Project 365, Week 20

This felt like my first week back at real life post-tax season, followed by a quick succession of trips to Alabama, Pennsylvania and then Europe. Who am I? What does my life look like?  It felt great to get back (though I'm still working out the "who am I?" part 😉)!

May 11

My sister, brother and I took our mom out to breakfast for Mother's Day. 

May 12

Avery and I enjoyed lunch together. A year later and we're still trying to adjust and find a rhythm now that she's out of the house.

May 13

Amanda is quite skilled on the ukulele and I got serenaded while cleaning up the kitchen.

Aiden and I are suckers for library days.

May 14

First nap on the porch this season! Some combination of the meds I'm on, having cancer and being over fifty requires me to sleep for 20 minutes in the middle of the day. Not so bad, especially on the porch.

May 15

I know a bare minimum about flowers and have decided to spend some time educating myself a little bit at a time. Proven Winners has a site that helps put container combinations together and its been a treat to look through. 

I hope part of my work assignment in heaven is with flowers. Can you even imagine the colors, fragrances, varieties and weed-less-ness???

May 16

Our annual farmer's market run at dawn. YAY! Amanda made her self available to help carry and load with Amy, while I stood guard of our selections. We left with empty pockets and full hearts.

Z, our first foster child is going to be a dad. His grandmother has always been so gracious about staying in touch, and she extended the invitation to me. For the benefit of not making Z's mom uncomfortable, I hesitated to go, but finally I decided the support would outweighed the awkwardness. I'm glad I went because it was me, mom, grandma and sister there for Z and the other thirty-ish people were on the baby's mom's side.

This was my first time meeting the baby's mom and she is just the sweetest. She was warm and crafty and seemed like she'll be very "motherly". She comes from a large, in-tact family who will offer her a great support system. She also did an incredible job planning and executing the shower, which including a pizza truck that everyone raved about! And is doing a Winnie-the-pooh for the baby so major extra points for that. :)

May 17

Happy 1st Anniversary to these two! 

We spent a couple hours at the lake, enjoying it for the first time of the season. It was good to be back!

Aiden and I got some good car time together on the drive to and from the not-close soccer game. Now that he has his license we don't get that as often and I cherished it.

Project 365, Week 19 (the end)

Our last couple days in Europe. I'm so grateful for our time there!

May 7

This was a special day in Dover to see the Cliffs. The express train had us there in about an hour and then we were on foot the rest of the time there. 

The English Channel was something to behold, the clear day making it easy to see France 20 miles across the way.  I looked out and imagined the host of people who have, or attempted to, swam the distance. The training, the guts, the courage, the disappointment, the spirit and determination. Our commitment to comfort and ease keeps us from the fullest life.

There were different paths to take so Aiden was our scout. As we walked along the edge, it just kept getting more beautiful.

We were mesmerized by the port action, watching ferries come in and unload semi-truck after, semit-truck and then load up to go back the way they came. 

We got off at the King's Cross train station and found the magical platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter.

May 8

After breakfast, we split off...Aiden and Shaun did the Tower of London and the rest of us did London Bridge and the Sky Garden.

Sky Garden is on the top floors of the "Walkie Talkie" building, with 360 degree views. 

I loved the frequent recognition of women in the war throughout the city. I've read so much historical fiction retelling their hard work, bravery, expertise and resilience and it was meaningful to see signs and commemorative statues.

Shaun and Amanda went to see the Beatle's Abbey Road and then we met up with them at them at 221B Baker Street, home of Sherlock Holmes.

The British Museum is another one that feels impossibly large. It would be easy to spend a couple days there, but we had an afternoon, so we did the highlights, most notably, the Rosetta Stone.

After dinner, some headed back out on bicycles again and Amanda got this great shot of Ben.

May 9

It was an early morning to pile ourselves and luggage into the waiting taxi to head to the airport.

After the hour flight from London to Dublin, we had a couple hours to kill before we headed home. Ironically, the first rain of our entire trip was in Hartford when we landed.

We were happy to be home and oh so grateful to have had this opportunity. We learned some things, saw some amazing sites, got time together and stored memories.

May 10

Happy Mother's Day to me. I can hardly believe God chose me to be the steward of their hearts. It has been my life's greatest joy to be their mom.