daddymoon

We spent a fantastic {and sweltering} camping weekend with some of our favorite people. I took entirely too many pictures of our kiddos...bordering on the intrusive, but flinging a "you'll thank me in 20 years" at the reluctant subjects.

we fished, we swam {so hot,} we ate {still dreaming about that granola, JRS,} we played

{each camping trip, I challenge myself to make something in the dutch oven on the open fire {I should probably stop}...this trip, I tried Granny's fruit cobbler using the peaches from Grandma and Grandpa J and blueberries we picked with Opa

it was a little crispy around the edges, but worked okay...tasted okay...it'd be better with ice cream, but I haven't figured out how to camp for four days keeping ice cream cold...let me in on the secret if you have}

Daddy arrived to meet us a day after we got to camp...safe and sound from Tennessee. Home {well, camp home.} Together. 

To round out our trip, we met friends at another campground for a night, opting for a cabin in the rain instead of a tent. Wise choice. We swam indoors, ate cheap pizza, and played bingo with dozens of other campers. I won twice...9 bucks {enough to pay for the pizza} and left as soon as people started glaring at me.

Now we're home {real mortgaged home.}

Fifteen hours...the number of hours asleep I've had in the last 24. Blissful. There was the quick go-back-to-sleep, snuggling with my best boy as the rain fell outside our cabin. A cat nap on the car ride home. An honest to goodness sack out after the great unpacking. And then starting a family movie at 9:30. {I mean, come on...that's not even giving me a fair chance.}

I must have needed it. My annoying cough and cold must have needed it.

So, the house is a wreck...we're assimilating his stuff with our stuff...it reminds me of getting married. And there's the soggy, muddy laundry and the food that stayed in the cooler too long to deal with. All very much worth the weekend fun.

I'm loving the nip of fall in the air...fully recognizing that it may not last...but I'm ready for it.

Goodbye, summer. Hello, autumn. Hello, Sweet Man. I'm going to wrap myself up in you.

Birthday, buddies, and bad news

It was my birthday last week, yes indeed...I did my best to ignore it and it almost worked. Others, however, got wind of it and helped me celebrate.

I had a lovely, low-key actual birthday. Enough to not feel forgotten, but not enough to seem crass in light of missing important people. And I was the happy recipient of two {ahhh ~yeah} cakes and some thoughtful presents. {Thank you, sweet people.}

A couple of days later, we left for another camping adventure with friends...no daddys...just 2 mommas and 5 kiddos, a few of my favorite people...just crazy about them. We even borrowed a mohawk buddy.

What'd we do? We swam, read magazines, rode bikes, picked blackberries, saw our friend, Missy and the animals at the resort, danced, laughed, ate popcorn,  played tennis, ate coconut marshmallows {heavens, they're tasty.} And my longtime friend and I actually had interrupted, but eventually complete conversations...my primary goal for the trip.

Real life invaded ~ There was an awful accident while we were there...we've had lots of praying for the boy. 

The next day there was a not so awful accident, involving a minivan and a wooden post...and that's all I'm gonna say...at least until I fess up to Sweet Man. Oy vey.

Arriving home without any more incidents, we said farewell to our camp family and unpacked. And then, about 30 minutes before another sweet friend entrusted her kiddos with me for this very night, Sweet Man called to tell me that he will not be home on our anniversary, as planned, but that he will be flying on...to Iowa for his next assignment. He wants me to join him in the next couple of days...but I'm whipped.  I plan to sleep well for the next 3 days. We each have a little cold. I can be neither witty nor clever...just the facts. And I want to finish my current book...then I'll come up with a plan.

Campy

What can I say?

Still there, friends? I'm still right where I was last week...not sure...what to say. There's much rattling around in this head of mine...in one word, I feel disquieted and disillusioned. My foundations are rocking, which is a good thing, I think...and primarily it has to do with people I have admired and respected, doing and saying things I don't admire or respect. 

Now, just what do I do with all of that? 

I do appreciate God reminding me that I am not to follow man...I am to follow Him.

So, I'm just gonna keep talking about what we've been doing as a family. That foundation seems pretty, dare I say it, solid. I better not say it...or surely rocks will start to tumble. But we are having much fun and enjoying having Sweet Daddy with us.

We decided to spend 8, instead of 14 days at camp...good thing since it's supposed to rain a lot more this week. Sweet Man received a Pharm phone call last Monday that scared me...I'll do plenty of things as a single momma...camper camping is NOT one of them. He was later told to stand down, so he's still with us, but we know his number will be up soon.

Camp was wonderful...lots of fun...relaxing and doing.  The week was spent nesting, reading {read my first Liz Curtis Higgs book...need to find another...quick,} playing tennis, walking, eating, archery, swimming, campfire cooking. Ping pong and pool in the clubhouse were also very popular pasttimes. I LOVE the activities that Grand Haven has planned...so much to do...or we can just chill at the campsite if we want. 

{this is Missy, one of our favorite Grand Haven staffers, letting Bug help read at storytime

...she does the kids' activities}

Bug has a new haircut, courtesy of Sweet Daddy. 

And, oh my stars, the best $1.99 I ever spent was on a box of water balloons at Betsypoo's Variety Store...hours upon hours of fun for all. 

It rained a good bit while we were there which is great as I am very fond of rain...especially rainy mornings. Nothing like a good soaking storm. Growing up, we had a screened-in porch on our house and I remember swinging with my parents as a storm rolled in and engulfed our little country place. Loved it and now scoop up my babes to sit on our little city porch and watch the storm roll in. 

