Mercy

Last weekend, I was pretty blue.  Harlan was away for work and I had had a particularly rough week full of ups and downs with the kids.  It was the last few days of summer, when the kids and I were both tired of our summer routines of negotiating every reward and ounce of cooperation, combined with all the changes that come with the first days of school.  I had known for weeks that Harlan was going to be gone, so I had time to worry about it more and more as his departure neared and my wits waned.
And then Sunday happened.
It started with prayer.  And from the moment I got of out bed and at every little moment afterward I marveled at the perfection of this day.  There were no arguments, no demands, no meltdowns.  The boys were a help and a pleasure as they got ready for church, participated in the Sunday School class that I taught, prepared their own lunches, and cleaned up after themselves.  We played some games together and no one got their feelings hurt.  We had talks.  We joked.  We had another simple dinner.  And then we called it a day and got ready for bed.  The entire day was joyful and full of light.
I had been hoping for weeks for just one day off.  I had given up on it.  It just wasn't in the cards.  I never expected it to happen on a day when I was the sole parent in charge.  But at the end of the day, still marveling at how great it was, I was relaxed and recharged.  I was completely at peace.  I felt better than if I had been on a vacation.  It was a gift.  My Father in Heaven knew that I wouldn't be able to lean on Harlan's help, and He knew exactly what I needed.  It was a gift of mercy and love.  I felt it so strongly.  I want to remember it forever.  So I prayed with a heart full of gratitude.

Oh summer!

Thank you, summer.  You were great!

Harvest Time!

These are the BEST cherry tomatoes.  Feel free to stop by.  I'll share them while they last.

I Did It!

Because the first day of school is all about me....This year, I actually remembered to take a photo of the boys on their first day of school!  Fourth Grade and Second Grade, here we come!

Yup.  Right before they ran off!  I'm usually too busy that first morning trying to remember everything the boys might need from me.  It used to be that I'd walk them in to their classes, help them get settled, share in all their excitement of meeting friends and teachers.  But now they have each other.  This year more than ever.  Their classrooms are right across from each other, and Jamie has the teacher that Joel has had for the last two years (minus that half-year at home with me).  There's no leaning on mom for encouragement.

But I'm ok.  I have a million things to do before it's time to pick them up.  Can't wait to clean out the closets!  

Goodbye Pearly White!

Jamie will say goodbye to his first tooth that fell out today.  He said he thought that if he ate some chips that that would make his tooth fall out.  Although I thought he was just making up an excuse to eat chips, he was right.  A couple of bites later, his tooth came out.

Before:

After:

With a fresh coat of paint

New decks front and back and a fresh coat of stain and paint all around.  It's finally done!  Here are the before and after photos:

Before

After

Before

After

Thank goodness it's expensive and time consuming or we'd want to change the colors and do it all over again!  As it is, we're happy that it's done!  Our house needed it.

Stehekin Valley Ranch

We live in an amazing state.  

We drove about 3 hours from Seattle to a picturesque Wenatchee valley with its orchards of pears, apples, and cherries and the lovely Lake Chelan.  Chelan is a very deep, long lake that is reachable by car, at least, the lower portion of the lake is.  But we took a 2-hour (express) passenger ferry uplake to reach the opposite end of Lake Chelan where this little village named Stehekin is located.  When we arrived, a shuttle bus met us at the ferry landing and drove us another 8+ miles upriver to the Stehekin Valley Ranch, where we stayed for 3 nights. We learned about the locals, hiked, biked, rode horses, ate amazing food, river rafted, played, swam, and ate some more.  

It couldn't have been better unless it didn't end.

 I can't take a photo. But it was gorgeous, wherever I looked

 Our home-sweet-home. Lovely cabin.

They were mostly great at taking turns on the horse swing.

 Joel tried to catch a butterfly in the meadow, without a net.

 It was a great meadow, but the butterflies weren't going to be caught that easily.

Of course, we were all there because of Nonny's 70th year. This lady knows how to live!

Rainbow falls. This was right before an uncharacteristic thunderstorm swirled into the valley and uprooted trees, rained hail on some of us, and a caused a mudslide.

 There were plenty of walking sticks, but sometimes it was just nice to share.

 The bakery. I know it says it on the sign, but this is _the_ bakery. Nobody was unhappy there. Gabby ate a cinnamon roll that was bigger than her head.

They let us take lots of pictures of them, 'cause they knew this was a big deal.

A seriously happy Jamie.

The kids had their first horseback riding lessons and were all grins the whole time. I'm not sure I've ever seen them so happy as when they each got up on their horses.

 The tire-swing horse that the kids rode when they weren't eating or sleeping or doing some grownup-planned activity.

 Playing in the lake while we waited for the ferry to take us downlake.

Waiting for a ferry was never this fun before.