Year 7, May 30th-June 5th, 2022: Benaiah turns 20!!!

 Monday - Memorial Day

- It feels like a Saturday. I finally finished last week's blog. Jared was outside repainting the J for the upteenth time. Keturah finished mowing the lawn. Abishai has had too much screen time, although he did play catch and swings with Daddy. And he and Daddy put together ANOTHER Lego set. Justin actually had to work today because the store was open. I guess the does work in retail and I totally didn't realize that he would work, duh. It's a good thing I didn't plan much. I stayed inside and got caught up on the blog which included loading up Indy 500 videos on YouTube and writing the blog post for all of Sunday. It's nice and hot and sunny.

- I had planned to go to the Top Gun: Maverick with Jared today, but we got behind for the weekend so we are pushing it off until next Saturday afternoon. I do NOT want to pay evening ticket prices at the movie theater and it is a movie theater movie. It does come out on Paramount Plus in one or two months, but that's not the point. It's a birthday gift, too. I also wanted to talk with him, but again, the timing isn't right, again. Pretty frustrating, but he is acknowledging we need to and he'll read my texts from the last week that he ignored so ok, fine, whatever.

- Our Memorial Day BBQ was with Jared's work buddies at Gary and Leah's house. Kya wanted to see Justin, too, so she was willing to even go with us. I was pretty surprised. So on Sunday, we had dinner with Ava and today we had dinner with Kya. I'm grateful that we get to have to dinner, with Gary and Leah, with girls that our boys are interested in and whom we love. That says a ton. They don't have to hide who they hang out with. I mean, Justin's bringing his friend that is a girl to Jared's work party? Crazy, eh? That's highly unusual! You don't see that everyday. We are very, very blessed to know these girls and their parents very well. 

- The BBQ was quite....interesting. It went well for awhile. The kids ate together and we got to spend some time with the adults. Then everyone headed out to the front law to play some lawn games. Gary and Leah had bought some new lawn games, including this foam axe throwing one. Well, within minutes, Abishai had lost one of the axes! So I spent a good portion of the rest of my time looking for it because that's what moms do when their kid loses things. They eventually found it AFTER I left to take Kya home. I had really wanted to mingle more and I felt like I spent the rest of my evening torn between looking for the axe, trying to find out where Jared had gone because he wasn't mingling, making sure Kya and Justin weren't off somewhere, trying to break up fights between Keturah and Abishai, trying to encourage Keturah to hang out with Bella, who is in her small group at church and this is the only time she would have Bella to herself away from the loud girls in her group, and taking a few pics.  Sigh. Jared and I had discussed it earlier that we would take Abishai home at 8 and he would go to Jim's house because Jim wanted to hang out with him because they hadn't had time to talk at the race. I thought that was fine because we would all come home at the point and thought nothing of it. But, what really happened was it was still very much daylight out and Abishai was having such a grand time that I stayed with the kids at Jared's work party and Jared abandoned us to go hand out with Jim (and have himself a pour of you know what). Yeah. Not fun for me. I mean, Jared and I agreed it was ok, but I didn't forsee the ramifications of it until it was too late. Simple things like I didn't bring my keys with me and I didn't drive the car over because I knew we would be back to the house in time to take Kya home. So, I had to find Jared's keys, walk to the house, get the car, drive back, etc. And that was after Justin had already been back to the house to get his motor bike and driven it to Grandma's house to show it off to Gunner. So he had to ride it back to our house, leaving Kya at Grandma's house by herself. Meanwhile we had to ask Grandma to watch the other two kids while Jared finished up with Jim so I could drive Kya home. So I just slipped away from the party without saying good-bye to anyone. And I don't think Jared did either. His own work party and he hardly spoke to anyone. I'm not really ok with that. And I got an earful for not asking if I could bring Kya in the first place. I thought it was a very informal gathering given it was a holiday. And I had no idea Ava would be there. So, what started out was a decent evening, did not end so well. And I was exhausted and felt abandoned. Especially after not having any time to talk to Jared earlier in the day or the weekend when we should have. So note to self, don't do that again. I'm sure no one else noticed, but I was not happy.

They've projected photos of the Queen on Stonehenge for her Jubilee! 70th Anniversary of her reign. How cool is that?!

Dad, I just want to play catch with you, please? He's so innocent and cute! And yes, they did go out and play both catch and swings and jumper soccer on the trampoline. Then he played 3 hrs of screen time.

Come on, Dad, where are you?

Daddy, I'm still waiting.

Um, where are all these Lego sets coming from? Ok, I know some are from what he didn't gift himself at Christmas and he saved for his birthday, I think. But still. Enough is enough. Build the stupid shelves already. With each new Lego set that comes out of the bedroom, the anger meter is raised a level. This is my dining room table, not a display case.

Finally Dad was done with making fruit salad for this evening and could go aside for some jumper soccer and catch and swings.

Jared's idea. And it was gone by the end of the cookout. So was the other big bowl of fruit he prepared all on his own.

Not a normal sight for our nieghbors to see, but a welcome one. Lawn games on Gary and Leah's front lawn. Two of the e2 families, ours and the Killebrews, still have young kids in it, so at least they all ran around together.

Abishai made sure Mrs. Ellen stayed close to her the whole time.

It's not an Indiana cookout without cornhole.

I didn't try it, but I think our family will get a lot of use out of this axe throwing game that Grandpa bought. We just need to not lose the axes right away next time.

Daddy's turn. We also need to set some ground rules for it, too.

Lawn games.

Even the street was needed for game play.

Kya joined in as well.

Tuesday - 

- Strawberry picking day! I actually got this activity crossed off my list this year! What a miracle! Waterman's Family Farm is only 10 minutes away and it really takes less than 1 hr to do it, but I don't always take the effort to make it happen. Well, I arranged to go with Kellie, Kya, and Niles to take Abishai and pick a few strawberries for the experience this morning and that kept me accountable. It was a very hot day and I could already feel a migraine wanting to burst forth by the end of it, and Kellie seemed exhausted because she had had a rough night, but we charged through it and made it happen. The kids were well behaved, too. Had I brought Justin and/or Keturah all I would have heard was whining and fighting. So, it was most definitely a win. It was so funny because I thought Kellie was going to go home, but she ended up staying in town to help her mom and eventually ended up picking Justin up from work, bringing him home to change and get his swimming stuff and THEN left the area around 3pm to go to her house for the rest of the day. And that was after she searched high and low for a car part here in town. She had quite a day. We do crazy together. 

