Year 4, July 28th-31st, 2019: Exhaustion Sets In

Oh boy, um, well, I've had zero energy to go back and start/finish the rest of the vacation blogs, but I remembered that I usually start with the current blog and then work on the backlog as I go.  Then I post them in order.  So, there will seem to be a big gap in posting, but that's to be expected.  I'm actually starting this blog on July 31st.  I've just been so mentally and emotionally exhausted that I can't string too words together or think about where I want to start.  And the mental and emotional exhaustion has also led to physical exhaustion. This week so far as not allowed for much downtime as stated above.  I'm in PMS week and that's not helping with my overall attitude.  So, I'll type out today (the 31st), and then insert paragraphs for the rest of the days.  Here goes.

28th
Church was much better this week just because I didn't have vertigo! Yeah!  Benaiah had fun playing drums.  Nora and Abishai had a good time in Sunday School.  Justin helped sell Grandpa's book.  And Everly and Keturah got to sit with Jared and I.  Then most of us went home after the second service so we could rest and figure out lunch.  We needed something light and Grandma was craving pizza.  But we didn't want something like Pizza Hut, so we asked a church member and they suggested this Lewes, Delaware staple and it was fantastic!  I split a gluten free pizza with Everly so we didn't have leftovers.  And most of the other two pizzas were eaten by the 7 others.  Abishai had chicken fingers.  We wanted to go light on lunch, which happened after 2pm because of church going from 11:30am to 12:30pm for the third service, because we were having a cookout with Milners and another church family at 5.  The kids were able to swim one more time while the others got a low key cook out together.  It was a good way to end the week.

I did pull myself away as it was getting towards bedtime because I wanted to watch some videos and not go to bed so late.  And I was just done having conversations with church people that I most likely won't talk to again.  The kids had some screen time as well.  Everybody was prepacked for getting out the door quickly in the morning and I had already cleaned the bathrooms and vacuumed before lunch.  We were in pretty decent shape.  Oh, we were able to listen to Jim and Michelle's life stories a bit more and understand where they are now.  There is definitely some heartache there, but they have healed from some of it and are very involved in church and determined to share their wealth and blessings with others, thus the big house for just the two of them and the new outdoor kitchen.  They are definitely very sweet people.  And I hope that they felt like we respected their time and space.  Actually, the next day, Gary texted Michelle about eating up all the leftovers for dinner and she texted back that the house felt too quiet and empty.  The interns they are hosting also leave next week to go back to their homes and schools.  I'm sure they fill their hearts and time with other things.  But it's time to pack up and go home.

Because Gary's been sharing his sermon series on finances, he's also had his "Living with Less in the Land of More" books available, and I think some others.  Justin was able to help out as well.  They also added a neat intro graphic for the series I hadn't seen before.

Gary and Leah met this couple on one of their cruises.  They live in Pennsylvania but drove down to hear Gary speak.  The husband is from Germany originally.  I think they were on their way somewhere else, but still, to make the effort to look up the church and what the service times were, as well as continue to exchange emails for Gary and Leah is pretty neat.  You don't typically see that follow up with my generation.  It's something we should appreciate about the older generation.

Are you sleepy?  Maybe?  He was just pretending.  But he insisted on keeping his name tag on.

Even the gluten free version was awesome!  Perfect heavy "snack."

Lewes is the town we were staying in.  This pizza place is one of those local "dives" that has been here for 75-100 years.  Lots of history here, and yet, clean and appropriately priced.

Hawaiian pizza up top, gluten free pizza with sausage on the bottom.

Stuffed crust cheese pizza.  It looks yummy!

Cute baseball theme on the outside including this mini baseball diamond.

Entrance into the pizza joint.  So cute!

Watching Daddy's and their little ones (plus an extra niece in this case) is always a favorite pasttime of mine.

One more time in the pool before supper.  Lots of pushing each other around and down, especially Dad pushing big one down.  Lots of laughter, too.

No, he's not drowning.  He tries to dive in like the others with arms and head first but then ends up belly flopping.  I'm just amazed at how he's not afraid of putting his full face in the water.  He usually comes up laughing.  Granted, he does have his water wings on, but I think most 4 yrs old have to be coaxed to put their faces in the water like this.  Too cute!

