~Movin' on Up...1st Grade & Pre-K 3~

I can't believe it! I have a 1st grader & a spunky daughter moving up to Pre-K 3 next year! Wow. It's unreal. At the beginning of last week, I knew that what didn't "put me over the edge would make me stronger"...and, boy...by the end of the week, I was sure to learn just how true this thought would be. It was a FULL week in every sense...Noah's last few homeschooling lessons (although we will be continuing Math and Reading throughout summer), Sailer's final farewell party at school, Noah's "Journey Around the World" afternoon & graduation ceremony at Trinity, and finally, on Thursday, Final Fun Days for BOTH kids...and, of course, they overlapped. Noah's was held at Lost Mountain Park, so we dropped off Sailer at school, headed to the park...(thank goodness my Dad joined us!), then I headed back to Sailer's school to meet her for lunch/fun day, then back to the park to attend Noah's honor roll ceremony, water game activities, and yearbook signing. Sailer couldn't WAIT to join Noah for his fun day! She has gotten to know all of his sweet school friends, and they just adore her. So, all was great. When Sailer & I got to the park, Noah was SOOOOOO excited to swing on the monkey bars for me! (He had not been able to do this since breaking his arm in March). Not once did I worry about him playing on them..simply b/c he had been out of a cast for 5 weeks. Nevertheless, out of nowhere, Noah runs up to me...no tears...no screaming....just a little look of panic in his bright blue eyes. He says..."Mom, I think I broke my arm again." WHAT????!!!??? Of course, my Dad and I look down to see him clutching his "limp-like" arm. Friends, I could NOT believe it. I really couldn't. So..my Dad scooped him up, and I grabbed Sailer, and we were off...back to CHOA @ Scottish Rite. After 4-5 hours, we came home with one tired boy with a bright blue FULL ARM cast....AGAIN. My...how a day can change! I have been literally sick since this happened...although Noah seems completely UN-phased by the whole experience. Completely. Long story short...he broke both bones (same ones as before) in the exact same spots, so with a re-fracture, he will need MORE time to heal...so, we are looking at about 4 weeks in a long arm cast...that is NOT waterproof, may I add. And, it's summertime. And, we like to go swimming...see where I'm going with this? What a pain, huh?? Fortunately, we visited the ortho this week, and got a great report, and were able to purchase an aqua shield so that Noah can at least get in a kiddie pool without worry of damaging his cast...so, we are thankful for this. UN-fortunately, we were forced to cancel our upcoming beach vacation. It would have been dreadful to tell Noah that he could not play in the ocean, pools, or sand. Can you imagine? That's what the beach is all about! So...we are crossing our fingers and praying that our tentative reservation for early August will work out, and we will be able to go...CAST FREE.

It's taken me a week...if I'm being honest, to get over the devastation of all of this...I just felt so helpless for Noah, and I felt bad for ALL of us, that we had to rearrange our whole summer. But, I know that the Lord allowed this to happen...I am still upset, but I trust Him, so I feel guilty about complaining...especially when I see how happy and content Noah is. He is SO positive, and it is contagious! It truly makes sense that he received the "gentle, quiet spirit award" at his graduation ceremony, b/c he IS that. He is gentle. He is a sweet, quiet, happy spirit that lights up our home. And, he loves with ALL of his being! Like he said this afternoon, "You know I love you 100% Mom, right?" :)

Anyway, thank you all for your phone calls and messages...and PRAYERS! We needed them...truly, we did.

Moving on...here are some pictures from Noah and Sailer's last week of school...Jason and I are overly proud of these two! They are INCREDIBLE gifts!

*By the way~ there are more pictures to come...still more to download! ;) So many pics, so little time..lol.