- The rest of my crazy was going to the chiropractor, stopping in Aldi to get more other things than food like a $13 water sprinkler because Jared still wants to argue about getting a pool, and spending 3 hrs listening to my brother babble on about his life. Yes, 3 HOURS on the phone with my baby brother. Bless his heart. He's a smart guy, but life just throws him for a loop sometimes. He had everything planned out and then 24 hrs later (as I'm typing this up), his ex throws the biggest wrenches in his perfectly laid out plans. It breaks my heart and it's incredible gut wrenching to see my niece and nephew harmed so deeply physically, educationally, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Not by my brother or his fiance' but by his ex who should be institutionalized and I am not joking because she has so many diagnosed mental diseases it's not even funny. And between the justice system and the DCS and the educational system  and the healthcare system, it's all screwed up. My poor brother couldn't stop swearing and I didn't have the heart to stop him because I want to swear, too. I want to be unkind and downright evil at her, too, and the world, at Satan, and everything. That's my human flesh reaction. I really can't be because my faith won't let me, I'd feel too ashamed and guilty, but I want to punch some walls I'm so angry. Anyways, I was made on Tuesday (this entry) and the next day (Wednesday) after a court hearing about his child support, which was the reason he originally called me. I love my brother, and I don't interfere with his life because he's got a decent head on his shoulders. He plays by the rules and the letter of the law, takes care of his kids, fiance' and her kid, and their new home and 4 dogs. He works hard. All I can do is listen and pray. And that's all he wants from me. To be the big sis that I am. 

- So I missed supper and putting the kids to bed, but oh well, sometimes your little brother needs ya.

Amen. For the kids and the parents.

Abishai doesn't remember going strawberry picking, so I'm glad we could a little bit of time to take him for the experience. He did a great job just getting the berry. Although, he at first crushed a bunch of berries trying to go from one row to the other. Whoops. He learned pretty quickly though.

We brought some friends along.

Not many people out on this very hot morning. Also, this was before their big strawberry festival. The berries were just coming on, so a tiny bitty bit under ripe. But still so much better than store bought ones.

A baby bunny nest! Awww!!!

Berry juice!

There's nothing like warm, fresh from the farm, non gmo, real strawberries.

Wednesday

- Wahoo! An all day at home day! Ok, I did run out to the grocery store with Abishai because we finally got his new ADHD prescription filled properly! So he had his first dose around noon today. Fingers crossed he doesn't wake up in the middle of the night. He seemed a little groggy after screen time, but he ate an ok supper. He didn't get into any snacks in the afternoon. Tomorrow will be a better indicator of how it will really go. The medication's retail price is $345 a month!!! Thank goodness for Medicaid! The health industry is so rigged. My brother was telling me that my niece's infusions cost $15,000 a year!!!! So if he were to get a better paying job in order to increase his lifestyle so they were off of Medicaid, he would just be turning around and paying out of pocket for things like those infusions, never mind all the other medical costs for her and his son, who is also medically fragile. It's insane! The health care industry is not about healing people. It's about making money. End of story. Get you addicted to needing a drug for life. That's it. Get you in a routine for coming in for "rechecks" every 3 months for dosage because they can't possibly trust you to call if you don't think your dosage isn't working anymore. It's so annoying. But anyway, we have the medication, and now we try it out.

- I was able to go through Justin's t-shirts with him so he can rotate his t-shirts and stop wearing those awful grungy white ones. I should have just put them in his keepsake t-shirt bag. I don't know why I put them back in the drawer. I did put them towards the back, as well as all the red t-shirts, which he frequently wears. We folded everything, too. So now it's up to him again to keep folding and make everything fit.

- I set up the water sprinkler for Abishai under the trampoline and he had a blast with that for 30 minutes. I got Keturah to trim some of the front yard like she was supposed to do on Monday/Tuesday. Now there's no point in doing any more until she mows again. Grrr. I almost worked on the grassy part near the flower bed to transition it over to mulch, but it was already noon and hot, and Jared reminded me that we need to pull out the really low bushes. And, now that I type this, I am reminding myself that I wanted to put rock there. I just really want to get rid of the mulch on the driveway. So, hm,....I need to rethink that. Where are some places we don't want to weeds, or we want to slow them down at least. We'll take care of it Saturday because now it's supposed to rain on Thursday and we have Park Day on Friday, plus an open house. I'm so glad I didn't do anything with it. We can still dig up the bushes and I can still put down the black barrier and the shingles that I used on the edge like I did the garden. It really shouldn't take that much rock to do a thing layer to start with. Then we wouldn't have to worry about the trimming. We should just get it done. It's not terribly hard. Although I just put some mulch there. Hm,...

- Jared took the boys out this evening, Abishai to karate and then double backed to take Justin to Culver's near our bank to meet up with his small group guys. And Justin was able to deposit his paycheck, so one less thing I have to worry about. Thankfully, Jared was able to get back to Tang Soo Do in time to capture an extremely important moment. They were practicing forms tonight, so Teacher Nathan specifically helped Abishai learn the variation of Form 1 that is in Form 2, so Abishai could do both on his own and earn his yellow belt! It was thoroughly unexpected that this was going to happen tonight! I'm glad it happened this way, actually. No hype or expectation. I thought he had to have everything on the sheet perfectly memorized, but I guess not. I mean, Abishai understands and has demonstrates ability to learn the Korean words and desire to continue them as they go, so I think that's a major factor here. In the video, you'll hear Teacher Nathan talk about how Abishai is consistent in his attendance, often showing up early (thanks to Daddy, because Mommy is NEVER early!) and how Abishai works hard and pays attention. Abishai came home and couldn't walk fast enough to back room to show me. He was SO super proud of himself. He even had practiced a bit at home the last few days without me asking him, too. So maybe Teacher Nathan had encouraged him last week about it, I don't know. But I'm so proud of him! He has learned so fast! 3 months is not very long to learn 20 moves in a sequence, as well all kinds of other things in a foreign language and to get your body to actually do them, in front of other kids twice your size. And as you watch the video, check out the little bounce in his step. It's not supposed to be there, but it's too cute. They obviously don't ask for perfection in the form of the moves when they are young, but they also continue to practice the forms as they move up the ranks. I'm grateful for a laid back studio that does focus on the right things and celebrates each kid individually and yet holds them accountable. We aren't here to be in major competitions. And if people are, they can choose a different studio. We like simple, inexpensive, family oriented, learn something to the best ability of the individual kind of instruction. And we got it. Yeah! Plus the owners are coming home with their newly adopted girls on Friday! Double yeah!

Someone photoshopped this obviously, and wow, incredible! 70 years of being on the throne. What an incredible legacy Queen Elizabeth has. The Jubilee celebration has begun this week or will shortly.

