Okay. I started writing a blog entry this morning about sibling rivalry, because it seems to be a big deal around here the last couple of days. It’s mostly in the car on longer trips, like to the CNHT picnic and to my parents yesterday. But it was also about the seating arrangement in my parents car when we he headed to the beach. So, I started a blog entry about how we deal with it. What works, what doesn’t and when nothing works. I wrote a little then I went up to the greenhouse to see how Jeff was doing.

All was fine there. Jeff was doing a magnificent job building, as usual. I chatted with him. I got some water. I took a few photos. Then I went over to the raspberry bushes to pick some raspberries.

The rain the we’ve had the last two days did wonders for the crop. There were more raspberries than I think our whole family could eat in a week. I started picking and eating away. I called Jeff over to see. He picked for a little bit.

Zoe and Griffin rode their bikes over from the house and started picking along side us. We were talking about how many berries there were and Zoe commented she’d like a container. Jeff went and found her one then headed back over to work on the greenhouse.

After Zoe had about two inches of the container filled she announced she was going to fill up the container for Wolfgang. She wanted wasn’t going to eat any while she picked. She wanted to give him the 32 oz container of organic raspberries and say to him, These are ALL yours enjoy them. You don’t have to share any of them.

I hadn’t mentioned a thing about their fighting this morning but apparently Zoe and I had been thinking about the same thing. How to get keep everyone getting along. I told her I thought it was very thoughtful of her and offered to help her fill up the rest of the container.

She did it. She filled the container. We drove back to the house and she gave Wolfgang the raspberries. He woke up, hopefully, feeling loved and grateful. He smiled, ate some of the berries and bathed.

Despite our living situation, the no power, the no running water, the cramped quarters, the heat, all the negative crap it’s neat to see my kids recognize for themselves the real abundance that surrounds them. We have unlimited organic raspberries to eat whenever. We have each other.

Just as the rain strengthens the bush and gives birth to new, mouth watering, juicy, deep red, delicious raspberries our struggles strengthen our family and give birth to new days, new experiences, connections, love, understanding and happiness.

Peace,

Kelly