Joy Dare::June

 13,428. Summer shopping with Aliza
13,429. Breeze and blue skies
13,430. Another 90s chick flick
13,431. Keeping house
13,432. Josiah and Anna working together
13,433. One more evening with Aliza
13,434. Baby smiles
13,435. Good bye tears
13,436. A safe drive
13,437. Smooth setup
13,438. Some interesting conversations
13,439. Talking to my people at the end of the day
13,440. A customer that was really grateful
13,441. Some energy left
13,442. Long last-night-at-home talk with Aliza
13,443. Talking to Isaiah on the phone for a minute
13,444. Hearing Aliza say that she's accepted at ACM
13,445. Feeling good at the end of a long day
13,446. Getting up early to show up at Taylor's church
13,447. So happy to be home
13,448. Hearing all the weekend stories
13,449. A little porch visit with Linda and Mom
13,450. Evening bonfire
13,451. Driving to get a clear view of a couple planets 

13,452. Time with Josiah to hear what he is working on
13,453. A hygienist that had the some education route Aliza is on
13,454. Another evening outside
13,455. Watching baby sleep

13, 456. A soul-filling evening with moms
13,457. Isaiah telling me he had a BLAST
13,458. A trip without slow down traffic
13,459. Enjoyable supper with the CHAP team
13,460. "I don't feel any anxiety at all" -Aliza
13,461. Quite the adventure to solve a problem
13,462. Crumble cookies
13,463. Door Dash is my new favorite
13,464. Smoothies for lunch were a hit
13,465. Efficient teamwork
13,466. The car problem was discovered before my long drive
13,467. Jeremy's persistence
13,468. Loving Anna
13,469. Worshiping beside Aliza
13,470. Safety in the storm
13,471. The kindest words
13,472. Time with Isaiah
13,473. Kids bowling
13,474. A beautiful morning at the park
13,475. Catching up with Janell
13,476. Watching soccer with Jeremy
13,477. Pajama morning
13,478. Working at my desk
13,479. Blogging on the porch
13,480. Car time with Isaiah
13,481. Enjoying Karen's yard and flowers
13,482. A most unexpected, generous gift
13,483. A day with Aliza doing college things at ACM
13,484. Camp stories
13,485. Incredibly smooth travel on a Friday
13,486. Naps
13,487. Making supper for my family
13,488. Reading
13,489. Playing with babies this morning
13,490. Taking out ice cream to the pavilion
13,491. Steak for Father's Day
13,492. Letting Anna struggle with the hard thing
13,493. Isaiah apologizing and trying again
13,494. Grace for the day
13,495. Anna did so much better today
13,496. Melinda time
13,497. House full of children
13,498. Rain
13,499. Putting away and cleaning out school things
13,500. Anna doing something new
13,501. Supper with Isaiah
13,502. Making cut out sugar cookies for John
13,503. Memorizing Scripture
13,504. Visiting with Mom and Moriah
13,505. Halfway through driver's ed
13,506. Car time with Anna
13,507. Talking to Aliza
13,508. Lake Day

 13,509. Luke 1:47-56
13,510. Making a new friend
13,511. Camp slideshow
13,512. Hanging out with the kids
13,513. Toby Mac concert
13,514. Hearing Isaiah play piano
13,515. Bank deposit
13,516. Bible study with my ladies
13,517. Isaiah made the cookies
13,518. Time with Josiah
13,519. Helping Mom for a little bit
13,520. Spending the afternoon with Maria 

Friday

 

 During the week of camp, Aliza found out that one of the options for her mandatory, in person advising sessions was being held that Friday. She had most of that Friday off and so it was quite clear that this was the session she needed to attend. 

Thursday afternoon Isaiah and I drove to WV and Thursday night Jeremy also drove to WV. On Friday we all went to Skycroft. Jeremy drove the van of girls home that I was planning to drive. Isaiah rode in the back of the Tahoe with the boys. And as soon as Aliza was finished with her part in the Closing Celebration, she and I drove the 1.5 hours to ACM. 

