SPC #1 fresh (start)

i feel like if i don't post right now, my head may just explode.
there are so many little and HUGE thoughts spinning around in here.
so much has happened and is happening in our little world.
good things, bad things
GREAT things, crazy things
things, things, and more things!

i can't even label or sort it all out. there are beautiful marriages, ugly divorces, time with family (good!), TIME WITH FAMILY (bad!), landscaping, vacation planning, gardening. it seems that every occasion has a flip side that is dark and ugly and foreboding. i'm struggling to keep my head up above it all.

i need a FRESH start, i need to wipe the slate clean. having 4 truckloads of dirt in our front yard has been a great playground for my kids. but it has also helped me to reconnect with what is really fundamental. the smell of freshly tilled and broken dirt is intoxicating. feeling the soil engulf first my toes, then my feet, ankles, legs; fresh and live, revitalizing. and the flip side: i now have dirt in my carpet, dirt in the laundry, dirt on my bed! part of this picture also reminds me that i'm stuck, my feet sinking under the loose soil. it takes real effort to trudge through my little dirt mountains, it will take real effort to lay the sprinkler pipe, to even out the ground, to seed the lawn, to plant the trees, to care for the flowers. *fresh* takes time... sometimes so much time, that we may not even notice the change(s).

but here are the good things in my life right now:

dirt surfing

front porch lunchand daddies who love their babies (and the dandelion headed babies who love their daddies)...
i'll be back soon. and maybe with a few more things sorted out. ;-D

while you wait, check out my SIL's bridals and my other SIL's maternity shots! could ashley be any more talented???