A Short Reprieve

So in the midst of our grief and pain at burying Emily, we had a few days which reminded us that life indeed does move on. And those days were so refreshing!

We spent some glorious (and chilly!) days in Dexter, MI--where it was actually *warmer* than in Nicholasville! Imagine that! ;)

Nettie and Jay allowed us to be ourselves--talk when we felt like it, cry when we felt like it, and were just there for us. What a gift that is!

We spent time at the Hockeytown Cafe on Saturday (pic of the 3 girls), which I found fascinating and fun at the same time. The service left something to be desired and the prices surely didn't warrant any standing ovations, but it was the atmosphere I was after.

I didn't have the heart to go to church on Sunday, so we went to the Chapel of the Holy Boxsprings and had a relaxed breakfast and morning hike (pic of the leaf).

And since I owe Nettie a "decent picture" (unlike the one she protests at the upper right of the page), here's one Jay took on our hike. (note the flawless skin!)



Monday had us house-looking (again), as Mark & I took advantage of free childcare and naptime for Brendan to poke around at open-houses on Sunday. We re-visited one house in particular and took multiple pictures; we also signed with a buyer-agent in Dexter. She seems to be very nice and full of integrity; we had peace after signing with her--almost as if another piece in the puzzle fit and that was one less thing for us to be concerned about.





We also spent time at a local haunt--Jenny's Farm Market. The kids had a great time, but Buster wasn't so sure about the donkeys--they kept braying at him (making him crazy) and it almost seemed as if they were trying to terrorize him. ;0 The ducks (see picture) kept us entertained; they kept diving to the bottom of their pond, but coming up with nothing. So this explains the duck-butt picture to the left. ;)


Our time in Dexter wrapped up on Monday night with scooping out the goop in pumpkins and carving them--a wonderful family time in the Brooks kitchen and therapeutic to simply be a part of something so simple and full of wonder for the kids. In spite of reservations I have about this 'holiday', there is something about carving pumpkins and reconnecting with the safe part of childhood that Halloween used to be--once upon a time when we were kids, before we had any cares or concerns.

Oh, to be a kid again....