They've spent so many hours in the pool this week.  Michelle (the owner) won't know what to do with an empty pool next week!

Fishes.

All the toys.

Dive! Dive! Dive!

Belly flop!

This is one of the two tile walls that Gary, Jared, Aaron, and even Benaiah helped put together for our host.  It's for the outdoor kitchen.  There will be bar stools and a countertop of course to eat from too, and chat with the cook as he prepares your grilled meal.  Looks wonderful!

Teaching the locals how to play nerts!

Just throwing this in there because how cool that this one cafe helped launch Contemproary Christian Music, not only Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant, but everyone that influenced them and vice versa.  Definitely an awesome part of history and worthy of a sign and ceremony.  Both artists had tears in their eyes remembering how they started out here and the ones that helped poured their lives into them, just as they have poured themselves into the next generations.

The guys outside in the heat, next to the heat, doing the grilling.  While the women are inside, nice and cool, cutting up vegetables and gabbing.  Or then there's me that hates to be in the kitchen and takes pictures and wanders around instead.

"I don't care what time it is, it's always pjs time!"  Plus, we don't have stairs like this at home so, every time he went down the stairs, he did it on his bum and bumped every stair with a "ugh." And then he decided to try "rolling" but instead slid down.  (See video below).

Hey, an actual picture of Mrs. Milner!  She was there often this week, and was very, very kind.  She made sure the kids were well fed.  Her son is 22 yrs old and not married, and there's no grandkids or young kids in her life.  But she loves to cook and bake and has the kitchen to match that hobby!

Evelry enjoying her gluten free cookies while other have cheesecake and browines.  I feel ya girl!

This is how my man does vacation and is "ready" to go home.  Actually, Benaiah piles his clothes into categories and then stuffs his backpack with the dirty clothes, which is kind of organized and helpful.

And this is me on vacation and ready to go home.  It's only a tad messier during the week.  I like to keep my things picked up, and I usually tuck the dirty stuff into the corner where they can be hidden until we wash them during vacation or put them in a plastic bag to go home.  We typically come home with mostly clean clothes if we can help it.  I'm also a lover o gallon sized zip lock bags, even if I don't actually close them.  I organize everything from cold and flu medication, travel medication, my oils, my daily meds, my "in case of" meds, and of course shampoo and conditioner things.  I often use whatever soap is in the shower or some of my shampoo to clean up with.  And I don't typically bring make up or even jewelry except for my hair jewelry of course.

Even after supper, the men were outside gabbing and doing some final touches on the tile.

While the women gabbed on the porch, lol.  It's just naturally how things work out.  No one says one gender can't be with another, but typically this is how we find ourselves.  Because these are church people that know each other well, and I was done with social time, and the mugginess, (the porch is screened in though), I stayed inside.

Kids had their screen time before bed. Another round of Minecraft.  The older boys went to the other house to sleep so we could get at least two rooms fully cleaned up including bedding the last couple of days.

Cutie in his corner of the couch.  Keturah wanted this corner, but there's armrests there and she'd have to be curled up the whole night.  Not smart.  I don't know if it brings her comfort or what, but she also does that at home by leaving too many things on her bed forcing things to be close to her.  We insisted Abishai sleep in the corner though because he could still stretch out.  Everly and Nora slept on the pull out bed most of the week, and then Keturah and Nora switched out, too.

Not sure what the biggest kid is thinking, but he's enjoying the changing colored lights in the pool.  He's ready to go home and see his girl, that's for sure.

Come on, guys, give it up!  Jared would have, but Mr. Jim is like Gary and wants to see the task finished before he has to go to work this week.

Meanwhile, the girls watched an episode of Heartland together.

