Recharge

In His hands are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are His also.  Psalm 95:4 (ESV)

Andy secured a few days off and said, "Let's get out of here!"  I've had just a couple of days off since finishing the school year.  We thought this would be an early anniversary trip, but Julia caught wind of the plans, and we couldn't resist the opportunity to share the mountains with our not-so-little people who were too small to remember our last trip to the mountains.  We really only had one full day there, but we sure packed in a lot. 

On the drive Wyatt and Julia entertained themselves with sibling trivia.  They decided that they are terrible siblings.  Among the things they didn't know - how to spell each other's middle names.

Some of our first lovely views on the drive.

I can't even... the road to the little cabin Andy rented was straight uphill and curvy.  YIKES!! Even Andy said, "absolutely not!" when asked by Julia if we would be willing to buy such a cabin for our retirement.

The next few pictures depict the same view from our cabin at various times of the day.

I had forgotten how beautiful the mountains are.  After our arrival - late afternoon

start of sunset

after sunset

sunset

morning

Julia and Wyatt take a selfie at the golden hour

Our full day

We started our day by tubing down the Little Pigeon River.  I didn't even know there was such a thing as a real lazy river until last year and did not realize the mountains had them.  The consensus was that this was the best part of the trip, and we want to return and include Zach and Savannah in this activity, possibly spending the whole day at it.  I don't have pictures --yet.  Yes, we did buy a waterproof, disposable camera and hope it took good pictures.  We still have a few shots left on it, and it does need to be processed the old fashioned way.  I am sure I will share when we get those pics.

After the tubing we drove into the national park for some hiking.

We had heard that Cave's Cove had seen much bear activity.  This was the best we could get of a bear playing in a field.  We just missed two adult bears coming out of the forest near our parking spot when we finished our hike.

Our hike was a five mile round trip.  While it ran along a river and was mostly shaded, it was still pretty hot even late in the day.  

We had several of these bridges to cross.  This one was the worst.

We hiked to see this.  It did not disappoint.

Wildlife

This butterfly was a nice treat to watch on our way back out of the trail.

Is this a coyote?

The drive on a one way loop out of the park was frustrating.  We had Floridians in front of us, and they drove at 10 MPH or less until we could get around them.  They stopped to watch deer frolicking in fields.  Kentuckians do not care about deer.  I have seen a doe enjoy snacking on my next door neighbor's landscaping.  The park where Andy and I walk regularly has plenty of deer.  However, I will snap pics of a young buck right on the roadside, and Julia's 'road rage' over the slow drivers in front of us with her commentary was certainly amusing.

As we were cleaning and packing for departure.  I found this uninvited guest.  Lesson learned - The Great Smoky Mountains are home to scorpions.  However, these scorpions have a sting no worse than a honey bee.  Thank you, but I would rather not be stung by either.

one of the last looks

We wrapped up the trip by letting the kids see Gatlinburg. We were on a mission to find a percussion shaker or rain stick.  It took a drive to the arts and crafts community, but we found the rain stick.  We also bought lots of fudge and replaced my sunglasses which I lost in the river while tubing.  I had to replace them before I did any driving because my eyes are very bothered by the bright sun.

Favorite trip quotes:

"One of those horses looks like it has malaria." -Wyatt

"What does malaria look like on a horse?" - Mom

"It just has lots of dots." -Wyatt

"I thought the higher you went the better the WIFI." - Julia (upon discovering that the cabin had no WIFI)

Final Thoughts:  It was a great recharge.  Andy returned home in time to play the Cajon at a small, local church.  He cannot take Tuesdays off.  He can, but he has to work remotely, and that did not go so well at the beach last year.  It also seems a little unfair to work remotely most of the day while also being charged a vacation day, so a full week vacation is not going to happen while he holds this position.  I am grateful that we could pull this mini-trip off, and we have not ruled out another one.  We know people who do not see the value of just getting away--not just being off work but getting away from the demands of life.  It really does recharge your batteries and remind you of just how big our God is when you can marvel at His creation.

Birthday, Gotcha, Gotcha

We had much to celebrate at our humble abode this week.

1st up - the Birthday Girl

On the eve of Julia's birthday, she spent the night at a sleepover.  She was home for her birthday and off to another sleepover the following day.  If summer continues like this, she's going to need a job and personal assistant ;)

This was a different sort of birthday.  Typically Julia counts down the days and has grand ideas for both her party and gift wish list.  Not this year.  She was noncommittal on everything.  Her Granny always makes her a dessert of her choice, and that was one area where Julia had an opinion, so red velvet cake it was.  She also wanted knock-off Birkenstock sandals, so we made that happen.

I just have to share my favorite Julia quotes of the year.

1. When Andy tried to talk with her friends at a football game, Julia quipped, "Don't you have some friends your own age that you can hang out with?"

2. She loves real estate and looks at it regularly.  She was looking at a house that she said could be our retirement home and stated, "Well this mortgage is tolerable."  She followed that by asking, "Is there such a thing as a child realtor?"

