Blessings

I just got back from a mad run to another post office ten miles away when I missed the closing on my little village PO at 10:30.  I even waited for their 12 - 1 lunch hour to be over. I had orders to mail (thank you, Angels) and my Maryland Sheep and Wool advertising order, which had to be dated Dec. 31 or pay a $50 fine.  Whoops.   Oh, well, as I was shaking my head at their closing when all the other venues in the little town of New Berlin were still open, I remembered to be thankful that I frequent two post offices where I know the workers by name and what's going on in their lives.  That's how it is around here.  I have much to be thankful for and I will list some of them here, in no particular order.

My kids are fantastic.  My grandkids are also thriving, all two of them.  Mia's Nurse Practitioner career is going well.  She will start at the Nyack Hospital in March, heading up a ward all her own with ten patients.  They will help her get the women and child certification she needs to be a hospital NP.  AJ, AKA Father Aaron, is very happy at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.  Bishop Magnus, the head Episcopal Military Chaplain, flew from Washington, DC, to Ft. Sill to spend a weekend with AJ and check out his ministry.  His Grace was very pleased with the way AJ is managing his chaplaincy.  AJ is headed for a week at Nashoda House in Wisconsin to work on his Doctor of Ministry which he hopes to complete next summer.  Eric is making big waves in the Boy Scouts.  The Pine Tree Council is in much better shape than when Eric moved to Maine with his family.  He is renovating the four council camps with the help of the military and doing some major fund raising.  Annie is writing and winning grants for the Boy Scouts and running a scholastic pistol program at Camp Hinds.  Hannah is on the camp staff and Luke is still coming to help Omi on the farm.

Matt is enjoying a challenging and gratifying career in Weatherization.  He is invited to teach energy saving building techniques as far away as Vermont, and is busy writing weatherization curriculum.  Matt's training center is booked with teams from all over New York coming to learn how to keep people warm and safe.


My little farm company is growing slowly but surely.  I am blessed with faithful customers who love my wool and who come to the shows to visit me.  I have two beautiful Wensleydale rams who will bless me with lots of beautiful lambs come spring.  My teaching job is challenging but I work with a dedicated and supportive staff who make it a pleasure to go to work every day.   I'm grateful for my agricultural and artsy  life in this beautiful little valley.  My children are far away but my flock is always here.  I have a purpose and I feel loved.  Can't ask for much more than that.  Happy New Year, everyone.