June 9, 2008

The Upside of Adversity

"The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned." - J.K. Rowling

This is from J. K. Rowling's commencement speech to Harvard 2008 graduates. I enjoyed the read.

June 4, 2008

Rainy Baseball Days and Other Things

Ciaran is enjoying baseball this year and that is important because I can't imagine the rest of us could tolerate this season where during the first week of June we are wearing sweatshirts, raincoats and wrapped up in blankets still cold! 5 games this week, all either played in the rain or under the threat of cancellation due to rain. The only thing that makes a game stop is lightning, never did I think I would be hoping for lightning, but some nights I really am.

We recently went to the Bakken museum of electricity. Not really knowing what to expect I went in with fairly low expectations. It was a nice place to spend two hours with friends and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. I don't think it will be a place we have a family membership but it was fun since we used free passes from the library. The strengths of some of the electrical shocks surprised us and the heart exhibit was really interesting.

Trying to get back into the habit of walking and hiking with the kids each day and it is really nice to be out in nature with them again. For my birthday we went geocaching at a fun park that has a nice wildflower garden. It was nice to take a walk as a family and Ciaran and Rhiannon caught the first toads of the season! They were very excited and had a toad jumping contest (they can't touch the toad just cheer their toad on) and we found 4 caches. My birthday ended with dinner on the porch that was interrupted by a hailstorm and severe weather. I'm starting to wonder if we moved to Ireland and are just missing the 40 Shades of green since it rained every day we were there and it feels like it is raining every day here too.

Overall things are going well here and I am so thankful to be recovering very nicely and feeling much better, looking forward to camping and bike riding again soon.