Just a few days after Julia's birthday, we observed her Gotcha day.  We've been parenting this girl for 13 years! We have really gotten out of the habit of celebrating Gotcha Days at all other than to just say, "Happy Gotcha Day!"  --sometimes with a shout out on social media.

Wyatt's Gotcha Day follows Julia's by just two days.  It is so very hard to believe that it was a full decade ago that we met an Ultra-man loving boy who was ready for adventure!  He's grown into a witty 15 year old who loves on little kids so well and with such patience.  After the family gathered to celebrate Julia's birthday yesterday, many of us took the party to the pool where Wyatt spent probably 45 minutes just working on learning how to dive while teaching Regan how to do it.  Both have lots of work to do on their dives, but they both made great progress last night.  

Hey, hey the gangs all here!  My smaller camera lens is not working, so I have few pictures of our celebration on both Julia's actual birthday and for the family gathering as I used my phone for most of the photos.  Instead of individual photos this year, I just took a full-group picture. We missed Savannah.  When going over the best day of the weekend to gather, she suggested August 13th - when she finishes her summer internship :) We had a fun, lively, and loud celebration as is usual with this group.  Wyatt stated over and over again how much fun it was, so hopefully, we will have another evening at the pool this summer with all the local cousins.

Thoughts on Savannah's internship

I am following the organization from which Savannah has secured this summer internship on social media.  They have podcasts sharing stories about their work and their people, and through the gift of a generous friend, I had the privilege of participating in the taping of their first live podcast.  The taping did not record, but that's another story.

My knowledge of the group is new, but at the kick off the other day, I saw in action what a top notch group this is.  The summer interns come from all over the country with a couple from Canada and one from England.  I thought this was this local thing, but really other than the staff and non-profits, there are few locals involved in this.

We are close enough to get to Savannah should she need anything, and she has one day off a week.  However, after the opening ceremony and visiting the house where she is living, I see where it might be best if she does her thing without any intervention from us.  My inclination is to drop off cookies for these girls and love on them.  However, the organization founder talked about how these interns will fight their pride this summer and their entitlement.  I think that it's best that I let them wrestle through those things because while they are there to change lives, their own growth will likely be significant.  The energy and personality in that room made me want to jump in and join them.   Savannah was beaming.  She's totally following God's leading in her heart for this.

It occurred to me this morning just how difficult this would have been for Dad.  He was a worrier.  He did not like it that I took the kids to China to adopt Julia.  I told him after the fact that we spent a weekend in St. Louis a few years ago. Last summer he suggested that I should never go to New York again.  I inherited that tendency to worry.  Savannah is not in a "safe" neighborhood.  I know the city well enough to know that she's not in a most dangerous area either.  However, Dad would have been very uncomfortable with this and would have stood up against us on it.  He would have worked to talk Savannah out of it.  He often tried to convince me to talk Zach out of his career choice. I think, however, that we were all made to do something, and even with the challenges, we will do what we were born to do if we let God lead.  I know my career choice is not an easy one right now. I just finished a year where a lot of junk bubbled to the surface and it became very clear how undervalued educators are especially by politicians but often by the very communities where we serve.  It's been trying, but I still love my job.  I still work alongside people who love what they do and make a very good impact on the future of our society because they teach students to think and to be responsible and to be good citizens.

All this to say that I will be encouraging young adults to pursue this opportunity.  It will grow them spiritually while providing impressive job and life experience.  They will learn to adult and love people.  I am so grateful to the many friends and family members who made this possible for Savannah.  The work is not finished. It's just beginning.  Your prayers are still needed and appreciated.

The Third Parent

Savannah moved into her summer home today. We launched her into this mission/internship with a dinner provided by a sponsoring church - a delicious Cuban meal, I should add.  She's excited about the next 11 weeks!


We only got her home for three weeks, and I would like to say we made that time extra special and loved on her, but the reality is that May is a crazy month.  Since I am now the sole librarian at my school, my May workload has almost doubled.  With testing season I am often forced to work longer hours (illegal and without pay, I might add -not because I mind, I am willing to do what is best for the kids, but just to remind my readers that the demands on educators are not as little as the politicians and public at large would have you think).  Andy's job is always demanding, and then there are all the evening commitments with end of year activities.

Instead of loving on Savannah, she loved on us.  She drove our non-drivers to places we could not because of conflicting schedules.  When I was overwhelmed and exhausted, she went to multiple stores to find Wyatt a pair of pants he needed.  She took Julia shoe shopping (that, on it's own, is worthy of some kind of award).  She took Wyatt to have his glasses adjusted and offered to take him to a lengthy appointment so that I would not have to miss work since my sick time is being capped in December.  I took Wyatt to that appointment, by the way.  It was generous of Savannah to offer, but he needed a parent there- preferably both, but Andy could not make it happen.  During finals week Savannah picked Wyatt up from school every day since finals are only in the morning, and students only have to report to the classes where they have finals scheduled.  True to her nature, Savannah came home and served.

