Times of joy and triumph, times of sorrow

     When I last wrote I was prepping for not only my first day of school, but fair as well. While my paying job keeps me busy with 70 students who need my instruction 180 days out of the year, my monetarily unpaid job allows me to work with about 30 kids for, ehhh, I'm going to say essentially 300 days of the year. Of course this all depends on what you consider qualifies as me working with the kids, but for now let's just say 300 days. I felt guilty last year as I missed out on three days of fair because of needing to be at school, but this year I missed four and then finally made it to fair!! When I got there I received lots of "Bout time" remarks, but the one that made that day was the hug with the exclamation "You're finally here!! We've needed you!"
     I proceeded to spend the rest of Labor Day weekend split between the pig and goat barns/arenas. For the last five years my friend and I have been goat superintendents, and it's been a fun adventure. Then I had 14 kids showing pigs, plus our FFA kids who are leadership 4-Hers, for a total of 19. The kids all did fantastic, pig kids or otherwise(!) with multiple of our members earning grand and reserve or in the top 15 rankings. SO incredibly proud of all their hard work!

Ticey, our gorgeous ribbon presenter

Look at all those awesome kids!

And here's some more!

Two of our superstars from the weekend

     I was able to celebrate making it through my second year's first week of school and surviving fair, and then we received news that my Grandma Nina passed away early that Monday morning. We were all shocked, as this came incredibly unexpected. Of course we were devastated as well, but Mom and Dad didn't want Ethan or I to change our plans -- him traveling back to school that day, me going to Prosser after fair was over. And if I knew Grandma, she wouldn't have wanted us to cancel any plans, or me not to teach my students. That's the one thing I think she was proud of, that at least one of her grandchildren followed in her footsteps and became a teacher. I even attended the same college, granted it's name is different now, but it got both of us a degree in education. Being on the farm for the majority of her life she knew just how important it is to our family, and what 4-H had done for all of us. I think there was even a time or two when we convinced her to come to a pig rodeo. Unlike Grandpa who was at every one possible, Grandma didn't come out often, but I don't think she would've minded us being at fair either. Her quilts adorn every bed in our house, and even then some in the living room, and my favorite one from childhood is packed safely away in my trunk. The house next door will always be hers and Grandpa's, with her in the sewing room cutting fabric or helping me sew, or when visiting in the morning finding both of them sitting in their chairs with a cup of coffee on the table between them. She loved to see and hear of anything from our adventures, from school, to D.C., to Indy, to the farm. She will forever be greatly missed.

Steph with Grandpa Lew (from her mom's side) and Grandma Nina last June.

Here is the link to her obituary from the Daily Record: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/kvnews/obituary.aspx?n=nina-m-george&pid=166832155#fbLoggedOut