{summer in snapshots-week 9}

It is time again for {SUMMER IN SNAPSHOTS} !

I can't believe it is already week {NINE}...where has this summer flown?

It has been a whirlwind and I am sad that it is coming to a close next week...

...officially.

School will start, and with it, all the {BUSY,BUSY,BUSY} times that come with it. There will be swim meets and golf sessions. There will be Math Club and Bible Club and Debate Team. There will be late night events and many, many early mornings. Substitute jobs and weekend volunteer events.

The list is of jobs and responsibilities is endless, but thankfully, so are the rewards.

I will receive tons of hugs goodnight, and kisses good morning. I will reap loads of sweet smiles after just a tiny bit of homework help...and sighs of relief as I help collect project supplies. 

I will be rated the {NUMBER 1} taxi service by the kids and {NUMBER 1 IN MY HEART} by my husband, whose job no longer allows him to be here for most of these events...

...but for now...

I have {ONE MORE WEEK} to love, hug, and enjoy my "babies." 

All of them.

{rested, sun-kissed & back to busy}

It goes without saying that the time off from 

{REAL LIFE} 

was just what we needed. WE. ALL OF US. 

It wasn't until we were a few hundred miles away from home, safe on a pretty little island that we all heaved a collective sigh.

It was as if the whole family looked around at once and realized what we had been missing...time together. 

{REAL TIME}

We laughed, we rested, we laughed a whole lot more.

We were comfortable. We enjoyed each others company. We wandered and never looked at a clock...never asked what day it was...never made a phone call.

I missed my family.

{I MISSED THEM A LOT}

I missed all the time that life cheats us out of...

...but we made a pact.

We aren't going to let the every day hum drum life swipe from us what is {LIFE REAL}. We aren't going to sacrifice out laughs or our hugs or our simple moments anymore.

 We are going to carve out time. 

{REAL TIME}.

Time for games, time for walks, time for random love and hugs. Time for each other.

Vacations are a thing of rare beauty around here. We can not afford to wait around for another one.

{WE MUST MAKE TIME EVERY DAY}.

Time for "mini vacations." 

There is no excuse for putting off today what we could do tomorrow.

The ride home was quiet. We were rested, sun-kissed and a little sad that we would be 

{BACK TO BUSY} 

in no time. We were thinking. Thinking that we loved what we have. Cherish out time together.

Rarer today than it was yesterday. 

Bad economies led to worse hours at work.

Worse hours at work led to less time together.

Children are growing and leaving the nest. This year one couldn't make the trip. 

Next year it might be two, or three. No one knows today.

Time is precious. More precious the older we all get.

{TODAY HAS TO COUNT}

Tomorrow will just have to wait.

{see you in eight days...}

It has been two long years since our family went on a vacation together. Time and jobs and all the other little divets in life kept getting in the way.

Well God has blessed us with a tiny window of opportunity -that coupled with the gift of extreme budgeting -and we are off to the beach for a week.

When we had ALL FIVE of the kids together on that last trip it was so wonderful...and yet we knew it was maybe the last time it would happen. 

With the girls getting older  {18,20 & 22} it is just getting harder to plan around their jobs, as well as ours.

 ...I think we have been blessed beyond words to have them along for as many adventures as we have...this year we are revisiting this happy and memory filled little island minus one.

{ the sweet joys of having children from 10 -22}

Our oldest daughter just could not get the time off work and while it is 

heart breaking to us, and her, she is quickly realizing how "unfair" LIFE can be.

With her own new little place and bills to pay, it just was not a good time for her to leave work.

We will miss her deeply and are hoping that the weekend will allow her a short escape.

{six sets of crossed fingers can't hurt}

We hope that this year will bring as much adventure and blessed weather as two years ago...

...the time together...the real down time is what we are all seeking.

Eight days of sweet, precious time to relax, explore, connect.

Together.

It will be Heaven!