July - Back Into Routine

 We tried to pack in as many friends and visitors as we could before slowly easing our way back into routine and school.  We started out the month with Zeke turning 17. He is becoming quite the man-child. The Hambrick's came in and we had the BEST time! Jude and Ben have become really sweet friends and have hung out quite a bit this summer. School began light as we just focus on English and Math to get going again. The big change here is that Cai came to us to ask if we could talk about him transferring back into public school. We tried to think of all of the pros and cons to each side and sat and prayed on it for a week. When we came back together we all thought it would be great for Cai. This kids LOVES people, and activity and routine. Not only was the month a cacophony of paperwork and student service office visits, Cai also has the soccer team to jump into. We got everything approved just in time to make the last summer practice with the team. A week later he just on a school activity bus and headed to UNCG for a weekend soccer camp with his potential team. He came back completely EXHAUSTED but said he had a great time. There is a week of student camp with 7Marks and then he jumps right into soccer tryouts for the school. 

Another Graduation

 We were able to squeeze in a trip up to my sister's to go to our Nephew's graduation party. This meant I got to see my entire family AGAIN! We made a stop at my brother's to see their not-so-new-anymore home before heading to a fun event my sister's family planned. They got all of us a box to watch their local baseball team. It was so much fun. After the fireworks at the end of the game the kids got to take a turn and run the bases. The kids (and adults) had a blast. The next day was the party and we made sure to take advantage of the photo booth, lol.

Kid's Camp

We had our last goodbye with elementary kid's camp. Jude as a camper and Rainy as one of the leaders. I know it was a special time for them to get to finally go to a camp together. I can't believe next year Jude will be at Caswell with the Students!

June - The Heat Of Summer

June was full of traveling and friends.  Jude had his last elementary kid's camp. Zeke headed to Uganda. Rainy had her nanny job, with the perks of a neighborhood pool that we got to partake in, along with her full-time job at the studio. We tried to squeeze in as much friends and fun as we could!

 

Rainy's Graduation Party

 I was terrible at getting good photos, but I was told that we had over 90 people, a gazillion cars in the driveway and we ate every bit of food I put out. It was so fun celebrating Rainy with some of our closest people who have been a part of Rainy's life. Took finish it off Joy had the brilliant idea of getting matching tattoos so she did a little research and found us a place nearby that took walk-ins and we even talked Meme into going and getting it with us. We got simple arrows representing generations, hoping that we can make a tradition out of it to pass down to our other kids and then their kids!

May Came In Hot

 May was anything but relaxing, but it sure was fun!  Josh returned from Argentina and then left for Uganda by the end of the month. We finished up the school year, finished up Cai's soccer season (they got 2nd place in the final championship!), Rainy had her first aerial performance and Josh, Zeke and our buddy Chris drove knocked out a Spartan Beast, almost all in one week(end). It was insane! We ended up the month having a massive Graduation Party for Rainy and then I also got to celebrate my friend Sarah's birthday.

We also had a 36 hour chicken massacre. We lost 9 in under 2 days. We think the first one was a hawk but the other was a fox. Needless to say we had to start the process of making calls to Tractor Supply to start over again with some chicks.

And having the fence installed FINALLY allowed for some privacy again and we have been able to enjoy our back porch again!