Morning! I'm just going to dive right into the week without a proper intro.
July 20
I saw not one, but two capitol city skylines this day as I dropped S off at college...
....and picked up R at a different college after his college experience weekend, where he learned college students don't get much sleep. ;)
Meanwhile, the kids were at the beach with Grandma and Grandpa Tom
July 21
These two can be
such good friends, but more often they are fighting. This was a friends week.
We had a brief trip to the river in the late evening before we had to abruptly leave when a fight was threatening to break out. The mother of one of the teens was threatening and egging on the fight and lots of words were shouted. I kindly implored her to have them take it to a more appropriate place, away from the many little ones in and out of the water, but it was quickly apparent that I needed to get my kids to safety. They are definitely growing up more street-wise than I did...I pray they'll be able to use it for good.
We read a stack of books together, including the
Grinch which Aiden sneaks in regularly. He has much of it memorized, just like his dad.
July 22
Grammy took the little guys to a talk on (and hunt for!) dragonflies.
July 23
I came in from the porch after reading my bible and found this little guy, the only one up, quietly reading, snuggled in a blanket he'd gotten himself.
Some cousins joined us at the river.
July 24
The kids came with me to my monthly "support" group meeting. After, they went to our social worker's office and she showed them pictures and gave them cookies.
We said no to taking a respite for a night, but before we said no we had to hear her
heart-breaking story of untold sexual abuse and abandonment. This stuff is hard.
We stopped at cousins to see them before they leave for a couple weeks.
Shaun's been given Aiden very painful swimming lessons. Aiden cries/screams the entire time and then is so happy with his accomplishments, as he checks things off his five year-old "bucket list".
July 25
R was away for two days, so the littles got lots of "little" time together, enjoying some fresh-from-the-library books.
Also, Shaun connected the sink in the girls' bathroom so they set up a hair salon.
Another painful coming-of-age event for the newly-turned five year-old....riding a two-wheeler. Shaun has been systematically working with him, and...finally! They called us out so he could show us his new trick.
July 26
Some friends just bought a new house and are scrambling to do some work on it before they move in. We did a family service day and went to help them. It was so wonderful to just show up and put in some time instead of having it be
our project. We've been in their shoes and I remember what a lifeline each hour of help and meal donated were.
We ended the day with a lovely evening at cousins after church enjoying the gift of family.
