As you can see blogging certainly has not been high on the priority these days. When you look at the blogging world it is filled with purposeful, motivating, incredibly creative posts, so I always feel that unless the earth has moved or something spectacularly special has occur ed, I really have nothing to say out in Blogger ville land. I guess that is why the infrequent, sporadic, random posts.

Summer came and went just like it always does. It zips right past. I always set these incredibly lofty goals for myself and my family during summer. Almost as if I imagine summer will be the time The Borchgardt Bunch operates the way I have always dreamed it to operate...organized, in control, calm.......almost as if I can become June Cleaver for the months of June and July. Then August comes and once again I am throwing chicken drive through nuggets in the back seat at my children for dinner while multi-tasking a million other To Do's. I collapse in the bed only to wake to the sound of an alarm to do it all over again. I often wonder who ever said that women could be in charge of an entire household, the heart of the home, June Cleaver it like while also working full time? The Huxtable house on The Cosby Show did a miraculous job of balancing both, but I never saw Mrs. Huxtable at work. She was always at home. all this to say next summer I'm setting no goals, but to just to enjoy and be. Then when August comes I will have felt success instead of once again not accomplishing all I had hoped to accomplish.

Blaine and Suzanna are in 4th grade! How did I get 4th graders?????? They are great kids. I am so eternally grateful for their hearts and how much they teach me each day. I am blessed. In all the insanity, they stabilize me for sure. With 4th grade comes more and more homework. Getting Mr. Blaine to engage in homework is a bit like herding cats. He so wants to be out and about. He is a doer for sure. He soaks up every bit that each day has to give him. He doesn't burn daylight for sure on things he is passionate about. Just wish I could get school to become that for him. Suzanna loves school and as all girls do loves homework as well. She is studious and purposeful. She is grounded where Blaine is a free spirit. Twins but so different. Each one offering a gift that this house needs.

It has almost been a year since Dad died. My grief for him still comes in waves. With the passing of Dad also came the passing of security. Somehow I always knew that Dad would catch me. It is odd being fatherless in this world. I know I have a spiritual father here but my earthly father is gone. I miss Dad s voice. I often try to remember it and I can hear him calling my name, " Sara Beth!", but is beginning to fade. Not the memory....just the sound and tone. He was such a character!

Doyle is incredibly insanely busy. He has taken on an incredible load. The ranch is everything to Doyle. Almost I think he is working harder to make it what it once was to make my father proud from heaven. Doyle grew up on the ranch. He began his work at the ranch when he was 10. 29 years ago is a long time.

I feel God moving. I am not sure which way but I wait in anticipation to see where he takes us.

We are back to reality. back to school days instead of lazy summer days! Reality is a good place to be though. I cherish this season. I remind myself to cherish it each day. Even when I'm throwing drive through nuggets in the back seat for dinner!

So June 5th was my last "official" day of work until late July. As I worked that day on last minute details before I ended the year, I had a throbbing pain in my right side all day. Pulling out of the school parking lot the throb continued to grow stronger more piercing with sharper pains. I do not even recall pulling in our home driveway. I walked in the house and immediately crawled under the covers shivering. I thought to myself, " Sara, you MUST get healthy! This must be some bacteria something you caught due to your horrible diet" Doyle took the kiddos to get dinner. It is now 7:30. I was lying in the bed realizing if I stayed in the bed when the kiddos returned they might not fine me alive the pain was that strong,. I drove myself to Urgent Care first which took one look at me and zipped me right out the door headed to the ER. By the time I got to the ER I was now crying. The pain was intense and I felt for sure I was going to collapse. After HOURS of testing, testing, scanning, imaging, testing and more imaging the result was emergency surgery at 2 am in the morning. My precious friend Shannon came and stayed with the duo so Doyle could come be with me. As always my Crisis Intervention team was ready to roll. It became quite evident that I was clearly getting old as I looked around. EVERYONE who was assisting in the testing, surgery , recovery efforts was younger than me. I was getting old, looking at all the just out of school doctors and nurses, so now I'm not only unhealthy, but old and unhealthy too! YUCK!

