My tribe: Well….

I mentioned that last week was rough. I was not correct. Last week was good. I apologize in advance for where this is going.

The man on the right is my brother, Eric. This week, he had a massive stroke. He is currently in the ICU in Kansas City receiving treatment. While I am not a doctor, to me things look fairly dire. Sure, sometimes miracles happen, and we are definitely praying for that. Eric is one of the kindest people, with the biggest hearts you will ever meet. He is a good dad and would help anyone with anything they needed. An honest to God shirt off his own back kind of person. He has saved me more times than I care to think about - from a dead transmission on the turnpike, to a bus stuck to it's axles by a sister who thought she could turn around in a flood in a pasture entrance. He never says much, sort of giggles and then helps you. He might point it out later when he is telling "dumb junk people have done" stories, but he doesn't make you feel too bad about it! Anyway, if you are the praying type, Eric could use all he can get. Clayton could use a few as well as we navigate this.

The unknown is always hard for me. I am a 'fixer' kind of person. If its broken, you repair it. You tell me what the problem is, we find a solution. I am not a patient person either. I want all the answers today, so I can plan out what steps we need to take and how we are going to navigate the future. Total type A personality. Sometimes you can't plan everything. There are no check lists here. There is not order or planning or fixing to this. I have often joked that the worst thing you can ask me to do is wait. Unfortunately, that is what we are all doing. Waiting to see. Life can change in a second. We have to remember that and be present with our love, tell our people, and live every moment. Loving people is the greatest gift, but it is also the worst pain when things go wrong. I am not ok. I will be, but for now, I am not ok.

But what I do have is distractions. A kitten, found by my friend's son who is a lineman. They moved some equipment. Four hours down the road, and this kitten drops out of his stuff. Obviously not old enough to be on its own. He saved it, but they wanted help to bottle feed it. They would also like to have it back when she is bigger, so a perfect scenario for me. I love to feed babies. I love watching them grow and develop. And this is a good distraction right now. They named this baby Sparky. I think she is a girl, but I could be wrong. So far, she is eating well and is super sweet - already purring when she eats and is happy to see you! Quincy has been a Godsend on helping me with her - going above and beyond the call of duty to do night shift and times when I am gone. Seriously though, who doesn't love a sweet baby kitten? Oh right, Maude, who thinks this looks like a delicious snack!

Also, Monday was Preston's first day of his junior year at KSU.

And Sunny's first day of her junior year as well. Thank you for the first day pics Sunny!

I hope you both have an amazing year! Love you both!

Harper is going on the 2026 CWF trip. She has been meeting with her group, and raising money. She is excited to go. Unfortunately, 4-H has gone through some changes and budget cuts lately. The National 4-H Foundation has done away with the CWF trip of the past - the one that was so much fun and so awesome. They used to get together with certain other states from around the country. They would meet together and learn about how a bill is written. Then they would meet with their senators and representatives and talk to them about bills they had on the floor. Then they would come together and have a mock congressional session and pass bills that they had created. They also toured DC, and had other activities. It was a wonderful program and an amazing experience. Ia m so sad Saige and Harper wont' get to experience it. They are going to take these kids to DC and tour everything and meet their congresspeople though. It will be a shorter trip since they won't' have the conference parts. I hope it will be fun for her. They are going to try to have a few more meetings to have the kids learn the same things, but it won't be kids from all over the country. Anyway, she had a meeting for that on Sunday and I was so proud of her - she is shy and having to do speeches is hard for her, but she jumped right in there and gave a speech about her tourist location - the Nati9onal Cathedral.

While we were at the meeting, Jim and Andrew went fishing. Jim caught this carp. He was very excited about it. I guess it was pretty large.

Before I left, I gave the girls hair trims. It is weird how much older Wrenley looked when I got done.

This week has been cooler, the mornings have been almost chilly. Which is why I thought the girls were cray when they asked if they could swim. I told them I would come watch from the pool deck, but no way was I getting in that water! They didn't last too long, but they did swim! I don't know whether to wish for more warm weather or not. It is definitely nicer driving the bus when it is cooler! But I wasn't done using the pool yet!