Someone shared this on the Franklin Township chat today. These are the cross streets that go through Wanamaker. They are now called Southeastern and Northeastern. So the Wanamaker Feed and Seed store Justin works at is basically on one of those corners now.

I've seen this before, but it's still very much true.

I shared this with Keturah and she said she doesn't need 8 touches a day or to be talked to positively for 9 minutes. Yeah, she and I need to talk to a counselor.

Bwahahaha

I got one of those sprinklers that oscillates from side to side and looks like a half circle of water. The mat blocked most of the water, but Abishai thoroughly loved it!

What better way to cool off than to do your flips through a gentle water mist!

The sprinkler is right under the middle of the trampoline and spraying from underneath. Not much gets through, but at least some does.

Time for a drink I guess.

So much fun.

This is what the area looks like when Keturah take the trimmer and just whacks the grass and weeds all the way down to nothingness. We've got the two original big rocks that I won't attempt to dig up. We've got this little tree here in the front that's making a lot of progress this year. We've got another one that's 3 feet tall right in the middle. And then we've got three bushes kind of hanging out. The leftover sidewalk is to the left there where it looks the barest. Nothing will grow there. I'm ready to put rock over the whole thing, although I just added mulch around the bottoms of the bushes and trees. Keturah did rake up the extra clippings for me, thankfully. It was a disaster zone today.

Yup.

Abishai was looking in one of his books today while I was on the phone with my brother and asked if we could make these airplanes sometime. Well, how about now? I'm determined to not just do projects all summer. Let's do our summer bucket list, which includes being laid back and being spur of the moment. So we made two of them and tried to fly them. He kept talking about how Luke Green, the student minister, can make really cool paper airplanes that go really far. Well, good on him, but this is a very good design, too.

Poor puppy. He's not squatting to use the bathroom. This is his "normal" stance now. Since I've been watching that vet channel on Facebook, I recognize this to mean that he has pain in his hips or elbows or somewhere in those joints in his back legs. And the only thing that would help it would be orthopedic surgery, which we a) couldn't afford and b) because of his age, it's not wise to put him under anesthesia for. He's on pain meds already, which we can increase. I buy the food for seniors with the extra stuff for joints already in it. There's just not much you can do. The surgeries I've watched on the channel usually involved taking out damaged tissue and putting in plates and screws to fuse the joints in place. If only the orthopedic surgeon in England on the show lived here! Lol! Poor puppy.

Owie, ow, ow. This is his now normal standing position. It's gotta hurt something awful to make him stand his way. I'm going to investigate if there's anything I can like a special way to massage his legs or something to soothe the pain. I could take him to see a specialist perhaps to see which part is actually hurting him so I can work on something specific. I doubt he'd want to do hydrotherapy or something like and I'm sure it's expensive. Upping his pain medication would be fine. It's not very expensive. I feel so bad for them.

Look at that grin! This was thoroughly unexpected! (See the paragraph above about it). How exciting! It took him only 3 months to go from white to yellow! Yeah! He still has a lot of perfecting to go on these basic forms, but he's only a beginner, and the youngest of beginners at that. Way to go!

Abishai Tang Soo Do Form 1 & Form 2

Abishai End of Class Compliments

Super proud of him! Now we need to get or make one of those belt racks!

Thursday 

- Abishai was up at 5:30 am maybe because of his new medication. We gave him his tablet and he was on it until 9:30. Abishai got his two teeth cavities filled and it took all of 10 minutes. It took 1 1/2 hrs of driving time though. We got gas and saved $.80 a gallon thanks to Kroger points. And then we visited the office.  Abishai got to wear his new belt to Tang Soo Do and move up in line in front of the white belts. Then he got to hang out and play with Gunner as he came over with his dad Mike to help Daddy put new brake pads on the van. He was utterly exhausted and fell right asleep at 9:30 with no problems.

- Keturah was in her bed all day except for the 20 minutes I told her to go outside. Yup.

- Justin worked as usual. And then Kya came over for the rest of the day.

- I spent the afternoon putting the Region 9 Homeschool Newsletter together because I totally messed up on my days again. Two hours later and 12 blurbs gathered and formatted and links pulled and logos found and uploaded and all I have left is my blurb at the top. Hard work, but it's super important. Actually, this one is very full of sports teams info. All homeschool teams, all homeschooled players. Football, several basketball teams, several soccer teams, several volleyball teams. ALL homeschool players. This is nuts! We had NOTHING like this when I was growing up. NOTHING. Not even a hint of it. It BLOWS my mind that you can fill a whole football team roster with homeschool students! Blows my mind! And they play against other Christian schools and private schools. HIGH SCHOOL teams. These homeschool kids are beyond blessed I tell ya. Crazy!

- Jared and Mike Killebrew changed at least the brake pads in the van and maybe something else to see if some kind of noise it was making will stop. I thought we had just did this in the van a few years ago but it was in the gray van Jared said. Gunner came over to help because he's rebuilding a vehicle from scratch right now. Justin and Kya refused to come outside to greet them. Keturah also refused to come out. But Abishai was all for it. It was already on his 5th wind of energy for the day. He was cackling and running and sweating from all the running around he was doing. I also had Socks out for a bit and he just sat or laid down in the grass and watched the world go by. So sweet. It did get very late because they had started the project after karate class, so Kya got home super late. I wasn't pleased, but oh well. I'm not pleased about a lot of things right now anyway, so just add it to my list. I'm no social expert, but I wish my kids would interact more when people are over. And I needed Justin and Kya to get out of Justin's room more anyway. Thankfully, I have a great friend in Kellie and she knows I'm doing my best to do the right thing by her daughter. I can't force them to do it. But I tried. I guess they do the same thing at her house, too. I love that we have the same mindset at least and can talk about it.

 

I know, I know. Sorry, not sorry. New portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. But this is the only time that there will be a 70th Jubilee. This frock is gorgeous! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the blue on her with her eyes and the pearl buttons to go with signature pearls. Gorgeous!

First night of being a yellow belt! Now he gets to stand pretty much in the middle of the pack. He's so proud of himself! And he keeps referring to the paper at home with all the 20 steps in Form 1 and Form 2 so he can keep practicing. I don't know if I can help him perfect each step or if I should even try. I hope now that Tess and Uriah are back on American soil today with the girls that in a few weeks I can ask them for the green belt standards. Or I can ask Nathan. He might know where the paper is. I'll just let Abishai be happy where he is for now. So sweet! And it's awesome to finally have a kid motivated to move up levels in a sport or activity. The other kids just wouldn't care. They aren't competitive, which is good and bad.

