The Summer that Doesn't Exist in Pictures…

Wow!  What a crazy summer it has been.

We moved out of our Alma house at the end of June and shoved everything we owned into our garage and Dad's tractor shed.  Nothing was ready at the house to be able to move things into it.  Thankfully, the flooring got laid in the next 2 weeks and we could slowly start moving things into the house.  I thought for certain when we got home from camp after the 3rd week of July, we'd be moving into our house but instead we ended up camped out at Mom and Dad's for another 4 days.  On Thursday, July 24th, we were permitted occupancy.  There was much rejoicing.  However, it still wasn't completed.  Our last 'professional' left on Sunday, August 10th after finishing refurbishing the original floors in the back half of the first floor.  Whew.  What a long process!!  Then it took another couple weeks of working outside in the front of the house to make the bank happy enough to allow us to receive our final 'draw'.  So, here it is September 3rd and the house still isn't 'together'.  There are still boxes.  Our garage is still a disaster, but we are making progress.

So, that is in a nutshell…why our summer doesn't exist in pictures.  Taking pictures of a house that you want complete but isn't is frustrating.  We spend most of our summer here trying to get it ready/finished.  I don't think it will make the kids' top 10 summers of their life, but we did manage to have some fun despite the chaos.

Here are the high points:

E got to experience her first church camp.  She spent 2 nights away at Rock Lake by herself.  The tooth fairy even visited her.  She had a great time and can't wait to do a whole week next summer.

We took a trip up to TC and visited my sister and brother-in-law over the fourth.  We got to watch the Blue Angels zoom over their house.  I think it impressed us more than the kids…but hey, Aunt Stacey has Disney Junior and that was heaven to at least 2 of my kiddos.

We spent another week at Rock Lake for the high school week.  It was a cold, cold week.  The kids froze taking swimming lessons every day, but they made great progress with their swimming ability.  Plus, several of our faculty had kids also…so they weren't the only kids at camp and that was a lot of fun for them.

Aunt Jenna got married in August and so we traveled down to Indianapolis for several days.  We had a great time.  The kids enjoyed swimming every day and seeing cousins that they don't see very often from both sides of our families.  We also got to visit the Children's Museum there.  The kids loved it.  Trying to keep track of everyone made me a little crazy but we survived and didn't lose anyone.

Throw in a crazy week of VBS, a Breakfast on the Farm event, and that brings us to Labor Day.  Insane how quickly the summer passes.  We said 'good-bye' to one of our dear friends that is starting her very first youth ministry in Petoskey and have had a couple of gatherings at the house.  It is fun to share our wonderful blessing with others.  When people see it, it may not be an "HG TV reveal" but it is still fun to share.

We 'finished' our summer with a relaxing trip to Holland to hang out with our good friends for a couple of days.  Eight kids in one house may not sound relaxing to you, but for us, it is always a welcome respite to our hectic life.

So, that is a snapshot of our summer that doesn't exist in pictures.  The summer of 2014 may not have pictorial evidence but that doesn't mean it will be forgotten anytime soon.