Year 5, July 31st - August 2nd, 2020: "Opening" Weekend!

From the first day that the local sunflower patch being open to Benaiah's open house to Sunday being the first day that the church building has been open for services in four months, we will have a lot of things to do and memories to make and emotions to be had. It's already 10:15pm on Friday night and I have yet to start the blog. I will do my best to focus on the best of the day, leave space for the worst part of the day, and then do photos on Saturday morning or something. I actually took photos on my DSLR for the first time since February, so I need to remember what my routine is for using them! I might wait and do that after the open house on Saturday.

Ok, the good stuff. Yes, Shauna, Everly, Nora, Keturah, Abishai, and I all had a lovely time at the Sunflower Patch at Tuttles Orchard. I'm glad Shauna wanted to go. I would have skipped.  But I think we both needed the distraction and time together. I was able to encourage her in the process of going through through her mom's house. And I didn't have to think being at home or handling my kids alone. And, it felt good to be out and about doing a "field trip" of sorts with someone else. Then my kids couldn't argue as much, lol. Having that extra adult really helps! It was prefect day for it. 77 degrees, sunny, a little breezy. Ah! We stayed for about an hour. Meanwhile, Justin mowed the lawn and then he and Aaron worked on dismantling the two loft beds. They got a lot of it down while we were gone. They needed help with the top of Keturah's new bed, so they waited until Benaiah got home from work. Then Shauna, Everly and Keturah got to work putting order to Keturah's room (not it's final order, but enough so everything isn't everywhere). Benaiah and Aaron then worked on getting the Thomas the Tank Engine bed out of the boys' room. Oh my. That was a chore and a half! But it got done! Then I quickly vacuumed the boy's room and the rest of the house because Keturah was working still in her room. And I got the rest of the pallets ready.

Oh, I had gone out to run errands for 90 minutes. 4 stops, with Franklin Township Friday afternoon traffic! Library (picked up my Poldark novel with the TV actor's face on the cover!), recycling, Meijer, and dry cleaner's. I spent much more than I had expected at Meijer, but was surprised that I actually remembered some stuff that had been on my list like dog food. I needed more string and clips for the photos, but didn't expect to get things like dog food, as much school supplies as I did, and a few grocery items. The things that I can't get at Aldi's, but try to think about while I'm at Meijer like dairy free yogurt and butter. I got a couple of crates for Abishai's books and some fun erasers for all of them. And these huge big poster making markers that I haven't seen before. And, oh my, this gets me so excited! I found THE BEST planners! The last couple of years, we've either made due with something I happened to have on hand or they've picked them out. Well, I really haven't found the time to take them with me to the store, so I poked around the planner section. This planner has lines with tick mark boxes on them and a column for subjects and the day of the week at the top! I didn't take a picture today, but I think they will be perfect! Write the subject once for the week, a few lines for that day's assignment, a two page monthly calendar spread, and the tick mark boxes! Eek! They were buy one, get one half off or something, but I didn't check the price. We need them, regardless of price and I'm sure they are as cheap as they are going to get. Anything else I missed, I can always get later. Staples is right across the street. I also got bottled Starbucks mocha because I didn't have time to drive over to Mocha Nut in the traffic to get their new drink. Hopefully I'll get to try it! I'd like their lavender one last year!

After cleaning up and waiting for Jared to get home, we went over to Gary and Leah's for dinner. All 12 of us together for 2 hrs. That's all we got this time around. We had a lot of laughs, that's for sure, and we all wanted to talk at once. Dinner was good, too, as always. Leah made a peanut butter pie for Aaron (we were celebrating Aaron's birthday from July 7th) and a rice krispie toffee crunch log roll thing with mint chocolate chip ice cream. I had just a bit of ice cream and wow, yum! Then we all got gifts because some things Leah had set aside for Christmas gifts and then it was too many gifts or whatever. That was fun! The girls got bookmarks, Aaron got a gift of sauces for his birthday, Jared got tea, I got colored pencils, etc. etc. And Leah gave Gary a crosstitch light house, his favorite one, to frame for their anniversary. Gary had previously been going around the house telling us stories about everything, I don't know why. I think because Aaron had brought up what Gary and Leah would want us to do with the house. Well,.....I don't know. I haven't gotten that far yet. Anyway, it was an honest question because of not knowing what Nancy wanted done with her house and things and my parents unsure as well. Something to think about.

