Too tired to sleep

And to make things worse, I just finished a Diet Mtn. Dew. Caffeinated. So, this entry is likely to be more of a ramble....Just a warning.

This week started well. Vacation Bible School was this week at our church. I was able to help out by being a 'crew leader.' My crew consisted of two preteen helpers and anywhere from 8 to 11 kids depending on the day. Their ages ranged from 5 to 9. The idea to mix the groups up with different ages was an attempt to let the older kids help with the younger kids. This was a success in my group. We traveled from station to station. We started each morning with music - very lively fiesta style music that the kids really loved. The rest of the morning consisted of making a craft, making and eating a snack, hearing a Bible story and a life application and then each morning ended with more music and a daily challenge. My kids enjoyed the week. Today after the last session we had a picnic lunch on the playground.

When all of the VBS was over, Lake went home with a friend so I let Tate invite a friend over for the afternoon.

All was going well until I got a phone call from my mom about her cousin, my second cousin. Judy was not doing well. Judy is 57. My mom is 56. Judy has been sick off and on for quite some time. She's had cancer. She's lived with diabetes. She had gastric bypass surgery about a year ago. Christmas eve she went back into the hospital - I can't quite remember why. When she was on the verge of being released she fell and broke her hip (or she broke her hip and fell.) For awhile there was some concern about her losing her leg. Last Saturday she had another surgery and it was determined that her small intestine had fused together probably due to the radiation for the previous cancer. She was recovering and had been told yesterday that she would be able to go home sometime next week.

She passed away around 8:30 tonight.

I don't understand this.

Tate's sixth birthday was yesterday. He is such a precious little boy. Three years ago I was on bed rest with Daisy on his birthday. Two years ago my grandmother died on his birthday. Last year I was recovering from a minor surgery on his birthday.

Yesterday we had a party with lots of family and lots of friends. We were at the Splashpad and the kids seemed to really enjoy playing in the water.

Yesterday I thought I still had time to tell Judy things that I needed to tell her. She helped raise me. She and my mom were more like sisters than cousins. I was in high school before I realized that she wasn't my aunt.