Last night on a peak evening of the Perseid meteor shower, you could find Morgan and I lying flat on our backs in the middle of a still-warm-from-the-sun paved road out in the country. A very soft, warm wind was blowing and the meteors were shooting fire overhead until it got cloudy and the crickets in the ditches beside us were singing of autumn and we laid there in the dark and I thought of all the things making up our life- missing my Dad and Morgan’s Dad, our current life with no children, school beginning soon for another year for Morgan, my family so far away, our lovely little house, my favorite Morgan, the garden box full of good things- and I felt very blessed and sad in a mixed up way. But so many blessings, I tell myself. We are healthy and alive and adore our families and there are thrift stores waiting with the perfect find and our Breville never stops chugging in my hour of need and none of my house plants are actively choosing death. I’ve had energy to put up corn with Cindy and Kaitlyn and my freezer has bags of gold waiting for winter and I’ve done applesauce with Jodi so there are also bags of pink goodness that smell of cinnamon and fall. Salsa and maybe fruit cups are also on the agenda.

I just looked back at my last post which was ” Summer Holidays Part 1″ and realized there was never a part 2 which means I was having a good time apparently. Our time in California was so fun and Morgan and Micah (who flew in for a couple days) and sometimes Jalen worked like crazy on the caboose. It’s on the up and up now instead of in the demolition phase so we felt like it was a good use of time. The family was over most evenings and some days so it was very fun to be with everyone and catch up again and hang with the nephews and niece. We went to the coast one day and did all the coast things with time on the beach and looking through tide pools and eating clam chowder bread bowls at Monterey. We also had a couple evening plans with Matt’s and Benny’s which of course we can never have enough of.

Then we cruised to Dillon+Renae’s in Wyoming- Mom was also there while we were- and spent a happy week there staining the back porch and drinking evening coffees together and camping. The guys kayaked a river in a thunderstorm one afternoon and Mom, Renae and I went to a horse sale with the kids and then we all went to the hot springs for a soak. Dillon caught a massive master angler walleye while he and Morgan were out on one of the many fishing expeditions so that was a highlight. For the guys at least.

After our week there, Mom, Morgan, and I drove up to Linden for my first cousin James’ and my little sibling ish Emma’s wedding where we loved catching up with Michigan friends and family. Morgan rode home to Enderby with his old student Clark which I told Clark I had concerns about because last time he and Morgan went cruising around they came home with no bumper on Clark’s pickup because they had chased a bear. Anyways they made it back home and Morgan started garlic harvest at the ranch.

Mom and I went from the wedding to Grandpa Gary and Grandma Cathy’s and spent several days there with them. Some of Mom’s cousins from England were out so we had a great time visiting and found out that A. there are still gypsies that go around England like you read about in books and B. the landowners in England (there only a handful or two families who own land there) still go on fox hunts on their horses with dogs and C. Mom’s cousin is a HeadMistress at an elementary school there and she took her schooling in the Hogwarts castle school which you will only understand if you’ve read Harry Potter. I loved them and we quite want to go visit them in England sometime soon. Mom and I did a bunch of thrifting on the way back to Wyoming and we spent another couple weeks there at Dillon’s. I didn’t really feel too rushed to get home except that I missed Morgan of course, but his hours were long and gross so I stayed a little longer than I did last year. We went along to Max’s swimming lessons in the mornings and baked cookies with Brett and watched Tessa try to learn to crawl (she started a week after we left. dumb.) and read books and played games and Mom, Renae and I talked all the time. We only needed Madi there with us!

I drove back through Yellowstone because I love that place and was home for a couple weeks and then our next item was Teacher Prep in Rosewood Manitoba where Morgan’s sister Kandis+Micah live. West Jet went on strike which was a huge pain so we were left in limbo on if our flights would be canceled or not and after a lot of deliberating we decided to drive to Manitoba rather so Janae rode with us and we left the 2nd of August. We stopped at Nathan+Madison’s for a night and then were at Teacher Prep from Tues. night to Fri. night. Morgan taught the oldest class workshop with Joel Boese and then he also got to give a talk on “Working with Board, Parents, and Co-Teachers.” Such a fun time reconnecting with our other teaching friends and connections that we usually only see at these meetings and it’s never long enough so we are already looking forward the the next one we go to! I spent a day thrifting and drinking coffee with Madi since they only live an hour away so we felt very lucky to be able to spend a little time with them and Micah’s both!

Now we are home and preparing for another round of happenings. Morgan+Shane’s wedding is this weekend so we are excited for singing in the choir and helping Saturday night and keeping company and seeing friends. Next Wed. there’s a funeral here so food and maybe more company! AND then it’s Peter+Kendra’s reception and we are in the kitchen for that. Morgan and I have been working in his classroom at school as many evenings as we can trying to get things organized for the coming school year. All in all, I feel like the rest of summer will just fly by and I’m not sad really. I love fall and all the things it brings. I do wish I could sit at your house and visit with you. I wish you a blue, wildfire smoke-less sky. I wish you an iced coffee that doesn’t get watery. I wish you an a/c that can keep up. I wish you a cozy spot to curl up like a little squirrel in a nest, in the comfort of our church and what if offers and most of all I wish you courage to not give up on it. Times aren’t going to get easier. They will probably get tougher and deceit will continue and the devil is getting desperate. I wish you so much courage to choose Jesus and I wish you a clear view of what our end goal is, despite the debris trying to threaten us here. Have a good weekend. A “God” weekend, if you will. xo chey