Then as a lifeguard and reluctant softball player, I loved thunder and lightning...to cancel a game or change up the day a bit at the pool. We'd run for cover...me, not from the lightning but from the drops threatening to get me wet. We'd squeal and dash about, gathering vulnerable equipment, working really hard at avoiding the drops. 

But the freedom of just giving in and letting the warm summer rain soak me...to just stop dashing and let my clothes get heavy with wet and my legs spattered with mud....ahhh. To lift my arms and turn my face to the sky to catch all those drops. It felt glorious. 

My kids reminded me of that freedom this week...stop fighting it and just let rain cover me. Get wet, play in the mud, slide in the grass, {maybe after the lightning has moved on.} Take chances to get wet and dirty and  there will always be more chances to get clean and dry again. Life's more fun that way.

What can I say

{I really have no idea why the margins are wonky....} 


It's not that there is nothing to say...it's that I'm not sure if or how I should say it. And that is as best as I can explain my absence. 

Let's just go from here, m'kay? And I'll tell you what I can.

When I last left you, Sweet Man had just arrived back from Cedar Falls. We gathered Bug from a cousins' sleepover the next day.

After the weekend of packing and gathering, we made our annual trip to Creation Festival. The weather was perfect...low 80's during the day and low 50's at night. Staying in a pop-up camper for the first time was great, until  4:30am when we were trying to pack up and leave and it didn't exactly cooperate. Sweet Man saved the day with his Fonzie move.

A new-to-me speaker shook my world...Louie Giglio of Passion City Church. He spoke on the glory of our star-breathing God by explaining the the Creator's design in the heavens and in our bodies...whooweeeee! tingles...really crazy stuff.

I went to the worship tent one afternoon...pretty randomly...not expecting anything...really to just enjoy some alone time. What a blessing. God was heavy there and whispered into my ear as soon as I walked in. He said many things I needed to hear...won't tell you all of it, but at one point I stood with my eyes closed, my arms palms up and bent at the elbows and He told me, You can't even catch everything I want to give you. And friends, I'm sure that's not a message specific to me....He's so good to keep talking even though I'm not listening most of the time. Oh, teach me to hear You more. 

The weekend of the 4th was anxiety-inducing, to say the least. We left Creation early. Straight from the mountains of Pennsylvania, we cruised into the Valley and dropped the kiddos off so that we could de-funkify and rush off to my *gulp* 20th high school reunion. Not at all worth the worry...it was good to see all who came. And then track down the others who were in town for the Fourth, who, ahem, didn't make an appearance at the official party. 

The next morning, we roused our sleepy selves to pick up the kids and charge on to church....for church...and a wedding...my father's wedding. Yes, again, anxiety-inducing...tangled-up knot of emotion, but joy and peace are in there somewhere.

There has been much live music...the mark of a great summer: 


**@ Creation: Switchfoot, David Crowder, Casting Crowns, Chris Tomlin, & TobyMac {I've been saying for a while that we listen to Toby because Bug likes him. Time to come clean...I *heart* TobyMac...he rocks.} 

**There was a reunion afterparty at Brew's where my brother was playing with his band, One Under from very afar across the bar.

**Sweet Man was a trooper, this past Wednesday, as he attended his first hippie-infested fest: Dark Star Orchestra...oh, poor guy...at the first notes, I closed my eyes and was transported back 15+ years with that fine music. {They're coming to the Midland in August, in case you're interested.} 

The rest of the holiday was spent at parties, the parade, and street fair. Oh, yes, and there were naps and swims.

Now, we pack again...off to camp for two weeks...to have my little family in one place, at one time with nothing but fun on the agenda. 

Let me know if you want to come for a visit....

Grand Haven

After last week's crazy schedule I thought I might relax at camp...but there was too much to do...not much sitting going on.

Our second trip to Grand Haven was packed with fun. Grandma and Grandpa J joined us and we shared a cabin...definitely the way to go when I am a single momma...which I wasn't really this trip...just keeping it in mind for future. Did I mention that I miss my husband...he'll be home Friday...and with him, my sanity!

Weekend Update

In Myers-Briggs testing, my results have consistently labeled me an ISFJ...which may not mean much to you. I won't go into the shpiel...'cause I still don't understand it, but the first letter I designates me as an introvert. 

In most cases I agree...I can function socially, sometimes comfortably, most times awkwardly. I love people and I just might grill you about your experiences if you sit still long enough. On the flip side, I'll tell you just about anything you want to know about me...veering into TMI territory...yep, awkward.

There is a limit to my socializing...to fill my tank again I need to withdraw. Each day, I yearn for some me time...read a book, veg in front of a TV, go for a walk, take a power nap...whatever it is, I like to do it alone. I've been known to craftfully manipulate a schedule to fit solitude in. 

But in our travels I have learned that I prefer to vacation with others. Introversion does not apply. Our little family's trip to Florida taught me a lot. It was nice...not thrilling, but nice. We had some fun in the beautiful sunny weather. But I still really wish we had just saved our money and the travel trouble and gone camping with friends somewhere. It's really all I want to do.

So there is my vacation groove...I love the community of camping...the I'll watch your babes on the playground while you clean up your breakfast dishes...Let's chop the onions for dinner and cry together...Hey, you have s'more ooze dripping off your face...and should you really have eaten that third one? 

I don't seem to need the me time so much when we are surviving the wilderness together. 

We did more than survive this weekend...we had rub some spit on it - laugh 'til you're red or is that sunburn - stay up too late - everyone throw a proper tantrum but sleep like babies  fun.


We'll be camping a lot this summer. I wish I could live this way all the time.

I think the kids had fun, too. Be warned...there are lots of pictures to follow.