The conversation at dinner was pretty good, but a couple of things were said that threw we totally off guard. Gary talking about money with Benaiah. And Gary stating that he will only be at the open house for an hour. I kept my cool for the next couple of hours and then crumpled when I got home. There is an added layer to it, and that is because it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow. We are talking a 90% chance of rain. And Lisa doesn't want to move the time or place of it and thinks we can just suffer through it. She wants to be done, I get it, but this is not at all what I had planned and I have no back up plan. I'm devastated. I'm worried people won't want to come out. I'm worried all our things will get wet. I don't like being wet or hiding under umbrellas. What about social distancing? Why couldn't we have just asked to do it at church? (Well, pre Covid). No one seemed concerned about it, or I had quickly shut them down or something. I think maybe Gary had tried to ask but I didn't have an answer and I was trying not to panic. But no follow up was asked after that. And then the fact he won't even be there for an hour hit me like a ton of bricks. I've had a great week emotionally. I'm well prepared for this thing. I was bouncing around yesterday and today in anticipation. But maybe my pride has gotten in the way. Maybe God wants to knock me down a peg or two. Maybe I still lean to heavily on Gary and Leah's presence to command a room. Maybe my priority of family looks different than their priority of family and the balance between family and ministry. Let's put it this way: Ministry isn't worth losing your family for. (unless they are actually contradicting your beliefs). Ministry to others comes after ministering to your family. Period. Always. And I'm glad I'm no longer a ministry widow.

And then, I sobbed. I sobbed about the rain. I sobbed because I never feel like I'm the priority (or my kids). I sobbed because my parents treated me and my kids as their 1st priority. And they would have been there "with bells on" before, during and after. Mom would have chatted up all the people. My dad would try to sneak in too much food and sweets. He would have also tried to take a few pictures. But they would have been there. And now, I don't know.  I guess pray that the rains won't come and the people will show up? Maybe. You know me and those kinds of prayers don't get along very well.  I just want my kid to be celebrated in the ways he should be. I'm tired of being the support people. I'm tired of being unnoticed. And that's prideful. But at least I can say, I put all my efforts into this. I have prepared as much and more than I thought I would be able to. And, I was able to get along with Benaiah throughout the prep as we picked what to display and what he wanted for food. The pride, and contentment, and realization of the fullness of life he has led so far, I could see spread all over his face. There will not be a doubt in his mind that I cherish all of these memories, all of his personality, even his mess ups. All his hard work. Who he is to the full. All his quirks. He will never, ever doubt that he is fully known by me, valued by me, and loved by me. And if we end up not displaying anything tomorrow, well, I'll come home, spread it all out properly, take some great photos and throw them all up on the internet. I thoroughly enjoyed the process. The months of saving photos to a folder on my computer. Loading them up, printing them out, sorting them, labeling them. All I can do now is to get up in the morning, take a shower, find something weather appropriate to put on (vs a dress), suck it up, rally, and do my best with my heart knowing, I did what I could. And I know Benaiah sees it. Maybe not to the depth that I share it, but he's not dismissive of it either. And that, THAT, is what I am proud of. That we made it to this point without hating each other. Without the constant hurtful battles that someone suggested we would have. That we can still have a conversation and work together. THAT is more precious than GPA. Cherished more than a musical performance. We had lots of help, but ultimately, Benaiah was in our care and we were given the opportunity to raise him. And raise him we did.