29th
We had an uneventful trip home to Indiana via the same route that we, J6, went out to Delaware on. I was ready on time, but with little help from others. I had told Gary and Leah to not come over to help, but I had expected more help from Jared.  He got caught up in a conversation from someone who brought him real "bulletproof coffee for the road trip.  The girls had been helping but they too got a little sidetracked.  And then while I was fixing some things in the van, they decided to have the departing prayer without me.  Gary and Leah, Jared and I didn't speak much to each other throughout the day.  There's going to have to be some relationship building after we get home IF certain people don't get too busy.  I could have done more mental work, or even read or crossstitched on the way home, but didn't.  I took some naps and just zoned out.  We stopped for lunch near the Applachian Trail, but no one but me wanted to take a side trip to the trailhead for this portion of the trail.  It goes from Maine to Florida and I know some who have hiked at least parts of it.  But we did stop in one of Leah's childhood towns for a picnic supper.  Thankfully we had just enough food to pass around and save money on eating out.  Our lunch alone at Burger King cost $60 for 10 of us.  Granted, this was one of our cheaper vacation because we didn't pay for housing and some of the food was provided for us when we ate with church members.  Our field trips/attractions didn't cost much, maybe $10 to get into the state park.  I'm not sure how much the sunset boat ride was.  Jared and I spent $20 on getting into the Assateague State Park, and then spent on souvenirs. I wasn't fond of Gary saying that we were responsible for souvenirs because they had spent enough on their cruise souvenirs, but whatever.  Washington, D.C. trip was the biggest chunk with 3 rooms for one night at a hotel and I think around $15 for the metro per person.  Plus dinner the first day and lunch the next.

Anyway, we got home in one piece and I only put away the perishable food and found everyone's pjs.  I did watch videos on the tablet and played on my phone but I didn't turn on my computer at all.  I think we arrived around 11pm.  Jared was exhausted and his sciatica was out of control.  We hadn't slept very well the night before either.  I ended up coughing and sleeping on the floor in the guest room where Aaron and Shauna had slept.  I'm not sure how Jared stayed awake.  Gary offered to drive but Jared shook his head.  After their disagreement on Thursday morning, they haven't spoken much to each other.  I'm not sure what the office atmosphere is going to be like this week.  But that's just how it is sometimes. 

Aww, Happy 6 months of dating, you two!

Awww.....

The Crossing....Delaware edition.  There's a brand new (well, 5 years old or so now) "The Crossing" in Nova Scotia.  Plus several more all over the country.  This Crossing, also known as Lewes Christian Church, has been around for nearly 75-100 years I think.

Southern Delaware is known as the breadbasket of the east coast.  Who knew! Their corn is much higher than ours and is already turning brown!  Also, Indiana is on the opposite end of the same zone as Delaware/East Coast.  Therefore, 7am daybreak looks very different than 7am daybreak in Indiana.  Abishai did tend to wake up earlier in Delaware but not by much, thankfully.

You could mistake this area for the midwest!

Even the quaint little downtowns look similar.  Although, their were more colonial style homes than "row" houses or bungalows.  Colonials are known to be a big box with very tall windows and the door being right in the middle.  And they are usually wider than they are deep.  Row houses and bungalows tend to have other features and are not as wide but very deep into the lot.  Some of the homes here are probably 100-200 year old homes, whereas the average city home in Indianapolis is probably 50-75 yrs old.

On the road again in the middle of Delaware, a tiny but mighty state.

After we crossed the big bridge over the Chesapeake Bay.

Shauna texted this picture and said, "Hey, we've been in that room!"  And yes, now we have! It's the U.S. Senate!

This bridge looks very old, like one of the first bridges in this area maybe 75 years ago.  It's hard to imagine that although the villages and buildings are much older, the highway infrastructure is relatively young.  Same in Europe.  The highways were all centuries old dirt roads until maybe 75-100 years ago when the cars started becoming popular. 

"O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain 
For purple mountain majesties, above the fruited plain 
America, America, God shed His grace on thee 
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea " - America the Beautiful

This Burger King near the Applachian Trail in Maryland looks like a 1950's diner!  Keturah, however, asked if it was set in the 1980's or 1990's.  Bwhahaha, sorry, kid, it's much older than that.

We do have Burger Kings near us, but there's so many more McD's, so we frequent them more often.  Therefore, I don't think my kids have ever had crowns from Burger King.  Growing up, however, we only had a Burger King and called "Burbur King" or "Booger King."  I think we only went there once as a family though.  We didn't eat out much.  Now my kids know how to order their own food and even customize it.  My kids are so privileged!

