June's Many Things

First, VBS: Wilderness Journey!  Lasa adored every minute.  Noah and Anna worked it - Anna leading with the worship team and Noah helping out in a pre-k class.  And Noah drove the three of them there and back and it was so weird to not be doing that for the first time ever!  Lasa's tribe leader this year was Lindsey Jo, which made both our weeks.

 

Blueberries coming up wild on the property ... bring happy smiles.

Little bitty Bane has settled in so great this month and is just the cutest, sweetest thing, and he and Finnick are best buds.  They both delight us every day with the adorable things they do.

Alas, the patches for the pool trying to remedy the stupid mouse chew holes did not hold up and we had to trash the whole thing.  Same for the back up pool.  It hurt.  But we managed to find one at Walmart that was not as expensive as we feared they would all be.  We painfully moved some dollars around to eek out this unexpected purchase ... which then started leaking within a week.  Gah!  Josh contacted the manufacturer and they shipped up a new liner for free.  That helped offset the aggravation.  Trouble is, the pool was already full and it cost moolah for all that water ... so we are still using the leaking liner and its fullness of water as long as it will last.  Weirdly, the leak seems to have slowed?  Divine intervention maybe? Sweet mercy? Josh also finished putting the new surface on the little deck beside it and it is so great!

Josh kept on building his shed, an hour or two here or there - anxious to get all his tools out from storage under the house from the move.  The last day of the month, he started moving things in and it's really exciting!  The second half of the structure, an eventual greenhouse, will be a shade house in the m meantime.

Check out these cool door handles he made from crow bars.

Out for a drive on any given day or night.

We endured three grueling sucker punches in 5 days' time this month when three of our bunnies fell ill with weird symptoms and died,  Anna's Jenny being the first. It was so shocking and painful and upsetting. Anna had to be so strong holding Jenny while she died, which she is glad she did.  Anna buried Jenny and Shade, who died five days later.  Josh had to put Padme down the same day Jenny died, as her symptoms were severe and we didn't want her to suffer to the end like poor Jenny did. We quickly figured out the exposure to the chicken poop is what got them:  salmonella.  And that makes us feel even worse.  So that housing situation has been altered entirely now too.  Millie, the only other rabbit that was in the bunny bin and exposed to the poop and the sick rabbits, started showing symptoms too, but more mildly than the others. There is a 90 % morbidity rate to this situation, but a dear friend offered up the idea of treating her with colloidal silver.  She brewed us up several batches and we doused her in it for days - eyes, nose, feet, mouth - and syringed it into her mouth and put it with her for her drinking water.  Amazingly, slowly, she recovered!  Amazing.

 Padme, just before she died.  It hurt Josh, I know, to have to put her down.  He buried her while the kids were at VBS that night. It seemed a somber fit, though, that she went the same day her sister did.  Padme and Jenny were quite the bonded pair ... the last of our original three bunnies.  The end of that era really aches!

Pic of Jenny and Padme that we love. Even more so now.  Sorry I don't have a pic of Shade to post just now.  Shade was that undercover stinker who got these two pregnant several years back, if you will recall. ;)

That same dear friend that got the Colloidal Silver in our hands also sent precious babies breath bouquets to lay on the three bunnies' graves.  Becky never ceases to amaze me with her tender kindness.  I honestly don't know if it was the silver or her fervent prayers that saved Millie! 

Josh is now a believer in the usefulness of CS and we are going to start brewing our own.  But about the bunnies, we are down to our last three... Millie and then Valley and Luke who always stay on the back porch and were never exposed to chicken germs or the sick bunnies.  We are working on bonding Millie to Valley now.  She had to learn to live with Valley and Luke since she can't be out in the original bunny bin so near the chicken anymore. 

Noah continues to work like a machine - forty hours a week in this hot Tennessee sun when he's not working in the greenhouses or the shipping van. He has really enjoyed spending time with his coworkers, too.

The landscaping we planted last fall is starting to grow finally and we think it looks great! It's nice to be able to see it all the way from the street.  The crepe myrtles are even blooming now, too.

 

Lasa is enjoying her summer and being a good sport about my actually enforcing screen time limits for her finally.  She has been industrious with the chalk, the toys, the dress up, the books, the blocks, the stickers, the pool, and even daily chores.  I love to see it!

We have a little kitchen garden by the front porch with tomatoes and strawberries.  I love this!

Josh's garden's progress ..

 

Noah and Anna's Thursday night bible study group.  Anna missed the last night, quite upset over one of our animal losses that same day.  Noah appreciated the distraction and went on ahead.

 

Our brand new driver has jumped into a new level of social life - planning outings with friends and driving himself there on the regular.  It is BEYOND WEIRD for me - him having a life I didn't orchestrate.  I just have to say that.  A few pics I scraped up from his phone.  Hockey and Culvers one day.  Bowling and pizza another.  Several youth after-party nights during VBS.  He had Jonah over a couple times to do airsoft and I don't know why I didn't snap pics then.  Phooey!  Today he is gone again to hockey and lunch with Everett and then Barrett.

 

Me, more bunco.  Didn't win a dime this time.  Ha!  But laughed so hard all night that I had a sore throat afterward.

 

Pic Josh sent from the Gatlinburg conference room he was sitting in one week.  Just another day in the mountains. So neat.

 

I have been reading up a storm!  Some great titles I couldn't put down this month.  I forgot to get a pic of Call Your Daughter Home, which was excellent as well.  Also read Holier Than Thou, which was harder to finish, but worthwhile - very dense read!

 

More swim!  I am amazed she hasn't gotten an ear infection yet!

Oh yeah - Father's Day!  Josh got a book of sheet music (he's been playing a lot of piano lately), a neck fan (for all his work outside in the heat), a new saw (since his just died), a copy of The Chosen Season 2, and some precious homemade cards as always.  He voted for a shrimp boil for dinner that day, which he enjoyed cooking with Anna's help.

And finally, we took our much anticipated lake trip with my family in Jasper, Alabama and it was a total delight.  I will post pics of all that goodness in its own post and offer just a few representative shots here.  Thankful for that getaway!  So thankful.

Phew!  Whew!  June, you were full!