Change

Change is inevitable. It's a part of life. How you accept it is up to you.
My parents recently bought a new house (after 5 1/2 years of looking!). Needless to say, it's a good change. It is a beautiful house with plenty of space and a park like backyard (where the boys feed the resident squirrel a gourmet meal every morning and ride scooters in the evening). It's nice to be able to go to sleep at night in a queen sized bed (opposed to a twin bed), without having to worry about gun shots and drug deals going on a block away.
Knowing you're getting older is a natural change but it's not always easy. Because getting older means that you watch those around you get older as well. Rob and I have both had to help our parents with every day tasks because their bodies can no longer accomplish the task easily. Even watching our boys get older is difficult at times. I'd like to think of E as our baby but the truth is that he is becoming a "big boy". Yesterday I took the boys to a community pool, where E was not allowed to wear his floaties. I was nervous because P wanted to swim on one side of the pool and E was in a shallow part that would gradually grow deep enough that he couldn't stand unassisted. The lifeguards weren't the most observant so I was constantly keeping an eye on each boy. Needless to say, my lil athlete decided that he was going to embrace this change and teach himself how to swim. By the end of the afternoon he was swimming a short distance under water without any assistance. He was so proud of himself and would yell, "Mom, I just popped up!" when he'd resurface.
A week from today I will be teaching again for the first time in almost 4 years. It's a change that I felt ready for but it'll be a new norm for us. I'll only be teaching part time but it means getting both boys ready and out the door at 8am, doing cleaning and grocery shopping in between work and picking P up from school, fitting my photography in around my new work schedule, correcting papers after the boys are in bed at night.
Another change I not only implemented but embraced this Summer was being content with the small things. Usually, P and I make a Summer bucket list of all the things we want to do. This Summer we didn't do that. We still had fun but we didn't do something big every day, nor did we spend a lot of money on activities as we've done in the past. We took the boat out, went to CA to visit my parents, got to stay with friends in Reno, went to the aquarium, swam a lot, saw a few movies, had a couple sushi dates and spent time with friends at various parks. But it was a low key Summer compared to years past. And the nice thing about this change? P became content. When we did something "big" he was happy but he was also content building Legos, riding his scooter, playing Monopoly, running through the sprinklers and reading his Magic Treehouse books.
So, change can be good or bad, depending on how you embrace it. I've always been ok with change (for the most part) but I know that some change is not always easy. It's an inevitable part of life, though, so it is what it is. How do you embrace change?

Team Blue

I assume that most people know exactly where they were when they heard the news of the terrorist attacks of 9/11. I can tell you where I was, how that day unfolded for me, the fear I felt, the things that brought me to tears throughout the day. But I didn't know anyone personally. I didn't know any of the victims, the survivors, the first responders, the families. It was just a national anguish that was felt.
Yesterday you may have heard the news of the fallen officers that were ambushed in Baton Rouge. Yesterday it was personal because it happened in a neighborhood I've frequented~ where I've bought photography props, where I've stopped for lunch, where I've bought our groceries, where I've taken the boys for their medical appts, where Rob drives to get to his office. Yesterday it was personal because I was connected to the fallen officers. No, I was not friends with them nor have I actually ever met them. But I taught one of the officer's sons last January. He is a good kid and was very proud of his dad being a police officer. Whenever he contributed to the class discussion, it pertained to his dad being an officer and the life lessons he had learned from his dad because of his line of work. The boy would get to class a few minutes early to talk to me on a personal level, often telling me about something his dad had encountered at work. This past Spring the boy started attending our church with his grandparents (the officer's inlaws) whenever his parents were working on the weekends. We talk on occasion or he's quick to say hi to me before the service. But I didn't put 2 and 2 together to figure out that they were related, that this fallen officer was related to the same boy I taught (due to confidentiality I don't have student's last names so I couldn't make the connection), until I saw a GoFundMe post on FB. Then it hit me how close to home this has all become. I realized that he was the same officer that sat in his police truck next to me in the carpool lanes every day while we waited for our kids. There was a face with the name. I then discovered that I had taken pictures of one of the other officer's daughters when I took the daycare pictures, that this little girl may be E's classmate soon. This tragedy became a sad reality.
Yesterday I spent a lot of time in prayer but felt more frustration than comfort. This morning I woke with my thoughts immediately going to the fallen officers' families. I reached for my devotion books, frustrated that E had moved my bookmarks, only to find that the devotions were exactly what I needed today. Beth Moore writes, "Sometimes good at its best is when the law of the heart eclipses the law of the land. Stepping across the boundary to help is sometimes our first introduction to the commonality of humanity on the other side. Offering help in a time of need can be the first step to overcoming God-dishonoring prejudice." The verses in Sarah Young's devotional today spoke to me as well. "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33 and 2 Samuel 22:29 "You are my lamp, O Lord; the Lord turns my darkness into light."
My devotion time got me thinking back to 9/11. I felt so much fear and had such a troubled heart. But somehow the good people of the USA bonded together and brought peace to this great land. Now, almost 15 years later, I have no doubt that we will rebuild again because 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
Right now we, as a nation, need healing. All ethnicities and races need healing. All citizens and first responders need healing. Until that happens, I will pray. Pray for the officers' families, pray for the officers that have to patrol and keep up safe every day, pray for our nation and our leaders, pray that God will be brought back into people's lives. Because prayer is the only thing that is going to truly heal our nation.

