Long Time No Blog

On the evening of Tuesday, June 25th, my grandma passed away.  Erik was out of town in Chicago for the entire week.  My mom was up with my grandma.  Dave and Lynne, my wonderful in-laws were in Europe.  I went into Survival Mode for a few days.  Blogging doesn't happen in Survival Mode.  Dishes and laundry don't either, and most meals consist of cereal or fast food.  Grief is weird, isn't it?

Then Erik came home, and I figured I would be able to pull myself together.  It's been more difficult than that.  I've wanted to blog about my Grandma, but I haven't been able to do that yet.  That post will require time and tears.  I don't have either right now, so I will post about our lives.  Grandma's service is July 20th.  I am confident that it will help me process and hopefully produce a post that honors the memory of her.

Until then, our little lives have continued.  I think I'll get the pictures up here and narrate through them.

 We had a playdate at our new neighbors' house.  This costume might have been Paul's favorite part.  He's certainly a hero in my book.

 Later that same day, we had dinner with good friends.  Luke put together this ensemble.  It made me smile.

 Raspberry picking also happened.

A friend of mine owns the raspberry farm.  I was SO blessed to turn my boys loose and spend time being loved and encouraged by this woman of God.  This trip was at the end of Erik's week in Chicago.  The Lord provides for us in ways we might not expect.  A raspberry farm with a trampoline were His provision this day.

 Library Time with the Daddy-Man on the day after he arrived home.  All three of these peeps love to read!

 This is where I spent my 38th birthday.  I was given a manicure, a pedicure, and time alone to read God's Word.  My children were not far off.  I could hear their laughter all day long.  It was just what my soul needed.

I have no pictures of it, but my birthday dinner was also delightful and soul-nourishing.  There are four couples who share a unique bond.  All four of the wives are part of the Vancouver Evening Women's BSF class and all four of the husbands are part of the Portland Evening Men's BSF class.  We knew at the end of the BSF year that we wanted to get together over the summer to pray for the classes and each other.  My birthday was our first time together doing that.

We enjoyed dinner together on Bill and Jana's deck with a view that included Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helen's and Mt. Adams.  Did I mention that this is a really fun and hilarious group of people?  We laughed hard.  I love laughing.  

After dinner, we were blessed to pray together on our knees for each other, for our families, and for God's will in our cities.  And then they gave me presents.  I couldn't believe it.  I received a sweet little mug, yummy soap, scripture cards, and a hard-won lava lamp.  Visit our basement to enjoy that brand of awesome.  It was an amazing birthday, perhaps my favorite so far.  

Summer reading has continued, but my original plan has fallen by the wayside.  I had hoped to document all the boys' titles with pictures and little book reviews.  Paul does NOT want his picture taken with his books.  And I have been too preoccupied to keep up with Luke's numerous titles.  I was, however, able to snap this pic and get another review from Luke.  Here it is:

"The Billy and Blaze books by C.W. Anderson are cool.  I remember at one point Billy jumps in pairs in a horse show.  I felt really excited about that.  I liked these books a lot."

There is a small piece of the former English teacher in me that wanted him to revise this, removing the word "cool" and adding more specific adjectives.  Not this summer, folks.  It is what it is.

Then the 4th of July happened.  I'm so thankful we already had awesome stuff planned because otherwise we would have blown that whole thing off.  No pun intended.

 Luke and his buddy are ready to ride in the parade!

 Paul and his buddy are ready, too!

 The Moms!

(BTW - This is the owner of the chair/yard/place where I spent my birthday.  I love this woman.)

 Our spot.

 This picture has a great story.  The truck pulled up.  The kids immediately began to investigate the grill of this amazing machine.  I wanted a picture of them in front of the truck.  They wouldn't turn around until this awesome fire fighter jumped in the picture and made it fun.  I like him.

 Luke spraying the hose with happy Paul behind.

 He's so thrilled.

After the awesome fire truck parade/potluck, we continued our celebration with the All Awesome Roots Community 4th of July party.  Some churches have All Church Picnics.  We have All Awesome Parties.  Here are a few pics of that goodness.

 Two pools, a play structure, volleyball, and TONS of food.  All.  Awesome.  Party.

 Shaded areas to sit and chat were up above.  It was such a relaxing time.  The boys enjoyed the big pool.  The parents enjoyed the adult conversation.  Happy Independence Day, Everybody!

And now for something completely different.  We grew garlic two years ago.  Last year we thought it all was pulled by a well-meaning yard worker. In a rather unexpected turn of events, garlic appeared this year again.  So we harvested it!  There is something very pleasing about growing things in the ground and seeing it be ready for consumption.  Well, these aren't quite ready, but after some drying, they'll be ready.  Good stuff.

This has been a crazy long post.  And now we come to the thing that pulled me out of my blog avoidance syndrome.  Toward the end of last week, I realized the boys needed something to do, somewhere to be, ANYWHERE but home.  Okay.  I needed time off.  I homeschool, people.  But I'm not Wonder Woman.  The summer lack of schedule, the loss of my grandmother, and the normal summer doldrums combined to produce a very crabby mommy.  I googled "VBS Portland July 8" praying I would know one of the churches and feel comfortable dropping my people off for a few hours each morning.

God knew what I needed.  Mt. Scott Church of God was the first hit.  This is the church that hosts Erik and Luke's BSF class.  Luke is familiar with the building and we know some folks who attend there.  I registered the boys immediately and began to sell the idea to them.

It was a raging success.  The boys had a blast.  They played games, made crafts, sang songs, memorized scripture, and learned more about Jesus Christ.  Win?  I think so.

Last night was the VBS program.  You will not believe that Luke got up on stage, sang songs and danced in front of people.  I took video.  He's the back and rather hard to see, but I'm posting it anyway.  This is amazing growth, people.  He did awesome.  Paul also got up on stage and sang and danced.  He was also awesome, but it's not been an area he needed to work on.  Paul likes the stage.  A lot.  Here is the picture of the two of them at the end for the final song with all the kids.  I'll also try to post the videos below later.

The Bangsund Brothers on stage!