Who's my handsome dog?! So majestic sitting there next to the tree looking out over the world protecting our house! That's my boy! He's such a lovely dog, isn't it?

He's lovely, but he's also looking old. You can see it in his posture and his lose of muscle mass. He's the same weight but I feel like it's shifted somehow. He feels bony in certain places. And he stands funny and sits kind of funny like he's really uncomfortable. I might go get him x-rayed for the fun of it, like the Bondi Vet show does to see what's really going on. I want to get an estimate of all of that first. My poor arthritic puppy.

At least his fur is still mostly brown.

Somebody had a grand time chasing Gunner Killebrew after he was done helping his dad, Mike, fix our Daddy with the van's brakes. So much cackling laughter and sweat pouring from Abishai's face.

These are so gargantuan this year!

Ready to pop!

Oh no! I think I cut down my rose bush too far! I don't think these blossoms are going to bloom! And check out all those chew holes! I think I'll ask Jared to get some insect spray specifically for rose bushes this weekend as he typically takes a try to Home Depot or Lowe's. Eek! The bush itself looks nice and full of leaves though.

This was Abishai earlier in the day after he got his two teeth cavities filled. Easy peasy done in 10 minutes with no numbing required. I guess they weren't that big. Oh, and I also took this pic to show that he was so excited about his yellow belt that he had already gotten dressed for Tang Soo Do first thing this morning.

At least my gas mileage went up this time. Lots of highway driving? Trips to Greenfield where I can get up to 55-60mph on the backroads?

I can go pretty far on a tank of gas. It's awesome!

Gas is currently $4.89 here in Indiana as of June 2nd, 2022. BUT, I hadn't used my Kroger fuel points in probably almost two months SO I had $0.80 off per gallon!!!!! I paid $4.09 a gallon. Woot! Woot! Oh, and yes, I always let my tank run pretty much empty and then fill it. I'm usually very close to all the gas stations around town so I never worry about running out of gas.

BACON license plate spotting. Good job, Nora! And then Jared comes back with a nodding head GIF of approval.

Well, Kya and Ava didn't have to get in the photo, but they did. Happy 10th Anniversary to e2!

Daddy is proud of Abishai. We didn't anticipate this happening this week. I'm glad we didn't. It was a great surprise and had really motivated Abishai to keep going!

Goodness me. It doesn't matter which decade the photo is from, the Queen has always been gorgeous.

 Friday

- Park Day has been moved to the mornings. We got to go to our old park near the condo on 16th and Franklin Rds. It was just the 4 of us moms again, but that's ok. We had a great conversation about some of the same things, but it was good to stay updated and help each other along a little bit further with our kids. We don't talk about Scripture, but our Christian perspective and having the same set of values and goals for our kids really set us up to have godly, constructive conversation.  We don't gossip to be mean, but we do share things as a warning if someone might be going into a situation that might be concerning. It's a great huddle of friends. We even brought our chairs closer together into a huddle.

- There were a couple of other big groups there, but that didn't bother us too much. The kids played on the playground, then the played a game at a picnic table under the trees, then looked for balls in the tennis courts, and then ended up back at the playground in the shade of it, sitting and talking. Kya and Justin do tend to disappear, so Kellie and I need to be hypervigilant in keeping an eye on them. We are also concerned that they are pairing off and not socializing as a group like they need to in order to practice those social skills. So, we'll be working on that. Abishai did wear his swimsuit and played in the splashpad a bit. I guess the older kids are too old to get wet in a splash pad. It was pretty warm but not hot enough for them to get wet I guess. I did make sure Abishai and I wore plenty of sunscreen though.

- And then it was home for some quiet time before going to some homeschoolers combined open house! Yes, homeschoolers! Yeah! Two kids we've known for pretty much their whole life. Well, one I have known since he was conceived, and whom I visited his mom in the hospital when she went into very early labor, and the story about him coming home from the hospital, etc. And the other one I've known since pretty much he was an infant. He was my piano student once and had his own way of doing things and still does. He's very different than his very traditional firstborn older brother but he's funny, unique, kind and full of energy. I'm looking forward to seeing some friends tonight and praying that nothing triggers me.

- I'm having a very rough patch emotionally and mentally and everything seems to be triggering me. I don't want to sleep and I want to consume everything on the screen that doesn't have to do with my life. I hate being in a mid life crisis, but that's what it is. I don't know how long this will last. I'm begging and pleading with God to change my heart.  But I'm wrestling, still, or in different ways. I hope that I will be much different in the coming months and years. But for now, I'm struggling. I feel like I've lost hope and peace and contentment. I feel burdened by a lot of things that are out of my control. I don't want to increase the medications I'm on. I don't think going to a new personal counselor would help because it would just stress me out to take that time away from family and use up more of our HSA funds. I don't know what to do. So if you're reading this, just pray. I know everyone goes through a time where they are lost. And this is a separate time of lost than what I was going through after coming back from Canada. This is the midlife thing. Not necessarily finding my purpose or who I am, but why I am where I am in life and not where I wanted to be by now. What happened to my goals and dreams and why have I not achieved them? How do I achieve them or find ways to redirect them to make them attainable with what I've been given? What compromises will I be ok with and can move forward with? So many questions and I don't have any answers. And if I stop too long to try and figure them out, life will move on without me. I'm trying not to work too hard on summer projects this year, but there are some I'd like to get to. We'll see. I just need to sleep. Purposefully staying up until 2 or 3 am when your kid gets up by 7am is wrong. Dead wrong. I'm sabotaging myself, maybe in a way medicating myself so that my brain is foggy on purpose so I can't think clearly and can't get upset and can't get triggered. There's something like that going on. But then my eyes hurt and I'm afraid to drive because I'm so sleepy. It's not safe. Lord, Jesus, help me. Please. My family needs me.

 

Benaiah sent me this photo of him at his video game event in Dallas. He spent extra money to have these great seats to watch some of his favorite teams play his favorite game, Counterstrike Go, or CS Go for short, head to head, in person. Five players per team. They play the game with their own screen in front of them, and then the big screen will show the whole game play and/or other views of the players themselves. I've seen YouTube videos of events like this. This is eSports. It's a legitimate sport with tournaments like this, brackets, and they win real money. They also have sponsors, too. You might say it's silly, but I say watching grown men ramming into each other giving each other concussions over a little ball for millions of dollars is also silly. These players actually do have to workout and be physically fit because they sit there for hours sometimes and their heartrates go up. They have to have steady hands and arms. It's really legit. But my boy is in his element and he choose to share this me, which I think is very special. I'm super happy for him. And I'm proud that he has earned all the money to go to this with his friend. Grandpa helped him with his plane ticket (yeah for airline points!), but that's it. Benaiah is paying for everything else, hotel, food, tournament entrance, souvenirs, the whole works! And it's NOT cheap! Like he's not staying in the cheapest hotel or anything and he said he was going to at least one fancy restaurant for breakfast and dinner. Otherwise they were going to go to the grocery story for pop tarts for breakfast, too. He's so wicked smart, frugal, and hard working. Again, I'm so proud of him for taking some of his vacation time and doing this for himself. He's super independent. I don't have to worry one bit about this boy/man. He did text me when he landed in Austin. But I didn't know exactly when he left or anything and I didn't need to. Sigh. I'm one happy, proud mom.

Someone is very ready for the splash pad.

So big! Been playing on this one since he was 18 months old!

Teens escaped the heat to sit under the trees to play Uno.

Someone brought rackets but no ball but they tried looking for one. Whoops! I'll throw one of our tennis balls in our trunk for next time. You can always bounce a tennis ball between two people even without a court or racket. I had a basketball and the boys' skateboards but they didn't take them out of the trunk.

If I had time I would go digging up the photos of my crew on this from 6 years ago. Justin was 10 1/2 back then. This is the Jack Greene park on 16th and Franklin Rd. right next to the condos we lived in the first year we came back from Canada. The park hasn't changed one bit. But it's still a clean, well kept park with a nice splash pad and easy access playground for those with disabilities. Kind of in the ghetto area, but kind of not, so I feel safe enough. I just worry about little ones running onto the busy roads. I wish it had fences along the road. I don't understand why they don't do that. Money perhaps. It's run by Indy Parks. I can't believe Abishai was only 18 months when we moved here. Crazy!

Handsome boy enjoying the cool, soft grass.

It's the season of congratulations! Woot! Woot! MWS won in the book category!

Loads of friends and even family graduating! Here is cousin Zach!

Here are the two guys for whom we went to an open house at church last night, Will Caldwell and Josh Foster. I nearly didn't recognize Josh, he's changed so much. I don't think I follow his social media. But I see Will on there all the time. Next year it will be Justin's turn! The open house went ok. Justin developed a headache so I brought him home after about an hour and Jared stayed longer with the other two kids. There were a lot of our friends there, so plenty of people to talk to. Normally you don't stay for the whole time at an open house. There was plenty of food, too, like hamburgers and hot dogs and chips, and cookies. Yum!

Saturday - Happy 20th Birthday, Benaiah!

- Normal Saturday stuff. I tried to sleep in a little bit because I really didn't feel great. I did go to bed earlier than I had been because my eyes just hurt and my stomach was completely off. It's been an anxiety producing week for some reason and staying up way later than usual because of it made it way worse. I had a really late breakfast and tried to eat too fast and nearly threw up because of it. Never underestimate the mind/body connection. Even when I was cleaning the garage, I felt pretty ill afterwards. I hadn't eaten anything beforehand besides the two pieces of toast, but I had had my 2nd dose of medication and my body reacted badly to all of that medication at once with so few calories. It took me awhile to recover this afternoon. Even now, I'm having stomach issues. We've been eating leftovers and this and that, so my diet has been inconsistent. Stress is so hard on the body. That's why I jumped on here at 7pm so I could get today's entry done as quickly as possible. Maybe I can get another computer project started, or watch a show early, or maybe get off to talk to Jared, if he'll let me, and go to bed really, really early. Or fall asleep listening to a video or podcast. We'll see.

- Keturah and Justin worked for Grandpa this morning. Then had screen time this morning. Keturah had to wait for me to try to dump the cardboard out of my car before she could try to vacuum it. She was a good girl and tried to get it done earlier today as soon as she got back, but I had forgotten and was halfway through my project, so kudos for her. That's why I let her on her phone before the vacuuming was done. Abishai followed Jared around as normal. Jared worked on sanding and repainting the J again. He did make his usual trip to Home Depot and I think I wrote down somewhere that I needed something from there, but then totally forgot what it was so I couldn't tell him. Sigh. Ok, I just looked at my entries above, it was for bug spray for the rose bush. Drat. I'll have to remember to go soon for it. Sigh. Or when I pick up Justin from work, I'll ask them and see if they have anything that would help. I'll write it down in my phone now so I remember.

- Meanwhile, it's Benaiah's 20th birthday! He got to go have his big BBQ meal that he wanted and it looked divine! I'm sure he's having a grand time watching the tournament and cheering on his favorite players. Well, they don't shout at them or anything because that would be distracting, but at least they get to watching them live and in person. I can't wait to hear all his stories. I bet there will be many with Chase (his friend) on the case (a little Paw Patrol reference there, lol)! Again, I'm so proud of him for taking this trip, all on his own dime, after paying all his bills and savings so much for college, and staying up to date with tithe, and getting a 3.4 gpa on his first semester of college with a full load of classes and working full time while maintaining an incredible work/church/social life balance. This kid/man/young adult is amazing! I wish I could be more like him! I played a part in his upbringing, and so did many people, but he and God continue the journey in some really amazing ways. I can't take any credit for that. I just sit back, stare, and wonder at the miracle I see before me. And watching him grow will always remind me, that the parts I played didn't ruin him and that whatever parts I play in the other three kids lives won't ruin them and everything will turn out just fine no matter what I do or what the children do. I'm so proud of him. I can't say that enough. I'm proud that he's taken the time to get away and spend money on a video game tournament. He deserves every single minute and dollar spent there. It's not frivolous and it's not wasted. I'm jealous. At age 20, I was pregnant with him and we were poor. He has chosen a wiser path. His turn will come to have a college degree (hopefully) and a family. But now is the time to go on these adventures. Make memories. Enjoy himself. He's amazing. And he's with one of his best buddies, secure that his relationships back here are stable and healthy and will be here when he gets back. Ah, it's so amazing! 3 1/2 yrs of dating Ava. What teen/young adult can say that?! I'm so proud of him/them and how they've conducted themselves! And now they go to a small group together with other single and coupled up young adults. They are soooo set up in their lives right now to live a healthy, spiritual and mental lives. This mama bear is so happy for them and content to watch from a distance, although she wishes she could be more involved and hopefully someday they'll let her be. I'm so grateful I don't have to be more involved. I don't have to worry. I can sit back, relax, smile and let it be. Most mamas can't say that. Especially the ones who have kids in prison for shooting up schools and shopping malls and even graduation parties just minutes from our house in the last two weeks. Or who have become young grandma's because of improper relationships resulting in out of wedlock grand babies. Well, today, I count my blessings that my little 6lb, 5oz itty bitty boy can now pay for his own $30 platter of BBQ goodness that takes up more space than he did when he was born 20 years ago. He budgeted for this meal all on his own weeks in advance. Again, I'm so proud of him. He's my firstborn. And he's 20! Two decades old! A score old! Ah!

One of our absolute favorite photos of all time and one of Jared's first unique builds. I think Benaiah was 6 months old here I think. If so, Gary was 46 yrs old. It was the "tanning bed" years. Oh goodness me. Jared just turned 43. Oh me oh my. We are "this close" to potential grandparent hood ourselves, although Benaiah keeps telling us to stop thinking that way. Sorry, I can't help it. Some grandparents become grandparents because of teen pregnancies so, you know, it happens. ANYWAY, we made Gary and Leah YOUNG grandparents. REALLY young. Reality keeps hitting me in the face more and more each day. Yikes!

Benaiah's having a grand time in Dallas! This is his birthday lunch/dinner! Huge BBQ platter! He said he couldn't eat it all so he has a nice breakfast to look forward to! Or late night snack ;-)

I was in a sour mood when I woke up, which is a perfect mood for getting something done once I get into a project. Punch this and move that. This was already planned though. I just needed to hit go. I knew what I was getting rid of. This was the spring garage clean out project. Two boxes this size of "in case of" cardboard and packing materials. Two small boxes of giveaway junk. Rearrange bikes and tools back to their rightful places, which meant that the walkway between the washer machine and the kitchen cabinets became twice as wide. I also moved the birthday boxes that lost their home when the Justin insisted he wanted to keep the pinball machine went on their spot on the wooden shelves. The birthday boxes went in the space where one of the big cardboard boxes were, which was perfect for not letting Jared put his junk there and ruining the coffee table that is there that I'm keeping just because I like it and I'm saving it. SO, all told, I did what I came to do. I threw away stuff and I had more than car full of cardboard that actually had to go into the truck bed because the bins at Kroger were full. Keturah had to vacuum the car finally, too. So, I fulfilled my goal. Done. I felt very ill aftewards, but it's done.

Proof I throw away things. I filled the trash can with packing materials I can't recycle.

I made a single wide path a double wide path! Woot! Woot! Both the cabinets and the desk credenza for my desk in the sunroom actually work great to make "lanes" to keep the garage organized. I might get rid of the cabinets because I don't know if we'll ever get that project. But I was able to condense enough down today to get things back to where my stuff was out of the way of Jared's stuff, so that decision can wait a bit.

One huge box of cardboard boxes and packing materials was in here, plus the giveaway boxes so I got rid of those, plus the plastic blow up punching bag that always leaked (we can always get a new one, it was like $5). I moved the trikes towards the middle so Abishai can't access them easily. That way he has to focus on his two wheeler which still has the training wheels on it. The wheel barrow now has easy aceess at the front, along with the fertilizer spreader and the garbage can with the tools is in the middle and can be accessed from front or back. There's one box of books but that's Jared's old books from the office that didn't fit from our original move that ended up in the van for too long or something. I'll make him deal with it another day. I should have brought it up closer to the workbench. Again, another day. Oh, I did save two boxes that have handles, but that's it. Justin's motorbike helmet now has a nice spot to sit and Benaiah's keyboard is still there. If he doesn't want it, well, we have it as ours I guess. No harm no foul. Oh and I forgot I still have those dishes my sister wants. Maybe when she gets settled into her new house in Texas I'll get them to her. We'll see.

The other cardboard box sat here with packing materials. Well, instead of leaving this space empty with the potential of Jared using this space and filling it with junk that would scratch up the table, I said, aha! Perfect! I will put the party supplies there that I really should have better access to anyways than at the front of the garage. They got displaced by Justin's pinball machine and had been sitting opposite of the washing machine. Yeah for a little rearranging and they are now safe and sound, up out of any potential water damage and easy to access! Wahoo!

Great for people on motorcycles, but I thought of Kya since she's always asking her mom what's the plan for the day. She doesn't ask for food though. So maybe this would be more appropriate for Keturah.

And I've got two kids that have a lot of my traits. Well, maybe a third one that has a few of my traits. Can you guess which ones? Justin has many of my ADHD type traits. Keturah has many of my female traits like nurturing, organizing, moodiness, stubbornness, and Benaiah has my firstborn traits, studious, on top of things, also stubborn. These are all positive, but I can't think of the negatives at the moment. Abishai, well, I'm not sure where he comes from. Not from me. Not from Jared. He's cut from a whole different cloth.

Yes, this child. Who at age 7 can still fit his tiny rear into the stroller that I still have sitting around just because you never know if a mom with a little one will visit. Or a kid wants to put their stuffed animal in it. So no, I'm not getting rid of it.

See what I mean?

After spending all that time packing the car full of cardboard, I had to take it all out because the bins at Kroger were full. Grrrr. I'm not driving around with cardboard flying at my head and not being able to see out the back window. Good thing the truck is right there. I just have to try again before Monday afternoon before the rain comes or Jared can take it in the truck.

We updated the birthday board through September. (Tusk is a stuffed animal, fyi.) We have a busy celebration season in our household in the summer months.

Sunday - 

- We did all make it to church. Well, maybe not Benaiah, but, it's the first Sunday he has skipped church in his whole entire life, so, we'll just leave him be. I'm sure Grandpa bugged him about watching it online anyway, lol. I did exchange a couple of texts with him today and he said his teams didn't make the finals but he was able to get the merch he wanted. He told Grandpa that his buddy Chase's work schedule changed so they had to go back to Chase's house earlier than expected and spend the night there. Then Chase will drop him off at a cafe' and Benaiah will get an Uber from there to the airport to come home on Monday. I'm sure he will be ready to come home anyway and crash before work on Tuesday. 

- Speaking of church, the kids at their CIY Move meeting at Indian Creek tonight, so I went on behalf of Justin so he could got to New Pal youth group. I finally had a chance to really look at the deconstruction/construction they are doing on the main entrance. Um, wow. They stripped it down to the cement flooring! I haven't seen the cement flooring for literally 20 years! We moved into the big auditorium exactly 4 weeks after Benaiah was born. Right? I think so. I could potentially messing that date up with the date we moved into our Beech Grove house. Point is, we quickly moved into the auditorium soon after Benaiah was born because he only ever went to the nursery in Nursery A in there, not the one that was behind the chapel. They also changed a lot of decor to stark black and white. And the Indian Creek logo has changed to this black and white round thing with a city scape in the middle. Ok. They aren't in the middle of the city, they are in the suburbs for one. And two, it doesn't go with the name, Indian Creek, at all. But, I just find it completes the transformation. This is truly now, Dan and Dan's team's church. It's no longer the Gary Johnson Era anymore. Leah and Jared are hanging on for dear life, but it's not the same. The new sermon series is intriguing, so we'll see what comes of it. But I'm not interested in knowing the people that make up this new Indian Creek, nor the leadership. That's why I'm gone. There was an annual mtg there today, so lunch at the Grandparents was delayed. Gary was at another church altogether and had to rush back to even be at the annual mtg. They only affirm the budget and affirm the elders as per the requirements of the government, but they explain a bit about the budget and vision as well. I just find it out for Gary to be out preaching somewhere else and then have to rush back to be affirmed as an elder at the church he supposedly is part of. Maybe that will change soon to where he will be home more and more and Mike will be out more and more, but it's just odd. Wouldn't you want to be at your home church the day you are being affirmed again as an elder? Or maybe your term wasn't up? Or? I don't know how it works. Maybe it's just the way he does things back to back and he sees nothing wrong with it. I don't know.

- New Pal Bible Church was fine. It was a bit lighter on attendance because a bunch of moms and daughters were away on an American Heritage Girl camping trip. The 3rd elder/preacher got to preach today, Daron Day. He's just as capable as the other two. So there's a nice trio of rotating preachers to hear from instead of relying on just one executive minister. And the other two elders were there, too. We aren't done with Daniel so I'm not sure why we needed a buffer sermon, but it was good. Maybe the other pastor was on vacation until yesterday or something. Who knows. But, it's good to have capable men at the helm as elders and teachers at the pulpit. Jared doesn't need to worry so much about doctrine and that this church is part of a "denomination" because it isn't. It really isn't. Not any more than Indian Creek is. And I addressed that with him yesterday during our serious talk. I told him that the Restoration Movement churches think that they are independent but in reality, they only pull people from their own network, their own Christian colleges, they have their own Christian camps and things like CIY, their own magazine and conference, Spire, etc. etc. When was the last time they really worked with other churches across the denominational barrier? The congregational churches I grew up in didn't seem to have any doctrinal differences than the Restoration Movement churches except we had communion once a month. The songs were about the same. The traditions were about the same. I can't remember the sermons themselves since I was mostly in Sunday School, but I know I learned enough to accept Jesus while in the congregational church and go through True Love Waits and get through jr. high with high Christian moral standards and lots of Bible knowledge from a tiny country church. So, it's not the doctrine. It's the people. The people and atmosphere. It's too big. It's not people I hang out with and do live with. But apparently, it's who Jared wants to hang out with because he started going to the Tuesday morning men's group after I told him not to. Not nice. So, we had a good chat yesterday and more chatting today. And we are at a standstill with all of that, again. Heaven help us, quite literally.

- Lunch with the folks was fine. Leah tried a new casserole with rice noodles and to me it was the perfect comfort food, kind of like American chop suey with vegetables, italian sausage I think, tomatoes, etc. and not spicy. She thought it was too bland. Everyone else thought it was ok. I did feel a little bit queasy when I got home, but to be honest, everything is making me feel sick these days (no, I'm not pregnant, I'm in the middle of my monthly right now), so it doesn't have to do with anything specific. It could have just been the blue cheese dressing.

- Jumping back to the CIY Move meeting, I have some forms to fill out, but Grandpa did his part and paid it off. Keturah refused to sit with her small group "friends" and it made me continue to wonder if they are really her "friends" at all. And then she continues to say things that send shivers down my spine, so I've written an email to her previous counselor. It's time. I can't handle this any longer. Enough is enough. I'm about to make her go to the other youth group, too. There's no point in going to something where you won't even sit with people you know and you sit with your mother instead. You should be excited to see people you know and be near them at 14 yrs old. Something is terribly wrong. Her leaders didn't come over to say hi either. They had a lemonade stand yesterday for the Benjamin baskets and she didn't get contacted. She has ostracized herself by not speaking up and I don't know if she's done that on purpose or what. And it's been going on way too long. She doesn't care she says. And I don't find her crying or anything either. Something isn't right. I would be crying my heart out and I was. I still am when I'm left out. Which I consider normal behavior and I read about as normal behavior and I've been through therapy that says it's normal. Not wanting a single best friend or human near you? That's not normal. And holing up in your room with your dog all day? It's not normal. She might look stable and ok. But that doens't means it's healthy and normal and she can function in society well. And that's not my goal in raising her. I prefer to be alone, too. It's easier. But it's not healthy. At some point, I want to interact with other humans on some level. I type to people that I know in real life. I go out. I have real conversations beyond hello and I actually enjoy it. I'm not great at it. But I've always desired it from day 1. I had a BFF, who was awkward like me. I wanted to be like the popular youth group girls. I watched and copied them. I still do. And now others copy me. Some days I am seriously depressed and don't want to go out and take care of anybody, but I do, because I have help with meds and counseling and coping methods and Jesus. Keturah's not depressed, but something is broken, something needs fixed and matured properly. Something didn't heal right in her previous healing, despite our best efforts of exposing her to potentially good friendships and leaders and books and the Bible and teaching and prayer. Something is off psychological. So, it's time. And we knew we would have to seek help at some point. I just couldn't guess when and why. But I can't emotionally handle one more thing on my own. Time to call in the troops. That's what we pay them the big bucks for. I just hope she doesn't shut down like last time. Even if it's just me that talks to the counselor and learns how to talk to her or what we can do next, I would be happy. We don't need her to just go in there and play anymore. So, that's on the horizon.

- As well as getting Socks up to see the vet for a potential x-ray. My curious vet mind wants to know what joints are hurting him so I can massage him properly. I know we aren't going to do surgery, so the vet won't quite understand why I want to spend money on x-rays. So I hope he or she will understand that I'm just a very curious person and this is my little educational experiment and I want to make him as comfortable as possible and stretch and massage his sore points as much as we can for as long as we can. And maybe we'll find some cancer, who knows. I'd rather know it's there and know how long he has, than not, no matter the cost. And change his pain medication or give him a steroid shot or something, too. Bondi Vet's orthopedist would put him under and put plates and screws in him IF he was younger, because, how he's standing is exactly how several of the dogs in the videos have been standing. And when I did stretch him, it seemed to be in his hamstrings and hips more than his knees and shins, on the right side. I didn't get to try his left side yet. But I don't know all the anatomy, so I don't know what lumps are supposed to be there and what isn't supposed to be there. Sigh. Poor boy. He's just struggling more and more with getting up, especially on slippery floors, which is to be expected. Quality of life care is all we are doing. He's still got a little bit of time yet.

- Time to put Mr. 3 am to bed. He was woken up by some alarm on Justin's phone and I was still awake at that time so he and I slept on the sofas again. He did go back to sleep, thank goodness. He told Grandpa it was because of his ADHD medication, but it wasn't. Grandpa had to ask him to repeat that and then had to be reminded again that yes all 3 of us have it, as I was trying to explain that we are all on different categories of medications for it. Grandpa can remember 62 partner churches and pastor names and elder teams but as his wife said, he can't remember the name of the ladies she goes out to lunch with on Tuesdays that she's done so for years or that Tuesdays are Lifebridge nights so don't schedule anything on that night and he can't remember that 3 of us have ADHD and what it is. Sigh. Selective memory. It can be quite frustrating sometimes. But Mr. Giggle Face Abishai just had massive tired guffaws with Daddy for the last hour. So now he can really fall asleep well. I wasn't up in time to give me his medication before he left and we got back too late to give it to him so we skipped it for today. I didn't want to since we do have an appointment with the doctor on Tuesday but oh well. He doesn't have any side effects on this med which means it doesn't work or we need to up the dose because it is also not helping yet.

- And finally, I saw Justin's driving time sheet and I'm peeved! He's only got 9 daylight hours and he needed 40 by this Tuesday! I've begged and pleaded for him, and Jared, and promised myself to find the time to get this done on time. But no one has felt the need to prioritize this. I'm always stressed and pressed for time. And I told Jared that driving would be something he and the kids would do together and I told him that when we were dating. And I just thought since the other 3 adults handled Benaiah's stuff, they would handle Justin's stuff. Leah's got tons of time. Why can't Justin ask her? And now gas is super expensive. I've got loads and loads to do at home, not out on the open road in the car. Gary said he would drive with him, but then he's never around. I even commented to Justin and Jared more than a month ago that we needed Justin to be driving at least one hour a day to get these hrs in, but no one took charge to make it happen. Well, I'm done nagging. I'm done driving. If I want to go to the swimming pool with my friends for the day and it's on one of Justin's working day, so be it. I'm not obligated to be home in time to get him home or make sure we plan it on a day that he's off. Because, I could go and he could meet us there IF he could drive or if he could get a ride. But that depends on the driver. I'm done spending the gas and time and having limited time frames in the afternoon. I want my freedom back. He has had plenty of opportunity to ask people to help him get hours in. I'm going to start planning my days around what Keturah's and Abishai's needs are, and if I'm around to take him where he wants or needs to go, great. If I'm not, he can find a ride or walk. If it means he can't see Kya as often, so be it. Abishai needs to see friends his age. I need to deal with Keturah's needs. I need to have my own needs met. And my gas bill is too high. His turn. And Jared needs to be involved with this. End of story. I'm done nagging. BTW, Benaiah did forge his hours. How many of those hours, I have no idea. I didn't calculate the final sheet with him and I trusted him, but probably shouldn't have. I didn't drive much with him. And because of this, I was determined to be more on top of it this time. Well, apparently, I did a horrible job again. So, #notmyproblem anymore. Keturah doesn't want or need to go anywhere so it's not something to think about for her yet.  Abishai will be easy because he's the last one and it will only be he and I anyway going everywhere. Sigh. Now, I just need to hold to my ultimatum. 

Someone was up at 3am and was still up at 4am and grabbed my phone and took some selfies. I didn't realize it until I went to upload these photos and saw that I had more photos than I thought. So I quickly took the phone to him and said, "Ahem, excuse me, what's this? Where you up playing on my phone again?" He just giggled. I told him that I'll just hide my phone under my pillow next time and he said he would still steal it. Goof!

The perspective of a 7 yr old is the best! I love it!

He looks drunk! Or very tired!

These are duck lips! And it reminds me of a very specific photo of Benaiah when he was about 10 yrs old that comes up on Facebook in my memories feed fairly often. Hilarious!

So just start.

Lunch was late because Gary was off preaching somewhere and Indian Creek had their annual mtg. It's a good thing I can track some of our family members.

Gifts on promotion Sunday! And he thinks he can sit in the big chair at the head of the table because he moved up to 2nd grade.Bwahahaha. Justin said he left him alone after he was reminded to not be clingy. But there were 30 kids in his class! Phew! It was promotion Sunday AND the first Sunday that the Shelby St campus was rejoining the Franklin Rd campus. Busy Sunday over there. Abishai just thinks he's hot stuff though.

Yummy cotton candy!

And that's a wrap on Queen Elizabeth's Jubliee celebrations! YouTube will have all the highlights and the videos give me goosebumps! It's amazing how history making this is. Sorry, not sorry. And I'll stop talking about it eventually. I just want to put it here to mark it because I've never lived through something historical like this. And it's much better than talking about the leaders of the USA and their squabbles.

Only working royals were allowed on the balcony. That helped to eliminate the awkwardness of explaining why Prince Andrew (who has some legal troubles going on) and Megan and Harry (who are no longer royals) can't be there at all. But the grin on Prince William's oldest's face is mischievous and the smirk on his daughter's and then trying to entertain the 4 yr old is just classic. And William and Kate are the best hands on parents on display there is. They will make the best King and Queen to bring the monarchy to the next generation. It's going to be great. They just have to get through Prince Charles first.

Gorgeous. Yes, lots of money, but so does our President's entourage cost.

Go watch the highlight reels on YouTube. It was phenomenal.

The Brits know how to throw a very sophisticated, yet incredible party. They LOVE their monarch so much and it shows! She deserves it, too! You can't say that about our politicians. Long live Queen Elizabeth II! She couldn't watch or participate in everything this weekend, but she watched on a screen at Windsor Castle when she couldn't be there in person. She is 96 years old after all.

Everything is now black and white as a color scheme at Indian Creek instead of the blues and greens and they've unveiled the new logo and branding. It's growing on me now that I'm looking at on my screen. I see the waves underneath indicated The Creek part and the circle of infinity with the three main mission points and the seven priorities listed out. They are not in the inner city, so I wasn't sure of the city scape, but it's growing on me. I'm not big on black and white overall though. But now the big transition is complete. The Gary Johnson era is gone and the Dan Hamel era has come.

They've stripped the main ramp and hallways down to the cement! I haven't seen this cement in 20 years! Yes! We moved into this auditorium just weeks after Benaiah was born! He was one of the first kids to move through all the grades from birth to graduation. His potential names are written on the cement outside the nursery windows because that was happening when I was pregnant with him. Crazy to see it again! Now it's been glossed over so I don't know if they will carpet it again or leave it. I'm not fond of leaving it cement with gloss. I like carpet. But it's harder to clean, I know. Hello, there, 20 year old cement.

The End