We are home after being on the road for almost the last month. Dave and Elle came and went with work schedules, Grace and Max missed all the hoopla from the other side of the world, but Lucy, Claire, Bo and I put in 52 hours of driving for thousands of miles and it feels so so good to be HOME!
Lucy is out there too, reunited with a good friend and they are deep in conversation about the “zoos” they are making out of cardboard boxes.
Don’t get me wrong, we LOVED being away and are so grateful for all the family time we enjoyed away from the heat here, all the gorgeous sunsets we drank in, all the good food we ate, the sand falling out of our suitcases, all the joyous reunions and memories made. Words cannot express my gratitude that we got to do all that. It was not all butterflies and rainbows, of course, because as much as I love a good road trip, there are squabbles over the dumbest things involved, melt-downs from lack of sleep seeping out of everyone from time to time, including the mother. Ha! We are wondering how in the world we are all going to start waking up at 6:20 in less than a week for school (yes, school starts on August 2nd…how nutty is that??)
But as we pulled in to the desert heat last night, unpacked everything, got a couple loads of laundry going, gave Bo a bath, reunited with Dave (who had to come home from our last little stint a couple days early), and the girls jumped in the pool for a late-night swim, all seemed very right in the world.
So grateful for this place we live called home.
Right now Claire’s friends are clustered in the kitchen playing with slime and discussing with all the animation in the world about their upcoming 8th grade year. Their friends’ class schedules are starting to fill up social media accounts since the orientation has just begun over at the school, so they are dying to get over to there so they can start comparing schedules to see who’s in who’s class.
Lucy is out there too, reunited with a good friend and they are deep in conversation about the “zoos” they are making out of cardboard boxes.
Elle is in the other room working…she has lucked out to have some pretty good graphic design things she can do for people online this summer for a job, and is learning a lot.
Grace just sent a text from China a couple hours ago (her 2:00 in the morning), proclaiming once again that the last couple days have been the BEST (every week seems to get even better…I have been amazed at how much this girl has grown and adored her time over there this summer).
And Max sent a great letter this last week filled with good things about his new area and new companion, and all that he’s learning.
I have had so much swirling around in my head lately and haven’t been writing anything down. Sometimes it feels so good to just spill things out.
For now those junior high girls are itching to get over to the school but let’s just look at these siblings of mine I got to hang with this summer…first with my mom and dad just as we were all about to split up:
We are all growing so different in so many ways (and statures…ha!), yet so united and I love them each so so much.
Much more about them and our time together soon.
It is a tremendous blessing to be able to go, do and see… and it is also a tremendous blessing to have a place that so fully feels like home. ❤
August 2nd seems so early! We go back August 9th, which feels early too, but not compared to the 2nd!
Hope Claire got a good schedule. Glad you had a fun summer with your family.
When is Grace coming home? I hope she'll guest post about her experience!
My kids go back August 22 here in Utah and I think it is too early.
Oh Aug 2nd seems soo early when its stillso hot. In England they just finished on Friday lol.. I'm in Alberta we go back after labour day weekend.
The way you described coming home even though it was to laundry and chores sounded so beautiful! .. you still need to give us a house tour !!!