The Last Days of August

As the end of August approaches, I find my emotions heightened and my sentimentality a little stronger than it normally is.  It's not just the beginning of school, which is such a vivid reminder of the passage of time especially as it relates to the growing-up of my children.  Neither is it only because of the hint of fall that can be felt in the air--the crispness as summer's humidity begins to subside, the coolness in the morning and evening--the undeniable reminder that the earth is still turning, and winter is on the way  No, it's more than those things.

A big part of it has to do with what took place on August 28, two years ago.  8/28.  The day we moved my dearly-loved mother into a nursing home.  And also, coincidentally (or not), a much-needed reminder that, like Romans 8:28 tells us, God works for good through all things.  Even moves to nursing homes.

August 28 of this year was a Sunday; and after our morning services, my family including my parents gathered at Country Cookin for lunch together.  I didn't take a picture; but my heart was especially full of gratitude as I looked around the table and noticed, really noticed, all the dear faces, including, of course, my precious mother.  She's gone downhill since her move to the nursing home, in terms of her abilities, but her heart and spirit are as joyful and loving as ever.  What a gift.

Later that afternoon, she and Dad went by my sister's house who, I'm glad to say, had the presence of mind to snap a picture of her and my mother together.  :)

Remembering my mother's move reminds me of the other events of August of 2014, the "season of loss" that I wrote about here.  

But August brings happier memories, too, and they make me just as sentimental!  :)  The biggest one is what happened one year ago, when Josiah and David were baptized on a very, very special day.  :)  This year on August 30, we got out the Celebrate plate (David got it) and the funny face plate (Josiah had to settle for that) ;-), and we had mint brownies after supper (made almost entirely by David, and they were so good), and we celebrated their first spiritual birthday--a wonderful reason for rejoicing!

Meanwhile, life goes on, and so it did, all the way through the last days of August.  We snuggled and played...

...and, for the first time, Moriah wrote the names of all of our family members on the board.

The only two letters I wrote were the "S" in Shav and the "S" in Josiah; she did all the rest, although I did tell her which letters to write for some of the names.  :)

I'm not sure if you can even find the names because her spacing is so...shall we say, unorthodox.  ;-)  But they're there!

She also drew a picture, a quite dramatic one.  It's of me, she told me, holding Benjamin, and Jeff is defending us from a bad guy or a monster or something, I guess.  Whew, I'm so glad I have such a brave, strong defender!!  :)

The last days of August brought a variety of butterflies and moths and insects to marvel at.

And on the very last day of August, I took some time to photograph Benjamin for September's blog header.  I grabbed a tie from Jeff's closet, an old telephone that we used when I was a child from the toy cabinet, and had a lot of fun with this. I think Benjamin did, too.  :)

Also on the last day of August, as we were working on our front flowerbed project, we found a visitor that had been carried in with the load of mulch.  We welcomed him (or possibly her--at any rate, the kids named it "Judy Hops" so I suppose it must have been a girl) warmly (at one point, he or she was even loose inside the house, until I encouraged his or her hasty exit!) :), and the kids, after they got over their initial reluctance to hold him, had a ball holding him and playing with him (her, it...whatever).

They even fixed up a special resort for him in this wagon.  :)

When supper time approached, I rejected the kids' pleas to keep the poor creature and encouraged them to take him back the neighbors' pond where he could live a long and happy life.  And so the procession set off to say goodbye.

A pet for one afternoon is all delight and no drudgery!!  :)

While we bid farewell to Judy Hops, we did the same to the beautiful, nostalgic month of August.  Onward to lovely September, and onward to the first birthday of a very beloved baby...coming soon!!  :)

A Funny Thing Happened Last Saturday

Last Saturday, we went to one of my favorite places on earth, Riven Rock; and as a bonus, we got to go with some friends.

 The kids--13 total, I believe--had a blast playing in the river and climbing on the rocks...

 ...and the adults had a blast sitting back, relaxing, and watching them.  A win-win situation.  :)

 I didn't take many pictures, just a few quick snaps with my cell phone; but that's enough to document in blurry pixels, for example, that Shav (wearing the green shirt below) was brave enough to climb up on this tall rock he's never been on before.  :)

In the middle of the fun, exciting, hey-mom-look-at-me moments came an occurrence that cracked me up big time.  Moriah needed to go to the bathroom, so I took her to the outhouse there in the park.  That particular outhouse is never particularly pleasant, but it was particularly UNpleasant on this day, so I was hurrying Moriah along--NOT a particularly easy task, by the way, for a girl in a wet swimming suit who has to struggle to get it down and then up and put arms in the right holes and so forth.  Guys have it so much easier.  ;-)

As we were finally ready to make our hasty exit from the outhouse, Moriah was chattering away, and I was only half listening...until she remarked about the automatic flusher.

Indeed, it did sound like the sound of running water; but everyone knows there's no flush mechanism--automatic or not--in an outhouse.

What Moriah didn't realize--but I did, much to my amusement--is that the thin walls of the outhouse, although sufficient to prevent sight, did nothing to diminish hearing; and the "automatic flusher" that she heard was actually a gentleman relieving himself in the men's part of the outhouse, directly adjacent to the women's part!!!

Oh, dear me, I could barely control myself as I fought the urge to just hoot and holler about her mistaken impression of the refinements of that bathroom.  Automatic flusher indeed!!!  :)

What They Want for Christmas :)

These boys already know what they want for Christmas.

Two front teeth, that's what!!  :)