I’ve had the intention of writing a post. There has been so much going on, that the subject keeps switching. I want to include it all, but am not sure that each merits it’s own post. So, here is a post with all the ramblings that have been rolling around in my brain the past few weeks.

Summer of a lifetime

It may still be summer weather, but summer itself has come and gone for our family. It was a crazy one for sure!! Over the course of the summer, we were blessed to fit in a vacation with some of our best friends and two major trips. We traveled to or through 11 states during the past two months with our family and Youth. We went on an amazing missions trip to NYC where we partnered with the Dream Center for a week. Literally a month later, we made the drive to Houston, Texas for National Fine Arts Convention. Three of our youth, including our daughter Allie, qualified for nationals when we participated on the state-level back in February. Our summer was full of ministry, trips, and adventures. We reminded our kids throughout the summer, what a blessing this all was to be able to attend. We truly had the summer of a lifetime!

Back to school, Back to school

We have started our 7th year of homeschool. We love it and it fits perfectly for our family. The flexibility that it offers, allows us so much freedom. This year, we started a week earlier than the county. I am already thinking about a conference that we go to in the fall, and that extended Christmas break that we enjoy as a family. I figured that we could go ahead and get a head start. 😁 We are less than two weeks into the school year, and we are still transitioning for sure! The kids are in 9th and 4th grades this year. The workload is a little heavier. Our 4th grader is struggling especially- some school days for us have been nine hours long. That’s too much for this mom! I told him very quickly that this was not going to be how our year looked. I know that everyone is working to get back in the routine of school….. I just wish it would happen in like two days, not two weeks. I’m trusting that we will all finish week two strong and that week three will be even better!

Our Sweet Jasper

I can’t write a post about an amazing summer, without including this terrible note that it ended on. We had planned on starting school a week earlier than the public schools in our county, just to get a head start. I had honestly contemplated pushing it back just to give us more time to recover and lounge after our travels. Unfortunately the Friday before we were scheduled to start, our Sweet husky Jasper passed away. I decided to stick to the early school start, because I knew that the kids would need the distraction. If we had another free week, then it would be a week full of tears. It all happened so quickly and unexpectedly with Jasper… it completely broke our hearts. Jasper had been in our family since he was five weeks old. It was like we lost a six year old kid. It’s been really rough on all of us. We still find ourselves crying at how unfair it is that he is not here anymore. We are working on a project to honor our Sweet Jaspy, and so I’m sure there will be a post in the future detailing what happened as we work to raise awareness. Our family was truly rallied around by our church and family members when this happened. Calls, texts, messages, cards, packages in the mail, and ALL the hugs…. we are so thankful for all of the hugs and love that we received. It carried us through.

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings. This is my family and just a glimpse of my heart. ❤️