The first part of summer was consumed with preparing a small house in town for Grant to move into. It left precious little time for much else but we did manage to squeeze in a camping trip and a couple of days on the lake. As the older kids move on with their own lives, doing grown up things, we find that our family excursions are starting to consist of Jim and I, Kruz, and Brock and friends. There is an ever present awareness that soon Brock will also be off doing grown up things. Until then, we're enjoying the calm, laid back camaraderie of not quite adult boys.
Climbing continues to be little brother's favorite past time. Even when we go camping, he finds something to climb on. His world is so big and full of exploring. I treasure the opportunity to see the world through his little boy eyes.
He wins hearts wherever he goes. He's so quiet, so joyful, so full of peace.
On weekdays, everyone is off to work and my days are filled up with little boys. We do typical and some not so typical boy things. Our mornings start off lazy. Moise's current cocktail of medications has him sleeping much later than usual and Kruz has always been a great sleeper. As long as there's not an appointment to rush off to, brothers sleep late and mom enjoys the quietness.
Moise is teaching me braille and it's truly amazing that something so simple as dots, when put together in proper configuration, can open up a whole world of communication. And blindness, frustrating as it may be, has renewed my never-under-estimate-him motto. He amazes me with the things he can learn.
Play dough is a new favorite past time. Kruz still shudders a bit at the feel of it in his hands but he tolerates it better each time we bring it out. Moise has many uses for the stuff. He smashes and rolls and cuts it. We also cut out shapes for math.
Wet has been the central theme of this summer. It rains often and when it's not raining, the extra moisture in the area causes the humidity to be stifling. But we get out as often as we can, in the mornings or evenings when it's more bearable. We swing. We swing a lot. Moise on his swing, Kruz in his swing or both of them together in the hammock.
After years of dormancy, Kruz has happily put the swing set back in motion.
Moise's two primary sources of exercise are swimming and riding his bike. We try to get at least one, preferably both, of them in every day. There are times when having two non ambulatory boys requires some creativity. Sometimes I just have to laugh in wonder at the fact that this is my life, so dramatically different from anything I could ever, in a million years, have dreamed up.
Laynee's garden becomes fuller and more beautiful every year. There's an ache deep inside of me every time I look at it. It's such a beautiful reminder of the child who enriched our life so much. It reminds me every single day of the growth that has taken place in my own heart since we said "good bye" to her. In spite of the pain, God has been so incredibly good to us.
Aside from playing with little boys this summer, I admit that I'm not accomplishing much else. I am a perfectionist by nature and there are eleventy hundred jobs and projects that jump out at me every day, things that nature and instinct tell me I "should" be doing. I was raised with with the words "don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today" ingrained in my brain. And, while, I think there is much wisdom in those words, I have also learned that "if it can wait til tomorrow, I won't regret playing with my children instead." Children grow up quickly and sometimes tomorrow doesn't come. And if tomorrow doesn't come I'd rather say "I played with him on that last day" than "I cleaned my garage that last day."
"Today why don't you love a little deeper,
laugh a little harder,
hold the ones you love a little tighter
Because tomorrow is never promised."
God is good, all the time.
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