Lol.

Nice, but inoperable.

Now there's the king!

Even the lights were records!

Caught Nora with a crown.

Let's drive the car/booth.

It even had an old fashioned OUTDOOR massive playland!  When was the last time you've seen one of these?  It was pretty hot though.

Pre teen/teens aren't allowed on the playground, especially tall ones.

Too tall.  He didn't even have to jump to touch the bar.

Where did they go?

Oh so close!  But no one wants to get off the highway (or take the backroad) to go to a park with an entrance to the trail!  I'm not asking to go down the trail, but just take a picture at the trailhead.  Ok, fine, whatever.  We'll stop at some point on our way to NH some day.

It looks like an older walkway.  How cool!  It goes all the way from Maine to Florida as one big trail1

Again, are in the midwest or in the middle of Maryland?

Highway I-70 runs parallel to the state route 40, which goes right through the middle of Indianapolis as Washington St.  We often shop at the stores on Washington St.  I love how our highway system actually works sometimes.

Back in West Virginia fora bit.

Sleeping and gaming babies.

What's this for, Mommy?  To strap you in, son, so you can't duck under the door.

Picnic in one of Leah's growing up towns.  She lived here in Bethseda, OH on the edge of West Virgina,  in 4th-6th grade.  I'm guessing the park wasn't there in the 1960's.  But some of the houses were!  Keturah picked up a piece of rubber mulch as a souvenir for Grandma.  Awww

These 4 person teeter totters are fun, but end up in arguments about who is leading the up and down motion sometimes.

Beautiful hill top playground.  The other side of a retention pond belongs to a private neighborhood.

Older homes on the hill.

This is how you do it, Grandpa!

It's a good thing we gave them travel medication!  Spinning around and around like that after eating and then getting back in the car can't be good for their tummies.

Grandma and Grandpa and two granddaughters in Grandma's hometown.

This sign was probably there when Leah lived there, too.

This is the house Leah grew up in for those few years.  It's a street over or two from the church where her Dad preached.  He also preached in two other congregations each Sunday.

This is the originally building of the Bethseda Christian Church.  It's now a Bible Church and there's a 25 year old or so more modern building up on a different hill twice the size of this one.

More quint downtowns.

Lots of rolling hills at the foot of the Applachians heading into the Ohio River Valley.

Another nap time.

Columbus, Ohio?

Just a bit of rain at home.

Home, Sweet, Home!

We pushed through 3 1/2 hrs from our last stop because most people were asleep.

30 minutes from home!  How did I know without looking at the map?  Well, this is the Greenfield exit that we take for our weekly playgroup in the winter.  I had no idea these cool pylons lit up in red, white, and blue!  Nice!

Aw, Benaiah caught himself a girl just like his mother.  Do you know how many things I tried to do for Jared over the years?  He never really cared for such things like mixed tapes and favorite Bible verses in a memory box, but eh, it's the thought that counts.  At least Benaiah appreciates it!  The jar and notebook have special memories from the past 6 months in it.  Just another reason I have a hard time calling their relationship just a fling.  They are really into each other with their hearts, not just holding hands and a peck or two.  They make each other laugh and have tons of fun.  I love these two and what they have as a couple!

30th
Grandparent camp Day 1.  What do you think when you the word "camp?" I hear a consistent drop off and pick up time, and those hours being filled with some kind of schedule.  Well, grandparent camp wasn't really planned in the way I thought it would be.  Great concept, poor execution.  Gary wanted to do it, but he also has to work.  Therefore, we are forced to figure out different times to have the Bible class portion every day.  The rest of the day was sort of dumped on Grandma to figure out.  She had some ideas but hadn't really planned it out or gathered the supplies.  And also today, we are all trying to do laundry, buy groceries, and put away things from vacation.  They washed and vacuummed Dan and Mary's van so Jared and I could take it back to them.  Justin mowed grandparents' lawn today and will do ours tomorrow, so he isn't available to participate in the "craft" portion of "camp."  To be honest, it just feels like an extension of vacation with trying to figure out what we want to do each day.  I just want to get back to our summer routine so I can finish out my summer goals and prepare for school.  At this rate, we won't be starting until after Labor Day, which is fine, but I know I won't feel that way next May.

