Pig Memories

As I mentioned, I have had a blast these last couple of days looking through our old photos. I want to share almost every single one, but that's not really going to happen. I just finished looking through photos from July of 2005, when we took a trip to Portland, Oregon. It was such a great trip. It was also the trip that I knew we were missing a daughter from our family and Tim was certain we were not. ;-) Fast forward to July 2006 and Tim and I were in Haiti meeting Esther and Talley on Talley's first birthday. Yep, Talley was born in July 2005 during our trip to Oregon. ;-)

One of the things that looking at photos does for me is remind me of how incredibly blessed Tim and I are. All I ever wanted was to be a mother. And I even always planned to adopt some of my kids. Here I am the mom of 9 amazing, beautiful, talented, generous, funny, intelligent, loving kids. People are forever telling Tim and I that our kids are lucky to have us. Boy do they ever have it wrong! Tim and I are the lucky ones. These kids have blessed our lives in more ways than I can count. We're so thankful for each one of them and grateful to be a family.

So today I finally cooked up some spare ribs from our pig, Rupert. I have only ever cooked ribs one other time and it was a disaster. I cooked these ones in the oven today and they were so tender and good. Yum! The only thing we have left of Rupert is soup bones. As we supped on his succulent ribs, we reminisced about the days of caring for the pigs. What a crazy experience that was and we're so happy we tried it. I can't say that I would want to do it again, but it was great for our family. We talked of the time a pig bit me; the time a couple of pigs pushed me into their big poopy mud puddle; the time it was raining so hard we were all slipping all over the place; the time a pig went between my legs and I was sitting on it's back and having trouble getting off; the time Ryland and I were up on the hill at about 10:30 pm or 11 pm and we couldn't see a thing and we were so scared that a mountain lion was up there with us that we quickly fed the pigs by the light of the moon, then we ran down that steep hill in the pitch black with our hearts pounding and ended up laughing all the way home; the time Ryland was so mad at the pigs, cause they were getting in the way and he couldn't fill their bowls, that he was shoving them out of the way and almost knocked one over (and they were big!); the time Tim got quite a shock when he accidentally touched their electric fence. So many memories. ;-)

Tomorrow is shipping day and then Tim and I are going to watch the movie 'The Avengers' for our date. Tim has already seen the movie and wants me to see it. Then this weekend we've got some house and yard work to do. Sahara is going out with friends to watch a movie and Ryland and Beth are going to watch 'The Avengers' too. Of course Mother's Day is on Sunday. I hope I just get to completely relax. Tim keeps asking me what I want and I tell him that I don't want anything. And it's true. I have everything I want and need. I am a blessed woman.

Kenyon taught Henry how to throw a frisbee today. It was so cute to watch him throwing it around outside while all of the kids played after school. I can't believe he is going to be 1 on Wednesday! This year has flown by.

OK, I have to put a load of laundry into the drier and then it's time for bed. Henry is tired and I'll rock him to sleep. Then I'll probably watch some of my Korean drama (My Princess) before going to sleep myself. It's been a nice day.