Summer....

.... is fun and amazing and refreshing....

....and exhausting.

A part of me longs for the more set routine of the school year, yet I do not want to rush ahead and wish for the next thing.  I want to fully embrace each season, figuratively and literally.  Plus I am not at all ready for the actual school part of the school year!

The demands of summer are different than those of the school year yet just as intense.  Helping the children navigate their more relaxed routine without getting lazy or grumpy is tough.  I do not try to eliminate all boredom.  Everyone should have a little boredom now and then because it can force a bit of industry and creativity.  But too much boredom is definitely a bad thing, especially for teens!  So it is a constant juggling act.

Daughter G comes home tonight from a mission trip to New York.  She got to do quite a bit of fun sightseeing in the evenings after long days of ministry to children.  What a wonderful blend of work and play she has had, with wonderful friends and adult mentors.  I am so happy for her.  We will madly wash all her clothes, and then she leaves with us tomorrow to go camping, and then spend several days at the cottage with cousins.  After that she is home for a week and then off to WA for her much anticipated grandparents/aunts/uncles/cousins visit.  This summer is definitely a turning point for she and I ~ she has managed her own schedule to a larger degree than ever before, and she is GONE so much!  I miss her, yet I am also so excited for each opportunity God is bringing to her.  She is growing up, and I am learning to let go.

Sons G and L will sleep in their own tent on our camping trip this week.  That is a first.  They leave in a week for their mission trip... different city, different children, but similar ministry.  It is son L's first mission trip, and first time to be away from us longer than one or two nights.  He is ready!  A part of my mama's heart does not feel ready, but I am honestly so busy keeping up with everyone else's events/routines that I don't really have time to analyze that part of my heart, so I just have to trust God with it. ;)

Daughter H has made a couple of really good girl friends, and that makes my heart happy.  She has done really well without daughter G here, and that also makes me happy.  What an amazing and beautiful girl she is!  This week is her very first camping trip, and she is super excited.

Son C and Little Man have been busy with friends.  One of the blessings of homeschooling is getting to make friends with people we may never have otherwise met because they don't live in our neighborhood.  One of the curses, however, is that these people don't live in our neighborhood!  Son C has developed a huge interest in botany.  When I asked him what he wanted to learn about in school next year, his immediate response was, "plants and flowers!"  We already owned the Apologia Elementary Series Botany book, and C asked if he had to wait until school started to read it.  Umm, no!  So he has been happily reading a science textbook the last couple of weeks and doing all the experiments completely on his own.  He's having a blast!  I love that he's so self-motivated.

I am making very slow progress on my school prep for this fall.  But trying not to panic.  My hubby is going to give me a few Saturdays coming up, where I can go away from the house and spend the day planning.  I LOVE HIM!

Right now I feel that my brain needs a vacation.  Where do you think I should take it??