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 😉).

 

Project 365, Week 27

This was a welcomed slower week, in between camps and in a heat wave. Felt like a bit of a regrouping.

June 29

Post LobsterFest, we said goodbye to family, returned the twins and Dakota and then put the house back to better than we found it. After a full weekend, the quiet was nice.

Later, Amanda and Aiden made dinner and we were able to hear stories from kids camp.

June 30

Waiting for an important appointment with this girl. A prayerful hour, followed by a good report.

A fresh helper to work on limbs and leaves removal. They also continued work on the pool area project and Jack finished up the promo video for the house.

July 1

In the way God does, this verse kept popping up, the words serving to ground my anxious heart.

July 2

The enchanted morning forrest next to the driveway at the lake...the scene of many a storybook!

July 3

It was very hot so the crew was more than happy for midday soccer.

For several days of the heat wave I did water aerobics. Initially, I'm not a huge fan, though I'd need to give it more time to be fair.

July 4

With some friends we watched our very first boat parade, around sixty boats all decked out for the 250th birthday of America. People went all out and it was evident we have some work to do next year so we're not the scrooges of the neighborhood.

Just so thankful for all the brave people who have gone before us so that we can live in the freedom we enjoy in this incredibly flawed and greatest country.

DiSalvs hosted their annual 4th bash. The weather started out great for games and sitting by the pool but then right around dinner time it started raining and drove everyone inside, except the crew playing volleyball getting soaked. By dark, it cleared up enough for the fireworks show.

July 5

Before and after of Aliyah's garden and mine. She kept saying the space needed some vegetables, so we made it happen. Time will tell if we have a harvest.