Hope Peas!

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Curled up in a ball on the chair she barely looked up when I told her we were going to go out and plant the peas… “It’s St. Patrick’s Day…. It’s tradition.”  These little girls are still so sick…and little Noa has lost her smile and gained a furrowed brow.  She shook her head and curled back up.  In all my years of parenting and in all eight kids I have never seen such a slow moving  relentless stomach virus as this.

I begged her…. she told me to go on and she would water them in a few days.

I looked at my husBen… and he scooped her up promising her that a good dose of sunshine would take her mind off of her belly.  We zipped winter coats over cozy pants and pjs… and released ourselves to the sixty degree but very windy day.  Excuse the homelessness look of the children… they have had a tough week… and I dare say we have had it almost as  bad while taking care of them.

So that is how we planted hope.  Hope that soon the sixty degree days will be more frequent.  Hope that someday these babies will feel better.  Hope that our garden will grow.  Then filled with this same hope and most surely not wanting to go back in “that house”… we raked the yard and cleaned up the messy remains of last years garden.

In other news… the triplet lambs are doing wonderfully!  They have each gained four whopping pounds per lamb in their first week!  Today is the ten day mark and all is well!  80% of all lambs that will die… will die within the first ten days… so I feel like I can name them.  Secretly I have named the first one… Elma.  She is the friendliest.  Perhaps it’s because she knows I brought her back from the grey blue grip of death… or maybe it’s because she is the littlest… either way I have let it slip a few times when I pick her up to feel for a full stomach….which is always warm and full.