Happy September!

It is September 8th and life is is full swing! We are near the end of our 3rd week of school, however this was only a 4 day week.

I had started a few posts through out the Summer and hoped to finish them, but I never have.  Right now it seems overwhelming to get caught up with all the stuff  I have missed on this blog. So, I decided to just start where we are now and possibly add a little about our Summer as I go.

This year I have 6 kids in school, a first grader all the way up to a 10th grader. Last year there were seven, but Rebekah graduated. It seems a little strange just having 6 at home full time. When you have so many kids, even with just one missing, the dynamics change quite a bit.

Rebekah is going to the local University and living at home. She does not have her drivers license yet, so Hubby or I have to drop her off and pick her up. Her schedule is so full, that she is not home very much. She has long days at school and she also works several evenings a week. I feel like I hardly ever see her. She is getting the hang or her busy schedule, but she is quite worn out which is totally understandable!

Our Summer was quite busy with the Musicals from our Church. There were many practices and both Musicals had three performances each. Let's just say that we were doing a lot of running around and dinner was usually on the run. It was a lot of fun, but it was also great when it was all over! I really felt like I needed a vacation afterwards. I only had to transport my kids, I cannot imagine how the people leading these kids through every practice and performance felt. There were a few young ladies that taught the choreography for both groups and some days they had 2 practices in one day. Can you say Workout?!  I should have joined in and learned the dance moves too, it would have been a great for weight loss.

We did fit in a visit to go see my Mom in Virginia. It was so nice just to be with her. I absolutely hate being so far away from her and the rest of my family. I wish we could at least live closer so that I could easily go for the weekend or something. Last week she fell and when I got the call, it tore me apart that I could not just get up and go be with her. She thought she had broken her leg, but ended up being a small fracture and some badly bruised ribs. That has got to be painful enough though. The good news is that she got to go home! She hates having to stay in the hospital!

While in Virginia, we did get to go see Faith's grave. While I know that she is not there, but with Jesus, it is still nice to visit, since this is a little bit of her I have here on earth.

The kids always want to take my picture while we are there!

Just like all the other times we have visited, many of the kids run straight for Faith's Grave and the start cleaning it up and pulling away any long grass, etc. It always Blesses My Heart! This year I did not get a picture of it though.

My beautiful necklace from My Forever Child.

Close up of my Necklace

Micah using Uncle Rick's fancy camera! He did not want to give it back!

Even though it has been a bit  hard to get back into a regular routine of school,etc, it also feels good!  Kids just seem to do better when they keep up somewhat of a regular schedule. They also go to bed a bit earlier too!

It has been a really hot summer here, but the past few days have been cool and wet and rather dreary! It just seems that we go from one extreme to another. I really would like to have some nice Fall weather though. Some cool days with Sun, yeah, that's what I want!

Today I will leave you with a song I have on my heart:

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

by Helen H. Lemmel, 1922

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s a light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Refrain:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
Over us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conquerors we are!

His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

                                                                                                                     Hebrews 12:2

 

My Trip Back Home

I have been home for over 2 weeks now, but I wanted to share a little about my trip.

I had a nephew who got married on July 10th. My 2 oldest sons were groomsmen, my 7 year old daughter was the flower girl, and my 17 year old son was in charge of the music.

Congratulations Jon and Rachel

The Beautiful Flower Girl

This is what my youngest thought of the Wedding!

Hubby was not able to go due to work, and my 16 year old daughter was going to the TBQ National Competition in St Louis Missouri.The rest of us loaded up into 3 separate vehicles and made our way to Virginia. My son Jeremy brought his girlfriend and my son Tim brought his Fiance. So we still had 12 people to lodge at my Mom's house.

We arrived there on a Wednesday and the Wedding was on Friday.The older boys and their "girls" and my 17 year old son stayed until Sunday and then made their way home. That left me with my 6 youngest children. I ended up staying for two and a half weeks. We usually only get to visit there once, sometimes twice a year, so I wanted to be able to stay for a while.

My Family lives in Virginia, just out of Washington DC. I really wanted to take the children into DC to see some sights, but I came up with too many excuses. For one, it was very hot while we were there and it can be plain miserable walking for hours in the extreme heat and humidity. During the week I didn't have another adult to help me out, so I was a little overwhelmed taking 6 kids sightseeing by myself. Of course during the weekend it would be way too crowded to enjoy anything!

I will definitely have to make it a priority to take them next time we go and I have Mike with me. We have taken some of the kids before, but it had been quite a long time. I am not sure who has been, and who has not at this point.

We did go to a few places of interest in the area. One was Great Falls on the Virginia side. I used to go there as a kid quite a bit. It is a really pretty place, but it even more so when it rains a lot more and the water is higher. They haven't had a lot of rain this year.



We went to National Harbor which is actually in Maryland. The kids enjoyed walking around and seeing the sights. They have a little park there that has this statue thing that is a huge man that is "under" the sand. It is called the awakening. It is like he is buried in the sand and trying to get out. The kids had fun climbing on it.

Most of our gang

One of the legs

A foot

A hand

My beautiful daughter inside the mouth

My mom and my sister with her 2 kids joined us on these trips. My mom and my sister both have to use wheelchairs, so we have to have helpers with getting the wheelchairs in and out of the cars and someone to push both of them. I have a niece who lives with my Mom and she is the sight seeing expert. She is the one who gets us to where we need to go. Too bad she works a full time job! Her younger sister also came along on many of our trips to be a "helper."

I got to meet my new great niece while I was there. She was born in April. She is beautiful and sweet. I enjoyed holding her. I was afraid it would be hard, but it was quite the opposite. It really felt good. I believe that there was some healing that came along with holding her. Her mom (my niece) was born just a couple of weeks before I got married. Wow, time flies!

We also had a shower for my other niece who is expecting in September. She is having a girl also. It was fun to see all the cute stuff that she got for the baby.It was nice to visit with relatives that I rarely get to see.

My children played with my cousin's kids almost every night. They played cops and robbers until about 11pm each night. That was probably the highlight of the trip for my kids. That had a blast and got to stay up really late.

I really didn't want to do much. I was content just sitting and talking with my Mom. Family means a lot to me, and I wish I could live closer and spend more time with them. They will have the opportunity to come visit us in January for my son's Wedding.

Blessings,