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“There is no event so common place but that God is present within it,
always hidden, always leaving you room to recognize Him or not to
recognize Him.” Fredrick Buechner
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Um. Hello. I'm a little behind, and have a month's worth of gratitude captured, but not blogged. When I'm silent, it's hardly ever because I don't have anything to say. Just time to say it in, or too much to say to even get started. It has been a busy month, and one in which I've spent lots of time on my own with the littles, due to Luke's basketball schedule and the College World Series. The summer always takes my by surprise - I love the more laid back schedule and spontaneity. But schedule-less-ness and spontaneity also wear me out and make me feel like I never get anything done. So it will probably do me good to look back and remember how much I am thankful for!
137. WEDDINGS WEDDINGS WEDDINGS
We had two pairs of very close friends get married this month (and another 2 coming later in the summer). At one of them a friend mentioned how much her husband disliked weddings, and she guessed it was good that this was the last of their single friends, so this was probably their last wedding for this season of life.
I had to laugh. We'll probably never be out of this season of life! For one thing: College ministry. College students will always be getting married, and it will always be our privilege to walk through that with them. For another: Despite the fact that I'm probably 15 years older than the friend who was thankful to be marrying off her last single friend... I still have 5 or 6 of my closest friends who are single. So this is by no means my last season of weddings. Good thing I LOVE them.
It's especially touching to get to see my own sweet husband (who is SO good at being married) counsel young couples and then pronounce them husband and wife. I love it.
Katie & Derek:
Jared works with Matt and is a close friend of our whole family, so we took the boys to his wedding. They did great - other than Tobin trying to give high fives to the groomsmen as they came back down the aisle for the recessional (he actually got a five from Jared, what a good sport!) But the reception was the biggest hit. When the music started, Micah - who ordinarily sticks very close to me in crowded situations like that - marched himself down to to the dance floor, walked right out into the middle of the circle of people dancing, and started shaking his groove thing. He didn't stop until we came in and forcibly removed him. This child loves to dance.
138. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDYMatt's birthday was the first week of June, and we had a great time celebrating him with some of his favorite things.
139. SOCCER CAMP
The first week in June, Luke & Tobin went to British Soccer Camp. Luke has been going since he was 6, but this was Tobin's first year. And he LOVED it. We are still talking about one of his coaches, "British Soccer Sarah."
139. PIANO CAMP
While the older two were at soccer camp, Micah and I were at Little Fingers Piano Camp at the studio where we go to preschool music. She didn't have any other preschoolers sign up, but she went ahead with the camp, and Micah had a GREAT time.
140. HAIRCUTS
Luke & Tobin decided to chop their shaggy hair - yippee!! I loved Luke's hair longer, but Tobin wants hair just like Lukie. And T has enough natural curl/movement in his hair that when it's longer it's just really hard to manage. I like the spikey look. And I like that Tobin wants his hair just like Luke's - so cute.
141. CUTIE MIDDLE SCHOOL BOYS
I have lived in fear of middle school for as long as I've been a mom. Around the beginning of 5th grade, I decided to trust the Lord with whatever was coming our way. And as it turns out? Middle school is awesome. And middle school boys are hilarious. I'm especially fond of this one (who was thrilled to get to come to a college event that involved Capture the Flag with flour and chocolate syrup.)
Matt & I combined our birthday money this year and bought a porch swing for our back deck. I love it. And so do the boys :).
143. College World Series
I blogged about this already, but I couldn't leave it off my gift list! We love living close enough to Omaha to make some CWS games. I love real-life-baseball, and it was fun to introduce the two youngest boys to our family tradition (Tobin has been before, but we couldn't get tickets for all four of us last year, so he hasn't been since he was 3.)
144. THE LONE RANGER
The newest dress-up sensation around here. If (like me) you are wondering how a child in 2012 would even know who the Lone Ranger is, the answer (of course) is Grammie. She had Lone Ranger, Silver and Tonto dolls from when Matt was a little boy (and they were probably hand-me-downs or classic toys then), that Tobin played with at her house. He came home wanting to be the Lone Ranger, so I cut up a cereal box, and here we are:
145. LOTS OF TIME AT THE POOL
Since Luke isn't playing baseball this summer, we've had a LOT more time at the pool, and the boys (and their Mama) are LOVING it. Don't have a lot of pool pictures, but a few weeks ago "Josh the Water Safety Otter" (?!?!?) was at the pool. Tobin was thrilled and went right over to say hi. I was hoping Micah would get in the picture too, but he was like, "No WAY Josh!" And then of course spent the rest of the time we were at the pool asking, "Where Otter??"
146. THIS SENSORY CRAVING BOY
One of the results of being in an orphanage for the first 2.5 years of his life is that Micah had very limited sensory experiences. That means he has a pretty strong sensory craving (if you're interested in this, you can read this very excellent post by a fellow Ugandan adoptive Mama). One (of many) examples of this is that this is how we shower:
147. BASKETBALL
One of the reasons we're not doing baseball this summer is that Luke wanted to concentrate more on basketball. We've played with the same group of kids/coaches for years now, but this summer he is doing a tournament league hosted through FCA and our local Christian school. He's being coached by a man who coached against Matt's team when he was in high school, and Luke really loves him. It's been a great experience.
148. THE LINCOLN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM
So thankful to have such a wonderful children's museum here in Lincoln. This was Micah's first visit, and he LOVED it. We keep meaning to drive up to the Omaha Children's Museum, but haven't tried it out yet - we had a trip planned with Betsy and her girls that got cancelled by our Spring strepathon. If you missed it, read more about our time at the museum with Brooke & Sarah here.
Ahhhh. It's good to be back. And very good to remember the good times we've had this month!
