Summer Update

It has been way too long since my last post! I know you can understand how full my days have been with my four children home all day, every day! As much as this open scheduling can bring a bit of stress for me, I love being home here with my babies all around. I love having time to watch them, listen to them, store up a bit of today. I love observing the way they play, the way they build their relationships a little bit at a time and knowing that every minute they spend together has an impact on what those relationships will look like years from now.

In the midst of all this downtime, we have had several activities thrown in for good measure. We try to find a good balance of slow days and planned involvements to help the summer fall into some hint of routine.

Our church held a VBS (Vacation Bible School) program a couple of weeks ago and all my children attended. Noah is too old for the actual program now but our family rule is that once you outgrown the program, you volunteer to help run it. We are hoping to help our children learn that when you take something from an activity, you offer then to put something in. Noah was a leader for the five and six year old group and he did an amazing job! I was so proud of him. As someone who has taught leadership for over twenty years, it is a very moving thing to see it all begin to develop in one of own children. The rest of my kids had a wonderful time singing and learning and growing in faith. It was a really good week.

After VBS, all the kids participated in a sports camp at a local church. Again, Noah was a volunteer and spent his days teaching little ones to play soccer. Everyone had a good week and I was grateful for a bit of time to myself. : )

Last weekend, we packed the children up and headed down to Lexington to spend some time with our adoption travel group. If you know us at all, you have heard us talk about our "China Family" and that is exactly what these dear people have become. Family. We enjoyed a very peaceful and fun weekend with them and our daughter, Elizabeth, enjoyed reconnecting with her friends from China. We continue to stand amazed that we can gather with such a big group of people (there are usually at least 35 of us) and have such a smooth weekend. There is no ego, no power struggles, just a bunch of people gathered together, happy to be sitting side by side. I love it... I really, really do.

Now, we are home. The weather in Chicago has cooled off and we are remembering the simple joys of summer life. The garden is growing, although slowly, and my kids have taken on the healthy glow that comes with hours outside daily in the warm, fresh air. We are unwinding from a long school year and finding ourselves learning still. Read more, later this week, as I share some of our summer lessons from the first third of the season gone by.

Enjoy your day!