And this is it.  This is THE last celebration. The big AFTER party. And I'll cry if I want to. (the song, remember, the song?!) "You would cry, too, if it happened to you!" Funny tidbit is that mutual friend of my sisters' and I's loved her mom's old records and record player so we would hear her play them when we were over at her house which was nearly weekly. It was kind of like our informal homeshcool play group. Anyway, there was that one, and a host of others. Fond memories of those visits. But I digress. Jared was very, very comforting, but also, "Please move on because we both have things to do." And yes, of course, I had had my sobbing moments and now I'm here typing it out with as much poise as I can muster. Journaling my thoughts and feelings, just like I always do. Not to their full extent, but in a more neutrally emotional way. I'm grateful I am well prepared and go distract myself with a silly BBC drama. And then I don't have to wake up super early and rush. I'll move steadily and deliberately. I might bark orders from time to time. But honestly, I've been way, way, WAY better at it then I thought I would be. I think that's because I have had a couple of breaks from kids. PMS is now, so I'm proud I've held my tongue thus far. Calculated planning and awareness helps with that. Now it's off to relax for a bit.

Oh, and Benaiah just arrived home from hanging out with Ethan for Ethan's 18th birthday! Yeah! Another milestone! Onward!

Nearly felt normal! Except for the masks.

Somebody really loves Socks and Socks really loves her!

Perfect day! Not too hot! First day of the Sunflower Field season! Shauna was pretty excited to go, so we did and I don't regret it one bit! We stayed maybe an hour all told between the field and getting a treat. They purposefully only allowed 6 people at a time, every 15 minutes. There were a few people in the cafe area, but plenty of social distancing. Tuttles Orchard is about 30 minutes away, west of Greenfield. This is the third time we've been here in probably 2 years. We did the apple picking field trip, a pumpkin patch with Benaiah, and now the sunflowers. Our other apple picking place is only 10 minutes away, but it's nice to explore other farms, too.

These flowers weren't as big or tall as the gigantic ones we once grew at our Beech Grove house. We harvested the heads and seeds and roasted them. Ours was about a foot or more across. These are closer to 8 inches.

Gotta love Mr. Bee right there doing his thing.

Although it had rained a lot the previous day, the field wasn't very muddy at all. We were prepared with boots though. We didn't get a pic of our boots though. Oh well.

Since there was only 6 allowed at a time, we left Justin home. He's seen sunflowers before. I always want to make sure Keturah is getting out of the house and I wanted Abishai to experience something the older kids have experienced. So, here we go! They didn't whine too much and we didn't make them stay too long, especially when they knew they were getting treats later.

There's some of their boots! I think Everly was borrowing her pretty pink ones from somebody.The contrast between Shauna's girls and Keturah is pretty stark, lol. The tall and thin to the shorter and stouter. Quite interesting that Everly is 18 months older and hasn't quite blossomed yet. Keturah, however, well, she's nearly there.

Whoops, we lost a boot! Thanks Everly!

The sunflowers all seem to face east, but I wish they were turned towards us because the farm store and such is there in the background.

There's a different barn towards the west.

Because it was the first day, not all of the flowers were open yet.

Trying to find the right ones to cut and take home with us!

Don't take my picture!

Man, why did I ever give up using my DSLR camera? The difference is insane! I haven't used it since February.

Abishai didn't mind being with the girls at a flower patch. He didn't like the stickiness and prickliness of the stem though. And then he used the sunflower as a sword, go figure.

Another one who doesn't like her photo taken.

Awww, it's nice going to be friend so you can get in the photo, too!

Sweet!

Since they all don't really want their photo taken. We comprised. Looks cute though!

Nora's peace sign cracks me up. Three girls and Abishai. Sounds about right.

Oh, Nora! Fun stuff though!

Ladybug, ladybug, how are you?

When you are taller like Shauna is, you get a different perspective (she took this photo).

So, that's what I look like, lol.

