I was going to skip right to our early June camping trip....but Miles taking a bath in the sink was just too much for my tender heart to pass up.

Lucy and her best friend Sami. Sami is the daughter of our assistant pastor, but we just found out that they are moving back up to Modesto in August.

Jun is almost gone, and summer is disintegrating out from under us. It could be that time just passes so quickly no matter what we want or need, or it could be that we have packed this last month so full of fun that it can't stand up for the weight of it all. The chickens had their Awana ceremony, which marked the end of our home small group, my ladies small group, and the kids' crazy Wednesday nights. Some of it I was glad to have over- the rest of it I'm glad to have a break from.

If you can call our summers a break. I love having the chickens home, I love having the freedom to go anywhere. I love the sun, the pool, the relief of the shade that is only apparent in the warmer months.

Poor Josh is worked like a dog in the summer, and we see so little of him. I'm working a lot this summer in the kitchen, and when I think about the money, it's not worth it, but when I forget that and focus on the ministry, I love it. I love getting to know our staff "kids" and this year they're especially awesome...although I think that most years.

(The money I do make is going into our Pemba Fund- $115 went in to join the $3000 we have already...it WILL HAPPEN. Now that we've decided that that is where it goes, I think even considering the money will give me satisfaction.)

So please forgive the catch-up nature of these posts. I'll get to the present eventually.

When Bowden hides behind a door, usually it means trouble. This time, though, it meant that he was protecting the two lizards and one salamander that another boy had found in a rotten log.

It was impressive because I didn't even know we had salamanders up here- but we do.

These hands in this picture- these are my baby's hands. He'll be eight in a week, and his parts are no longer baby parts, or even little boy parts. It's slightly heartbreaking to me.

I went to bed last night with a strange mixture of excitement and sadness. Excitement for the joy of school being OVER, having the worst year of schooling done and over with (more about that later), excitement over having mine chickens close at hand and home for the summer, excitement about SUMMER.

And sadness, because this is the last time Bowden will be in second grade, this is the completion of a year of struggle and educational hardship for my little man, a year in which I had many plans and completed so few of them. The last time my Goose will be in kindergarten and be five. Jack leaves the age of three in five days. I'm sad because I am afraid that I'll forget so much of these days, and that I was so very cranky this year, and I can't go back and do that over.

Tonight we leave for our annual camping trip with the Whites and other friends, and it should be awesome. We'll be out of range, with very little to do, and surrounded by some of the people we like most. I can't wait.

But I wish everything else could.

A walk up the service road takes us past my favorite tree on the grounds. It's an oak.

Some of the roots are exposed, and the rest are intertwined in the granite above.

Strange birds perch in these branches. Josh had to test the strength of the branch before he'd put Lucy and Jack up, because he likes them.

I said strange, right?

Miles, who has no fear, did not hold onto the branches as well as he should have, so this is the only shot of them together. Notice their need for haircuts. Except for Lucy. Her hair is perfect.

Some monkeys are so grumpy.

They can't even look at you.