"To 'sconsin, to 'sconsin, to roast a fat pig....

home again, home again, jiggity jig."

The second verse would be about a fat hog, and I think that would sum up the amount of food I consumed on a daily basis, thus tipping the scale a little further than I like. But, it was well worth it! Cecilia's cooking, Joe's gin and tonics, the variety of wines available (courtesy of Trader Joe's...a classmate manages one) and great company made for an amazing weekend.

We arrived Thurs afternoon, after enduring our usual ungodly wake-up call to get to the airport, plus a 2 hour plane ride, and a 5 hour drive to the farm. On the way, we found out that Cecilia's sister went into the hospital early that morning, severely hemorrhaging. Now she was in the same position as her older sister, also in the hospital on bedrest due to bleeding episodes, pregnant with twins! And Cecilia is left on the farm with her 6 kids, plus 2 more from each sister, totaling 10 children all in her care..... and at least 30 people expected for the weekend! Wow. I would have cried. Cecilia just laughed. And of course everything went smoothly.

I didn't realize how entertaining it is for children to be out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but God's bounteous nature before them to explore! I think I saw my children 3 times a day....breakfast, lunch, and dinner (the latter being coupled with bedtime due to the lateness of the hour and their exhaustion!) At the end of each day, I could barely recognize them, what with all the dirt and scraggly hair flying everywhere! So off to the tub they would go, and snug in their pj's and asleep in 2 seconds, so that DH and I had ample opportunity to visit with old classmates for as long as we could hold up.

The best night for that was the actual pig roasting night, Saturday. The pig was delicious, the best roast I have ever tasted! After we had stuffed ourselves and the kids were in bed, we all gathered around one table (just like the old lunch days senior year in St. Joseph's commons when our entire class would eat lunch at one table...seems like we knew our time together was coming to a close) and started to reminisce. The stories that were told!! I was laughing so hard I had tears running down my cheeks. Examples? Well, the best was when a classmate (now a priest!) wanted to take a fellow classmate (now married!) out on a date, and asked her in a round-about way, to "see" if there was such a thing as "casual dating". Well, the night he went to her dorm, her roommate came out instead, saying that she was sick and couldn't go. So this guy took the roommate out instead, and never did get a date with the one he liked. And when we asked where this girl was, (in the farmhouse at the time) he said, "don't get her, 'so-and-so' will come out instead." Hilarious. There were many other "true confessions" type stories, but not too many to make things uncomfortable.

It was wonderful to see everyone doing so well. All are "fighting the good fight, and keeping the Faith". Very inspiring and encouraging.

And we will be returning to the farm soon. The kids made me promise.....and it's a promise I'm happy to keep!



ps. the sister that had gone in to the hospital Thurs morning came home Mon afternoon after having had a c-section Thurs. She delivered a 4lb 5oz little boy, James. He will be in the NICU for a few weeks, but is doing very well!