Good ... Even When Life Gets A Little Wonky

I've been thinking this week about how wonky life can get.

And I've also been thinking about how funny it is that we don't really photograph the wonky, just the good. Well, for the most part.

In some ways that makes our lives LOOK a little out of balance when we review photos and blogs and social media (Particularly other people's lives, right? I mean our own positive posts seem accurate because we know the wonky is there somewhere in the background. But sometimes in looking at other people's captured moments it seems as if their lives are definitely more awesome-er than ours. Are you picking up what I'm layin' down?)

But in other ways I think focusing on the good is kind of a good thing--because I think it's super important and valuable to focus/emphasize the good over the bad and/or wonky.

It doesn't mean the bad or wonky doesn't exist; it just means I believe it's super helpful (for our own sanity, our children, and society) to stay focused on the good.

And I think it's important to HOLD ONTO THE GOOD because wow! life can throw you some zingers.

And sometimes zingers ON TOP of zingers.

But even in the midst of all of the zingers/hilarity, life is truly really good overall. Right?

At least that's what I'm thinking today as I look at the photos we kept from this past week. (PS: At the end of the photos, I thought I'd list some of the wonky--just to contradict myself make sure you know my life really is just like yours: filled with highs and lows.)

We celebrated St. Paddy's Day.

We heard from Elder Meehan via email. And his new shoes arrived. (Others were way WORN OUT.)

Elder Meehan's learning a lot of super helpful life-skills on his mission.

And yes, he's still silly even while he serves. (Pictured here with his companion.)

Elder Meehan's able to find some time to share fun photos of his mission experiences. (There are super high spiritual moments, but also very ordinary daily-life experiences, like chipmunks eating nuts.)

Indiana sunset.

I wanted a glass water bottle to use long-term and found this one for under $3.00. (Thank you Pinterest.)

This week's produce co-op had a Tropical Pack. It was like a Survivor flashback, only with food.

Bam is learning to drive. So is Papaya.

Elder Meehan with his Mission President (President Cleveland).

Dave's work sent their team to see Les Miserables.
Bam and he went together. They loved it.

We had Little Ceasar's Pizza one day (us picking it up).
PS: Quantity over quality day here. Sorry Ceasar, jussayin'.

We made green bread for St. Paddy's.

Dave's cousin in NY sent us this awesome photo of his Dad (who passed away a bit ago).

Bam at Les Miserables.

The kids took about 2,000 photos of the cat using my phone.
2,000 just like this.

A friend posted this photo of Elder Meehan when he was a Cub Scout. Fun memories.

And we got honey from a real-live local beehive!

This Week's Wonky
(PS: I know these are minor in The Big Picture, and compared to many people's journeys right now.)

1. Insane amounts of sickness:

--One of our kiddos has had abdominal pain for 4 days now. We've been to instacare and on the phone with doctors. It seems to be a bug, but there's always that feeling "it's something more." Lots of hours in the doctor's. Lot of sleepless nights. Lots of cleaning up vomit. (I'm jussayin'.)

--Another kiddo has had a cough for 6 weeks now. We are on our third visit to the doctor. Good times.

--Our son on a mission had to see a specialist because he is allergic to something in the area where he is serving his mission (Indiana). He's had a rash over 50% of his body for the last 8+ months, and I guess it hit an all-time AWFUL this week, so the doctor there called to let us know he was being treated. (Which is kinda hilarious because I was literally in instacare with one kiddo when I got the call. And also hilarious because the only contact we are able to maintain while our kids serve missions is snail mail and email once a week. So while I could talk to the doctor, I could not speak with our son. Odd experience, and somewhat funny to explain to the nurse who is not Mormon or familiar with our mission policies. (PS: If it was something serious, the would make an exception to this policy. For sure.)

--and to round it all out, I got a Level 9 migraine last night (which was most likely related to worrying about the above).

2. My car needs power-steering fluid, but I can't seem to find a spare 3 hours to get it serviced--so it makes a really loud sound when I drive under 35mph (Pretty much only in the areas where people know me, like my neighborhood. AWESOME.).

3. Even though Bam and Dave were able to see Les Miserables, I was NOT able to attend. Bam went in my place because I had about 2.7 million papers to grade. (Poor planning on my part. And definitely a bummer to miss a date with Dave. Way to go Dawn! But again, great for Bam to see something she loves so much: theatre.)

4. Even though I was able to buy honey from a real-live local beehive, during the purchasing process I learned that I am still horrible at math (after 43 years on Planet E) . Translation = I bought 1,000 years' worth of honey. Second Translation = slash the food budget this week: everyone's having honey.

5. I still haven't hit my insurance deductible this year, so every time I go to the doctor with one of the above kiddos, it's about as costly as the honey. (But hey, at least we've got honey.)

6. One kiddo needs wisdom teeth out pretty soon here. (See above note on insurance deductible.)

7. I accidentally mailed a pretty important package to our son (mission) to the WRONG ZIP CODE. As a result, it's been traveling the country for the last 38 days. Apparently the barcode scanning makes it pretty impossible to pull the package out of the system ... unless a real human being catches the error. Dawn = 0 Comedy of Errors = 1