A whisper

Life is swirling around me right now. Slow days, but fast weeks and even faster months. The end of July, and the closing of a full summer on the horizon. But I don't know how, or lack the time to write about it. Much of it can't or shouldn't be documented in this space. And that's okay with me. I read this post yesterday and could relate so much to this blog becoming a whisper. I don't know that I was ever that engaging, but at least a handful of you keep coming back to check on us. I'm thankful for that, especially on the days when I've got nothing new to offer you. So I'll think it'll stay a whisper for now and be thankful for the full life that doesn't always allow time or inclination or opportunity to share about it here.

A field trip

We went on a field trip with my mom earlier this week. We found ourselves in the rolling hills of Amish country and wound up at The End of the Commons. And this store made me so, so happy. Especially, this aisle...

It's all flour! Every kind you can imagine and probably a few you've never heard of. I bought 40 pounds myself and can only imagine the delights I will make with that kind of quantity. I was just a little excited, as you can tell, because who really takes pictures of the flour aisle??!! Me, I guess!

A year ago

This week is full of celebrating what God has done in our family in the past year. Tuesday we will remember the first time we set eyes on Mathios, through the large front window at the Transition Home. Wednesday marks the day that we got to keep him with us, forever. And next weekend we'll watch the videos of the first time Mati met his big sister and truly came home. It is hard for me to believe that it's been a year. But then I look at pictures of this sweet boy and I realize how much has changed.

Cale and I met a withdrawn baby boy, who wouldn't make eye contact or respond to us. Now we have an outgoing, wild man who loves to be the life of the party.

A year ago he was a sickly, 15lb 14 month old who had refused to eat for 6 weeks. Now we have a 29lb 2 year old who hasn't met a food he doesn't like. (He is the greatest eater!)

One year ago, we knew he was ours in our hearts, but we didn't know him. Now we know his voice and his cry and his laughter and his silly ways and our hearts could burst from all the joy he brings.

A year ago, I had no idea what was in store for me, but I trusted that it would ultimately be good, because that's Who God Is. But I had no idea how good it would be to be Mati's mommy.

Free for the pickin'

We have the best neighbors. They are helpful, generous and love on our kids like another set of grandparents. And they really like to share. They've been on vacation this week and gave us free reign on their very large, very abundant garden. This is what the kids and I hauled in after a 5 minute picking.

photo courtesy rachaelraymag.com

And that soon became Eggplant Cacciatore Sandwiches for dinner. Of course, I can't ever leave well enough alone and so I added zucchini, because, hey, I had it. We had also gotten a loaf of multi-grain bread free from church which brings the grand total cost of this meal to about $1 for the cheese (I used mozzarella because it's what I had) and a can of tomatoes from the pantry. It was delicious! We will definitely be enjoying this again very soon. Especially if my neighbors keep sharing their bounty!

the makings of a good night

me + him

road trip + dinner

music + atmosphere

kids + overnighter

=

best date night ever

Too much for one weekend to hold

It's a good thing we had a long weekend; we needed that extra day to squeeze out as much summer fun as we possibly could! I knew it was going to be a good weekend when Cale got off early from work on Friday and right after he got here, sent me off to the outlets (ALONE!) to shop while he did yard work. Love that man! And there were lots of deals to be had so it made it even better.

It was just a great weekend all around, filled with lots of friends and family fun. We went to the pool two different times and enjoyed watching the kids progress in their "swimming". We invited friends from our home group over for the Fourth. The day was filled with what 4th of July dreams are made of...the sprinkler, sparklers, grilled goodness to eat, s'mores, mountain pies, fireworks, good friends and lots of sun tea. We didn't want our weekend fun to end so yesterday we went out to breakfast, hit the pool again and decided to go to the drive-in. Mati asked to go to sleep about an hour into it, but Haven stayed up the entire time and loved watching "Toy Story 3" from the back of our car. It was a fun ending to a great weekend.