SHortly after the New Year, we got a call about my boyfriend's daughter dying.  He was told that if he wanted to see her alive, he needed to get there asap.  Well, we dropped everything and headed out.  We were gone for 3 weeks.  We drove to KS from ID, then to TX.  His daughter lives in KS.  My daughter and mother live in TX.  I told him (since I paid for the trip) that since KS wasn't that far from TX, then we would drop down to see my family after we checked on his daughter.

So I met his kids and family, and he met mine.  It was nice in a way.  Stressful in a lot of ways.  Many days of 10 hr days of driving.  Too many days.

Now his daughter is in the hospital.  Hopefully she will be able to get the help she needs to improve.  She is dying from drug addiction, unfortunately.  Looks like it too.  She has a preemie and a 2 yr old along with a 17 yr old pregnant teenager.  The preemie was a crack baby and still no charges were brought against her.  The 2 yr old has no discipline.  The teenager runs all over the place and doesn't even come home half the time.   It is a shame what drugs do to you and to the children involved.

My daughter was doing fine.  She was running around getting ready for a trip to Venice.  Her boyfriend proposed to her there.  So romantic.

My mother was doing great.  She has improved in health so much she is able to walk with only a cane now.  She was a bad diabetic.  By taking herbs, she has been able to go off her insulin.  She had her right leg amputated below the knee a few years ago.  During the operation for that, she had a major stroke.  Last time I saw her, she couldn't even stand or walk without help.  Now she can stand and walk with a cane.  Isn't God great?  He has really touched her lately.

While we were out, we went to some really nice museums.  I took notes on everywhere we went.  Plenty of maps and brochures.  Accumulated lots of writing notes and ideas.  Ideas multiplied like rabbits.

On the way back, we stayed at my boyfriend's cousins house for a couple of nights.  He was in a hunting accident five years ago.  He is now a parapalegic.  I interviewed him.  Wonderful man.  We had a very good time staying there.  So many ideas for future writing projects.

So God can take a terrible situation and make something good out of it.  A family emergency called us out, but I got to see my family too, AND got lots of writing fodder too.  Yep, God is good.  Lemonade out of lemons.

Now I am trying to get my schooling finished.  Life is busier than ever.  If I didn't have to sleep, then I could get more writing done.  My idea file is growing so fast, I will never finish writing for all my ideas.

That is like the quote by John Steinbeck "Ideas are like rabbits.  You get a c ouple, learn how to handle them.  Pretty soon you have a dozen."  That is how it is.