or whether it's simply allowing myself to cope. I think it's both. God knows my heart. He knows how much I trust in his miracles, his healing, and his love. He knows, so I really am not worried about what anyone else thinks about how I've been dealing with this. I just pray that in my sharing about it, I can help someone else cope. Even if just a little bit.

Here's the deal. God tells us not to worry. Philippians 4:6-7 have been verses I've strived to live by for almost 20 years now:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

So I take my concern, lay it at the foot of the cross, let the blood of Jesus cover it, and I let. it. go. Of course there are times when that doesn't happen, let's be straight. I'm human, I make {many} mistakes, we all do. But when it comes to this, here's my mindset: I have been commanded not to worry. So I'm not going to spend my days being sulky, sad, mopey, grumpy (or any other dwarf), about this situation. I will mourn. I have mourned. I have moments of despair and sadness. But I will *not* let it bring me down permanently and cause me to believe that God has lost control of the situation.

**Nothing that has happened has been a surprise to God.** 

Satan wants me to believe the lies that I need to make this all about me. He wants sadness and despair to control my life. The blood of Jesus has given me power over those lies, and I will claim that. I will strive to be a positive example for my children, teaching them how to deal with the realities in life. It's ok to feel sad, and to cry, and to mourn, but it's not ok to let it control our lives. God is our refuge and strength, our ever-present help in times of trouble. (Psalm 46:1, most likely a combination of translations.) :)

So as I continue my mourning process, all the while praying for God to miraculously heal my sister so that she can continue carrying on the amazing life she has lead so far, I also continue trusting that God knows best. He *can* heal her, but if he chooses not to, I will trust that he knows what he's doing. No, I don't like it. I don't like the thought of losing a friend, a sister. I don't like the thought of my children losing a "second mom". I don't like the thought of her kids being left without their mom, or my brother without a wife. These people are family to us. And no matter how many times we try to tell ourselves that she'll be going to "a better place", we don't like it.

But, no matter how much I don't like it, my job is not dependent on whether I like what God does. My job, my main goal in life, is to glorify God. My life is supposed to glorify God. Does it glorify God if I'm sitting around, sulking, and selfishly believing lies? I think not. God is not glorified when we let our pride and selfishness rule us. So we trust Him, His power, His majesty, His mercy, His grace, everything that HE is, and we carry on. Blind faith, you say? Maybe. But I'd rather be led by God through blind faith than be led by anyone or anything else. 

Yep. I'm rambling again. It's gotta get out of my head somehow, and this is as good a place as any. I pray that you, the reader, will take something positive from my ramblings. Maybe you're where I am, and you're on the brink of the possibility of losing a loved one - the same one as me, or a different one. Maybe you don't know them, but can just pray for James and Kari's family, and for those of us who are in this situation.

Maybe you have other things that are more pressing in your life, and you'll find some encouragement here. And maybe you and God aren't on speaking terms lately. Whatever the case, I pray that you will see God's hand in your life, that you will see the difficulties in your life as God's way of attempting to bring you closer to him.
Because without him, you won't ever have true happiness or contentment, you'll always be searching for it.
Trust me, you won't find it any other way. If you don't believe me, try it. What have you really got to lose? 

This started out as a quick post to ask people to pray for my friend, and for my family and all of us going through this trial. But you know what? It's not about me. It's not about me at all. God wants me to share this with you, and he wants *you* to see his love for you. That's really what this whole thing is about. God uses stuff like this in our lives to point us to him. It's all about him. Our purpose in life? To Glorify God and Enjoy Him Forever. We glorify God by accepting his love, by sharing it with others, by being examples of his love to others.

This is what it's about.



If you're not familiar with my friend Kari's story, please see her CaringBridge site for more info and the latest updates. Please pray for her situation, especially her family, all of whom are so special to us.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/KariPaskeBennett

Rachel's note

I sat down by the fireplace today to read, and found this note in my bible, on the back of a scribble card.
Rachel wrote this probably when she was about 5. I'm just guessing, but she was writing her name before she turned 4, so there's a good chance this was before she turned 5.

Precious.

Rachel's quick reply

Homework time:



Emma: Oh, I spelled snail wrong. I wrote s-n-a-l-e instead of s-n-a-i-l.

Me: Well, you're going to jail!

Emma: Darn.

Rachel: And that's not j-a-l-e.



Good one, Ra.

