The End of the School Year

This time of year is bringing mixed emotions with it.

Next Wednesday is the last day of the school year. David will be finishing his junior year of high school, and will officially become a senior on Wednesday.

Katie would have been graduating from middle school, and moving up, with her classmates, to join David at the high school. She would be starting 9th grade, when her brother starts 12th.

Her friends are graduating from middle school, but she isn't here to experience it with them. I would have been involved somehow, but I'm not.

I am thrilled for her classmates, but sad for Katie and for us. It's a jumble of emotions.

David has a good summer planned, since he now has a job with Argosy Cruises, working at their Tillicum Village site on a nearby island. His "commute" involves 4 boat rides to & from work; not bad for a summer job! We are very proud of him. He has worked hard in school, taking three AP classes and a challenging math class, and has kept his grades up to "the family standard" (with one exception, which we won't go into here - it's complicated, & not my story to tell. Ggrrr).

I have been working on quilts, fundraising ideas for Seattle Children's Hospital and writing. I haven't said a lot about the fundraising ideas here, as the outcome is yet to be seen. I will say that I had a lovely meeting with the president of Seattle Children's Hospital Foundation and the president of the Guild Association, and they listened to what I had to say, borrowed my notebook and have followed up twice with me. I believe it was more than just "polite interest," but we shall see. I want so much to help them raise funds and get lots of homemade quilts for the benefit of their patients. I am trying to let God lead, and to remember that He is the Spirit that moves within all of us and our desires to bless. I want HIS LOVE to be done (as in, "Thy will be done"), in His way. Please, feel free to pray with me!

I think back to the wonderful summers that we spent here as a four-some. The kids had lots of time to enjoy the beach, the woods, the warm weather, the cold water, each other, their friends & summertime freedom.

We would make picnics and go places for the day; the children would have lessons in warm-weather sports, music and/or acting. We would catch crabs with Kappa & Grandma and eat them on their deck. The children would pick vegetables & berries out of Kappa's garden and eat them, still warm from the sun.

We ate many dinners on our deck, and watched the boats going by; we walked the docks of our town's marina & ate in our favorite restaurants together.

We stayed up later, since the sun sets later in summer.

It was great fun all around.

I love my job as a full-time homemaker, sharing in the rhythm of our children's days.

I hope the end of the school year brings happiness in your household, and that summer begins with great promise of joy for you and your family.