The end is near

Tale-tell signs that the end (of summer) is near

...when I cease to buy new bottles of convenient spray sunscreen and hand out tubes of mostly used up sunscreen from the bottom of the pool bag. You have never seen a whiter pastier group of kids than when they are finished lathering one another up at the pool.

...when we tie another knot in the broken goggles to make due until next season

These little cooking mamas whipped up some tacos for tonight's fiesta.

The girls tried a jazz-hip hop dance class and two of them discovered that they liked ballet better. One was in her element and had trouble not dancing around the table to the salsa music.

The boys had friends over, shot each other with nerf bullets, and went swimming.

I realized that my Groupon is about to expire, so I worked on getting my Latvian photo book together before my bargain turns back into a pumpkin. I am loving Mixbook, where you can manipulate all the different elements of digital scrapbooking. I'm curious to see how my first photo book with this company will turn out.

The girls worked on jewelry making in their crafting spot of choice (my bathroom floor), but the stretchy cords popped and hundreds of tiny beads spilled all over....and a glass broke into tiny shards, and my Chinese calligraphy got torn in half...small things, but lots of small things. Thankfully no one got cut, and we learned how to sweep up messes together. Thankfully I remembered in the moment how my own mother didn't make me feel badly when things got broken or lost. She reassured me that she loved me more than her things.

Something was wrong with the air unit upstairs again, but my man got someone to come pump it full of more freon until the part that has been on order arrives. Thankful that he looks after us even when he is away. The kids had a read-in sleepover downstairs where it was cooler.

I thought about how I need to start praying now that I will be a sweet person when menopause kicks in and my girls are hormonal too. If the air breaks then we might just have to have a prayer meeting to calm the grouchies back down.

When I give a big cheesy smile and say "I'm just happy to be here!" when people at Bible study ask how the week is going with A away.

When I hide in my closet at the end of the day, move things around to see if there are any hidden m&m's that I may have overlooked, and count the days until school starts (for some) again.....

Mama's at the end of her rope.

There is a glory when Olympians race with great busts of speed to the finish line. There is another glory, His glory, that rests on the heads of those who crawl to the finish line, determined to finish.

Sometimes you run and do not grow weary. Somedays you walk and try not to faint.

Thank Goodness His mercies are new every morning. My mercy tank is on fumes tonight. Time for a long bath.