Welcome Summer!!

We are ready!!  It always gets to this point in the school year and I am FINISHED with schedules, homework, school clothes and bus stops (have I mentioned how I go THREE times a day??? I'm a little over it...).  Now come August it will be a totally different story... ha!  But, for now, I am ready to get up a little more slowly, mosey to the pool for a few hours and do our regularly scheduled chores (because I do schedule my chores... laundry on Monday, groceries and other errands Tues/Wed, cleaning on Friday... I've tried to fight this tendency but now just embrace it.  It's like trying to fight your hair texture... more work than it is worth!) on a little bit less rigid schedule.  In the spirit of summer we went to the pool for the first time yesterday.  It's always a little less than fun to put on a bathing suit for the first time but the kids wild excitement helps to overshadow my own disappointment over not doing quite enough yoga or eating one too many treats.  :)  I am not quite ready to get in the murky, chemical-filled waters post-surgery but it won't be long before I do that since it has been just about two whole summers of abstinence for one surgery/procedure/treatment or another!  I have been feeling really good.  Still not allowed to return to yoga or to do anything that causes "pressure" or "shearing" to my breast.  I only know that because I had to push my plastic surgeon... at the two-week follow-up I said, "I know that you said that I was allowed to do yoga but I think that is only because you haven't done any yoga recently...".  I mean, I think that he was just picturing people sitting serenely saying "Ohmmm".  Not the kind of yoga that I had been doing!  He laughed and then I had him lay out exactly what I should NOT be doing in order to have the kind of outcome with this procedure that I desired.  It's a good thing that I'm not afraid to express myself... ha!  So... basically I have another 2 weeks of no yoga but I did start running again and have been walking and doing light weight-training for the past couple of weeks.  Thank you again for your continued prayers for us!!  We are getting a little more accustomed to the changes in my schedule but we still desire and need your prayers.  It has been quite the journey over the past several years and it is not without its scars (physical, emotional and relational) and baggage. 

The kids are wrapping up some sports seasons... a very rainy lacrosse and soccer season - and starting some new ones: summer 3v3 hockey for Dryden and a soccer skills program for Parker.  We also have a camp and Bible School on the docket strategically placed in those spaces when the pool starts to get old and everyone is getting on each other's nerves.  We will do our usual local library reading program and maybe some other little cleverly disguised "learning" opportunities as well to keep them sharp.

Yesterday Darin and I took a few hours away (thank you Grandma!!) to do some shopping and found ourselves in the Apple store (I know, take a deep breath Grantie... ).  Darin is a convert since he got his new phone (and can't stop texting Grant and giggling like a schoolgirl... ha ha!!) and we are becoming convinced that if writing/blogging and pictures (I know... I've been slacking... not with the pictures, we have TONS, just with getting them out to all of you!) are my future... then we probably want an Apple.  It sort of pains me to say that, but I really am not that "brand loyal".  Maybe there is just something about their "computers for the masses" approach that makes me feel like I'm buying a volkswagon beetle from Hitler right before WWI. So... we're not there yet but I know that God is nudging me to do something and this is probably our first step.  Darin keeps encouraging me to keep this going but gear it towards my passion for organic living.  It is definitely something to consider.  I know how overwhelming it can be to get started and I would love to put all of my research and careful consideration to work... we'll have to see!

For now we are prepping for a summer free of surgery and virtually free of treatments (now that they are every three months I will have one in July and be free until school starts again!  hooray!!).  It feels like huge relief.  We will continue to trust that God holds our future and will strive to live each hour walking the path He has laid out for us (even when we don't really understand...).