It didn't hit me until later during dinner with Gary and Leah, and then only after something else was triggering, but I balled and balled about this. This is why I wanted to do it at a house. This is why we should have reserved a shelter (which is more expensive). I was not happy.

This sounds so yummy! I almost went to get one but I didn't want to battle the traffic.

Gary and crew were filming lots of videos for a virtual conference this fall. They used different rooms at the church, including the sanctuary. They are blessed to be renting from a facility with options.

As the day progressed, the chance of rain increased.

We came home to Justin and Aaron having completed a lot of the bed rearrangement. This piece was very heavy and required Aaron, Shauna, Justin, and Benaiah to lift up on to the framing pieces.

Now that's a predicament.

Now that's a predicament! And they had discovered that Keturah had a huge sweat stain on her bedding. How embarrassing for her and me!

I ran errands for less than 90 minutes and came home to the bed put together! Yeah! The pieces of the old bed are in the garage.

Now, here's the tricky bed. How'd we get it into this room again?

Keturah will probably rearrange these shelves a million times, but yeah for Shauna and Everly helping Keturah put her room back together! I was able to focus on other things. Lots of hands make light work!

Well, it was time for new flowers on the table. I had JUST thrown away my birthday ones the day previously! These go great with my tablecloth too!

Same flower, different aperture.

Getting there, but then they had to take off more pieces.

Oh wow, the room feels so much bigger! I can't wait to see what we do with it! One thing at a time though.

Nearly back to normal.

Happy 38th birthday Uncle Aaron! It was back on July 7th, but, Gary and Leah like to celebrate the birthdays, too. It's an Oreo peanut butter pie.

Gluten free chocolate and toffee roll. Yummy! I had mine with just a few bits of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Perfect!

Well, we had a little Christmas in July. Leah had some things she hadn't given to us at Chrsitmas and she wasn't sure when it was a good time to give them or she didn't want to mail them, so, we all got a little something!

Paw Patrol playset for Abishai, which he is loving.

Bookmarks for the avid readers.

Justin, too. And he got a glow in the dark blanket with game controllers on it from Aaron and Shauna for his birthday.

Benaiah's gift was something like coupons and/or something that both Aaron and Shauna bought and will leave at the house and Leah bought? I don't know.

The temperature looks fantastic, but 90% chance of rain. No fair!

Scootering fun after dinner and gifts.

Flying down the driveway!

Playing cards with Grandma and Grandpa. I bet he's going to be spending lots of time bouncing between the houses when he's a bit older. I can see him checking in with Grandma when Grandpa is away. Adorable.

He still loves Nora the best!

We are exhausted. Yes, we. Benaiah worked this morning from 7-2pm, and then we were at his open house until 8pm. I had a rough night/morning emotionally, and felt slow. I couldn't stop crying over missing my parents. Thankfully, I prayed a ton and that helped me focus on the task at hand during the party. I did get butterflies in my stomach and food wasn't settling well, so I took a Pepcid AC or whatever. That helped. I heard there was some drama in the Strunk household, too, so Lisa was late getting to the party. Oh, back up, Lisa was able to secure us a shelter! And that part worked out perfectly because we could all fit under it, including the photos and stuff, for the drizzles of rain we had. Thank the Lord, we didn't have any downpours or thunderstorms or sideways rain. That was a big relief. We got everything done except tablecloths for the tables. I was still putting pictures on the boards as people arrived, but I didn't mind. I can talk and add pictures. I don't know how I would have done this without Lisa and her crew. I wouldn't have served a whole meal, that's for sure. More hands make light work. Jared, Keturah, Justin and I arrived first. We really didn't too much stuff, or at least I can pack it in a small number of bags. Aaron and Shauna took Abishai with them after they had stopped by our house to see if we needed help. They came to the open house with him a few minutes before it started. Gary and Leah eventually showed up from the wedding that Gary was officiating at.