Aliza was required to attend a 4 hour advising session on campus. There was one other student in attendance at this session along with Aliza and myself...the director of the dental hygiene program made sure to use every bit of the 4 hours. Aliza was utterly exhausted from a week of camp with extra late nights due to skit practice at 11:30pm each night.  

Given the circumstances, Aliza and I made the plan that she would be present in body and I would be the brain. I took notes. She stood behind her chair to keep herself awake. The professor probably thought we had some kind of very strange mother/daughter dependency thing. It's ok. She will not see me again until pinning ceremony and graduation. 

After our very long meeting, tour of campus, and quick visits to advising office, financial aid and business office and foundation and scholarship office, Aliza and I went to Chick fil A to make our own plan of how we would get everything done on a timeline that works for Aliza's schedule and turning things in close to deadlines. 
 
We then drove 2.5 hours to meet Aliza's team in Baltimore where they were having supper together. Aliza told me all about her week on the way to ACM and on the way back I told her to sleep. She slept the whole way. I kept my hand on her leg the whole way (she likes that physical contact) and intermittently cried as I drove. All the Mom emotions...proud, excited for her knowing she is exactly where she is supposed to be and headed in the direction she is meant to go, gratitude for the unexpected day I had with her, and the ache of her going away for college. 

Watching her be greeted by her team with warmth and asking how her day went, could have made me cry again. It didn't though. I was too tired and needed the bathroom badly! 

I was very glad to arrive home that night. I have no more long drives planned! 

 

 

Camp

{ Wow. Ok. A LOT of life has happened since I last wrote. I'm going to just pick up the story where I left off. }

I worked at the Richmond convention, got home on Sunday and then on Thursday I went to Elizabethtown, PA where I led the Pennsylvania homeschool convention. The PA convention has shorter vendor hours, giving us evenings to relax, which is really nice. The convention ended on Saturday at 5pm. We finished packing up at 6:30. I was on the road by 7:00 and got home at 10:30pm. Just in time to make sure Josiah and Anna were packed and ready to leave for camp right after church on Sunday morning. 

There was another twist though. As I was driving home from PA, Jeremy told me the van was misfiring and he needed to replace the spark plugs. He's done that before and so I figure all would be well by the time I got home. I was driving a van of kids to camp on Sunday, which meant I got to see Aliza, so there wasn't a whole lot of time for van repairs.  

I got home and Jeremy was stressed and frustrated because the spark plug change was not going well. Something broke. He didn't have the right tool and was trying to improvise. It wasn't good. By 11pm, I decided that I was going to rent a vehicle to take to Skycroft (camp) the next day. Whatever the cost was, it was going to be worth it to spend a couple hours with Aliza and hang out with the girls on the way. 

Anna went with me to pick up the vehicle during Sunday School. It was a brand new Jeep Wagoneer. It was huge! And when I got used to it, it was a really nice drive. I especially appreciated the size when I had to drive home that night in severe thunderstorms. 

We left right after church. Given that I hadn't been home very many hours before I was driving again, Alena was my copilot and her job was to keep talking to me! We had a smooth drive with only minor traffic slow downs. 

While everyone got settled in, Aliza invited me to follow her around, eat supper with her and stand beside her during Opening Celebration worship. It was very special to get to see her interact with her team and welcome campers. 

By the time we got to worship, I had tears streaming down my face. The team (yellow shirts) prayed over every chair and then switched into full hype mode to welcome the students. When our church came in, they were ready to worship and were the first group to go to the front. To see Josiah and Anna in this setting, that means so much to them, was very special. My heart was full and overflowing with gratitude for the experience that all 3 of my children there were having. 

I left as soon as worship ended at 8:00 and got home to Jeremy and Isaiah at 11:30pm.  

My favorite picture of Anna! Happy. Carefree. 

Melinda is so faithful in sending pictures every day. It makes all of the Moms very happy!

This was my favorite picture of Aliza from the week. The spiritual circuit (seminar) that she was assigned was "Deep Questions." This was the very first week of camp and she was pretty nervous about leading this session. Here she is talking to (Pastor) Andrew about some of the questions. I know that look on her face. She is locked in and absorbing every word he is saying. 

And this is my very favorite picture of Josiah. Red was awarded the spirit chicken and, clearly, he could not be happier about it. 