Overheard in the girls' bathroom

Emma was just taking a shower upstairs and Rachel often hangs out in there and talks to her while she showers. It's a sister thing.

Brian and I walked up the stairs and stopped when we got to the top, and heard the following - Emma telling Rachel about a girl at school. We were laughing so hard we didn't catch the rest of the conversation. I love to hear the things they talk about when they don't know who is listening in.

Here's what we heard:

"(Name of girl at school) says she's a Christian, but she says "Oh my God". Not that saying "Oh my God" makes you *not* a Christian, but still, it isn't good."



Be careful, little lips, what you say...

I love my sister

I got this email from my sister Tanya tonight. She is the most fantastic, wonderful, beautiful, funny, entertaining, silly, absolutely cool next-to-youngest-sister in the world.

Here is the email I received tonight:

hi. can u please mail me a bunch or a little(if your a meanie) of your shortbread? PLEASE PLEASE?

oh yeah, i had 2 go 2 the doctor and he said i probably won't make it without shortbread from u in my regular diet.

so if u wanna be responsible for me keeling over dead before my 35th birthday, i donno how u would live with yourself.

ummmmmm....oh my work has a few new rules for employees.. we have to eat shortbread from you(only for me though) once daily at least, or we get fired. on the spot.

so if you wanna be responsible for me dying, and being unemployed, probably trying to jump of the bridge or something, then you should be court marshalled.

Ok then. I better get to baking.

Tasha's Wedding

Wow. Tasha's wedding. Tasha's. Wedding. My little baby sister is married. Well it was inevitable, I guess. She's beautiful, funny, smart, talented - just to name a few - so someone was bound to see all those things that I see -- but it would be weird for me to marry her, so I'm glad someone else did. Jesus is an awesome guy - a fellow army band member, so also very musically talented, also very funny, and he's not bad on the eyes either. The wedding was very cool. I'll give a brief synopsis of the weekend.

Friday Tasha and Tanya and I ran some errands. We had to go downtown to get a few things, and of course, right after we parked and walked a couple blocks, it started pouring. Not just pouring, but an all out cloudburst. Crazy! Of course it didn't start before we left the car, where I had umbrellas. So we got pretty wet. But what are you going to do? I just figured it was a good thing I was wearing flip flops, so my feet would dry out faster. It rained like that off and on for the rest of the day. I was glad I put in the umbrellas, just in case!

The rehearsal dinner plans were changed due to weather - still raining - but we made it work and it all turned out great. I was still thankful for those umbrellas. Friday night I got to stay with the bridesmaids at the hotel. Tanya and a couple of the girls and I stayed in one room with Tasha; the other bridesmaids had family there and stayed with them. All of us got together Friday night to hang out and talk and do "bridesmaid" stuff, I guess. We also gave Tasha tickets to see West Side Story on Broadway in New York this week. I'm not sure what day the show is, but this is the week they are in NY. We pitched in to get them tickets; she was super excited. This was a fun night but a slightly late one, for getting up the next morning for a wedding!

Saturday it was cool in the morning, but nothing a hot coffee wouldn't fix. We got things set up in the park and although it was busy, most everyone had a job and did their job and got things done. We girls got back to the hotel at about 11-ish to start getting ready, getting hair fixed, makeup on, dresses on, and once we were all ready we took some pictures at the hotel before going to the park. It was fun getting pictures taken, and Jai (pronounced "jay") and Drew, the photographers were awesome. Jai rode with me and the trolls to the park, and she showed me some of the shots she got; very fun!! I can't wait to see all the pictures they took.

All in all, the wedding went pretty well! There were a few bumps in the road, but those bumps were smoothed out without too much trouble. Brian was put in charge of finding a replacement vase that had gotten broken in transit; it was full of marbles and whoever moved it didn't remove the marbles; and marbles are not too forgiving when sitting in a glass vase in a moving vehicle up a bumpy road to a park (it was particularly bumpy in one place). He called me from Goodwill, asking if Tasha cared what it looked like...to which she answered "not even a little bit", which shows how easy going she actually was, for it being her wedding day and things not going exactly as planned. She did great. I am sure that I would not have handled it as gracefully, but she's several years older than I was when I got married. Meaning, she's more "grown up" than I was. Not that she is old. If she's old, that means I'm old(er). Perish the thought.

