Stock show birthday

After 16 years in St John, we have truly embraced Stock Show Weekend. I have the youth arts and crafts judging down to a science and it is a joy to reward the art the kids (and art moms) have worked so hard on. We competed in the hog jog and were especially proud of Marcos who missed the 2 mile turn around and ended up doing almost 4 miles! We watched the ffa kids show pigs, goats, steer and lambs. We at burgers and fries and most importantly PIE! The official pie maker, Pat Pierce, had a fresh-out-of-the-oven strawberry rhubarb pie waiting for Tony for his birthday. All three kids marched in the parade and Marcos jumped in at the last minute to help his buddy Birch hold the Grand Marshall Sign. Cooper attended the dance at the grange hall with his friend Hayden from Oakesdale and reported that it was good fun.

Of note, Wilson came home for the weekend. With his dog. His pooping, shedding, whining, chewing dog. That was hard, but having Wilson home was nice. It seemed very obvious to me how hard Wilson was trying. Trying to quit smoking, trying to be kind, trying to be apart of the family. We had several good conversations and the little boys were especially glad to have him here. I was watching Benny, a friend's son or the weekend and Wilson tried realy hard to be nice, even when his dog gave Benny a terrible rope burn. One night he took my car without permission. I was livid. We put his stuff out on the porch tied his dog to a tree and locked the door. When he got home, however, he was humble and took responsibility. Tony let him stay, and I was glad.

Saturday was also Becks angel day. This was an email I sent to Tyler and Chelsea;

I hope it's OK that my report on Beck's Angel day is more about how we felt the presence of angels, rather than acted the part of angels :) Saturday was a uniquely peaceful day. This was inexplicable because Wilson had asked to come home for the weekend, with his poopy, shedding pit bull puppy. He was trying to quit smoking, and was pretty agitated. Normally I am wound up tight like a ticking time bomb, ready to explode when Wilson is home.

Thankfully it was Beck's Angel day and somehow there was a special peace and contentment in our home. Tony and I were able to both feel and convey love and acceptance to our homeless, jobless, friendless kid. We were able to have family prayer and share our testimonies that Jesus Christ can and will heal everything. I even took an afternoon nap, which I've done about 5 times in my entire life.

On Sunday we talked about Beck and what a peaceful baby he was. We agreed to try to be more peaceful people. We love Beck and we love you. Hope you had a peaceful day.

In addition to Tonys Stock Show birthday celebration, he and I celebrated with an unplanned 1/2 marathon walk/run. We went for a run and got lost in the wheat fields only to discover that we had gone 15 miles. We were tired and happy. Nothing like being in your 40s and getting lost with someone you love. We came home and bbq a salmon together. It was a really nice day.  We also had dinner with Wilson and Stephanie, which was expensive and awkward.  However, the food was really good and we were glad to have a positive experience with Wilson.


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