What's happening around here? Well, for starters - Rebekah graduated from high school! Yay! And then we redid her room. Yay again! (Rebekah's voice) She has  3 summer jobs, and is pretty busy between working and reworking her personal space. I'm proud of her, trying to sock as much money away as she can before she starts college this fall. Her major? Musical theatre. I'm looking forward to seeing how she uses that. Maybe I'll be in one of her future productions. I've always wanted to sing "back up."

Sarah Jane finished out her first official year in nursing. She's working towards her BSN, with plans to go on to become a nurse-midwife following.

Josh is trying to get a job, his first. Also, he's jogging, often, as he prepares to start cross-country for school in the fall.

I'm working on one book this summer: Jane Eyre. It's really good, so good that today, when Noah came up to show my how he had filled his water-gun, he startled me. I was still in 1857 England, in a garden at dusk, the silent observer of an ardent exchange between the two main characters, when suddenly, I'm on my back porch, and a four-year-old is pointing a water gun at me. Reality check!

I'm generally trying to relax and enjoy the summer. Being anemic helps. Really. I'm normally hyper, and the anemia has "turned down my volume" so to speak. (Every dark cloud has a silver lining.) So, it's summer and the living is easy. I'm pretending that our house is in fact a beach-house, even though the beach is hours away. It's the idea that it's OK to let the dishes sit another hour while I sneak out to the balcony on a nice evening and read. Or get up from the table, tell the kids to clear it, and just go out for a walk. Or take Noah to the park in the evening, and linger til near dark, reading on a bench while he looks for just the right stick for me to worry about him running with.

Noah and I have a little habit at the park. After he's played out, and we start back to the road, we stop and swing on one of the swings over-looking the river, with a lovely view of the city across the river. We name all the important places, like the capital building, and the hospital where he was born. And we watch for boats, and planes, and red-tailed hawks who like to catch wind and glide in place. It's wonderful. If a young man wanted to propose to a girl, this would be the place to do it. What warm memories I will take from these swinging moments. I actually took pictures of Noah there the other night, swing, city-line and all.