What a Summer!

Why is it that when I was a kid the summer seemed to last forever, whether I wanted it to or not? And why is it that it now flies by whether I want it to or not?

This summer has been a flurry for our family. In the month of June we were only home 11 days. Yes, 11. It began with my s-i-l's graduation from high school. We spent 5 days traveling to and back from N.J. in addition to spending time with Jason's family and presenting in a church on Sunday.

We got home Tuesday night, then left for a meeting in N.Y. on Saturday. After we were done at the church we found out Jason's grandmom had died Sat. night. We headed back home that night, Jason went back to work, and we headed out east Thursday morning for the services. Friday evening we drove to MD where we stayed until Tuesday morning. We then drove to VA for a 3 day family vacation. We spent time in Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestown. Learned a lot of history while there! Friday evening we drove back to MD where we stayed until Monday.

Thursday night Jason's brother and his family came for a visit for the 4th of July weekend. They left Sunday afternoon. Two hours later we hosted my extended family for an impromptu picnic. Two days later (Tuesday evening), Jason's uncle, mom, and sister came for a visit. They left Friday morning and six hours later Jason and I headed off to a two-day marriage retreat. Whew! I was so tired I had to take a nap.

After that we had a two week reprieve of sorts, though still busy with work, playing catch-up etc. On July 25th we started back into our traveling schedule, heading to WV. We drove home late Sunday night, Jason went back to work, and we prepared for our next trip. Early Thursday morning we left for IL and WI where we stayed until Monday morning. We got to enjoy visits with the boys' surrogate grandparents, some former church members, my long-time friend of 18 yrs., and some current members of our former church. It was a nice time of fellowship and even some relaxation! (i.e. taking two naps!) We also presented in a church in southern WI.

The rest of August is filled with tutoring, dentist/dr. appts., fairs, a yard sale (hopefully!), and traveling. Before we know it, the next school year will be upon us as I want to start in less than two weeks.

We also need to make decisions about Jason's employment as the school year approaches. We were hoping to be at 30% by the end of August so that he could quit work entirely, but this has not yet happened. We just moved up to 19% last week. So now we need to decide if he should go back to full time for a few months, stay at part time and be required to get a new client (which could be a nightmare b/c of the nature of his job), or come up with Plan C. It is difficult to make decisions like these when we have no idea when our support will increase to a livable level.

So, although I want to dig my heels in the ground and try to make time slow down a little, it seems summer is going to slip away from us very soon. I suppose I better take advantage of every moment I have to enjoy it as our six+ month winters do not seem to fly by quite as quickly! :)