The recovery has been easy. I go back for my post op Thursday. I am grateful it was only my appendix but truly bummed that this was how Summer 2009 kicked off for The Borchgardts. Really? This whole year has been like that where literally we just had to buckle ourselves in for the emotional, physical and mental roller coaster ride we have been on. I am loving summer even with recovery. I needed rest...desperately. I guess God knew I had to finish out work then I could collapse so thats exactly what happened. I'm desperately seeking to find Sara again. I just feel lost at times with the fast paced full throttle speed ahead lifestyle. I think the reason why I feel lost is I have a hard time putting Sara on the list of To Do's. OR I enjoy using that as my excuse? Not sure which just yet? Anyway, I 'm going to have to get Sara back...healthy Sara back! I'm about to be able to be an advertisement for Lap Band surgery if I do not get ahold of my health!

Last thing....on my friend Charla's blog I saw this who visited your blog scroll which I thought was fun, since I think really I'm the only one who reads my own blog anyway...... BUT the problem is I do not have ALL my friends blogs listed because I do not know them all! So if you happen to visit can you leave your blog address if I do not have it on my sidebar? I then can somehow put you on the who visited my blog scroll! I may have to call Charla for back up to get it done, but I thought that would be fun to do! Isn't it amazing what entertains me these days?

I have pictures galore I need to post of the kiddos. We have been fishing at the ranch and catching LARGE bass so I need to share those. Blaine had a great baseball season. It was such a blessing for me to see him truly engage and be part of a team with a goal. It was good for his soul and mine. Suzanna is loving summer. She is horseback riding and AMAZING to watch ride. She just is one of those naturals on a horse. She must get that from her Dad because I always had to work at riding.

With Spring always comes baseball for Blaine. He has entered a new category of baseball called Live Pitch where instead of having a machine pitch the players themselves are now the pitcher. One night Blaine was given the opportunity to pitch and just so happens his second mother, Lisa, had her fancy camera. She got some great photos of Blaine that I thought I would share.

I am trying to keep up with all the new networking connections but as you can see I am not doing so well. Posting has become harder and harder with time constraints. Adding Facebook has added a whole new world and then last night I got an invitation to be followed by Twitter. OH my! I can not imagine what it will be when Blaine and Suzanna enter the networking stage.

Hard to believe that they will be finishing Third Grade. I have learned I do not get moments back with them. It is going fast. This keeps pressing over and over again in my heart, so how incredibly important it is for me to chose carefully what I chose to miss and what I make sure I am 100% present with them on. We are counting down the days until summer. I am ready for summer. It has been one of the most challenging years since the twins were around 3 for us personally. A much needed rest is needed and a time for a resurrection in my own spiritual life. I once again am in need of a resurrection where God takes the broken pieces and parts of my life and again makes them whole. I need His breath of newness again deep in my soul to reawaken me to become the Sara I know is inside, just completely temporarily unraveled. My home needs to be made whole after a year of being what seems the valley. The gret thing is that after the valley comes the mountain top. I wait in anticipation for summer. Rest and time will be good for all The Borchgardt Bunches souls.

I am aware that my blog posts have been rare and infrequent. Life continues to spin at an all time record pace in our world. I have come to realize it will not slow down, but only continue to speed up as Blaine and Suzanna grow older. I look at them now and can not believe that they are 9, almost Fourth Graders, and really getting big! I truly believe Suzanna as she grows older with her organizational skills could pretty much run the Borchgardt Bunch unlike her global free spirited mother =)! It is amazing how time passes. Many times I just want to hit pause and soak it all in before this season passes as well. I can see the tween years approaching which will mean time spent with their peers is more precious than time spent with us. I am not ready.

Tonight Doyle was headed to the river property to burn brush piles, move cattle and possibly hunt the hundreds of wild hogs which dig up the fields where the cattle graze. Doyle was all ready for Blaine to load up and head out with him as Blaine never misses a trip to the river. Blaine's answer was , " No!" to Doyle. I think it was shocking for all of us. Blaine selected to stay home in order to make a stop by the park with two of his best friends and then hang out with the neighborhood boys on our block!!!!Right now as I type this Blaine is outside on some Huffy Green Machine crashing into trashcans with the neighbor boys laughing , shooting basketball hoops and playing Wall Ball. All too rough for me. I used to be the Mother who would go outside and try to tame the behavior, but have learned to just let it go wild as clearly me "wimping" the adventure down takes all the fun out of it. When God made Blaine he certainly made 150% ALL ADVENTUROUS Boy! Never a dull moment.

