Getting To Know The Hospital

It's not been a great week for blogging because we've had some difficulty at the homestead this week. My Dad was admitted to the hospital last weekend with pneumonia. They are currently trying a few different meds and monitoring his blood counts, blood sugars (he's diabetic), oxygen levels, and fevers. He seems to be getting a bit better and actually had a pretty decent day today, but it's still so worrisome to have him be sick and we sure do miss him here at home. 

I am thankful that we are close to a hospital. Back when we were looking for property one of my requirements was that we be somewhat close to a hospital because with my parents and also young children I just felt more comfortable knowing there would be medical care close by. Our house is only minutes from the hospital in the tiny town we live on the outskirts of. I worked for a little over seventeen years in a large hospital in the city that had nearly 10,000 admissions last year. The hospital in the town we are in now has 9 patient rooms and judging by this week, it seems they usually have about 3 patients at any given time! I didn't say I required a big hospital!

In addition to Dad's illness, that same Bro-in-law who broke his rib helping us a couple weeks ago had an accident on the quad and injured his leg (lots of bruising and swelling and a huge gash), then he was going over to milk the cows at the dairy farm they live on (cause he's a cowboy and they don't stop working for anything!) and a cow kicked a door, slamming it into his already broken rib. 

My days have been packed full of taking care of the animals (which is now a little more work because the temps are getting down in the single digits), taking care of the kids, making lots of runs to the hospital to visit, pick up laundry, and help in any way I can there, coming home to wash the laundry and cook meals for everyone, take the clean clothes and meals up to the hospital, and just generally try to keep things kept up around here. My sister works, my husband works long hard hours, and Mom is staying with Dad at the hospital, so everyone has their hands full!

So, as you can see, there hasn't been a spare moment between taking care of all the normal stuff around here and trying to look after these boys! But, honestly, I'm happy to do it all. There's nothing I'm doing that I'm not doing for someone I love, and that's what it's all about for me.

 And there have definitely been lots of bright spots in the days.

Like having these ladies and gentlemen as my own personal entourage as I do chores every morning.

The sight of these guys running to me as fast as they can, wings spread out like they want to fly, and man are they LOUD! I know they are probably just really hopeful that I will have some bread in my pockets for them, but I choose to believe that maybe they are that excited to see me in the morning cause they just love me so much.

The day we tried to make gingerbread barns. Fail. We couldn't get the darn pieces to stick together. But we don't care, we just decorated the front pieces and ate the rest of the gingerbread!

And getting this wreath as a surprise outside our door one morning. Moving here put us a lot closer to one of my cousins and she made this for us. It's so heartwarming to see it hanging on the barn each time I drive in the road.

Well, I better get to bed, I'm guessing tomorrow will have me busy caring for lots of animals and people again. Thank God. :)

What are the bright spots in your life this week?

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