1) Until yesterday, our basement looked like a garage sale threw up down there. Eventually, we cut a few paths through the mess. Last night entire swaths of open floor re-appeared. It's been truly horrible and has seemed a daunting, nearly impossible task - sorting through piles of items, some bound for Haiti, some left over from Melissa's classroom clean out, some needing to go into long term storage, lots of toys, and plenty of odds and ends with no clear purpose or destination.
I would share a picture but Melissa would die of embarrassment.
It is unconscionable to imagine leaving this mess behind for my mother-in-law to live with for the next year, so the job HAD to be done. Just getting a good start feels mighty good. Sometimes the act of starting really is the hardest part.
2) Other items on our To Do List got crossed off yesterday! All of us got a dental visit in the morning. All four kids also got haircuts and then a doctor visit. For four of us (including me) the "highlight" of that visit was vaccinations. I still needed a third round of Hepatitis A/B. Some of the kids needed Tetanus and other shots. Poor Hannah got three! Only Melissa and Sarah escaped unscathed.
3) Last Saturday we got to spend the day with our missionary to the Philippines, Beka! We had assumed we wouldn't be seeing her for a couple of years when she left in January, but she decided to come home for a cousin's wedding and we were fortunate enough to be on her itinerary.
She came bearing gifts. Most significantly, she brought pearl earrings for the Drama Queen and the Drama Princess - having forgotten that their ears were not pierced. Well, the females all decided that this was the perfect excuse to get ears pierced that afternoon.
Hannah and Sarah were both brave troopers - neither shed a tear... or so I hear. I really couldn't bring myself to tag along on the trip to the mall. I think it was because I knew watching the girls get pierced ears would be like witnessing a jump in the usually invisible process of growing up.
4) Our remaining Sundays are getting booked for various church visits, so this past Sunday we took the opportunity to worship with the fine folks of West Morris Street Free Methodist Church in Indianapolis. It is such a sweet congregation and we were blessed to be prayed for by them in the course of the service.
Afterwards, we went out to lunch with a few old friends and had the chance to say some goodbyes.
5) We've had other goodbyes as well. We got to spend some time with the Dovers and their 3 kids over some ice cream.
And we got to spend an evening with the Riggles and their adorable twins. They had our kids wrapped around their pinkies.
6) One of the highest highlights from the past week was definitely picking up Caleb from camp last week. Our family dynamics were all just thrown off by his absence for 12 days, so everyone was glad for his return - even though it meant sitting through two and a half hours of closing ceremonies! It was kinda cute to see how the siblings all showed their affection for their brother once we had him back in our possession:
Samuel voluntarily shared his Coke with Caleb at dinner time. (It was his bottle left over from our drive back from Pennsylvania so it was old and flat and had Sammy's backwash in it. Caleb drank it anyway.)
Once we pulled into our driveway, Hannah couldn't wait to get out of the minivan so she could show her big brother her new bike riding skills. (We had all been sworn to secrecy about the fact that she had finally learned how to ride a bike. We couldn't just TELL him, she had to SHOW him.)
And Sarah - when we stopped at the mall before returning home - didn't want to let go of Caleb's hand.
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