The End of Summer Push

Today, an update on life and some stream-of-consciousness thinking, as inspired by Holly's blog. This time, I'm writing two blogs. The first is the normal-happy-what-we-did-this-week blog. The second is an usually candid out-loud thinking.

First things first. The girls are trying out for the high school tennis team today. We are hoping they both make the team. Whit is playing in the finals of a tennis tournament today and continues to do well.

School is two weeks away, which excites mom and dad. We'll look forward to the return to structure. Hannah and Kayla are both in Honors English, Kayla made the musical theater tryouts and the show choir. Hannah made Yearbook staff. Should be a fun year for them. Gentry is a big 6th grader this year--queen of the school.

Kevin just won 4th place in the Riverwoods Country Club golf tournament. What a kick! He is just getting started with football season, his favorite time of the year. You can almost smell fall in the air. It's hard to believe he gets to watch football for HIS JOB this year. Seems crazy to him as well.

I'm just getting bummed thinking fishing season is on the downside. I hate that cold weather that's coming. I have enjoyed a summer that's including A LOT of hiking, fishing and exploring. I'm getting ready for Education Week, the last big event of the summer, as well as a fun road/camping trip I'm planning with just Hannah next week when the girls are with their mom.

Zac just started a new job which we all are celebrating. It means he can start saving money again for FIT or whatever he decides to do. And we heard from Jantzen. He is adjusting well to Northwoods Academy. They spent the weekend swimming at the lake.

Part II--read at your own risk

I've been having a hard time lately understanding why life's challenges seem so lopsided--some seem to get so few in life, and others of us seem to get heaped on. We were speaking to a dear friend the other day who said how stressful it's been that her son didn't make the competitive soccer team and that it's created a lot of turmoil in their home. I caught myself immediately having a dialogue--or rather an argument-- with myself in my head about how unfair it was that was the biggest trial for them vs. trying to show some empathy for the situation. Yep, I felt real jealousy for the normalness of their lives. How foreign it seems to have "normal" problems like having your child come home late from curfew, or figuring out how to pay for the car repairs that month, or how to get your kids to be nicer to each other. I can't even begin to make a list of what we have been dealing with. You'd be scared to be my neighbor. Just use your imagination and then multiply it by ten.

I guess it's no surprise that my never-normal life would have never-normal problems. Nicole says it's always been that way. I have a bigger than life, LIFE. And the good stuff is extra big, just like the bad stuff is as well. We'd like to move from "surviving" to "thriving" , but that happens on a different timeline than we get to dictate. Yes, we are O.K. over here, but TIRED. I guess the biggest comfort is that God's on our side.