You know, we didn't have any 2020 decorations except for the signs  We didn't hang garlands or have fancy tablecloths. No photo booth. I didn't even get a selfie with Benaiah. I did try to take as many candid photos as I could so we could remember who all came. We didn't do a sign in book, but we had the food, including Taco Bell catering and CFA catering, in the tent. We did the whole TB vs CFA thing and I heard people talking about it. Not many people took the small photos I had made so I was disappointed in that. We had left them near the card boxes. Which, those card boxes worked well! Ethan's was a TB box and Benaiah's was a small catering box from CFA. Perfect size! Kind of cute sitting on opposite sides of each other, lol. We did end up with a lot of food afterwards. I don't know if it was Covid-19 or the weather or the invitation didn't go far, but we had a lot less people than I thought we would. We had plenty and we got to have moderate conversations with our friends. Jared has gotten quite good at noticing people sitting by themselves and greeting them and hosting them.  We didn't feel attached to each other, but played off each other well. I don't think anyone left feeling lonely or not talked to, which is always a positive thing in my book.

Plenty of the young people the boys knew came.  David and his girlfriend. Dylan and his mom. A few others. And Ava wasn't supposed to be able to make it because a friend was getting baptized, but she did stop by for a few minutes. I'm sure that made Benaiah's day. Benaiah did seem to mingle well as well. Justin's open house is good to be a totally opposite affair I think. But people played with sports equipment. Justin, Keturah, Nora, Everly, and Abishai got to spend a lot of extra time together, eating up all the sugar. Abishai seemed to stick by. I forgot to tell him not to wander off to the playground, but I think because it was wet and because he had cousins to spend time with, we didn't have an issue. At one point, though, I looked around and no cousins were to be seen! Where had the 5 of them run off to?  And then, I got a text or someone said something to me that Aaron and Shauna took them to the creek! Oh wow! What fun! I'm so glad they did that! Shauna was showing me the pictures she took and telling me how they waded into the water. They even took off Abishai's pants at one point so he wouldn't get them soaking wet! His shoes and socks were of course. But what fun! See, that's how families should operate! See a need to entertain the kids, and take it. Abishai's people tank is now on overflow. He wouldn't stop talking to people! Ethan got an earful even at the end of the party. Abishai had no socks or shoes on, and his bum was a little wet. But he didn't care! Yeah!

All in all, it was a great day. It wasn't too hot, although it was very humid. We could have all been baking in the sun, and thankfully, we were not. The rain wasn't an issue. There was a snafu with Nora using Grandma's phone to text a bunch of pictures, and me saying to stop it, but we'll get over it eventually. I felt a little embarrassed taking everything out to set it up, but then saw people really enjoying the photo albums and memory table. Benaiah was very happy with everything. Yup. It was a great day!  But now I don't have an excuse to procrastinate on my other projects. I will do the rest of clean up in a couple of days. I need to rest first. We do have a ton of hamburgers and hot dogs left over! I don't have to cook for awhile! When asked if he had enough time with people, Abishai answered, "Nope!" It's a good thing we didn't plan on going to church tomorrow. We might even end up watching the 4:30 depending on when we get up! Lol. And now I'm rambling. It's ok. I got most of the memories down. Pics and vids tomorrow or Monday. I'm going to take my time.

Photos and Vids

I think Benaiah's memory table came out all right.I saw a few people play with the Rubik cubes but nobody touched the Leo, thank goodness!

They thought the art project was pretty cool. I didn't notice the contrast between the 6 month old in the photo frame and the 18 yr old in the wallet sized photos people were supposed to take. Wow! I'm not sure how many took them but I left some in the food tent as well.

We put photo boards on one end (thanks to Jared) and the boys' memory tables at the other end.  We did have to move them into the middle when it started to sprinkle rain.

Ethan's table. You can tell he's the 4th kid. Actually, Benjamin's was like this, too. We are just two different moms with different styles. But we all get along quite well.