The end of the week was just as exciting as the beginning...
 

The Acceptance Letter

 As soon as the calendar turned to June, it was time for me to prepare to work at two homeschool conventions back to back weekends and send Aliza to work at camp. 

The first homeschool convention was in Richmond. This is a long convention. I drive to Richmond on Wednesday night. We set up Thursday morning, have team lunch, participate in a focus group for BJU and then the vendor hall is open 6-8pm. Friday the vendor hall is open 9am-8pm and Saturday it is open 9am-6pm and then we tear down the display. This year I drove home on Sunday after I went to the early service at Taylor's church. 

This year it was especially hard to be away since I missed a lot of things going on at home. Josiah's best friend had his graduation and party, my sister was here from Indiana and my whole family got together and Aliza left to work at camp again this summer. 

Aliza had made a list of romantic comedy movies that I had watched in high school that she we wanted to watch together. We watched three the week before she left and the night before she left, she called me and we talked for over an hour. I cried when we hung up. Last summer Aliza missed her Dad and wasn't at all concerned about being away from me. This summer she misses me and wants to stay connected to me in a different way.  

I went to work in the booth Saturday morning. Jeremy and Anna were planning to take Aliza to meet her team that afternoon. Aliza and I had decided we would not talk on Saturday because I was still weepy. At lunchtime, Aliza told me she changed her mind. She wanted to call. And so I called her on my lunch break a little while later. 

Thankfully, I had waited to call until I had finished eating. Aliza had checked the mail and her acceptance letter waiting for her. She called to tell me that she was accepted into the dental hygiene program that she has been working towards the last 2 years! This program accepts 20 students each fall based solely on GPA. Any tiebreakers are determined by time of application. I knew that Aliza had applied as early as possible and she had a 4.0 GPA. My mom instinct was that she would be accepted so I wasn't really shocked by her news. Aliza, on the other hand, was not convinced she had done enough and was surprised and relieved that she was accepted. 

That being said, when I hung up the phone, the tears came quickly and wouldn't stop. I knew it would hit hard when that acceptance letter came and it was official. Of course I was very proud of Aliza's accomplishment and very happy for her that she can pursue the career that she wants to! The Mom ache in my heart for the changes it brings to our family is very real too. (That ache continues to creep up unexpectedly and brings tears to my eyes at odd times.)

And then my lunch break was over and I needed to head back to work. I had a 5 minute walk back to the booth to get myself together. It didn't work. The ladies took one look at me and thought something horrible happened. I assured them something very GOOD had happened!

Joy Dare::May

 13,333. Flowers ready to plant
13,334. A long to do list getting crossed off
13,335. Busy birdfeeders
13,336. Friends that are comfortable in my house
13,337. The Saturday at home I needed
13,338. Planning adventures
13,339. Watching a Brandon Lake concert on livestream

13,340. The attentive men in Sunday School to assist John
13,341. Anna had a really good evening
13,342. Aliza falling asleep on me
13,343. Lunch conversation
13,344. Helping Mom
13,345. Going to bed and listening to the kids playing games together
13,346. Josiah is finished with high school!
13,347. Flowerbeds mulched
13,348. 15th year of homeschooling finished
13,349. Family adventure
13,350. Watching Anna and Isaiah experience their first plane take off
13,351. Seeing Hannah and her boys
13,352. The first look at Grand Canyon
13,353. Sunset at Grand Canyon
13,354. Anna overcame her fear and was able to hike
13,355. Lunch overlooking Grand Canyon
13,356. Our time with Jay and LeeAnne
13,357. Ping-pong in the garage
13,358. Our first look at Zion National Park
13,359. Kids old enough to make this trip
13,360. Cold river water after a hot hike
13,361. A no-screens Mother's Day
13,362. Dole Whip
13,363. One last desert drive
13,364. Las Vegas was not a hit (totally OK with me!)
13,365. Smooth trip home
13,366. All the experiences we had together
13,367. Getting 6 seats together for the flight home
13,368. Meeting with a homeschool Mom
13,369. A very quiet day in our house
13,370. My siblings
13,371. A time to be sad
13,372. My dear friends
13,373. Letting my kids sleep all morning
13,374. Grad party shopping
13,375. Talking to Mom
13,376. Sorting vacation pictures
13,377. Willing helpers for cleaning
13,378. Girls evening with Grandma Karen
13,379. Jeremy got to golf and have a men's evening that included his Dad
13,380. Celebrating Josiah's graduation
13,381. An afternoon and evening with family and friends
13,382. Games and laughing
13,383. Singing our dinner prayer
13,384. Isaiah got some extra time with Ezra
13,385. Tillamook ice cream
13,386. Worn spots in the grass means so much fun was had

