Maybe I'm alone in this (struggle), but yesterday was one of those days where my head was spinning with ENTIRELY too much to do. So much so ~ that I couldn't seem to focus on any of it. Transcripts, grades, papers that I couldn't locate , lesson plans, high school foreign language requirements, class schedules, etc, all whirled about me (can you tell I'm a homeschool mom and school starts soon?) 

In the midst of begging God for help JUST to be able to 'do the next thing', I remembered I was sitting next to a shelf full of amazing little oil bottles. These three in the diffuser were a game changer! Literally. God was gracious and I was finally able to make some significant progress on several things that I desperately needed to get done. Yay!!

Meteor shower memories

Brrr!!  Whose crazy idea was it to sleep outside and watch the Perseid meteor shower? . . . oh wait, it was mine!!  Not sure what the experts say, but I think it was at it's peak at 3 am . . . and just for the record, it may be August, but it's QUITE cold and damp at 3 am!

Note to self: definitely repeat this experience!

Suki

We decided that today is the day (to end this poor guy's pain and say goodbye).  Suki joined our family in 2004, when I was pregnant with Samuel.  We were living downtown, didn't really have a yard and I was about to have a 4th child (under the age of six) - I wasn't really feeling the need to take care of one more living creature! . . . BUT, I had a five year old who had been praying for a "small, white, fluffy dog - who didn't shed".

The night he arrived (on pretty short notice...) we happened to be eating carry-out pizza on the stairs (because we just had our carpet cleaned and it was still damp, and our furniture in disarray). So, we have a silly tradition of eating pizza on the stairs with Suki every year on the anniversary of that November night. The kids decided it would be fitting to do that one last time (a few months early) as a 'last supper' of sorts.

Run free, sweet boy, we'll miss you!

 

 

 

 

They're baaaaccckk!!

Emily and Ryan (and the rest of Ryan's family) returned home last night!  So excited to have them back!

St Mary's Glacier

Fun family time at St. Mary's Glacier today (& then lunch in Idaho Springs). We have to go back when Emily is home, she would have gotten some amazing pictures there!

Emily's Big Adventure!

Emily left on her big adventure today!  She will be gone for a month!

The first two weeks will be spent traveling to Ukraine and working in a camp for orphans. (She will be AMAZING! - have you SEEN this girl with little kids?!)  The next two weeks will be spent joining the Sturt family on their European vacation (visiting friends and relatives in Sweden and England) . . . they invited her to join them on their summer vacation - and who can say no to that?!!

What an opportunity!  What a wild adventure for a 16 yr old to get to enjoy, especially since she gets to share it with a family that she utterly adores!   So much 'new' - a short term missions trip (I've dreamed for years of doing one as a family, but we haven't managed to yet), international flights, train rides (complete with sleeper cars!), three countries that she has never set foot in and so much more! She'll get to experience parts of Europe as a tourist, but from an insider's perspective.  New foods, new languages, new currency, new adventures!

There will be new dynamics for the rest of our family . . . a taste of days to come in the not so far away future.

Thanks for your support and prayers for her, we are excited to see the many pictures that she comes home with and hear the stories of the planned and the unplanned excitement that will fill the next 4 weeks!

Girls Getaway!

It wasn't cancun and there were no cute little umbrella drinks this time . . . BUT I finally got to sneak off with my sister for a few days!  Mountain biking at Garden of the Gods, roaming around in Manitou Springs (beating her at Ms.Pac-Man, just for old time's sake!), a little bit of scrapbooking and a lot of food!

 

So thankful for my sister! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Micro Road Trip ~ Summer 2016 ~ Bishop's Castle

What a wild experience!  We had fun exploring this unique place as a family today!  So many spots to climb and crawl about . . . definitely an out of your comfort zone kind of thing for those who don't really love heights!

I love this guy!