Trials and Consequences

I think life might make it back into a semblance of normal soon. Throw in a Missionary reunion and it just might take a few days extra.
It has been a stressful year so far, with many trials but at the same time many uplifting experiences.

Trial #1
In February, Elm injured his left knee -torn meniscus.
End of March he had it fixed.
Beginning of April, and infection was developing and he had to go in for emergency surgery, to flush it out.
Strong antibiotics and pain medication wrecked havoc on his stomach.
He is finally getting back towards normal. His stomach still bothers him, and his knee still hurts, but hopefully with in the next couple of month his knee should get there.

What I have learned:
I can be a quite determined little witch . I always made sure the person on the other end of the phone knew I wasn't mad at them..... but I wanted answers and I wanted them to figure things out ... now.
I can round up goats that jump the fence.
I can fix that same fence (wouldn't win any prices, but they didn't get out again... that would be after I fixed it for the second time).
I can run the farm on my own.
I can take care of an injured husband and two active girls.
And I can do all these things without killing anyone in the process.

Trial #2
Elm's sister Rhonda, who had been battling breast cancer for many years.
In January she was put on hospice. She stayed at home until the end. The reason for hospice... they could respond a lot quicker that her Dr. could.
She passed away on June 18th. The last month we spent a lot of time in with her. I spent quite a few nights in there too. Luckily Elm was able to hobble out to the barn by then, so he could feed the animals while i was gone.

What I learned:
Death is emotionally draining. But so beautiful.
The knowledge that we will see Rhonda again, is something that I am very grateful for. And knowing that from time to time she will be here with me.

So why the title?
Well a friend of mine, posted on facebook a while ago (in the middle of all this) this is then my summary of what she wrote:"Today has been a really hard day. But I thank God for it, for it has made me stronger"
Trials come to everybody during their life, and there are consequences. Depending on how we handle the trials, we can either reap despair, hopelessness, anger or we can reap stronger faith, compassion and knowledge.