Well, the girls enjoyed looking through the 1,000's of photos I have, lol. I also scattered our photo albums from when the boys were little across the tables. I saw many people enjoying all my hard work 15 years ago.

Just a few favorites. I'm happy with how much was displayed. Benaiah was, too. He didn't think I overdid it. Oh! We put all of his t-shirts and hoodies we brought out on the bench on the opposite side of these photos.

Ethan had a couple of photo boards, and we had three, plus stuff on the tables. We barely finished them in time, but that's fine. Everyone pitched in a bit, including Keturah and Justin.

You can definitely tell whose party this was!

Once Jared arrived, he quickly jumped in to help with tying the pallets together so they would stand up. It was perfect!

Let's get this party started with food! And check out Uncle Aaron and Aunt Shauna at the memory table in the back.

Man! The crispness in the DSLR is awesome ocompared to my phone! Why did I ever put it down? I've missed 5 months of great photos!

Time for a little Taco Bell (where Ethan works, yes, the one right next to CFA) and Chick Fil A (where Benaiah works) rivalry! Guess who won?

In lieu of cake because the boys didn't want it and the icing always melts, we had mostly prebagged candy! I didn't get any though! Oh well.

No time for table clothes, just setup and go! Nobody really cares anyway. I wish we had more decor like a few banners, but I'm just grateful I didn't have to do the cooking. Hamburgers, hot dogs, fruit cups, and pop/water. Super simple. Kind of like our wedding reception picnic theme! Gah! Not another similarity!

Lisa called first thing and we were able to secure this shelter last minute for no extra cost. They did put a "reserved" sign out and everything. The park didn't have to do that. Thank you, Jesus!

Oh chips. I forgot the chips. I wouldn't have picked out the hot flavored ones. And now they are sitting i my kitchen. Not sure how fast we'll eat them considering we prefer sweet over hot, spicy, and salty.

Grandpa came for an hour in between other obligations. Grandma came after the first obligation and stayed throughout. They mingled a bit.

Those clouds don't look very pretty.  Hm,...

Like bees to honey, kids are to candy. Actually, we didn't have that many bugs! Just a few sweat bees. I think becasue the food was mostly covered.

Who's ready for his sugar high?

Don't worry, he had already eaten his favorite Chick Fil A nuggets!

Shauna calls this our social distancing pose. Brad Schaeffer and his mom.

I said, "Wow, Everly is channeling her inner Jojo Siwa today, isn't she?" The pony tail, the blonde hair, the make up. Eek! She's only 18 months older than Keturah but they are so different. Keturah's body has matured faster and is thicker than Everly's. But they are both just taking after their parents.

Time for some spike ball! Abishai looks so big!

Coming back from my frist and only trip to the port a potty, lol. Which means, I did not drink enough liquid that afternoon. Looks like a happening party up there.

Ava's parents, Mike and Amy, and brother Grady.

The Cousins. At least my kids had someone to hang out with.

Too much sugar!

Would you like some dirt with your candy? Having candy against sweaty skin is not very appealing.

CFA always wins in our house!

Justin practiced on Ethan's longboard.

The Paulson boys, Nathan and Noah.

Abishai wanted to be like the big boys and try out the long board.

He actually doesn't look so tiny on it anymore!

Just a few more people like Sam I Am.

I spy, Cheri Meeks, Diana Ladd, Ethan, David's girlfriend (I think) and David (Masengale, best buds with Benaiah even before Ethan came along.)

Mr. and Mrs. Ladd. Oh and Josh Harrigan way bck the near the tent.

Mrs. Lisa Strunk with her silver hair standing up, while Mr. Tom Harrigan takes a seat.

Oh, Tom, you are such a ham!

Hi, David. And I thought Benaiah was tall!

Awww, look who came! Ava made it for a little bit! And I know the kid in the red is around the Strunks pretty often. What a motley crew. Redheads, curly heads, blacks, whites, silvers.

Nice face Benaiah. Ava and her friend.

Mr. Blue Mouth from his rock candy stick.