Right before the wedding, I think it was, I remember people asking "does anyone have a corkscrew or bottle opener? We need both!". There must have been a well-prepared girl or boy scout around, because I actually saw two bottle openers/corkscrews at the bar area. Don't worry - it's an expression. I am sure said "girl or boy scout" was a responsible adult. I'm not an expert, and I was never in the girl scouts, but I don't think corkscrews are standard girl scout issue.

During the ceremony there was a mariachi band playing music; and also through a good part of the reception - it was awesome. I'm not sure what a traditional Mexican wedding would include, but this wedding had many influences from Jesus's side of the family. Mariachi band, tostada bar for dinner afterward, including Corona and Negra Modelo (which I must say is not bad, and I'm not normally a beer drinker). The cake was Tres Leches, which was heavenly. Oh my word, that cake was SO good.

The rain stayed away for most of the day, which was an answer to prayer! We had a huge tent where the ceremony was held, but the reception stuff (food, tables) were next to it and not covered. The rain started to sprinkle during the reception just a bit, when Brian and I got our food, so we put our plates down and took a table under the tent. It wasn't raining much then, but a bit later it rained harder for a little bit. A bunch of us grabbed some more tables to put under the cover, but then it let up and didn't rain for the rest of the day. Not too bad for a questionable weather day in Portland (is there any other kind?).

Of course we had to do toasts for the bride and groom (yay for champagne!), so the Best Man and Best Woman (two of Jesus's closest friends) gave their toasts, and then I toasted for me and my sister Tanya (we were the "Sisters of Honor"). I wasn't quite sure what I was going to say, and I was praying for God to give me words. During the toast right before mine, I heard an ice cream truck driving up on the road above us in the park...then I knew exactly what to say. Tasha even had something about Jesus appreciating her love of ice cream in her vows - so this was perfect. After making sure that Tanya wasn't saying anything (she didn't want to talk for fear of crying in front of everyone), and letting everyone know that I was basically speaking for both of us, I told Tasha I was proud of her self discipline, for not taking off running to the ice cream truck when she heard it. After a few more words of encouragement (I hope), my job there was done. Cheers!!

After some cake, the Mariachi band left and the Salsa band came in, and we got to dance the afternoon away. Jesus and Tasha danced the first dance, then the dance instructor (Javier) came in and taught everyone else how to do the Salsa. It was really fun. Later I danced with Jesus (he told me how the guy leads and shows what to do next), and then I got to dance with Javier, which was really fun too.

We all had a really fun time. It was fun for me to see lots of army band people who I hadn't seen for a long time; I think I probably had seen them since I got out of the army, but since some of them are retired from the band, I hadn't seen them at the last concerts I had been to. So it was really fun, kind of a reunion of army band folks. I was in the band for 12 years, so many of these people are like family to me.

All in all, it was a great wedding. Even though things never go exactly as planned, things went well and people enjoyed the celebration. Emma and Rachel were the flower girls, so they got to be a part of the ceremony and got to wear their pretty dresses and sprinkle rose petals and dance and eat cake and tostadas and drink sparkling cider. They loved the salsa dancing too; while I danced with Jesus, Brian danced with the girls. Super fun! Now we're going to have to go take dancing lessons. It's so much fun.

I will post some of my pictures; however I didn't get very many. My camera wasn't working right and Brian couldn't get many pictures. So I took some with my phone; that's about all we have for now. The photographers were awesome, and I can't wait to see what they got. That was another fun part of the day. So when those are available I will put some of them in. For now, here's what I have.

Enjoy!

(this first picture was not good because the camera was on the fritz; but I thought it was still a really good picture.)



Jesus's grandparents, and Tanya peeking out from the dressing tent





Lunch for the guys at the wedding site. These are a couple of Jesus's uncles.

Jesus is going over his vows; Brian thought it was funny to take a picture with the no pets sign.

Here's us...Sarah did a good job making my hair "wedding" worthy

The girls' favorite part of the wedding was the salsa dancing

The beautiful bride

Trampolines

We now have a trampoline...our friends are leaving the country for a couple years, and let us "store" it at our house. Our girls keep telling people "we have a trampoline for 2 years!", which confuses people because they wonder what happens after 2 years, not knowing the situation. It's kind of funny.

So they love the trampoline, they are out there all the time - they finally want to play outside. Who knew?!? So I am going to post some pictures I took yesterday of them - should be fun to see what I got; I haven't even looked at the pictures yet.

Here goes...

