Long time no blog

Long time no blog.  I didn’t have anything to blog about until last week when my sister found herself in the hospital – AGAIN.  Dana’s a mother of 7 children ranging in age from 1 to 12.  She’s been in and out of the hospital since Nov. with her Crohn’s Disease.  It’s an autoimmune illness that affects the intestines making them deteriorate and reject certain foods.  It’s been really bad, making her horribly malnourished.  All of us that love her are worried about her.  We have scheduled a month of care as family take turns visiting.  Tuesday, I went to watch 4 of the older ones while she went to Vanderbilt to see a specialist.  She left 3 of the kids with my other sister there and flew back home.

I told her to leave me a list of stuff to do.  I worked my tail off cleaning, painting, and hanging pictures.  I took kids to dentist appointments, church, and a friend’s house.  It was weird being “the aunt.”  We’ve never been close enough to step in and take care of each other’s kids, and it was strange suddenly having so many, so old.  It was also strange helping parent when their parents were around.  (When we get together at Christmas, we try not to over step those boundaries.)  It was great to get to know the kids better and I really enjoyed them.  When Dana got home, I found myself not wanting to do anything but hang out with her.   It was nice just hanging out, talking, watching TV.  

We were close when I was little, but she got married and moved away when I was 11.  I can’t say enough how great it was to reconnect with her as adults/peers.  Though I was eager to come home, I really enjoyed my time there.  And the best part is that I don’t worry so much about her now.  She’s much thinner now than when I got there, with no other signs of improvement.  But for some reason, I’m not worried.  I feel peace and joy about it all.

The kids had fun together too.  They played well together and the older girls doted over my kids.  It was nice to have help and entertainment.

So we had a… tolerable trip home.  We all missed Chad SO much and couldn’t wait to see him.  We got home late last night, did some laundry, and went to bed.  Now, we’re on the road, headed to Papa and Gigi’s beach house, ANOTHER 6 hours away.  I hope we have lots of fun.