Tom just loves the camera, I guess! Bwahahahaha! He's one person I always get along with though.

Lots of people I don't know that belong to the Strunk clan.

We are family!

Girls.

Four not so little monkeys!

Full on attack mode beast!

Staying active even when some things are put away. I did take about 100 photos on the DSLR, so not too much, not too little.

Found this 4 yr old on FB. Justin, 2009, in Grandpa's tree, which is now huge!

Included in the job of money I spent at Meijer, I finally picked up some new ice cube trays! I think it's been 15 or more years since we've had new ones.

They seem to stack well and are pretty big. Because of the well water and the extra plumbing we would have to do, we didn't hook up the ice cube maker in the fridge. Now we will never run out!

Hilarious!

The library only lets you check out an ebook for two weeks, but you can have a paper book for months. So, let's see if I can actually sit down and read something. I did read a couple of chapters on my phone when I had the ebook. One chapter a night is all I need to commit myself to. One chapter. The books were written before the TV series, but yes, this particular book cover is of the actor himself, Aidan Turner.

The infamous black box that you can plug in to keep the nuggets warm. Lots of sauces too.

Nuggets or strips?

We even had their card boxes be on opposing sides. Hehehehe!

Just a fun little game. The CFA food was finished first, but TB wasn't far behind. Keturah made the letterboard sign.

The only front facing pic I got of the two derps. Oldest (Benaiah) and youngest (Ethan) of their silbings and they are still the biggest dorks there are. But a deeper friendship you will never see. Real Christian accountability right here.

Games

Rain, rain, go away, come again another day!

All gone!

Almost all gone!

At some point, I looked around and thought, where are my kids? I don't see ASEN either. Hm,...and then just trusted that they were altogether somewhere. Well, ASEN had taken them to the creek. Wahoo! I'm so glad they did! What fun they had!

Wading in the nice cool creek. Doesn't look too yucky. But Abishai's shorts were getting wet, so Shauna took them off! Yup, Abishai is just in his underwear!

Don't get between a girl and her candy!

Awww, Everly and Abisahi.

Same but without the pants on the little guy.

Bonus points for getting one of herself!

And that's a wrap! Last one for the Strunks. We'll repeat it all again in 3 more years.

The Day After. Not too sore, but we are taking it slow. It's gorgeous outside, but no one wants to go outside. Probably a "waste" of a day. Or is it? We watched church, ate leftovers, and Jared and I raced each other to our bed for a nap! It was cute! We napped on and off for the next 3 hrs! I think we earned it. It's been a long week. Not only physically, but emotionally, in very, very unexpected ways. I didn't shed one tear over "my little boy is all grown up." Nope, it was a lot of other external factors, fears, personal issues, relatives on both sides, and now, over the people I failed to invite yesterday. I told myself to not fuss about who came or didn't come to the open house. And when I went through mentally who I had expected and wanted to come, and then checked to see if I had actually invited them, I made a startling discovery. They weren't invited! At least not through Facebook messenger, which is what we use typically when it's a Facebook event. I had gone through my list of friends via a roundabout way with "common groups" to the left of the invite page. I did not go through my individual "friends" list. I feel so awful now! I know I posted it on my wall and on Instagram many, many times with the Facebook event link, with a picture of the invitation card, so all the information was there. But I feel so dumb! And now, I'm going to go back my personal list over the next couple of weeks and apologize and offer to send them some of Benaiah's senior pictures since I don't think anybody took any. I should have had Abishai go up to people and hand them out or something!

