Addendum

Hi Nicole

This was supposed to be part of the earlier post but I ran out of time.

Life is suffering and we all have our share of troubles and disappointments but life can also be full of joy and small rewards. Rebecca is playing "Silent Night" over and over on our battered old piano. She finally got the note right she's been fighting for weeks. That's a joy and perhaps she'll go on to another song now. She, who is always battling with Elcie, did Elcie's hair this morning. I wouldn't change a single one of the six pigtails she put in. Another joy. Cliches become cliches for a reason and "the glass is half empty or half full" may be overused but that doesn't make it less true.

One of the reasons I'm so glad my arm was twisted into starting this is I can talk about some of the suffering here, get it out and done with, and then focus on the joy. The sufferings always seem bigger than life and I sometimes overlook the little happy moments like walking back in my front door to hear "Silent Night" (with one finger) done correctly for the first time.

The three girls are "ringing bells" next Sunday. Elcie is up to two bells at once.

Let's see if this posts on the first try. It was stuttering earlier.