blessed beyond measure

I know, I know. It's not like I plan to go three weeks between posts. It's just, by the end of the day, I got nothin. Except for the end of this day. This day marked the beginning of exploration season for the boys and me. Something that sort of kicked off last year, as we used our beautiful fall afternoons and evenings to check out local treasures. Parks, playgrounds, pumpkin patches. All of which have made it onto my official Exploration Bucket List for Fall 2013. Today was Peaksview Park day. We have been there before, and the playground set was beyond impressive. Huge slides, winding tunnels. Which explains why I was near tears when we arrived to find hundreds (not lying) of stink bugs all over it. We braved the bugs on some of the equipment, then spotted some trails. Or "shortcuts", as Aden called them. And proceeded to walk probably two miles around what we discovered to be a ginormous park. Found sticks, rocks, bleachers, and piles of crunch...

It is the calendar (and most certainly not the thermometer) telling us that summer 2013 is coming to a close. While it has been short, thanks to a crazy-weird school schedule, it has been our busiest ever. Chock full of firsts and memories and God's abundant blessings. Since many of these have thusfar evaded publishing due to severe blogger's block on my part, thought I should attempt some sort of summer summary. This will be remembered as... The summer of independence. For the first time in six years, I can squeeze out a few minutes of mommy-aloneness here and there while the boys play together. Someday, the last minute of those spans will not consist of one boy beating up the other. Someday. The summer of the utterly unpredictable bedtime. While he no longer sleeps in the kitchen floor, Trey's late-night antics continue to deprive us of rest and force us to march blindly forward through the parenting unknown, trusting only in our faithful God. The...

His time has come. Today was my sweet baby's first day of preschool. Can not believe it. At least I can't. He has been ready for a while, since that heartbreaking morning last month that Trey went off to school and we had to break it to Aden that his school didn't start for another three weeks. Oh, the tears. They are no more. How strange to go through a morning of great change with no anxiety. Getting ready and riding to school was just as natural for this boy as if it's what he's always done. He is a different creature, this fellow who, since his birth, has just taken life as it has come, always with a smile. Like he already knows that God is right beside him. We rode to preschool, Aden chatting with Monkey about what he might do at school, and promising that he'd be back soon. Then he requested "10,000 Reasons" on the CD player, and sang with all his might. Then asked incessantly how many more minutes until we would arrive. Over an...