No wonder the crowd seemed less than I thought it would be. And unfortunately, a lot of those who probably would have come, are from way, way back in our past and not on my current list or circle of friends, but we have somewhat stayed in touch over the years. I just always worry about not being good enough for people to show up for. So, I'll make a public apology, finish up this blog, make an album of photos on Facebook of the open house and his senior photos, etc. I'm so stupid! And here I was thinking I did such an excellent job yesterday of mingling and talking to people and tag teaming with Jared and putting out everything that Benaiah thought was appropriate. Sometimes I wonder if being homescholed and homeschooling (making myself a hermit now) made me more socially awkward. But, as I answered a post about it, no, it's not that. It's my personality. I want to obey the social rules and etiquette. But I think those keep changing constantly and with the different age groups. I don't want to be seen as an isolated, backwater homeschooler, you know? Not in that way. A sophisticated farm girl. A woman of knowledge and prestige and everything I see on the historical dramas I watch, lol. So, whn I make these kinds of mistakes, I just pray that others don't feel slighted. I didn't mean to! I wanted everyone included! I wanted Benaiah to feel loved on! And I screwed up! Ok, maybe not. He had his core group of friends. He's had several people who couldn't be there send him cards with cash in them. Ethan, David, Ava, and Dylan were all there. Mallory's parents came. The Harrigans, all 4 of them, were there. The Meeks. And several others. I know that he mingled and talked to many. I know that we grewed him up right. We got and get many, many compliments about his maturity, his poise, his abilty to learn and grow, his work ethic. Shucks, he worked a 7 hr shift and THEN partied. We did our best, and our best was enough, because God did the rest.

Perhaps we'll still go outside this evening, take a family walk or something. The day after an event always feels like a let down. Because I'm mentally fried, I didn't put away much. I'll probably get annoyed with it tomorrow and put it away then. Today, we Sabbathed. And it was glorious! The four of us introverts needed it. Even the Extrovert needed it. Oh, Abishai, he's having an issue with thinking he needs to potty after two minutes or that he's wet himself. I'm not sure what's going on. I know boys get UTI's, so I'm watching out of that. His underwear isn't wet. Is he too young for other leakage? I only bring it up because I feel like I'm potty training again! He's changing his underwear constantly and I keep putting his not wet underwear back. No one else ever did this. But, Abishai, Mr. Uniqueness, he's always got to be the first one.

On a lighter note, Abishai LOVES having Justin's mattress on the floor because now, he can run in there and jump on Justin! Poor Justin! And Socks is thoroughly enjoying it as well! He's been sleeping with Justin. Justin loves it, too. And honestly, the more we can cuddle that dog, the better. But now that the initial bed switch is done, I have to do some puttering this week after Benaiah moves some of his stuff to the other house. I don't really want to. But, yes, I will have the time. It's what is next on my list. Because of Benaiah's insurance, and wanting to get this chiropractor thing going that we should have done months ago, the actual move day will happen at the end of August. I don't know how we will work it out, but we will make sure it's as legal as possible while still moving forward with decluttering the boxes and putting the furniture in the right spots, etc.

I just don't want to look at my to do list. But I'm grateful that I know what I need to do in order to not feel overwhelmed. Rest today, work tomorrow, makes us much happier to be with. And it's been a great week with lots of social time, lots of time with Jared for our anniversary, and doing the open house together. I don't want him to go back to work! But he and I must. We must close this chapter of celebrating Benaiah. We must reopen our boxes that focus on the other three. It's time. More emotions will come. But we are gratetful that it's been fairly smooth. We survived and thrived. Next episode please! We need the "automatic play next episode" button!

Are you two comfy?

So excited that our IAHE Marketplace will get a mini makeover and now include people offering their services! We get to support small businesses in a new way! Yeah! I wish they were a little more frequent, but hopefully this will help.

We have a new cement curb!

Just argue the whole way, won't ya? Who's going to lead?

Just enjoy the walk! He said. I said. I don't have any pics for today. We saw some pretty clouds on our neighborhood walk tonight.

When Daddy and Mr. Jim talk for 90 minutes! It's never quick chat, lol It's a good thing I handed the keys off to Justin to take the dog home. It was a gorgeous evening though.

Playing in Mr. Jim's rocks and breaking up the sticks like Sampson from the Bible.

The End