13,387. A taste of summer
13,388. Listening to John
13,389. Boys having a water gun fight
13,390. Maria
13,391. Finding my own balance
13,392. Holding a baby--even if he cried the whole time!

13,393. Having a few minutes with Janell
13,394. Friends who friend me at my worst
13,395. Procrastinating my way through what needs to get done
13,396. Aliza was the voice of reason
13,397. Longer summer morning walks
13,398. My kids and their mini BFFs
13,399. Ashley didn't mine jumping into life with me
13,400. Watching a 90s rom com with Aliza
13,401. Remembering our own wedding vows
13,402. The wedding reception dance party
13,403. Our full house
13,404. Listening to the chaos
13,405. Putting the kids' needs about my own
13,406. A couple older than us to look up to 
13,407. Hanging out with Taylor
13,408. Jeremy home on a (minor) holiday
13,409. Movie night
13,410. A little rain
13,411. Readying with Isaiah
13,412. Full heart, tired body
13,413. Spending the day with Brian
13,414. Chick Fil A time with Jay, LeeAnne, Brian and my kids
13,415. Our community
13,416. Isaiah thanking me
13,417. Catching up on some things at home
13,418. Sun and blue skies
13,419. Playing with Baby Will and then holding him while he slept

13,420. Sitting with Aliza during the movie
13,421. Some time with Anna this morning
13,422. Meeting new homeschooling moms
13,423. Showing up for Renee
13,424. Isaiah had fun (and was safe) in the water
13,425. A quick hello from Grandma and Grandpa
13,426. Sunday nap
13,427. Watching Runaway Bride
 

Josiah's Graduation Party

 Josiah thought even a party might be too much attention on him. He didn't really have a choice in that because I needed to mark the milestone of his high school graduation. I did still require "graduation" pictures.

In Josiah fashion, there were not too many pictures during the day. It was a beautiful day to visit and play outside. 

When I started planning this party, the only thing I knew was that we had to have Cheezit crackers and something sweet. Josiah's go to snack is Cheezits followed by a bowl of ice cream. Salty and sweet. I landed on a make-your-own trail mix bar. I loved how it came together. Josiah never came inside for a snack!  

He was too busy playing Cross Net. The kids of all ages played this game for literally hours. At times the line was 15 people long. 

Aliza got people to bring games because we weren't sure we had enough. Turns out we only needed one game!

Mediterranean Grill is Josiah's favorite! We invited family and a couple friends to stay for supper. Josiah definitely did not miss supper! 

And then it was back to Cross Net! 

At the end of the day, Josiah was very pleased. He had a lot of fun and thanked me for planning a party for him. It is very easy to celebrate Josiah. I'm proud of him and so grateful that I have a front row seat to cheer him on every day. 
 

The Trip--Through Anna's Lens

 The unique parts of Anna's camera roll were flowers, sunsets, mini Jesus, and hearts. When she found a heart it reminded her that God was keeping her safe. Facing fear of heights and feeling unsafe was a theme for her on this trip and seeing one more heart in the city lights as we landed was an extra special sign to her of God's protection on her life. 

Jay and Anna worked together to figure out how to focus "Jesus" and the background at the same time. I think Jay was able to do with his camera. 

Anna is happiest watching a sunset. 

These two ladies from London were sitting in front of us. When they left, Anna showed them the pictures she had taken of them. They were so touched. Anna gave them the pictures via airdrop. 

This heart was at the end of our Ooh Ahh Point hike. 

Anna was our car photographer as we drove. 

Taking pictures through her sunglass lenses gave this effect...