Summer-y Summary: July / August

(For you, Aponi, as you recuperate.)

(These 4 flower snapshots by Millie.)

Freshly cut hair.

(baby chick photo by Mama Millie)

(Piper laughing in the garlic photo by Susannah.)

(photo by Millie)



Skylark up high.

Skylark down low.

We've had a wonderful summer. I don't know if it felt stuffed to bursting because it was, or if the slower pace of wintry lockdown made the springtime thaw seem like a tsunami. Whatever the reason, we squeezed out nearly all the nectar we could. Millie and Annika each took an 8-week summer class, we shuffled through countless days of work and lolled in endless days of play, rested on a week of vacation, turned over slow evenings with friends and family, enjoyed barbeques and sparklers and summer heat, and waiting for us around every turn were yard-work, projects, garden weeds, and the friendly waters of Greenwood Lake.

Marking Millie's official graduation from high school this year and standing witness to the older children growing undeniably into young adults, while my legs are still circled around with little ones, makes all this achingly bittersweet. I know these moments will not continue as they are, and this is right and proper, but in their goodness, they are eternal. God gives good along with the hardship in each season, if we will open our eyes and receive.