Yes, it's been a chaotic month, but also a month filled with so much good. I can't tell you how amazing we feel to be in our new home, knowing our roots are firmly planted in this place. To be able to dream up dreams and plans and make long term goals for the home we own. I won't ever take it for granted!
I've started something new this month, as well. Overwhelmed with both gratitude and exhaustion, I've been journaling every night before bed - jotting down just a few words in a prayer journal before turning the lights off. Documenting the highlights of the day - the good things that happened - the small moments I don't want to forget. I've noticed that in doing this, I'm able to take longer pauses even amidst the busy, to fully notice His presence and His provision and His faithfulness.
Happy things of June - from my camera and my journal.
//Our summer pool passes and our return to The Falls. Riding the tube slide in a double tube with Brandon over and over again, a fear he conquered this summer, listening to his screams and giggles as we ride through the dark enclosed water slide together. A trip around the lazy river with my niece Ella - just she and I - when Cassi had to stay home to complete a work presentation. Ella is 11 now and getting so grown up! Watching Jaden do dabs off the high-dive and sneaking in a few pages from my book from the lounge chairs while Brandon jumps into the deep end over and over again. Plans to meet up with friends for a picnic supper and post-swim pool night tonight after work.
...I caught him doing tippy-toes when making sure he was tall enough. JUST tall enough, as it turns out! ;)
//Catching Rainbows on a Friday night when leaving the pool - and Tropical Sno dates in our bathing suits on the way home.
//Baseball games and social hour in the bleachers and driving home towards the sunset, often stopping to pick up $5 pizza from the Hill on the way home.
//A night in a hotel room before the closing of our house the next morning. The boys felt like we were on an actual vacation, James, Cassi and Ivy stopped by to join us in the pool for the night, and we enjoyed the hot tub all to ourselves as we transitioned from one house to the other.
//Quiet hours in our NEW house during the first week of summer vacation. So much space to spread out our games and our toys. An open floor plan, allowing us to sit at the breakfast table and watch cartoons at the same time... and Star Wars pancakes just because. :)
//A new trampoline - a surprise to the boys when we moved into this house. And this backyard of ours. I call it our woods because that's what it feels like, and we just love it so much.
//Summer dinners on the back patio or setting our new dining table for family dinners when there's time for them. We had outgrown our old table and our old dining space in the old house, and it feels so good to be able to set a table again. It's the little things.
//Fresh raspberries set out just because - and Grandma Alda's raspberry pie in the refrigerator - my most favorite pie of all.
//His new interest in golf and how adorable he looks carrying his own bag of clubs around.
//Summer skies over our new neighborhood and walks up the block in our pajamas. We quickly discovered that our yard is a haven for lightning bugs, and we had the best night this night, chasing them, catching them, and jumping on the trampoline in the dark afterwards. I had every intention of getting them to bed on time for the first time in two weeks but the change in plans was better. This was a good night, and now every night we enjoy looking out our big picture window to see how many glowing bugs are flying around our space! It's incredible!
//Cousins who live a block away and meet up on the street with their bikes before coming inside for an afternoon movie. Parents who follow suit and congregate for happy hour for the very first time in a new house.
//A night at the amphitheater during My Waterloo Days - an inaugural lighted boat parade and the best seats underneath the fireworks. The confetti sky was so bright that the kids put on their sunglasses, and we rode home with the windows down, chanting along to 90's rap music, our kids laughing hysterically at us in the back seat.
//Stomp rockets from Sally and Bob, our first tractor ride around the new grounds and keeping up with my Bible reading plan on the back patio or the front.
//Jaden's favorite basketball camp yet and making the finals of the all-camp layup contest. Meeting our new Panther players and getting our basketball fix once again. He's missed this!
//Watching my husband water the new landscape and my boys shoot hoops in the new driveway from my comfortable seat on our front porch. I exhaled.
//Friends who miss baseball games due to road trips but text you constantly for the entirety of the game looking for play by play updates and celebrating with you when your son gets two big hits.
//Spontaneous Saturday morning visits from Papa Tim and shared coffee around the table. It feels so good to welcome people in and know they are comfortable here just like we are.
//Some Mommy time while the boys were at VBS - thriller novels read in the backyard and long chats with new neighbors who couldn't be kinder.
//Watching and listening to one doozy of a storm roll in from the covered front porch. Brandon joined me with a deck of cards, and we played Garbage outside until the hail started.
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