As I watch Josh experiencing 'lasts', it has made me realize the passing of time. Josh graduated 12th on Friday night. and played his last ball game with his school team on Saturday. When we came to Grand Rapids he had a new beginning : We moved and he started school - which was hard.  Now as he is done it's an end: He graduated and we are moving - which is hard.  I ache for him as he leaves relationships behind with classmates, teachers and a special coach. It's hard to believe that my little Josh that used to carry around a giant curious george is not so little anymore and that he is making decisions now that could shape his future career and life. He is quickly moving into adulthood and I almost feel like I can't keep up. Seeing him grow and mature is exciting and I am ready to continue to let go. With the Lord's help, this is what we prepare them for. Yet, part of me wants to stop time. I pray that this time was a blessing to Josh and that he will continue to grow and mature and that even though this is an end, he can look at it as the  beginning of a new chapter as well. Although, I wouldn't be all that surprised if he ended up in GR again someday sooner than later. 

Our graduate!. Here is a picture of before. He wasn't wearing his shirt and tie because we were going out for supper with my parents before. My parents have been burning up the highway lately. They came for Ken's grad, Tessa's baptism and Josh's grad. My mom averages coming once a month. But my parents came 3 times last month. It's been nice!(:  

Out with the gang for supper before grad. 

Too bad he wasn't wearing his cap in this one, but they had already thrown them. (:  I missed so many picture opportunities. There were a few pictures I wanted to take with his coach and a few teachers, but I am terrible at getting pictures in the moment. I am especially sad about not getting one with his baseball coach. Josh loves him. 

Natalie doesn't look all that impressed. She is not a fan of pictures! (: 

I go from my almost adult son to our tiny little one. We truly are straddling all the different seasons of children. It's interestingly crazy! haha! (: Tessa is getting so big. She is not new born anymore and I miss her little bum stretches that let me hold her up in front of me with one hand as she stretched her little body. She is the strongest and most active baby I have ever had. When I lay her down on the floor, she moves like she wants to walk. When she wants to be picked up, she looks at you with those eyes, sticks out her belly and wiggles. It's so cute. It's rare that I can walk past her and just leave her when she is asking so nicely! (:  When she reclines against me at a 40degree-ish angle, she tightens her little belly and tries to sit up. She can get up so that a few inches under her armpits are off of me. Crazy. She is happiest when she is sitting straight up like a big girl participating in what we are doing. She talks with her sounds and with her eyes. I can't comprehend that this little person is only 9 weeks. I wouldn't have believed someone if they told me that their baby was this ready to live at this age. We are enjoying her so much. 

This sounds nuts, but I realized yesterday that we didn't just have a baby. We had a baby who is going to walk. Then run. She is going to talk and learn to read and ride a bike. Then she is going to turn 6 then 12 and then 15. It made me cry in a good way. I am so thankful for her little life. When we had her, I just thought about a baby. My mind is a strange thing.

I think Tessa is like 10 week-ish now. Whatever.  I can't keep count. I just know that I took these at 8! (: She has so many looks. I could take 10 pictures within 10 minutes and she could look different in 8 of them. It's crazy. When she full out smiles, she looks like a little elf.

Her 'I love you" look. She communicates with her eyes in a big way. I can see her heart through her eyes. 

Elf Smile. Truthfully, I think she looks funny when she smiles full. It makes us melt and laugh at the same time! (: 

Her, "ENOUGH!" look. She is pushing out her belly and wants to be picked up. You can so see her belly button. She has the biggest outy I have ever seen. It's super cute. It truly is a little button. 

"I am so cute, I know you want to kiss my face" look. 

Flairy Nostral look. Look at her scrunched up toes.