We all make commitments to ourselves over what we will and will not do in parenting. I remember thinking that I wanted my children close enough in age to each other that they couldn't be responsible for each other.  I sometimes resented the long summer days where I was stuck inside babysitting while my friends were free to roam the neighborhood or the sail boating adventure I missed because I was needed at home to babysit.  In hindsight I don't regret any of it because I think it taught me responsibility and pushed me to pursue my goals.  In the end I think it also taught me how to be a mom.  I don't get it right a lot of the time, but a recent conversation with Savannah revealed what God did do through Andy and me.

She also got some much needed rest.  Savannah did not work during this time, so she had her days while everyone was at work, school, or sleeping to herself.

20 girls, 3 working bathrooms, 1 Victorian mansion

1st world problems

Are my teenagers from outer space?

Here's our Memorial Day weekend recap:

Wyatt had been counting down the days until the pool opened.  Saturday was an iffy day for it with t-storms threatened.  However, he waited all day long while we ran errands and finally got that dip in the pool.  He was so excited!

We enjoyed a family night around the fire pit with S'mores.  It makes this momma's heart so happy to have them all in one place enjoying each other. I don't know what it says about us that we played an A-Z game on ways you could die and followed that with an A-Z game on ways you could die in Star Wars.  I know, now you have this in your head and are thinking of what your answers would be.

On Sunday we hung out with family celebrating my nephew's birthday.  He wanted a practical joke kit, so his dad delivered with Whoopsie cushions, fake poop, a can that when opened has a snake pop out, and other such goodies.  Those gifts were the hit of the party.    I could not help but think of Dad.  He would have gotten the biggest kick out of all the kids and their antics with that stuff.  Ira would probably have tons more today because Dad would have thought it so much fun.  Ira is his grandfather's grandson.  He looks just like him.  Face recognition software tags my dad when Ira is in the picture.  Now we see that he acts a lot like him too.

Who can help themselves around a six year old's belly laugh?  You can't help but have fun.  I asked Savannah if she had opened the can that he thought was so funny.  She said she hadn't because she had already seen it opened.  Not the point.  You have to open the can and play along so that you can get a kick out of Ira's reaction.


On Monday we went to a military enshrinement ceremony where my best friend from high school's husband was enshrined.  It was a very nice ceremony that capped off a weekend at TAPPs for her and her children.

We finished the weekend with a family outing to see Star Wars - The Han Solo Story or whatever it's called.   Julia has neither seen a Star Wars movie before nor had any desire to do so.  I didn't expect her to go, but she did because she didn't realize it was a Star Wars movie.  She liked it okay.  Wyatt has seen all the movies and did not go.  What?!  I have also been hitting Memorial Day sales to stock Julia up on shorts.  I have gone Nike with her everyday shorts because they are  much more modest than the off brands.  She chose a pair of shorts in the colors of the rival team of her favorite college basketball team.  They look like they were made for that team.  Say what?!  She's quit cheerleading and swimming and now this?  Where is my daughter, and who is this space alien?  Then there's the Wyatt Star Wars thing.  Just when you think you kind of understand teenagers...

She crossed over!

You've seen the sneaks, now for the real thing!

Julia officially left middle school this week, and for a few days while Wyatt finishes finals, we have two freshmen in the house.

It was a weeknight and regular workday for me.  Julia has been wanting a photo shoot with two of her friends since she entered a contest to win one.  We were able to get in a mini-shoot before the ceremony with one of the girls, but the other one couldn't make it. I have a feeling they will be getting dressed up and trying this again sometime.  

CALMS approved..their new principal calls the middle school CALMS

All the siblings showed up.  

two freshmen - for a few days anyway

Sweet friendships were celebrated.

Throwing it back to kindergarten graduation which was the same day Zach crossed over to high school.

Final Thoughts

The ceremony: I do not know how Crossover has morphed into what it is today.  The venue and ceremony have not changed at all since Zach celebrated his Crossover a few years ago, but the dress certainly has.  What used to be a mildly dressy ceremony has become dressier.  Note that Zach is wearing a polo in the picture from his day.  This week the boys wore bow ties and jackets and some wore polos.  The girls, for the most part, wore long dresses.  The dresses are not meant to be formal.  It's just very hard to meet the dress code.  Dresses have to come to the knee and cannot show off shoulders, so no spaghetti straps or sleeveless attire.  Girls who wore dresses like Julia's covered themselves with sweaters for the ceremony.  If you have been involved in buying clothes for teenage girls at all, you know that finding dresses of an appropriate length is very challenging even for the shortest girls.  It's easier to buy long dresses.

The only notable change for this ceremony is that it took place at night.  I have asked the school for years to make this change and plan to send them a thank you.  In the past I had to find a way to take off work at a difficult time to do so.  I do know that the ceremony was changed because of scheduling conflicts with the venue rather than my request.  I am not that important!

Awards: Julia received the Bible Achievement Award which is an award chosen by the teacher for the student who works particularly hard in that class giving their all.  This award is given to only one of the teacher's students.  Julia also made the Principal's Honor Roll for all As, all year.  

It's chaos after the ceremony. It took such a long time to find Julia that I got very few pictures of her with friends after the event.  It has certainly been a nostalgic few days for me as I ponder this move into high school. I know all too well that high school goes far too fast!