Tired, Hungry, and Bored

On Saturday night we had a meeting to draw up the offer on our house. The girls of course were with us, and brought things to do while we did our thing. They were so patient, but by the time we were done, they were definitely ready to go. I think Rachel brought this note over to me on behalf of both of them. You can see that they specifically told us who was feeling what, and Emma's little drawing of the house is cute. You can see the playset in the back, and even the basketball hoop and a ball. Funny!

Rachel-isms

The fun things Rachel says (again, the documented ones)

Her birthdate is 10/28/01, for reference...

§ 9/23/08: “I like working with littler kids so I’m going to be a teacher [when I grow up]”.

§ Sometime in the year she was 5 (2007 or 2008): we were eating dinner with Jim & Daja, and Rachel gave the excuse for something she did, or something she couldn’t do…I can’t remember the exact thing, but what she said was so funny… “but mom, I’m only 5…”

§ 3/09/08: After practicing her jump-roping for quite a while, Rachel came in and said, “oooh my legs really hurt!!” So I told her maybe she should quit jumping rope for a while if her legs hurt. She replied, “I can’t quit, I have to fight heart disease!”

Wow, I skipped, like 4 years here. Oops. When I remember any of them I'll have to add them.

§ July or August 04: We were getting out of the car at Dana's and Rachel showed me her doll and said, "This is hideous." I said, "What?" and she showed me her doll again - it was apparently the dolls name. I laughed and said "That's not a name, that's just a word." So she looked at her doll and then back at me and said, "Her name is Sally."

§ 6/10/04: Rachel is still learning the word "my". She has some medicine to take from Dr. Jared and the pills are quite large...she told daddy tonight (with some coaxing from me, of course), "Daddy, I took mine horse pill." Basically, any place you would normally put the word "my", she puts "mine". "Mama, mine cup spilled" or whatever. It's SO cute.

§ 4/8/04: They’re playing in the bedroom and I hear Emma say “Don’t tell on me!” and then Rachel says “grrr! I’m not! I’m telling on me!”. Rachel then comes and tells me “I’m telling on Emma.” And then goes back in to the bedroom! (I never did know what either of them did)

§ 4/6/04: The girls got out of bed and came into the kitchen and Rachel said “Mama, I’m sick. I have a frog in my mouth.”

§ 3/13/04: Rachel was getting in bed and she didn’t want to go to sleep. One excuse was “I want to sleep with Emma” (they sleep in the same room), and another was “Mama, I’m scared of the dark!” so I put a night light by her bed.

§ 3/18/04: I was getting her spoon for applesauce at breakfast. I asked her what color the spoon was (it was green) and she said “white!” And then I asked her again, “what color is the spoon?” She said “pretend it’s white, ok?” It was so funny! Then I asked her again and she said purple and laughed (she liked to kid, and knew the right color). Finally, I said “Come on, Ra Ra – what’s the real color? Then we’ll pretend it’s white.” So she said “GREEN!”

§ 3/something/04: While in the car, Rachel said that Emma did something to her, so I asked her what she did. Rachel then went into detail about how Emma hit her with an empty water bottle, and when Emma said she didn’t do it, Rachel said “Emma, don’t interrupt!” and proceeded to finish telling me what Emma did. Again, Emma cut in to say she didn’t do it, and Rachel again said “Emma, don’t in – a – wup!”

A Scenic Drive

After the day of Salamander Hunting, Picture Taking, and other various and assorted activities, we took a drive down the property, to see some of the things that my dad has been doing with the place - fences here, new roads there, new trees planted, all those kinds of things. So come driving with us!

"We're going through THERE?!?"
Shooting the gap...
Yep, that's close!


I think floodwater created that little canyon...

The end of the (fence) line...
Rachel's turn to drive


Emma's turn now!
Here we go shooting the gap again...the old man's still got it!


And who doesn't like to relax and read a good book after a scenic drive?

The Great Salamander Hunt

Whenever we go to the Parker Estate, there is a hunt for some sort of creature. Sometimes snakes, sometimes frogs, but this time it was salamanders. Growing up, we played with salamanders and frogs all the time. So the girls and I, camera in hand, went for a walk!

Emma found one! Actually she had two, Frank and Lisa. OK, well, I caught them for her. But who's keeping track?
And also one for Rachel...meet Abigail the salamander.
Look, Mama!
SO happy to have creatures!!

As always, Molly wants to play
Walking up to the house to show everyone our catch

Time to set them free again...


Bye bye! Nice knowing ya! (Now go wash your hands!)