Jake’s aunt from NY is in town this week. She is always so good about reaching out and visiting while she’s in town. She is like me and enjoys catching up with people in smaller groups – so you can have an actual conversation. She wanted to see all of us, and since the boys were at camp all week, we connected with her today.
One other thing she is good at is capturing photos of her time with people. We were able to ask our neighbor to snap a group picture after we got back from our walk around the neighborhood with her. Pretty great group of people here!
The girls and I (and a friend of theirs) took a mid-week trip to Nissedalen for a couple of nights. Tuesday was a little cool but Wednesday was perfect.
The girls packed a lot into a short time!
Swimming, kayaking, hide & seek, and a walk.
Turtle races and a visit to the Chocolate Ox.
And diner at Rafferty’s – Grandma Lois’ treat!
Checkers, chess, spoons, swinging in hammocks, throwing rocks into the lake, and lots of laughs. It was so good to see these three play freely.
The moon was full and bright on Wednesday night. I took a similar picture last year when we were at the cabin. It’s so peaceful here and time seems to slow down. I love it.
The time away made the week fly by. Tomorrow the boys come back from Extreme Faith Camp at Trout Lake Camp. I cannot wait to hear all about their week!
The girls and I spent most of Monday making memories with our friends – making slime, going for a walk, playing at the park. They are moving out of state next month. Jake is helping them by driving with his friend in one of their vehicles. (I can only imagine the conversation that will take place over their two days of travel!) We’ve been given an open invitation to visit them once their house is built and they’re settled and and we plan to do so. They’re moving somewhere warm, so a winter visit sounds pretty irresistible.
We’ve watched these girls grow up – have actually known them since birth – and are going to miss them and their parents so much!
There are seven boys signed up to attend camp at Trout Lake Camp from our parish. Just seven! And these four make up over half of that number! (In comparison, there are 18 girls going – that’s over a 2:1 ratio.) There are other parishes joining ours for the week, but due to covid, they will be limiting the amount of crossover between groups.
I hope this week is full of fun, growing in friendship, and deepening of faith for all of the kids, but especially these young men. See you on Friday, guys!
Today I should be celebrating that my due date has come and that Shecklet #5 can join us anytime.
Instead of that “should,” we picked up DQ (thanks to friends) and visited the cemetery where our little girl is buried – Jake’s parents joined us. (I don’t envision DQ as a treat every time we visit, but I can see it being the way we celebrate her sweet life when we visit on days like 5/16 – the day she was born.) The girls brought flowers from home to lay on her grave.
We don’t have her grave marker yet, so no one else knows where she has been laid to rest. My therapist is holding me accountable by checking in to see that I make progress on having a marker made. It is yet another task I never dreamed I would have to do for one of our kids.
The “shoulds” of her life were cut short. Too short in my opinion, but my opinion is just that, an opinion. I can’t see the big picture that God can see. I’ve had hopes of seeing something good come from her death. I know I’ve experienced one major one – loving my daughter and being loved unconditionally by others who have supported us. But the still-hurting part of me was really hoping that losing her would be the catalyst for reconciling/healing a few relationships that have been broken for almost three years. (I’ve added that to the list of things to discuss in therapy.)
I don’t imagine 8/23 as a day I will reflect on annually. I’m hoping once will be it. It’s a day that never came to be (from a pregnancy standpoint) and I don’t know if I need another reminder of that fact. Astrid’s birth date (5/16) is a different story though. That’s the day she became fully “real” in the sense that we finally got to see her, find out she was a baby girl, and say goodbye. The hardest goodbye I’ve ever experienced.
I’m finally taking a break from cleaning. I’ve kept busy vacuuming, moving furniture, cleaning and resealing tile grout, and washing the kitchen/dining room floor. (Jake took the kids up north for another Saturday of fun at the lake.) My current Amazon Music playlist is blasting throughout the house and it’s making me cry. I suppose it’s my fault; I picked the songs. As I get closer to what should have been my due date, I’m finding myself feeling the big emotions again. Ugh. Grief sucks.
Jake took the three older Shecklets to meet up with his brother (who is in town visiting).) the five of them went biking and according to the kids – had a blast!
We spent the third consecutive Saturday at Nissedalen. This time we had friends join us from their weekend place. They came for dinner and water play. The kids were excited to have their friends to hang out with.
Shecklet #2 was able to spend the night with these friends at their camper near the river. Among the assortment of fun things he got to do some wakeboarding.
