Yearn for Surrender: Zooming through July!

*It has been a while - I decided to take a couple of hours and work on the blog. About 20 seconds after opening the blog M came into the room and has asked me 100 questions.

---

Three hours later... The kids are now doing their weekly screen time so perhaps I will get something published today!

Once our 4th of July trip was complete, the crazy summer schedule began. This year the kids did 4 weeks of Summer School in the morning and the Park and Rec program in the afternoon. I would meet them at school each day for lunch, but they had activities from 8:00am until 5:00pm. They also were doing horseback riding, therapy, and meeting with their mentors. This meant that after SIXTEEN MONTHS of having children with me almost every waking moment, I finally had time without kids. It was wild.

On the weekends we tried to get to the pool as much as possible. Sadly, I don't have many photos of the way we spent most of our July. I am going to do one big post of several July events and then a few additional posts about specific events.

While the kids were busy away from home I was working as fast a possible on recruiting ministry volunteers. It was a slow and long battle, but it was victorious and every spot was filled.

The boys (cats) love it when work from home and they snuggle in!

My first time with only one Aldi cart since 2019! (I have done 2 carts since... I love stocking up)

M spread out all the comic pages to read them and Sunshine walked along them like a little path!

Sunshine: This is a fun sidewalk that is just my size!

M: Sunshine needed a break so I gave him cuddles.

Leaning on each other... when the kids are away I take pics of the cats haha!

Blurry, but precious!

One day T came down for summer school wearing a puffy winter vest. After a bit of investigating we learned this shirt was one under the vest. You might not be able to tell from the pic, but it is a size 6 month top that T wore in China and was in a keepsake bin!

T: What mom? I can wear 6 month clothes, right?

T: Life is better upside down!

Speaking of life being flipped upside down... it happened to us again in mid July! After the eye scare over the 4th, Brandon saw all the warning signs that his retina was detaching. This was all happening as our new youth pastor was candidating. It was a wild few days, and incredible church people helped with driving Brandon to and from the hospital on several occasions. On the day his retina was detaching he sat in the waiting room all day in hopes of being seen before his late afternoon appointment. By the time he finally got in, the retina was so detached (macula fully detached) that they said the surgery was no longer urgent and he should come back the following day. Poor guy.

The surgery went well and Brandon again had to be face down for several days. Thankfully we still have the massage chair, so the set up was pretty easy. Brandon worked all through his head down time. In fact, the picture below was taken within 2 hours of coming home from the hospital. Normally this would be intense even for Brandon, but with all the youth pastor decisions, a zoom meeting needed to happen.

A tipped computer with a keyboard below is the ticket to productive face down time.

I wanted to go make dinner, but was trapped by the cat.

I had a very important video announcement about nursery recruiting to make. I worked on the power point for it for days. I practiced a lot. Brandon recorded me and said it was the best announcement ever. Sadly, it was also the longest announcement ever at over ten minutes. Oops! I was able to cut out several parts and record again.

The view that the camera doesn't see.

During Brandon's head down days we decided to make a big meal to add a little fun to our life. M insisted we buy several hams at Easter time. It turns out it is fun to have ham in July! Thanks for insisting, M!

M: This is fun to cut and amazing to eat!

The teacher of M's summer school fishing class sent me a few pics during his class. I continue to feel so thankful for the unique summer school options for kids.

M: Look at this beauty!

As I said, we spent a lot of weekends at the pool! M liked to hang out with me when he couldn't locate friends. T was always ready to find new friends or play alone.

M: I am not sure why Mom likes just laying on these chairs.

M: I can wrap my hair just like T.

The picture below shows the beginning of a new era. Brandon's detachment has really limited his vision and he is no longer able to view a phone without an additional magnifying glass. He also has transitioned to reading on the iPad (no more print books). He has not been able to drive since the detachment. These changes might be permanent, though we are praying that after two more surgeries he will have some additional vision restored. We are so thankful to modern technology that allowed the surgeries to happen so that he still has some vision. We are also thankful for electronics that make reading possible, especially with a large font and black mode.

Still head down, still learning the ropes!

Extreme church snacks!

Brandon snapped this pic on the first head up morning after surgery. He can grow quite a beard in 5 days. It is also interesting to see the swelling that happens when one has to have their head down so long.

Brandon with a beard!

Sunshine: I discovered a new "happy place" where I can hide and not miss the action.

Sunshine: I don't know how Buttercup lays like this.

T: I made a new hairstyle.

A weekend game of Uno.

Our parade loving family finally made it to a parade after about 18 months without one. We typically go to several each year so this was a pretty big deal for us!

Ready for candy!

I love watching her watch parades!

After the parade, we headed to the pool!

I forgot to mention that we also were watching a lot of Olympics during July. In fact, the kids were late for summer school one morning so we could watch Suni Lee win the gold live!Chewing gum and blowing bubbles is a great way for T to avoid sucking her thumb.