I am grateful for the childhood memories being made. I am beyond blessed. I just wish time would slow down and that life could be at an easier more manageable pace as I want to cherish these childhood days before they begin the transformation into teenagers. I know it will be here before a blink of an eye just like I thought Kindergarten would never get here and now it has come and gone. Soaking up the joy and savoring every morsel is what I am attempting to even if it means watching Blaine throw caution to the wind to ride The Green Machine as if he was at Demolition Derby!

I was almost sure we had escaped the flu season for once until today. I returned from the ranch with Suzanna this morning earlier than I had anticipated to take her to Urgent Care since it was Saturday. Sure enough, after the flu test, the doctor returns to tell me that Suzanna is positive for BOTH strains of the flu, A & B. The doctor then scares me with all the precautions and things to watch out for in Suzanna due to her past respiratory history. Suzanna has had RSV which almost landed her in life flight and intubated at age 2 and pneumonia more times than I can count. With both strains of the flu attacking her at once, then she will need to be monitored closely. She is on two antiviral meds, one each for both strains, which is TORTUROUS to get down her. Suzanna gags and says they taste awful. When speaking to one of my friends tonight she tells me one of the antiviral can cause night terrors and seeing things that are not real. No one shared that with me at the clinic. The boys stayed in the country since I did not want two down for the count so it is just me with Suzanna. Now I am monitoring for crazy behavior too. She has pretty much slept the day away or awaken crying since she feels so bad. So far no panic screaming or seeing pink elephants dancing in the room, so I am super hopeful we will make it through tonight. Prayers for healing and protection so the rest of us do not get it would be greatly appreciated. As a school teacher in Texas, TAKS is 7 school days away. The pressure to be with the classrooms as a Master Teacher is tremendous at this time of the year. Why testing and flu season both have to be at the same time I do not know. Off to sleep. Praying for Suzanna to have sweet dreams! The night terrors side effect scares me worse than the Flu A and B combined.

I thought I would hop on just to tell anyone who may ever try to catch up on The Borchgardt Bunch that we are not MIA, although since my last post was on Snow Day, it would appear as if we have. Life's pace just never slows down as it is a constant whirlwind. I keep thinking one day the pace will slow but I am beginning to think this is just the pace we travel at 101 miles an hour. The boys are off camping this weekend with YMCA Adventures Guides, so it has been a girl weekend for Suzanna and I. My mother came in town today to spend Valentines with us.

Mother is still adjusting to life without my father. Grieving Dad has been a life changing experience for me as I truly never knew how much his daily phone calls or shared wisdom meant to me until it was gone. I can still hear his resounding boom of a voice many days as if he was sitting right beside me. I live those long 8 weeks of him in ICU over and over in my head. I am grateful for an eternal perspective.

My new school is truly right where God sent me. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am serving faithfully in a place where God's LIGHT needs to SHINE ever brightly. Many days I am exhausted but it gives me great peace knowing I am where God purposefully placed me. Doyle is busy with work , the cattle and now Dad's cattle as well. Suzanna and Blaine both are horseback riding. Suzanna got a horse from Santa named Buttermilk with Blaine getting a horse this January named Ginger. Blaine starts baseball soon. In fact, I think this is the season Blaine has to try out to make a team. YIKES! Nothing like entering the Little League pressure =)! It's all about character building though. I tell Blaine all the time it is his actions and behavior on the field that matter most not a win or a loss. One day I am thinking it will sink in. Hopefully???

I'll post more soon. Just thought I would let whoever ever might read this The Borchgardt's are still around...just not blogging lately.

We had snow on Wednesday! What a winter wonderland College Station became. The children played and played and played until we finally brought them in at 9 pm from all the winter excitement. It was such a fun treat for us. We had an incredible time enjoying every moment!