Memories Made

 Right after church our family left with the Morgan family for a couple days of crossing off the last of our summer list of fun.
First on the agenda was a concert--KB, Brandon Lake and Phil Wickham. This was a dream line up for Aliza and Josiah (Siah) Morgan especially.

When KB came out, they could not even contain their excitement. We were up at the very top of the stadium with next to no room for movement, but those 5 kids, in the row in front of us adults and Isaiah, did not stop moving the entire concert.

How they kept up that level of energy from 7:30-8 and 9-11pm, I cannot explain! I thoroughly enjoyed the concert too. It was one of those concerts that you can sing every song. At times the crowd was singing over Brandon Lake and Phil Wickham. It was just really, really fun to worship GOD in such a crowd!

Isaiah was a great sport, but he would have much rather been with his cousin Ezra! Isaiah reminded us that we were really in the nosebleed seats when he got a nose bleed mid concert. That startled me. Thankfully it wasn't too serious and didn't last long.

We got back to our hotel at 12:30am and we were wiped and still wound up. The Heslop room stayed dark long into the next morning. The Morgan family was starting to wonder if we were ever going to emerge! It didn't matter because that day was strictly for relaxing and visiting-- getting to catch up on a couple months of conversation that we've missed. Isaiah was thrilled for two sessions of swimming in the pool. We had a late lunch at a PA Dutch smorgasbord. We had some family time. And a movie that night.

I don't get many pictures of Anna and Tabitha! I love this one though!

Our second main event was watching Moses at Sight and Sound. Aliza LOVED it as much as I thought she would. Anna loved it even MORE than I thought she would.

The show was amazing as usual. Isaiah even sat still through the whole thing. And Jeremy took one picture that he was not supposed to take. The scene here is God speaking to Moses from the burning bush.

 

Some Little Things

 These last few weeks have been filled chock full of little moments. It's been busy! Even with Aliza driving, I've felt like a taxi driver!

While the oldest three were at youth group, Jeremy, Isaiah and I took a walk around SU campus. I wanted to finish something on Pokemon that I can't even remember now. It was good excuse, though, to take a walk on a beautiful evening.

For years Josiah has asked to make applesauce. Grandma told us that she had apples and so we made a batch of applesauce. She told me it was a small bag. I was skeptical of what a "small bag" was to her. It was actually a small bag. lol Aliza and I helped too.

I love having a couple dahlia plants and this yellow one is my favorite.

Jeremy was at a local pie bakery called Ugly Pie and came home with this Death By Chocolate pie and a quiche. I was so thankful to be able to put the quiche in the oven for supper tonight!

Listening to Phil Wickham's new album on repeat. Aliza stayed up until midnight last night to listen to it as soon as it released. Not that staying up until midnight is all that unusual for her these days.

Another gem Anna left on my phone.

The girls have enjoyed going to Lift youth group this summer. That's Aliza with her hands raised. They particularly love the worship time there. Plus they get to hang out with their cousins.

 And now it is just about time for one more drive today to pick up Josiah from his last Driver's Ed class. He and I are both excited that this is the last night!

Joy Dare::July

 10,325. Picking raspberries
10,326. 4th of July picnic
10,327. That good-kind-of-tired feeling
10,328. Gideon playing on the worship
10,329. A little time with Jeremy
10,330. Rest and preparation for the week
10,331. Amazing kids who are willing to give me up to help Grandma Karen
10,332. Snacking on blueberries and strawberries
10,333. Bedtime reading with Isaiah over video call
10,334. A little Ronan time
10,335. Seeing a few fireworks from the door
10,336. Listening to "I'm So Blessed" with Karen
10,337. Little improvements each day for Karen
10,338. Flowers and chocolate
10,339. An evening walk
10,340. Birthday flowers
10,341. Visit from a friend
10,342. Emotion released
10,343. With both of my moms
10,344. The nap I needed to drive home
10,345. Hugging my family
10,346. A day at home
10,347. My little piece of Smith Island cake

10,348. Setting up the scrapbook cabinet
10,349. Seeing Dad
10,350. Family afternoon
10,351. Making cookies with Isaiah
10,352. Seeing Aliza at work
10,353. Another smooth trip to WV
10,354. 4 square
10,355. Karen is getting stronger and sleeping better
10,356. Mowing grass for Van
10,357. Walking around the lake
10,358. A little cousin time with Ronan
10,359. Van's work situation got better
10,360. Peony tubers
10,361. Aliza took care of supper
10,362. My own bed
10,363. Laughing over a game together
10,364. Anniversary roses
10,365. Anniversary date
10,366. Finally cleaning out the school cabinet
10,367. Family weekend
10,368. Aliza leading worship
10,369. Scrapbook spread out on the floor
10,370. Listening to the late night Minecraft playing with Joel and Amanda
10,371. All the normal Monday tasks
10,372. A beautiful beach evening
10,373. Jeremy came to the beach after work
10,374. Taking a mall walk with Isaiah
10,375. Aliza handling an adult situation
10,376. Connecting with another mom
10,377. Anna, Renee and Lydia spent the morning together
10,378. So much to tell my mom
10,379. Pretty excited about an open August schedule
10,380. Watching the turtles
10,381. Getting orthodontics started for Anna
10,382. Jeremy's milkshakes
10,383. Aliza finishing strong
10,384. A vivid double rainbow

