October's 10 on 10

10 pictures on the 10th day of the month (Wednesday).

{Document a snapshot of your life; find beauty among the ordinary things in your day! }

The girls team does different spirit days on game days. Today was "crazy day". I love this picture because it is so them. Avery, who is not comfortable with crazy, but is compelled to follow the "rules", carefully planned out the crazy socks she would wear. Amanda, who is the essence of crazy, refused to participate, deeming it "dumb" (because its what was expected and what everyone else was doing). Parenting...not for wimps. :)

Most mornings we study Junior Bible Quiz questions at the bus stop as Aiden paces.

I conferenced in to a 2-hour meeting with about a dozen DCF people who are working to decide the fate of a family. God stirred my heart with deep empathy for both sides...such a tough position for all parties to be in. Also my ever-present practical side did a quick calculation of tax dollars spent to make that call happen...yikes!

I picked Aiden up early from school, which we were both delighted about.

We dropped J at her dentist appointment and then went to visit the Aldi I used to go to weekly. They recently completed a remodel and its so nice in there.

The girls had an away game in our old town. It was a Top Ten weather day, perfect for watching soccer.

We couldn't leave town without picking up $6 pizzas from Dominos, the kid-favorite around here.

What a blessing to have such a safe place to ride bikes.

Aiden taught me Queens and we've been playing a ton of it.

We started a new read aloud book, Way of the Warrior Kid, and when the Navy SEAL was talking about sit-ups per minute, Aiden had to drop down to see if he could even do one. :)

Project 365, Week 40

Last week's hard carried over into the entire duration of this week. Phone calls, meetings with social workers, prayers, silence...I was in an emotional fetal position from the hurt and the tension. I'm terrible at pretending every thing is ok when its not, at acting like I have it all together when I don't....not sure if that means I'm an authentic person or a basket case!

There are so few details I can share because I want to protect people's privacy, but I guess hard is hard and messy and broken have a million and one flavors, depending on the faces and places.

Shannan Martin, an adoptive mom, posted these words that felt like us...I can't capture the pain that ricochets around our house sometimes. We work hard and we never give up, but sometimes we touch the edge of despair. We feel hopeless. We pray desperate prayers. Some of us go to therapy and some of us take meds and we keep trying. We never give up. There are good days and great ones. A lot of them are good enough, and some of them are incomprehensibly hard.... 

And another favorite author, Bob Goff: Love more, not less. Will you take a hit? Of course you will. Do it anyway.

October 1

The tension in our home was high so on my way home from picking up the girls from soccer Shaun texted and suggested I take the kids out and do something fun. The four of us went to 99 Restaurant and took advantage of the Red Sox win the night before. We connected with the waitress and left her a big tip and it felt good to get outside ourselves.

October 2

The visiting nurse who came to my house every other day for months and months post-surgery is now  a good friend. She asked if I would be a guest speaker at a monthly support group she runs. I'm always happy to tell my story...I like when my story can offer hope and encouragement to someone and I love the exercise of recounting God's faithfulness. Also, Community, I always brag on you big. :)

October 3

To the disappointment of our closest neighbors, yard work is not #1 on our priority list. We do make a solid effort to keep our dandelions and crab grass mowed though. :)

October 4

We'd had this dinner planned before all the trouble started and I considered canceling because we felt so drained, but this couple, who are long-time friends are also foster parents to teens. It was a gift to sit out on our porch on a warm evening and talk until the candles burned low.

October 5

While the girls were at youth group, Aiden and I went to get some cousin/sister/therapy time.

October 6

Annual Columbus Day tournament. Both teams had games beginning at 7:45AM...don't be jealous. :)

So fun to see both girls on the field together.

Teammates, friends, sisters, former classmates. Its great when these girls can get time together. After church we went to get tacos, I had promised Avery a late celebration of National Taco Day which was on the 4th (fyi for next year ;).

October 7

7:45AM, back at it.

The girls team beat their opponents 17-0 over four games during the tournament...impressive!

But you're gonna miss this, you're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days, hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times, so take a good look around
You may not know it now, but you're gonna miss this

Project 365, Week 39

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. John 16:33

The latter part of this week had many trials and sorrows and we failed miserably at the "take heart" part. There was much pain, on multiple fronts, with things related to foster care. Pain, suffering, trials...they are not new to me, but its still hard.

September 24

Extra special game because the girls' school was playing the school from the town where their town team is....basically, they were playing against all their teammates. 

J spent most of her birthday afternoon at the barn, but we snuck in a little celebration when she got home.

September 25

On Tuesday evenings I'm out running the girls. The boys enjoy getting time together, taking advantage of the quiet house (picture taken the following day as the game continued).

September 26

I worked the book fair at Aiden's school. I looked in on his classroom just before dismissal and he was deep into a book, just as I thought I'd find him. He's working through 4-5 chapter books a week. Any book suggestions??

Amanda and I worked together to prepare a meal for our neighbor who had surgery. Our family was the recipient of meals for so long, I always consider it a privilege to be the giver.

September 27

So much fell apart this day. It struck me as we were watching the girls play soccer that the sky, the day was so beautiful, even in the midst of heartache.

September 28

Sweet snuggle time with my guy as I taught him Suduko.

September 29

After church, Shaun took one set of kids and I took another. I went to the grocery store while I waited for Amanda's activity to finish and I relished the alone time, listening to a life-giving podcast. Rosaria Butterfield is new-ish to me and I can't hear/read enough of her. In my pain, her words encouraged me:

The Word of God does not come back void, but it has to travel on the back of something. And in a post-Christian world, it is going to travel on our backs. We are going to be bridges. And bridges get walked on.  

There is no way to put the hand of the stranger into the hand of the Savior without getting close enough to get hurt.

September 30

A quick respite from the tension in our house, outside playing with the dog.

Project 365, Week 38

September 17

Mostly peacefully co-existing together.

September 18
So, so pretty when I dropped the girls off at church.

September 19
Aiden and I checked out the children's section of our new library. Not even a little bit sad to leave our old librarians, who I tried, in vain, to work over for years. Despite my years of consistent kindness and patience, they were still mean and nasty. Its doubly bad, because I think you have are socially obligated to be a happy person when you work with books all day long. :)

First school game of the season for the girls.

September 20
It was a perfect evening to host dinner on the porch and then to talk into the evening by the fire.

September 21
My favorite boy on the U10 team. :)

September 22
Big day for us...our first Junior Bible Quiz meet. After studying for the last two months, we were ready to see what the competition are all about. We took 10 kids and made two teams for the "B" league. One team came in 2nd, the other 3rd and Aiden was awarded 3rd place for individual score. We learned a lot about how it all works and had so much fun!

They were short of Quiz Masters, so Avery stepped up to fill that role for the day. It was a pretty intimidating job so I was super proud of her for doing it. Since I was coaching, one of pastors who was there very sweetly offered to go with her to get her settled.

Aiden has such a great group of boys around his age at church, not the least of which is his cousin Rocco. They could not be sweeter.

 September 23

J had heard about past mystery dinners that we'd hosted and showed an interest so I thought it would be fun to do it for her 17th birthday. With only a couple days notice, people came out in there Derby-themed gear and we had a great evening.