And Keturah hasn't had the necessary break from people that she needs, but she feels like she's missing out if she's not with the Everly and Nora 24/7.  So not only do I have to try to mentally get it together, I have to make sure everyone else has themselves together.  And thus, I'm exhausted. Thankfully the weather isn't too hot.  I'm not used to the warmer house, but we can't afford to keep it as cool as the Milner's house is.  I'm also suffering from my normal vacation let down where I have to take over the cooking and cleaning again, and I come home to my cluttered house that is solely my responsibility to go through and get rid of things and come up with solutions to the clutter problem etc.  It feels dirty and claustrophobic.  And makes me feel like a bad homemaker.  I'll get over it in a few days when I have enough brain space to repriortize again and realize that I have to make choices and that what I choose is best for us.  I don't have time to feel guilty.  It's really ok.

We did make it to Benaiah's school to pick up his schedule and get some questions answered, and then it was off to get groceries, just with Abishai in tow.  Benaiah had work and Keturah and Justin were having their Bible lesson.  Abishai was a very good helper after he ate nearly two big pizza slices at Benaiah's school for supper.  He had refused to eat at home, which was fine because it gave me at chance to ask my questions.  Abishai was very good and was excited to get the things we always get like milk and cereal.  He didn't beg either.  He picked out the fresh fruit.  And we found Paw Patrol chicken nuggets! When we were bagging up the groceries, he even went over to the bench he usually sits on with Keturah without being asked.  So cute!  And he put away a lot of the groceries, too, and talked about it as he did it.  I wish they all were so eager to help out. This time around, I'm making sure I'm giving him more compliments about it and room to do it, too. 

And randomly, Jared's best friends from high school wanted to go out, so that left me unexpectedly in charge of putting Abishai to bed which didn't go well because I wanted to be at my computer.  Abishai ended up staying up until midnight waiting for Daddy to come home.  He just wanted to make sure Daddy was safe.  He almost fell asleep on the sunroom floor.  He quietly played and read while I watched videos and tried to work on finances (just as he is doing now as I type this the next day.) Abishai had been hangry (hungry and angry) and fell asleep at 4pm for an hour, and therefore wasn't ready for bed on time either.  He, too, is exhausted from vacation and just craving routine.  But he also doesn't want to miss out on Grandparent time either.  What are we to do?

I wish Nora and Everly didn't need to come to Indiana.  Gary and Leah were just trying to help this week because Shauna was supposed to have her double mastectomy on Wednesday.  Well, her white blood cell count was low and therefore she has to wait to have surgery until next week.  The girls are supposed to go home to NOLA via Stasia sometime late next week. We'll see how that goes.  We really didn't have a chance to talk about how Shauna was mentally and emotionally feeling about the upcoming surgery because when we were together, it was often with other church people.  I felt bad about that and texted her today to say that I AM thinking about how she is mentally and emotionally.  It's a HUGE deal to have this surgery.  She still has the cancer, but the area is much smaller because of the chemo.  She just doesn't want to risk it coming back, so she's opting for both to removed.  I still don't think I could follow through with that (especially after being nervous about my relatively minor surgery, see tomorrow's entry).

Tuesday was get all the things done day.  We drove a total of 1,825 miles on a Delaware vacation.  Nice! And it was incredibly exceptionally awesome to just borrow a van with air conditioning from our best friends Dan and Mary, yes, the ones who have helped us on our home projects, and who helped Jared and Gary drive Socks and our stuff from PEI to Indiana 3 years ago.  THAT Dan and Mary.  There is nothing we can do to ever repay them, but that's what friends are supposed to be like.  That's how the church is supposed to be like.  I hope to continue to work at being more hospitable and more free to lend out or give away my stuff, too.

Shauna sent the girls with their math books that they hadn't "finished."  They didn't do them during vacation, but I think it's good they can work on them a bit here when they aren't doing grandparent camp.  My kids SHOULD be reading the rest of the library books we've had for 6 months, but hey, that means I need to be on them and I wasn't ready to jump on that bandwagon yet.  We'll get there.