Preferences....

P has always been one who gravitates toward women more than men. He's a "Mama's Boy" and has an indescribably close relationship with my mom. He loves using his imagination, doing creative things and is a sensitive soul so it makes sense that he bonds with females easier.
E, on the other hand, only wants to watch TV if it's a fishing show or something to do with the outdoors. He likes to play sports and is very rough and tumble. So it's no surprise that he prefers to hang out with guys. He is a "Daddy's Boy" and has a special bond with my dad, my FIL and my brother. He was beyond excited that Uncle Josh was coming for a visit while we were staying at my parents' house (P was excited too....that they were bringing their dogs). E has been Josh's shadow since he got here and constantly wants to do whatever Uncle Josh is doing.
As always, I enjoy our boys' differences and I love that both boys have such special bonds with family members!

Home Sweet Home

No matter where we live, Reno will always be home to me. It's always fun to go visit friends when I'm there but this past weekend the boys and I also got to visit our old stompin' ground. Since E has only heard stories about the places, he enjoyed actually seeing them. Tahoe, Virginia City, our old house, Bowers Mansion and everything in between...it was all beautiful! We thoroughly enjoyed our time and wish we could've stayed a few more days so we could've seen everyone/everything.

Black Lives Matter

Fact: All lives matter. Despite color and race, all lives matter.

I woke with a heavy heart this morning. Just when I think things can't get worse with our nation they do. Sometimes I pray that the Lord will come before any more harm can be done, before any more hatred can be spewed. I didn't bring boys into this world to live with this upheaval, this confusion, this tension, this unrest.
To me the answer is obvious: Put God back into this nation. Put Him back in schools. Put Him back in government. Put Him first. But that's too easy. The results would be too drastic. People would love instead of fight and sometimes it's easier just to fight.
But this has got to stop. Our nation seems to be getting worse every year, every month, every day. I would really like to blame it on the government. I would. But I think our nation would be like this regardless of who is holding our government offices.
I was going to give a long dissertation about my thoughts on LA, MN and Dallas. But the fact remains that I was not there. I believe media can be edited to wreak havoc and feed the hatred. But I cannot judge because I don't know all the facts and I don't know how I'd handle these situations if I was the one behind or in front of the gun.
The long and the short of it is that so many headlines break my heart these days. You know what they are because they probably break your heart as well...or at least make you pause and think about them. Let's stop the hatred because the bottom line is that red, yellow, black or white... ALL lives matter!

More Birthday Fun

We made it safe and sound to the West Coast where we've been busy enjoying P's birthday and the 4th of July. My parents recently (as in last week) moved into a beautiful new house so we've had fun exploring that as well. Here are some pictures of P's birthday celebration in LA and in CA as well as 4th of July pics. Enjoy!