Random thoughts

1. I feel grateful every year on Memorial Day: grateful that I live in this country of "the land of the free and the home of the brave." I am also so grateful that I grew up going to the country cemetary down the road from my house, where so many of my relatives are buried. My parents would take me to their graves, we'd deliver flowers cut from our yard, and talk about how everyone was related. As I get older, I realize that not every one has those very important experiences and memories.

2. School is out and summer is upon us! This is our first summer following a school year with all the kids in public school. I'm not quite sure what it will bring, but it definitely feels different than prior years when the kids were homeschooled. Looking forward to more free time=less homework. I hope we have a summer with a good balance of work/play/serve.

3. My Bible study just ended last week...I was in Bible Study Fellowship this school year. We studied Acts and the life of Paul, which took us through a dozen or so other books of the New Testament. It was exactly what I needed this year! Studying Paul's life was such an encouragement to me. Each week I would be spurred on to sacrifice more. Paul literally laid down his life so that other's could know Jesus. I want to be more like that!

4. Dance recital week has arrived. Pictures are all day today, then next week is full with rehearsals and performances. This has been part of our life for about 13 years. It seems weird to think that we might only have two more dance recitals--Ellyn will graduate next year and Meg will probably not continue with dance much longer.

Gotta run...enjoy the three day weekend!

How does your garden grow?

Ellyn's prom

Prom was a month ago...
I just realized I never posted about it, and I want to sneak in some pictures from prom before this school year ends on Thursday.
Manicures...

 Pedicures...

 Beautiful girls...

 the entire group...

 their wrist corsages (several of them were made attached to bracelets)...

 Ellyn and her date...

Mother's Day 2012

We enjoyed a weekend in Missouri with the relatives. It was nice to be with our mother's for Mother's Day. The weather was fabulous and the family time was great!  It was a great day for taking pictures and I am so happy that we got some great "mom" pictures.  Hope your Mother's Day was great!

me with my little darlings

Byron and our kids with his mom 

my mom and I

my mom with her grandkids

my brother and I with mom

Friday 5

I posted this a few minutes before midnight, so it still counts as Friday! :)

1. The stomach flu only got 3 members of this household--thankful, so thankful for that! We have recovered and are enjoying the lovely spring weather we've been having. I have not planted one flower or garden plant, and I'm looking forward to doing that next week...assuming I can fit it in between the bedroom re-arranging, dentist appointment, band concert, hair cuts, graduation parties, Bible study group, piano lesson, grocery shopping, laundry, meal prep, etc.

2. Track season is winding down, and both Ellyn and Ryan had their last meets this week. Ellyn isn't done practicing yet...she will go to state track next week as an alternate for the Ballard girls 4x200 team! I am so excited to know we have a reason to go to the state track meet and cheer for our track girls!

3. My college son moved back home last week. So did his laundry. And his need for a job. Yesterday we moved Halena and her kids (from Rosebud) into their apartment. Add some more laundry to the pile. She still needs a job too.

It was weird to have time to write a blog post this morning, because i wasn't busy feeding little children breakfast. We've grown used to their presence these past 2 months, and the house seems too quiet. They are only a block away, so I know we will be spending lots of time together!

4. I have hatched monarchs in my kitchen for years, but have never found eggs or caterpillars until after Memorial Day. I already have eggs on all my milkweed and have seen monarchs flying around for several weeks. I love this time of year!  You can read more about my butterflies in these posts.

5. My daisies are all in bloom and my first peony opened yesterday. There is nothing more cheerful than a daisy. Have I mentioned that I love this time of year???

Meg's Poetry

Meg wrote these as part of a poetry unit at school.
I love them so much and wanted to share.

This one is about my brother, Meg's beloved Uncle Jason, who died six years ago. You can read more about him in these posts.

His Laugh
His laugh,
makes me smile,
makes me laugh,
I said,
makes me smile,
makes me laugh,
the thought of never hearing it again
brings tears to my eyes
I said,
the thought of never hearing it again
brings tears to my eyes,
he is gone,
not to be seen,
ever, again.

This one is about how her brother Brandon reminds her of Jason:

See Him
I look at you
and see him
his eyes
smile
cheeks
even his shaggy beard
all of it
I love you
just as much
but we have ups and downs
you are one of the few things
I have left of him

Because he is gone
FOREVER.


and this one about the redheads of our family:

Red
I look at old pictures
in the family photo album
I look at all the RED heads
1Ryan 2Ellyn 3Angie 4Steve 5Jason 6Norman
so many
so pretty
so handsome
I love my family
sadly I am not a red head

Update on our house guests

The Carson house continues to be a busy place. Apparently God knew we needed to slow down, so he gave us the stomach flu this week. So far Ellyn, myself, and Meg have had it... I say "so far" because I can't imagine that with nine of us under this roof, we are going to get by with only three casualties.

Today I thought I would catch up by giving an update on our house guests. Halena is a young, single mom from Rosebud Indian Reservation, and she has a 2-yr-old girl and a 10-month-old boy. They wanted to leave the reservation and get a new start at life. They have been living with us for over six weeks now.

There has been so much to do in the past six weeks. We have spent a lot of time trying to find employment and child care, signing up for assistance programs and medical care, taking care of ear infections, dentist appointments, eye appointments, studying and driving to prepare for getting a drivers license. The next step is to look into classes at a community college.

At home there have been lots of diapers, snacks, songs/fingerplays, toys, tantrums, play-do, bottles, books, meals, crying and messes--and lots of laughing! 

Of course, we have also had track meets, band concerts, homework, dance team auditions, piano lessons, business trips, college finals--I can't even believe all that we've done in the past several weeks!

We have an apartment for Halena and the kids to move into in the next couple of weeks. It is about a block away from our house, so we will still be very involved as they transition to living alone for the first time. 

This has not been an easy time, but I am so glad that Halena was able to leave the reservation and have opportunities for herself and children to better their lives.