So we have a house!!! I actually haven't seen it in person. But my parents have been our eyes for us. My mom face-timed me as they were going through it, so I have good idea of what the rooms look like, but I have no idea of how the rooms flow into each other. But I don't care. Having this house is huge for us. I was starting to get rather discouraged. We have been looking for a long time. There are houses out there, but there has been no way for us to smush ourselves into them. We found one house that was big, but it was 37 minutes from church in good weather. It has been empty for at least 2 years and is falling apart - like toilet sinking into the floor falling apart. We would have spent hours driving back and forth to church and catechism etc. But it was the one we were leaning towards because we couldn't fit into any of the other ones. BUT, the Lord has provided us with a house that meets all our needs. So many boxes have been checked:

•  It's country for Ken. 
• Green space for the kids. 
• Functional for me Read: big living room, lots of pretty kitchen cupboards, tons of closets, enough room to fit our people and our stuff without falling over each other or things, an oven that works and a big fridge.
• 5 minutes to town and church
• the kids could bike into town if they wanted 
• close to the bus stop for Micah if he takes the bus instead of driving with Ken. 
• It's close to all of Ken's family. 

It's PERFECT. I was giddy and excited when we decided this was the one. I was also exhausted. I realized that my shoulders had been up and tense for a bit. I am so thankful and love to see how the Lord always provides for us.We just have to actively wait on Him. Sometimes it's just hard to be patient. But this is another time that He has taught me this lesson - It's in His time and in His way. So just wait.

When my parents came they packed boxes with us for 2 hours and we all worked together and packed my cellar and most of my kitchen.Ken is a little miffed that we packed all of the glasses. hehe. That was a great boost for me. My heart is starting to be ready to move. We have all struggled with sadness at the thought of moving and we all had our different reasons for wanting to stay. As it gets closer we are starting to pull up stakes and look ahead.  Now that we have a house, we also have a destination. That helps a lot. We are starting to get excited about thoughts of having coffee with family whenever we want and having big camp fires at our new house with friends. Going back to St Thomas to our roots will be nice too. There are lots of good things to look forward to. We are starting to focus on what is ahead, rather than what we are leaving behind. It's all perspective and sometimes it just takes time to get to that proper perspective! (:

Baseball is in full swing. While Josh was playing, we had 4 kids on the go with baseball. It's a challenge, but worth it for them. The season here is pretty short.

• Josh is going to miss school baseball so much!! He played 2nd for the last 4 years. 
• Natalie pitches and LOVES it. She is in her element. She generally plays second or short if she is not pitching. 
• Micah has only been having practices until just last week, while the others have been playing for at least a month. Since kids his age play JV ball at school, they had to wait until school baseball was done. I am not sure what he is playing this year. He played right one game and second the next and then next game he pitched. He usually settles on second though.
• Siah also plays second or short and he pitches too. But he dislikes it pitching. He is way too nice and although he is consistent, he doesn't have the fierceness to zing it. I told him to tell his coach that he doesn't like to pitch, but he won't. (:

Siah got some exciting news last week. He made the ALL STAR team. He was grinning from ear to ear in his quiet way. That is a big deal here. I was so sad to realize that we will have moved by the time the All Star game comes. If it was one game, we would have considered driving down. But it's more of a tournament and we just can't do it. It crushed his sweet little heart to give up that spot. But he is so understanding and accepting.

I wonder what is going on here. Siah looks ready, but the catcher sure doesn't! (: 

Grace had to try the hat. We could pass this off as her K - Grad!(: 

Ken went to Washington DC with Josh's class a few weeks ago and it was a good time. I think this is a trip we will make as a family some day. Micah especially is really into American history. Good thing Micah is taking Canadian in grade 10. We have not done it at all. While in Rome study about it? (:

I think those 5 days were wet and chilly. 

My Siah is a gem. Micah and Natalie are quite natural with Tessa. Josh is good too, but hasn't had as much opportunity to spend time with her. But it has taken Siah a little longer to get comfortable. He has made great strides. A few weeks ago, he was walking and rocking her to get her quiet and I heard him quietly chanting, "I can do this. I can do this." So cute! She is warming to him in a special way. When he talks to her she melts by smiling and talking to him. He pushes her around in the bouncy seat and she loves the action. I got a picture of him after he got her to sleep for the first time. I love it! He doesn't look it, but he was thrilled down to his toes! (:

 Later (: