The J6 Journey: Year 4, June 28th-30th, 2019: Warning: Busyness Ahead

And it begins...just when I am excited that the J12 are altogether, I'm also reminded of all our faults all over again. Sigh. But that's called being a human, right? I wonder what I do that is super annoying to others. Jared already tells me what annoys him, and I typically ignore some of the major ones. I won't go into details, but when the guys in my life do things that make me feel like I'm less intelligent than them (even if they don't mean to), I get pretty mad and upset. So, I'll try to calm down and bring this back around to the kids, so let's see, back to Friday.

This weekend, the temperatures have really risen to the 90 degrees or more mark. I've become a bit afraid to go out when its' that hot because I can feel a headache coming on. We could have gone to a park with homeschoolers, we could have gone to a pool or splashpad with friends, but we ended up just staying home. Keturah was still all socialized out and exhausted. My stomach wasn't doing well so I didn't want to drive far. And Abishai had a runny nose, and ended up with a slight fever, and a nasty diarhea episode all over the toilet in the half bathroom. Praise God that it was all on surfaces that were easy to clean and not on his clothes. He did get some on himself, so I cleaned him up with a bath. I was so grateful we stayed home and that this didn't happen at a pool 30 minutes away. We basically rested up in anticipation of having extra company in town this week.

So, let's see. We went for our usual walk at 7pm. Gary and Leah were out to dinner with friends. Shauna and the girls had been stuck in traffic several times, so they weren't going to be there until after 8:30pm so we just came right back home. Then, when we got the text to say when they would actually arrive, Keturah quickly through on her shoes and went over to Gary and Leah's house. It took us a few more minutes to get there, but we ended up waiting probably close to 20 minutes. We all paced back and forth and got extra steps in and enjoyed the fresh air that was finally cooling off. Shauna pulled in at 8:45pm. There were a ton of giggles and hugs and screams! And, Aaron got to come after all as a last minute surprise. His coworkers told him to just go to Indiana, you need to help your wife drive and take care of her and help her with her mom's house and her family, just go. Shauna had already left and drove to her sister's house in Memphis, TN. And then she and her sister started driving on Friday again. Well, Aaron's friend was driving all the way up to southern Indiana anyway, so, they got in the car at 4am on Friday morning and caught up with Shauna and Stasia near Louisville, KY. Crazy! They did NOT tell Gary and Leah at all and I only found out by accident when Shauna texted me to say that Aaron was stopping for gas. But what a wonderful surprise!

But that's not all! The kids hatched a plan for the surprise and when Gary and Leah came home from dinner, it took forever for them to discover that Aaron had been laying on the couch, hidden for the previous 15 minutes while they talked away with Shauna. Shauna even said, Aaron would have liked to eat that pie if he was here. But oh my goodness, the looks Shauna and I gave to each other and the giggles from the kids trying to keep the secret and Abishai saying something about Aaron but Grandpa not hearing it (as usual). It was hilarious and we were all bubbly and talking a mile a minute and overjoyed. It may be for only a few days before people leave again, but it will be fun enough. Again, this trip for the J4 is so that Shauna and her family can work hard on cleaning out her mom's house and taking care of some paperwork. No one has really touched the house in the 7 months, although her brother is living there. I remember doing all of that for both of my parents, but soon after they died. I can't imagine having to actually deal with a mortgage and property maintenance and all of that. I had even cleaned out and given up my dad's apartment two months before he passed away. It's not an easy task if you are doing it alone but I would imagine it's worse when doing it with siblings that you don't always get along with. I knew even back when I was doing it, how blessed I was to be doing it in my own way in my own time table. I recognized what part my siblings had played in my parents' affairs. Stefanie was the emotional support and did come out to visit a few times. Paul-Mikael was the physical support with grocery shopping and transportation to most doctor appointments. I did the cleaning out and boxing up and giving away on Freecycle. I also did take over the paperwork after my mom died. Kristina kept to herself, and that was sad, but we understood why and accepted it. I'm grateful that I'm the only "keeper of stuff" in our family and that I was the one who got to choose what we kept because my siblings would have thrown out so much more than I did. And in those moments, I didn't need them pressuring me to let go of things I wasn't ready to let go of. I still have many things I should get rid of, and I know in time, I will be emotionally ready. But like I've said before, I'm working on categories that didn't get sorted when I moved. Then I'll start all over again. But for now, everything is safe, and relatively clean, and organized.

Point is, I don't envy Shauna's task for this week, and we all know that this not a vacation for them and we shouldn't expect much time with them. We are doing dinner with them on Sunday and then July birthday celebration dinner with them on Wednesday night. That's just what it is. We'll take care of the girls if and when they get bored, but they also will spend time with their other cousins and some friends. Then we, 12, can enjoy real vacation at the end of July in Deleware. Distance makes the hearts grow fonder.

We did get a few minutes of fresh air today. It wasn't too bad if you were sitting still in the shade. There was a slight breeze, too. Abishai was on the trampoline.

And here comes the heat....

Girlie with her 6th grade girls' small group!

When you don't feel good,...blanekie makes it all feel better, even if it's 90 degrees outside.

Always.

Poor guy really did have a runny nose all day.

Yeah, the wildflowers are blooming! And there's yellow ones in another patch about to open up, too!

Holes in the petals are probably from other insects. But look at all that awesomeness for the bees and birds!

Riding bikes, running up and down the driveway and the street, pacing back and forth on the porch, going in the house and coming out.....can we see them yet?

Are they here yet? Not yet....

Empty nest, Leah, you can take it down now so the adults quit pooing on the pastor's bench.

No way! He can pedal the big boy bike! He needs a helmet and he doesn't quit reach the ground, but he can pedal it and make it go! Wowzers!

When you throw grass clipping on your brother's head on Grandpa's pristine driveway, you sweep them up.

Not quite that way.

Off he goes!

Even making it partly up the driveway!

Daddy's turn on Justin's bike. Abishai thought this was hilarious!

They're here!

Their smiles say it all!

Aaron's turn on Justin's bike.

Running around Grandparents' house!

The conversation was going fast and furious and it was hard to figure out how and when the surprise was going to happen. Everly finally said, "Grandpa we have a surprise for you!" and walked him over to the couch where Aaron was.

Surprise! Aaron's here!

Surprise!

awww

Happy parents!

Playing with cousins while you are sick and not going to bed until after 10pm,....equals the comfort of blankie on your head although you are sweating!

That's better! Although you look so big! I made him roll over so he wasn't so close to the edge before I left him.

So that was Friday. No one went to bed until after 10pm. That made waking up early on Saturday a bit difficult. Keturah went with Grandma to help take care of someone's flower beds as a service project. I had great reports from others about Keturah, but she was moody and defiant when she got home. Grrrr. Benaiah was supposed to pack for CIY, but didn't. He left way before his shift started because he had an important meeting about whether or not he promotes to a new role. He didn't get up until 1 pm though. And that's because he had been up from 6:15am to after midnight because he had worked a full shift and then went to the 21 Pilots concert we bought tickets for last October. It was his first solo concert with just Ethan at his side. He said it was good, although it was hard to see being way up in the 2nd tier of the balcony (and the seats were still $70 a piece). Justin mowed our lawn and then worked in Gary's yard for 2 hrs in the heat of the afternoon.

Jared woke up with worse sinus crud and his toe was flaring up again. He ended up taking some sinus medication and sleeping that off for part of the afternoon. I also took a nap. And then Jared, Keturah, Abishai, and I went to a friend's house to celebrate the fact that after 7 months of looking for a new job, God blessed them with a job 5 minutes down the road. He's an executive chef and those positions are very, very hard to find. He had applied everywhere including Texas, Tennessee, and here in town. Their family has become very close friends to another dear family and I know it was tearing them apart thinking about them moving to another state. But God provided in a mighty way. He told the story about getting the phone call on his way back from another interview, and how even a previous boss that he liked well also get hired right after/because of him and now they will get to work together again. At first Jared wasn't going to go and I was getting huffy about it. But he mustered up enough strength to pull it off and I think we are both grateful he did. It was just 4 families total but we had some great laughs. And Abishai had a great time playing doctor and chef with one of their daughters. Keturah was very upset that we dragged her with us and no, she didn't have a great time, but she at least got to sit on the couch in the a/c and calm down. The other girls aren't quite her age, but she could at least be around other people instead of camping out in her bed. She also got to eat fruit and 8 cookies. We had to have another talk about greed on the way home.

After we got home, Everly and Nora came over for about an hour. Despite playing with their other cousin's at their nana's old house, they still asked for time with our kids. That's awesome. Justin and Keturah ended up walking them back just before it turned dark. Tomorrow's a new day but the typical very busy Sunday. Let's go!

He was trying to get his geotrax out of the now broken on one side cardboard box that's been housing the new geotrax and paw patrol stuff since February. Oh and did I tell you, we figured out that we probably have upwards of 200,000 to 300,000 Lego bricks? One small uhaul box can hold 100,000 Lego bricks. Amazing!

He call this "jump soccer." Aldi's has a big size soccer net for $20 and I'm going to snag one next time we go get groceries.

Mowing....again...

Oh, hi, Benaiah, nice to see you. I thought you had moved out. He's barely had two minutes to do this thing because of his busy work and social calendar. He did laugh hysterically when he told us he threw together his oral report on obesity in under an hour right before class. Ugh.

She ate the cherry but Keturah got hot fudge Sundae. Leah brought over some GF ones she's bringing to group on Sunday night, but she let me pick one, and she's giving another one to Everly.

Happily sitting down, putting dirt in cinder blocks, in the shade, what an easy job!

Mrs. Mary Sauer took these two photos.

Work, work, work. But don't complain in front of Grandma.

Well hello extra children.

I think we gained two kids again.....A little pre bedtime movement is a great thing. Especially on very hot days, it's best to exercise first thing in the morning or after the sun is starting to set. Much cooler at those times of day. Although, usually the bunnies are out eating, bur we were in the way. Poor bunnies.

Sunday, hm, what was Sunday like? Since it's almost the next Sunday since I started this blog, I don't remember! It's been a busy week, that's for sure. We did have dinner with all 12 of us and discussed some Deleware vacation plans. Then I had nursery duty and Keturah had summer hang out time for middle school. The older boys had a pre CIY Move event, which probably had some worship time, but they came home with bag tags, so I'm assuming there was a lot of discussion about it as well. I drove the car to do nursery and Benaiah came later with the other two in the van and drove them home as well. I can't think of anything else to note except I was a bit upset at Gary telling me that if I can't keep up with everything everyone else wants to do, then I can just stay "home" (wherever we are staying). That stung a lot because I do have FOMO, or the fear of missing out, and although I have given up some things (like sending the boys off to CIY at 7am or picking up Keturah from CIY because it was 11:15pm), I just want to be around when the kids experience certain things. I was trying to warn the family of a) the 95 degree heat indexes b) my kids just don't have tolerance for all these museums and walking around town all day in the heat so I've lowered my standards and c) I was also looking out for Shauna who doesn't need to stress her body either, although she's probably at 95% of her normal energy at the moment. You see, Gary and Leah walked 5-10 miles a day every time they got off the cruise ship on vacation. I don't know how Leah pushed herself to do that because of her knees, although she came down with a nasty cold for a few days. Well, I can't do that. I barely did that last year. And the heat affects me even more this year. I guess we could borrow a wheelchair or something. And technically, I'm under the weight limit of the wagon, which we will be bringing. It's just the way Gary said it that really upset me and reminded me how much he doesn't me and my rhythms and my kids' rhythms. And Jared was still feeling crappy so he wasn't there to defend me. Aaron and Shauna tried to, but Gary wasn't listening. He wants to do the things he did with his boys, and I'm not sure we can. We won't make it to all 50 states on a cheap budget because I just can't tent camp and I can't drive long distances for weeks on end. And that kills me, just like it probably hurt my parents who couldn't do all that either. So, I was a bit huffy afterwards, and my hormones are way out of whack still. Thus it's taking me awhile to get back to this blog post. I did manage to do two other days worth on the other post, but now it's Saturday and I have a full 4 days plus this one to finish. And a busy week this week (the 6-12th), too. Ugh!

Oh goodness, I can't even remember what the sermon was about, but Tom Harrigan was speaking my language. Plus I got to sit in the balcony and not freeze to death because Jared stayed home sick.

Lunch with the whole family.

Gifts from overseas like glittery notebooks for girls.

Another wooden vehicle, a fire truck, to add to the collection.

Russian nesting dolls to paint and a really nice painting set. I don't know what kind of paints though. They look like they are watercolor which may or may not do well on the wood doll.

A Lego set all the way from Denmark, home of the Lego Company!

A Viking mug.

Justin ended up with all the chocolate and tea. I had asked for consumable goods. I got black licorice, which I don't like and a spoon and something else. I was a bit disappointed. And they saved the sleeve from the Tim Horton's in Belfast but didn't buy me the mug. I kind of wanted the mug.

Perfect gift for Benaiah!

A Russian plate. Shauna went on a mission trip or something to Russia.

Some of Abishai's goodies, including a yummy marshmallow lollipop.

A brick mold from the Middle East I think that was cleaned up and sold in Ireland.

All about the yearly ritual of burning a Viking ship in the middle of town to honor their heritage.

A wooden bowl and a hat with the Finnish flag on it.

The language is a bet different, but the pictures are the same sets he's been drooling over for months.

Time for a "before" haircut headshot.

What's wrong with all that hair?

Wow! You'd think we were having a party or something! Nope, that's all the drivers in the family. Benaiah's truck, Grandpa and Grandma's vehicles, our van, our car, Ava's car, and Aaron and Shauna's van.

Planning vacation is a group effort. We have a printout of sites to see, the laptop is open, the paper map is being looked at and Shauna is looking up AirBnB's on her phone.

Meanwhile, the kids are playing Minecraft, again.

And Jared is napping because his sinus infection is horrible.

Where Gary preached today.

Check out the cool language!

We will go there someday! It's in Denmark itself.

Look, it's the set Justin bought!

More Danish language!

A mama duck has built a nest and laid 9, yes 9, eggs in it in Gary and Leah's planter box. Now we all have to be quiet and and stay away from there. Thankfully, she's not flown away when we've forgotten. I think she's opened her beak to signal to go away though.