An Unforgettable Summer

“Life is rich and full here... everywhere... 

if we can only learn how to open our whole hearts

 to its richness and fullness.”

― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea

Life is rich and full - even in the midst of a pandemic - and we are learning more and more each day how to open our hearts to its richness and fullness. This summer may have been missing some very significant, precious opportunities of time spent with our favorite people in our favorite places, but it left a hole that we filled with all sorts of new adventures and activities that we may not have attempted otherwise. It was an unforgettable summer; one that forced us to be resourceful and creative with little, identify what and who we value the most, and make the most of every moment that we had with the people we love...not knowing what tomorrow may bring. 

We began the summer with long lists of things we wanted to do - and we did! Almost all of them! We filled our weeks with themed camps directed by the delight of Zoë and Isaiah (and Isabelle happily joined in, or just did her own thing - like she does). We formed a close knit group of equally cautious and careful friends, our "quarantine crew" to play with throughout the summer and I am so grateful that we had this small community to continue a small sense of normality in a world of continuous change and unknowns. The summer was rich and full and flew by all too quickly! 

Yet even as I look back and smile with content at the summer gone by, I recognize my privilege and blessing in being able to say these words. For many, this summer was a summer of great loss, great pain, great destruction, and great turmoil. In the midst of the joy, I also feel a heaviness of heart - and so I pray and hope in the God who says, "When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm." (Psalm 75: 3)

May God be a firm foundation, a rock of refuge for you in this turbulent time. May God open your heart to the richness and fullness of life even in the little things. And may you find hope in the One who is the "hope of all the ends of the earth." (Psalm 65:5)

One of my favorite current traditions is making slideshows of our pictures for the end of seasons/end of the year. Here is our "Summer" slideshow of an unforgettable summer, rich and full with many sweet, simple moments of life together:

We celebrated our last day of summer with our long time friends who have navigated through six years of PhD family life with us - through thick and thin. It was the perfect way to celebrate surviving a hot summer "covid-style" and end one chapter as we begin to turn the page to a new adventure.

As we jump headlong into homeschooling tomorrow, it is not out of fear or an escape from reality. It is on a peaceful path in pursuit of a learning and growth fueled not by anxiety but by wonder and delight.

And so the adventure continues...