Last Day of Summer

I love this picture of Kitti.  I took it tonight.  I love her sun kissed skin, wispy hair, the ease of her expression...it looks like summer to me.

Tomorrow she starts Kindergarten.

Our last child is entering school...a definite milestone.

We have had a lovely summer.  With the exception of the passing of Sue, it was the best summer we've had since having children.  I felt like the kids are at such great ages.  It was just fun.  I can tote them around and do fun things with ease.  (Well, with all the ease you can expect with 3 kids in tow).  They are great to be around and I have loved the last few months.  We've had lots of adventures and  I've been able to catch up & reconnect with friends that I haven't had time to chat with in a long time.   I look back at the photos on my iphone and in my computer and I just smile and wish I could jump back into them.  The cherry on my sundae is all of the sunshine we've had.  It has truly been a beautiful summer.  We've had years where shorts and tank tops were hardly worn.  Not this year ~ it has been fantastic.

The only schedule for the children this summer was 2 weeks of swim lessons.  Other than that we just did some trips and spent time with friends/family.  It was perfect.

And I can't help but to feel so blessed.  My life isn't perfect or without concerns.  But in more ways than not, I just love our life.  I have a feeling I'll look back at this stage with great fondness as it's really one of my favorite times in my life.  Everything from the ages of the kids to our community, church, school, friends...I feel like God took the dream in my heart, improved upon it and then gave it back for me to live out.



But as of tomorrow we trade the glorious white space in our calendar for school schedules, baseball and soccer practices, church youth group, bible study....  I'm anxious to see how our schedule will feel this year with all the kids being at the same school.  Each year is different and has its own rhythm that develops over time.  Last year was my most difficult yet, and because of that I've been fighting a feeling of dread as the days of summer wind down.  Not that last year was awful ~ it wasn't.  It was just very tiring.

I've managed to let it go and will just take each day as it comes as we really don't know what it will hold.  We just don't know yet what Andrew's needs will be.  I just pray that school gets easier for him.  I think the summer has been a break that he and I were both really in need of after the intensity of last year.  Without the demands of needing to conform to school, we cut his medicine in half and enjoyed a relaxed summer.  He did great.  We're still trying to figure out a good mix of medicine/dosing for him....he's proven to respond differently than the typical ADHD kid to most of the meds and so it has taken a lot longer to figure out and we've had to try different things.  That process begins again with the start of school.

 

So tomorrow commences a new year.   I am so proud of each of the kids.  I love all of them like crazy and look forward to seeing how they grow and change this year.  I sat with the boys tonight and prayed for them, their teacher, their year to come.  Dan did the same with Kaitlin.

 

So while I'm so sad to see this wonderful summer come to an end.  Despite how tired I look in the photo above (yikes!  The bags under my eyes!  I didn't get a lot of sleep this last week ~ it was a busy one, full of fun and getting ready for Disneyland/school) I do feel refreshed and restored.  I'll greet tomorrow with optimism and hope that it will be a year of positive growth for all the kids.