the weekend, and a little about this week

I love a good, lazy morning at home.  I have nowhere pressing to be, and nothing super important to do right now, so I'm enjoying taking my time with all of my morning habits.  Technically, my kids have already had a week off for fall break, but because their friends are off this week, I'm being nice and letting them take off this week as well.  It always evens out, the amount of time they spend doing work, so I never really stress about them being caught up.  They always manage to catch up before May.

Also, I get them wanting to be off with their friends.  I would be the same way, so I always have compassion for them and give them that day or days off to just be young and have fun.

Also, and then I'll move on to another topic, I am so thankful that we homeschool.  I love the flexibility it gives to our lives, and it makes for a good education and little stress in these teenage years.  So many of their friends are overbooked and overextended and incredibly stressed out about school, sports, etc. and mine are not that way.  They may not ever go on to win the Nobel Prize, but they're well balanced.  And though school is important, it's not THE most important thing.  I pray that they always remember that.  Their relationship with the Lord is the most important thing, and I always pray that they will remember the things they've learned on that topic.  That is, to guard their time with Him, to make Him first in their lives, and to pray continually about any and everything.

Moving on now.

We had such a great weekend!  It was a little strange, because Graham and Drew were gone all weekend.  They left Friday afternoon with their friend to drive to Chattanooga to visit a friend at school, then went on to Knoxville the next day to meet up with their friend's parents for a bike race that he was in.  They got home close to ten o'clock last night, and I immediately thanked the Lord for His hand upon them as they traveled and went about a weekend spent driving, and away from family.

Raising kids that are almost grown (well, one is grown at eighteen) is not for the faint of heart.  Having teenagers, though in some ways is easier, in other ways it's just a whole other set of things to pray about.  Especially when a young lady enters into the picture.  It seems as if every single day, the Lord is showing me how to let go a little more, and to let him become who God meant for him to be.  I keep thinking of the day we left the beach a few weeks ago, as tears streamed silently down my face as we pulled away.  I cherish the moments we have as they are now, because I don't know how long that moment will last.  Things change so quickly!

While they were gone, Todd, Jonah, Noah, and I went out for sushi Friday night.  We ended up at Office Max after that, because we need to replace our printer.  (Todd ended up going with a different option, though.)

Saturday was so nice and quiet.  Todd and Jonah went to his shop to work on one of their vehicles to prepare it for being sold, and Noah slept late.  I watched Gilmore Girls (a LOT of GG) and alternated between that and laundry.

That night Todd worked with the sheriff's department for an event, and Jonah, Noah and I went to my mom's for dinner.  The sunset was incredible that night!

Bill built a pergola over part of their back porch, and then he hung those cool Thomas Edison lights with huge bulbs, so after dinner, he and the boys enjoyed sitting out there and making s'mores in the fire pit.  It was a little hot for my taste, so I sat inside and read/watched a movie with Mom and Trish.  It was a good night.

Yesterday was church, then we came home for a little while to eat and I took a short nap.  I was back by three for choir practice, and Jonah and Noah met up with their friends there to play basketball.  I went from there to community group, and because it's fall break and we only had four girls, instead doing bible study, we just sat and talked and got to know one another a little better.  It was a really sweet night, and I am loving getting to know this new batch of precious girls.

I wish I'd gotten a picture, but we were too busy talking and laughing.

Today I am cleaning the house to get it back to normal from the weekend, and going grocery shopping, and doing laundry.  And THEN, I'm packing.  (Insert all the excited face emojis here.)  As part of the launch team for Melanie Shankle's new book, Church of the Small Things, I was invited, along with a guest, to a private book signing and meet and greet in Dallas, Texas.  Todd couldn't take off work for two days, so I invited my best friend Missy to go with me, because she has also read all of Melanie's other books.  And yes, Dallas is a little bit of a drive, but I'm not scared of a long road trip for just one day and have done that before.  We will leave bright and early tomorrow morning and won't return until sometime after dinner on Wednesday night.

I am so excited, I can't hardly stand it.

Seven (plus) hours of talking, laughing, singing and having fun on the drive sounds perfect to me.  Then we will get freshened up and go to meet Melanie and her best friend Gulley.  After that, Missy discovered that The Container Store is next door to the book store we'll be in, so we'll go browse in there, and then go eat dinner and go back to the hotel.

On Wednesday, we'll eat breakfast, check out, go to a fun little area I've been wanting to visit, then start the drive back home.

I told Missy that this is our first annual best friends trip.  And we have proceeded to text Bitmojis and Gifs ever since.  We even texted those to each other at EXACTLY THE SAME TIME this morning, and we said exactly the same thing.  We are two peas in a pod, she and I.

Well.  I think I need to get started on this day.  I see list making in my near future.

Thanks for reading!  Love to all.

(I'll see you back here on Thursday.)