A Little Tired of Summer...

 For most of my life, I have been a hot weather girl. I spent 3 of my formative years in the South American rain forest and while I remember being hot, I don't remember being ridiculously hot. Typical high temperatures were in the high 80's to low 90's and during the rainy season, the humidity was close to 100% much of the time. We used to get several short rainstorms a day, which would sweep across the lake upon which our little missionary village was built.

In the last ten years, I have found myself less enthused with really high temperatures.  For one thing, chiggers like summer and I have whined plenty of times about my chigger problems.  So one nice thing about fall, winter, and early spring is NO CHIGGERS.

This summer, I appear to be going through menopause with the associated hot flashes.  Oh. Joy! 

I had an emergency hysterectomy in 2018 but they left in my ovaries, so I have been plugging along sort of like normal -- except not really, because the docs yanked out my uterus -- but based on my current experiences with hot flashes, my body has finally decided it is time to shut down the whole fertility thing. Of course, without a uterus, it wasn't like I could have any more babies, but my body didn't get the memo for a few years. Whatever.

Anyway.  So I keep having hot flashes.  Not fun when I am sitting by the pool watching the kids swim.

So fall will be nice. Summer is awesome too though.  I am just ready for something new and since it will be September shortly, my feelings are jiving quite nicely with the calendar!

We are sort of quarantining for a couple of weeks.  When I say sort of, we are still going out to grocery stores for food and Kevin and I went out to dinner last night, but mostly we are staying home. COVID-19 cases are very high now.  This is no surprise with schools starting up. Thing is, since we homeschool, we CAN stay home. The kids can stay home.  Most people don't have that option.

The four teens now have one dose of the COVID vaccine and Kevin and I are vaccinated.  It is unfortunate that the vaccination, while it does provide protection, does not prevent all breakthrough cases so yes, some vaccinated people can get mildly ill and pass it on to unvaccinated people, and all kids under 12 are unvaccinated...

Societally, it is rough.  The decisions being made by the government and schools and places of business are tough decisions.  Kevin works on the local Air Force base and they are going back to having everyone possible work from home. He has been working from home almost completely since COVID crashed our country, so it is no big change for him.

Oh, and here is something kind of funny!  I was FRANTIC to get Isaac driving. I mean, I wanted him to get his license because this fall he has 3 classes at a local university and two were in person. I did NOT want to have to drive him to and from classes 4 days a week!  He did get his license. Yeah for Isaac!

His first day of classes was last Monday. He showed up, and was informed that all his classes can be done online. So now he isn't going into Wright State, but just working on the computer!  I am guessing they made that option to reduce number of people in buildings because... COVID.

Of course it is nice he has his license, but ha ha ha!  All that worry and anxiety for nothing!  There is a lesson there, I guess.  It is really good he can drive though.  He does have to go in for exams.

Naomi has a new job as of last Monday and her company is a government contractor; they were officially informed that they are dealing with a Public Health Emergency (again) but it isn't clear how that will all pan out for her.

Lots of people have to make hard decisions during this season.  I respect that people look at this whole thing in a variety of ways.  Some people are worried about the vaccine because it hasn't been tested really well yet.  I understand their concerns, especially with kids who are PRETTY safe if they get COVID. Of course there are exceptions but MOST kids don't have rough cases of COVID.  Is it valid to give them a vaccine that is new when there are known side effects of the vaccine (rare but happening)?

But, some people who have COVID and survive it also have long term effects down the road.  Might kids have those problems?

We took our time on having our four teens vaccinated but with delta sweeping the country, we decided it was time.  Other families will make different choices.

It has been a hard week with the news (Afghanistan, Hurricane Ida) and a dear extended family member is very sick with COVID.  I have found when I get worried and anxious I need to turn off the news and turn to God.  This world is a sick place in many ways, but God loves me, he loves us all, and I pray for his mercy on our family, our friends, our nation, and our world.

Update

 This week has been quite tiring. Kevin and his four children and I and my four kids all had a great time on vacation last week. We got home from Michigan on Sunday, and I picked Kevin and the boys and Naomi up at midnight on Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning.

Naturally, it has taken some extra energy and work to get the house and our lives kind of back in place.  The pool got really messed up while we were gone, and we are still throwing chlorine in and battling it into submission. It is swimmable, but not gorgeous.

On the emotional side of things, COVID-19 finally hit hard.  A close relation is in the hospital on a ventilator with COVID.  Thankfully, he is only a little older than I am so his age is in his favor.  But still, it is really upsetting and scary.  Obviously we are praying and praying for him and his family.

This thing in Afghanistan is also upsetting.  We know a lot because the media is showing us.  It is bad.  It is sad. It is scary.  It is tragic. Lots of people are suffering.  Americans and Afghanis are in a lot of danger.

I know the evacuation of Vietnam was also messy and tragic.  Politics and wars and the Taliban are overwhelmingly difficult and complicated and all I can do is pray.

So I am praying a lot.  In the middle of things outside my control are the kids and Kevin and our lives and yes, even our pool.

Isaac starts in person classes next week at a local university.  Today he drove there and we figured out where his classrooms are.  He is still a new driver so yes, another area for prayer!  At least it isn't far and it isn't a difficult drive. We are blessed that we rarely cope with lots of bad traffic.

Lydia got a new job, and Naomi starts her new job on Monday.  Hooray!

A lot is going on. A lot.  Lord, have mercy on our relative, and on Afghanistan, and give wisdom to our leaders, and work in the hearts of the leaders of the Taliban.

Trip to the Meijer Garden in Grand Rapids

 We went to the Frederik Meijer Gardens on Angela's birthday. It was quite amazing.

You will observe bona fide pictures of ME.  That is because I gave the camera to Angela and Miriam while we were at the gardens. I was too busy chasing Rose to take bunches of pictures!

Trip to Michigan

 I just got back from Michigan where I spent a few days with the four younger girls. Kevin took the three boys and Naomi on their own adventure in St. Croix, and Lydia was stuck here running back and forth between her apartment and our house, taking care of cats. She was also working, which is why she didn't go to St. Croix.

Anyway, we had a great time, all of us.  My trip to Michigan was especially fun because my brother, wife, and nephew visited from Friday to Saturday and also my aunt and uncle came over on Saturday for most of the day.

The little boy is my brother's son.  He is a little older than Rose and a complete sweetheart.  Our children only have three first cousins.  I have zero first cousins so hey, they have more cousins than I do!  Their cousins on Kevin's side live in Texas and our young nephew lives in Chicago so we don't see much of the cousins. So it was really precious seeing them together.

My mother is an amazing cook and we had quite a spread.

Miscellaneous relations and Sarah :-).  It was great catching up with everyone.

I haven't been to my parents in a couple of years at least. Last year was COVID year, of course.  One big change this time was that all my kids are now swimmers. My parents have a lovely backyard which lets out on a beautiful creek, BUT when I had non swimmers part of my brain was always making sure no small person fell in and drowned.  Rose did not fall in, but if she had, she would have been fine since she swims like a fish. The creek is not very deep but little kids are weird and will drown in shallow water so yes...

I remember going to their place when my parents celebrated their 50th anniversary (which is, of course, quite an achievement!)

Daniel was a year old and at some point toddle off determinedly toward the creek and I had to chase him and snatch him before he leaped in.  My little ones didn't have a ton of sense!

Anyway, it was more relaxing this time knowing that the children were old enough to not do anything incredible unsafe.

So yes, it was lovely, and now we are home and catching up with stuff. Our pool got stupid while we were away; it has a lot of algae and I am pouring chlorine in and beating it into shape.

But it was a fabulous trip and I am so glad we went.