My Writing Retreat photo gallery!

 

June 2020 Reflections

From writer Emily P. Freeman's monthly e-mail...

1. Where did you see God in June?

    Personally, I saw God in the love of my own parents as I took the kids on mostly outdoor, extended  weekend trips with each of them this month and in the love of my husband who remained home busily working to support our own family both times.  We camped at Lake Murray SP, OK with my dad and visited our beloved Port A on the TX Gulf Coast with my mom.  Some of my kids are not easy to live with but my parents love them as grandparents do and we made great memories both trips.  

    In the world at large, I see God in the more open, honest dialogues between people in our country with different experiences and sufferings, in the reaching out and sharing of those with more public personalities as they articulate the inner dialogues and journeys of many of us.  Despite my own struggles, I have lead and continue to lead a largely privileged life.  And any remnant of racism is a sin, especially in 2020.

 

2. What's one thing you've learned?

   I've learned that maybe the time has come for anti-racism, as well as colorblindness.

    Ok, two things I've learned.  I've learned I'd love for us to have an RV camper so that we can continue to explore and adventure together but especially so I can do that somewhat predictably with and for Cate.

 

3. What is the best thing that could happen in July?

    The best thing that could realistically happen is that I could truly embrace this home-centered, more contemplative pace of life for the long-run, in such a way that there was life, Melissa's rhythm of life, our rhythm of life before COVID and there is now a personal and family rhythm since COVID that will not be set aside when school and sports and other activities resume.  Jesse has more naturally been drawn to a less-busy schedule than I at times but I have resisted doing it from a negative perspective.  Now, I truly see this as a choice for a more abundant life personally and for the family.  

    

    

Fruits of Summer

• One watermelon! & three squash!!! are growing in one of our front beds.
• Mary can stand for several seconds & loves to practice walking w/ help.
• She also just cut her second top tooth, making a total of four up front.
• And she "prays" w/ us whenever we pray together.
• Mark taught himself to swim.
• And is pottying more than before and wearing pull-ups.  These did not make a difference to the other two boys.  They do to him.
• Best of all, he & Mary play some together now- his toys, of course, & at his discretion, of course.  She doesn't care.  She adores him.
• Several friendships for the older pair have budded or grown.
• Piano tunes are heard in the house again, now from both of the older set. 
• Science experiments were conducted, including slime & explosions.
• We've finally begun the long-awaited Indian/Native American unit and have a field trip planned.  Maybe three.
• The momma is training for a race w/ a neighbor-friend, often w/ several children along.  This is, perhaps, actually good training for staying focused & light on the feet amidst the obstacles of a trail run.  At least this is what she is telling herself.
• A new sewing machine lives in the house, one that has been the secret to completing an old project & starting anew (& a new...several things).
• The momma also learned to crochet, taught by a patient mother-in-law.
• Many good books read including the Redwall series for the only other readers in the house and Simplicity Parenting, Keeping a Nature Journal, Holiness for Housewives for the momma.  All recommended, especially the last.
• We are living a new rhythm that is more little set-inclusive & creative, that I hope to carry into the official school year of English and math lessons.
• Plans are made for that next school year & many supplies are ordered.
• We have survived the heat and Jesse's deployment and are eagerly anticipating his return in the next couple of weeks.  Still no date...

So beautiful I had to share

Vlad.  Our family and the big boys' Conquest Club in San Antonio prayed & prayed for this little boy and we raised & donated the first few hundred dollars in his adoption account with Reece's Rainbow.  I listed him as a prayer of thanksgiving in the sidebar here when I found out from the amazing AMT that he was to be adopted.  This is the link to Vlad's new family's blog.  So, so beautiful.  God is so good, so faithful.  You have to see for yourself.

The story of him in our lives started w/ me looking over the Reece's Rainbow website, talking to God and praying about international adoption.  I have always felt a call to adoption since I was a much younger single woman and Jesse & I talked about it before we married.  But I, we have always felt a call to domestic, foster adoption.  (We fostered two sisters during Jesse's residency who were with us for 2 months over the holidays in 2006/2007, our own "hosting" experience now that I think about it.  They returned to biological family- but that is another story for another night.)  Anyway, I was thinking & praying a lot about international adoption (b/c I had multiple friends interested in it that I wanted to really support & b/c of non-profit work AMT was leading us to do) and asking God to help me really understand that call.  From my own limited perspective, I just couldn't see how families could fall in love w/ a photo of a kiddo across the world and know God's will, God's plan from the beginning.  Not that I didn't believe them, but I wanted to truly understand it.  Well, God answered my prayer.  I truly fell in love w/ Vlad from 1 photo and, most amazingly, so did my husband.  At the time, we thought he looked like such a Gorley!  And we seriously considered adopting him but pretty quickly discerned that that wasn't God's will.  Both of us felt the same way and felt sad but at peace.  We kept praying for Vlad & donated some money ourselves and then the boys' Conquest Club did the same.  We lost a baby to miscarriage and knew that what we wanted, what it seemed God wanted for our family was for us to have another of our own biological children.  Then we conceived Mary.  And Vlad's family found him & committed to adopting him the month she was born.  And again, here he is now: http://bigvandlittlesy.blogspot.com/. 

Praise God.  Thank you for Vlad.  Thank you for Mary.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Mary's beautiful Baptismal gown bought for her by her godparents still on display in the dining room, the ladybug petit-fours (sp?) from her shower (now devoured), the sunflowers blooming along the highways right now, and my 2 cowboys in their matching hats.