10,385. A new game we all could play
10,386. Spending time with my cousin
10,387. Kayaking
10,388. Isaiah laughing so hard
10,389. Cool nights
10,390. Time with my aunt
10,391. Josiah's pure excitement
10,392. Aliza could help with driving
10,393. Good memories
10,394. Isaiah so exited to go bow fishing
10,395. A wonderful pool afternoon
10,396. Renee and Lydia
10,397. Summer storm
10,398. The iconic summer beach day
10,399. Children old enough to be self sufficient
10,400. The mom who had vinegar with her for jellyfish stings was a lifesaver for Anna
10,401. A new place for tea

10,402. Friends
10,403. Completely lost track of time
10,404. Isaiah confident and excited
10,405. Some Janell time
10,406. A weekend with Josiah
10,407. Josiah and his Panera baguette
10,408. Supper with Mom
10,409. Hearing the fishing stories be told
10,410. A guest speaker at church
10,411. Isaiah had so much fun at camp
10,412. A break in the heat to mow grass
10,413. Time to catch up with some friends
10,414. Celebrating Mom

10,415. Cousins being together
 

One Weekend, Many Adventures

This was sort of a choose-your-own-adventure weekend. Jeremy and Taylor took Isaiah to kids camp at Skycroft. Isaiah was so excited to get to have his own camp experience.

Isaiah is always up for a game of chess.

This was literally called OMC--Organized Mass Chaos. From the pictures it lived up to the name. The kids each got a card with a challenge on it and when they completed it, they got another card. The one rule was that you couldn't say No--if anyone asked for help, the kids couldn't say No, they had to help each other.

Gaga Ball was Isaiah's favorite game. If you ask him his favorite part of camp, he will probably

Aliza and Anna had their own adventure with Janell's family at Busch Gardens.

Aliza was very excited to ride all the big rides with Jeff.

Anna leaves me these gems to find.

Anna got brave and rode the swings and a couple other rides that she didn't do last year.

In the evening there was a Matthew West concert which they thoroughly enjoyed.

Josiah and I were at home. It was very quiet here! We had lunch at Panera where we both like the same summer salad. Josiah wanted a whole baguette. He didn't think I would actually get it for him. When I did, his joy was priceless.

 

Josiah and Grandad had their own fishing adventure. The weather wasn't great so they decided to go to the Chincoteague bay areas for sand shark and stingrays. Josiah didn't feel very optimistic about catching anything. After a prayer for less wind and a catch, he reeled in a 40 inch sand shark. He was thrilled!

There were lots of stories to share on Sunday when everyone was home again! There was also an early bedtime and sleeping in on Monday. Everyone was TIRED!

Mountain Weekend

 It was a lovely weekend with Dan and Laurie. Their weather was a nice break from our super humid, hot weather. Here's a couple highlights...

Anna gathered flowers on a walk.

Aliza ate ice cream while sitting on the counter and talking to Laurie. It's a tradition.

There were lots of table games and yard games. Isaiah was particularly lucky at this dice game. His laugh made us all laugh.

We spent two afternoon at the stream. Other activity options were presented, but everyone wanted to be at the stream. Most memorable moment this time was that on the first afternoon there was a racoon walking on the other side of the stream. It was clearly not well and Dan and Josiah made sure that it went in to the woods. When we came back the next afternoon there was a racoon floating in the stream. 

Ultimately that led to the funeral procession seen below. The racoon was at a steep place where it would just be stuck and create drama for us. So Dan connected his kayak to Jeremy's. Dan kept the racoon in the net and Jeremy kayaked them to a shallow place downstream. Isaiah was swimming behind and Josiah was in the kayak beside them.

The girls followed on the bank and then everyone picked up stones to cover the racoon.

Aliza and Dan stayed in that part of the stream and collected a whole bucket of crawdads.

This time I even felt like I relaxed and could just enjoy "being". It's pretty fun to have children that are growing up...until the next time that I feel a little sad about it.

 

 

Extra Special Peonies

 During the first week that I stayed with Karen, she and I talked about some of my flowerbed ideas. One thing that I told her was that I would like to put peonies between the hostas I have along the back of the house. 

While I was home that weekend Karen sent me a text that she had a surprise for me. I figured it had something to do with a birthday present since I had just had a birthday. She thought I would call her right away. Which I didn't. And so she waited to tell me until I got back to her house that Sunday. 

While she was scrolling through facebook on Saturday, Karen saw a post by someone she knew that was selling plants that day. They were listing what they had left at the end of the day and in the list were...peony tubers! Karen contacted them and they were thrilled to hook her up with some peonies and iris. They met Van halfway between their houses and they only let him pay $10 for ten peony plants and at least 10 iris bulbs.

Planting was my first priority when I got home! It doesn't look like much yet, but next year...or the next year...I'm going to have some very pretty flowers to remind me of this journey I took with Karen and how often we saw the goodness and kindness of God.