Project 365, Week 30

Lots of time at the lake getting good projects done and spending time with family. Also grappling with big life stuff behind the scenes. All is grace.

July 20

Morning check-in from Shaun. So glad he is able to get some time to himself most mornings, whether on the golf course or water. His shoulders bear innumerable heavy weights of responsibility and I'm thankful for the pockets of time he has to break away from it all.

July 21

My morning break away time looks different. 

July 22

Earlier in the day, I'd gotten a tough call from the doctor. Amanda didn't know that when she came into my bedroom to play her guitar. We sang How Great Thou Art together and I couldn't help the tears falling. 

July 23

Z, our very first foster kid, welcomed his son Ezekiel.

Nathan brought his tractor over and what a difference a machine makes! We got some good work done clearing the downed tree debris. They also made steps from the garden to the garden shed. Progress!

July 24

Mercies are new every morning.

Shelva was in town and we got a few lovely hours together on the deck. What I love most about our relationship is how different we are. Its a strange thing see her gray hair that mirrors mine and to talk about being old and having big kids because that's not the story in my head. In my head we are doing sleepovers and riding bicycles. :) I'm so grateful for the friendship we've shared since we were 14. 

July 25

My niece Lainie graduated from ROTC Cadet training at Ft. Knox. She's amazing to watch, driven and excellent in all she sets out to do (which is a lot!). She lives life large and we're so proud of her.

A nice Saturday work crew showed up and we accomplished some projects with the truck and tractor and willing muscles.

In the early afternoon we switched gears to some fun. My niece Evie had a birthday party and invited friends and family to celebrate. I didn't get many pictures because I sat with Nana, though she did request a picture with the boys and I love it.

Whenever she sees Aiden, she wants to measure if he's grown taller than her. What a thing that must be to watch your great grandchildren growing into adults.

July 26

The day was beautiful and we were anxious to see Amy family and hear about their european adventure.  

Late the night before, my nephew Levi and his girlfriend flew in from TX. This was a good day to lay low as they work to adjust and acclimate to their move to CT.

 

Projet 365, Week 29

Enjoying the summer, filled with work and fun and grand adventures.

July 13

Inexplicably, this boy is 17 and what a gift he is! 

For his birthday, Shaun and I took him out to a fancy steakhouse and enjoyed the time together, eating really great food.

July 14

The trifecta of a CT, PET and MRI...its amazing how we adapt to insane things becoming our normal. Mostly, this is just another day at the office for me. For sure I'm over the 100 mark for these scans.

Shoutout to the nurses and techs who, even though it really is another day at the office for them, still take the time for compassion and making sure I'm comfortable. Warm blankets for the win! 

July 15

Avery and I worked together on bush trimming and leaf removal.

The sky from the canadian wild fires was crazy.

July 16

Aiden got his group together for a lake day. It was perfect weather for it and he did a great job hosting and facilitating the day. I stayed on sight, but tried to be out of sight. :)

SO much history in this one envelope...an invitation to Dakota's mom's wedding. There are no words to tell the full story of our ten-year relationship, just that...here we are and somehow we have become very special and important people in each others lives. When I called her, she told me that if her uncle wasn't able to come to the wedding she was going to ask me to walk her down the aisle. That honor has been hard-earned and is only by the grace of God. He's doing miracles.

July 17

I offered to dog sit while Amy was away. Bauer is old like Ginger, and has some health problems. At first he was ok and then this day it'd been 24 hours since we'd seen him move. He wasn't eating or drinking. I even called Amy, thinking we might need to facetime a goodbye with the family. 

But then he popped up and was ok-ish the rest of the time., just homesick. Shaun dubbed him Lazarus and all week our family played a fun little game called Is Bauer Still Breathing?

I'm happy to report he was returned to his home alive! :)

July 18

Aiden got invited to hike the Presidential Range in Hew Hampshire with Uncle Nathan and Gavin. The range includes 13 major mountains, 9 of which are official "4,000-footers", done over two day.

They got started at 430am!

Aiden checked in, feeling good about things and seeing beautiful scenery.

Life 360 tracked Aiden pretty closely the entire time and Shaun especially was watching his route, along with the weather. Shaun was distracted all day, checking, knowing full well he couldn't do anything to help. You know how sometimes they put a heart rate monitor on the parents in the stands at the Olympics? That could have been Shaun. :)

They arrived at the Summit cold and wet and worn.

From the Summit they had to walk another mile to the hut where they spent the night, intending to get up the next morning to complete the range. However, when they woke the next morning, the wind was 100 mile gusts and it was raining, so, after much thought and debate, they followed their gut along with the advise of the locals and instead of their original plan, took the shortcut back down.

July 19

Avery and Jack invited me to go blueberry picking with them. It was so fun and the berries were quite amazing! 

In the afternoon we had a watch party at the lake. Such enthusiastic soccer fans!

Towards the end of the game the boys arrived, back from New Hampshire and we were clamoring to hear stories from their daring adventure! What a life-affecting experience! I'm so grateful he had the opportunity and for the ways it built him on the inside.

 

Project 365, Week 28

Choosing joy is never about denying reality and you acknowledge that that life is hard, but life is also good. Joy is not separate from hardship. There is joy, there is goodness, even in hard things. There are hard things in joyous things. Life is not one note. ~Katherine Wolf

I'm choosing joy, I'm choosing gratitude, on purpose. God give me eyes to see.

July 6

View from my favorite napping spot! 

July 7

The girls checked in from Senior High Camp, where they were watching the youth pastor's three kids.

July 8

For a while now, my computer has been too old to accept any updates, which was fine until it wasn't. It has been a headache-y process in a first-world-problems kind of way, but I'm working through it, with Shaun's kind support. This day my new computer arrived.

July 9

Training up the next generation to love the dump.

July 10

Its nice to have a quiet house and its nice to get the kids back from camp.

July 11

I can't get enough of the morning sun lighting up the hydrangeas.

We got some good projects done at the lake while getting good time with the kids.

July 12

When we were teenagers, a wealthy elderly lady employed us to help care for her, her rental properties and the grounds of her lake house...countless hours over many years. Eventually, we bought a boat and had full use of her place on the lake. We loved sharing it with friends and spending lazy Sunday afternoons there. It got in us and a dream was born of someday owning our own place on a lake.

Now, more than 30 years later, we're here on a lake, living that dream that began so many years ago, coupled with Shaun's vision of carrying on his grandfather's legacy with the great-grandchildren. 

The truth is, I didn't think I'd live to see our dream through. But here I am, and I'm taking it all in with great gratitude.

I love watching my two boys together.

Everyone together makes my heart happy (which does not necessarily mean everyone is happy 😉).