Project 365, Week 44

We closed out October and with it, some of soccer, too. We also snuck in a brief but memorable trip to Florida.

October 28

Nathan paid for all of his year-round employees to join him in Orlando for the H & R Block conference. During the general assembly, he was recognized as one of the Top Three Franchises (out of around 5000!!) of the year. He was quick to honor those around him, including his two brothers who each run an office and have been with him for many years. It was a really special moment and I had all the sister pride going on, knowing all that has happened to get him from where he started to where he is now. Amazing!

The brothers and their wives. :)

Avery got to go spend five days there to serve as a nanny for the kids. It was fun to connect with her for the day and super sweet that she was so happy to have us there.

After lunch we had a little time and I wanted to be out in the 80 degree day. It was beautiful and soul-feeding.

We hopped on a plane and got back a little more than 24 hours after we'd left. There was enough kid drama going on that we didn't feel right about staying away longer. Mercifully, everyone was all cozied up watching a Hallmark movie when we returned. :)

October 29
Chatted with my girl who was still in Florida helping with her cousins. She's awesome. :)

October 30
Avery had a rainy soccer game and Amanda served as one of the ball girls. Somehow, Shaun ended up being ball boy in the second half. :)

October 31
I met my living-on-her-own girl for lunch and later as I was mulling it over I was struck by how wildly ill-equipped I am to do my life. But God.

That afternoon I came down with a fever that lead into a month-long cold. I stayed home and Shaun took the kids to church so they could serve at the trunk-or-treat event.

November 1
Shaun, Aiden and I love it when it works for us to go out while the girls are at youth group. It generally involves a stop in at the bookstore.

Speaking of the girls...

November 2
Soccer and more soccer.

Aiden and I are always armed with a book for pre-game and half-time.

November 3
Squeezed in an hour of raking between church and soccer. Aiden would get so much more done if there wasn't running water to ponder. :)

Shaun and I put on a quick, on-site end-of-season party at the field for the girls soccer team.

Project 365, Week 43

This was a tough week with a couple of the kids. All this growing-up stuff is hard to maneuver. Plenty of Jesus, I'm going to need your help! prayers and lots of on-purpose praising. But also lots of Wow God...all of this beauty, these blessings, for me??

October 21

I find so much peace and solace in nature and if there's water included, the better still. So when a kid was having trouble at school and needed to be picked up, before going home we stopped off at a favorite spot to walk and talk and just sit and be still. (Ginger was happy to contribute her therapy-dog skills. :)

Half of the reason I love fall soccer is because the fields normally have trees around the edges.

It was a treat, on a Monday and after a tough day to go out with the girls.

October 22
The sunrises this week were quite something!

October 23
Part of the fun of living in a neighborhood is that kids can walk over and visit. Amanda and her friends were coordinating their dance moves.

Even after all these years of doing it, the kids still get so nervous about trying out for a part in the show. I admire their bravery!

October 24

Aiden patiently waited in the car reading his book while I pulled over to take pictures of the foliage.

Avery and Amanda both had home games. Standing in the middle it was almost possible to watch both at the same time, but not quite.

J and I dropped Aiden off at soccer pratice, then we went driving.

October 25

October 26
Packed day filled with good things. I dropped Amanda off in Hartford where she joined a small serve team from youth group for the weekend.

Renna was playing in a tournament and I finally got to see her play. She moves just as beautifully and competently on the field as she does on stage when she's dancing. She's a little wonder!

I picked up Avery at home and she went to audition for a speaking part in the show. She was all nerves but stayed poised and showed confidence on the outside. Brent asked her to try different things and she nailed it. Of course I'm her mother, but I was super impressed. :)

Had to pull over! :)

I made it to the remainder of Aiden's last baseball game. He didn't do much all season, but he seems to enjoy the sport and hanging out with his peers in that setting.

Last soccer game. His coach realized late in the season that he's quite good at goalie, so Aiden only got to play a couple half games as keeper. The hours and hours he's spent over the years filling in at Amanda's practices with his dad coaching have paid off.

I went to church and worked in the nursery. Since there was only one baby, I had a chance to get to know the other worker which was nice.

From there I picked up J from work and we went to a neighborhood Halloween Murder Mystery evening. It was interesting. All the 30ish adults, other than the two of us were in a costume. Not the costume for their character, since we didn't know those ahead of time, but just a costume for fun. Every single part of their house, inside and out, was decorated for Halloween including bloody handprint curtains in the kitchen. It was loud and cramped but the hosts did a really nice job organizing the event and I was happy to support their efforts since they have never participated in anything the neighborhood has done.

We left at 10:30 with the mystery still unsolved but I had to get to Junior Bible Quiz practice early the next morning. We were not key people in the murder. ;)

October 27
Sunday was a full day as well, including a quick trip to Orlando! And as were landing, we had a view our Cinderella's castle fireworks from the plane, which felt like a little present from God. When Shaun and I got to our room a little before midnight this was the view from our balcony.