All the inspirational bling for Shauna has she heads to a round of pre op appointments.  Her double mastectomy was postponed due to her low white blood cell counts, but she got a shot to help boost those numbers and will maybe have the surgery next week.  I guess that means she has the house to herself to "do all the things" and get ready for their school year maybe.  I'm kind of jealous (although this afternoon I've had 4 hrs of quiet time to work on the blog.  I refused to waste time taking a nap today, although I did take one yesterday).

These were are two days in Washington, D.C.  Not too bad.  We did take the metro, and the five of us did take a Lyft, and the Capitol Tour was more standing than walking.  And this is why I don't worry about what I eat on those days.  Whatever will give me calories, straight up sugar or not, so I don't feel ill or have a drop in blood sugar, is how I handle it.  In fact, I almost had a big drop, but caught it in time and quickly ate some cookies and drank some gatorade before walking a block away to eat lunch. 

This includes our walk in the sand on the dunes at Assateague National Park.  Nice!

Such a tired baby.  But even letting him sleep only 1 hr, he was awake until midnight waiting for Daddy to come safely home.

He knows exactly where everything goes in the fridge.  He can't play tetris with it all like I do, but he knows which drawer holds what things.

And he narrated the whole thing, too, like he was a vlogger.  Too much YouTube! Lol!

This picture was taken AFTER 10pm.  He just sat and played quietly waiting on Daddy to get home.  At one point he even laid down on the floor and I thought he was going to fall asleep!  I just kept typing away at my computer doing my thing.

He climbed up on the stool and just sat there awhile.

Then he grabbed a Magic Schoolbus book off the science shelf behind him (this is why I NEED to make these shelves available all the time!) and started to read it to himself. 

Wow!  I had not idea I had clocked so many steps today puttering around at home putting everything away and cleaning up.  That's nuts!

31st
Today was my follow up ultrasound for my uterine polyps and the ovarian cyst on the right side.  It went about how I expected.  The ladies were very nice and explained things well enough.  The special type of ultrasound didn't hurt or anything, so I was fine there.  But, the attending doctor who assisted with the ultrasound said that yes, I should have the polyps removed, and possibly the cyst.  I actually was going to advocate for that route, but it still stung to hear that I need actual surgery.  I meet with the surgeon in two weeks to get all my questions answered and then the surgery will be scheduled.  Removing the cyst will be optional, but since it did not change (we had hoped it would get smaller on it's own), I want to go ahead and take care of that too.  I will be under general anesthetic for the polyps, which are removed vaginally and the cyst will be removed laproscopically.  It should be a one day ordeal.  The polyp removal would be an easy and very little painful procedure, but the cyst removal has a two week no work policy attached to it and is much more painful.  Yikes.  While I'm glad to have more answers and to know what my next steps are, I will still need time to process the surgeries and what it will look like for recovery and homeschooling and any trips, etc.  I'm not worried overall or taken aback by surprise, and I know in the next few days I will do my own research.  But I have had a little bit of general anxiety about it for the rest of today, wanting Jared close by and not wanting to do anything mentally strenuous like prepare for homeschooling or cleaning out bookshelves which I still need to finish.

Grandma found these awesome wooden 3D puzzles, just like the ones I had as a kid, that the girls put together and then they wanted to paint them.  Nice!

The sign is from the days of giving out free water on hot days near Arlington and Southport as a community ministry called Random Acts of Kindness.

I spy with my little eye, a sweet young couple spending time together outside on this beautiful 80 degree day under a shade tree.  And then I let the dog and 4 yr old loose on them.  Can't let them get too close!

Both biggest brother and littlest brother have the big gaming headsets on at the same time.  SMH. This is our young generation!  Oi!

Headset #1

Gamer headset #2.  "I'll get you Jawas! Ha, ha, ha!"

Brothers.

Another night, another "I'm too busy to go to bed, Mommy!" moment.  Thankfully Jared was home at 9:30 from taking Justin to a youth group thing so Abishai got in bed by 10 and fell asleep in a couple of minutes.  I made sure he didn't have a nap that day.

The End