Too Cool for School

Or actually ... just cool enough for school? 

Anyway. 

They are back to school! And it's a strange thing after having all ten of them home all summer--coming and going, and up till all hours--to have this old routine falling back into place: with it's regimented mornings; stretches of quiet in the day; and wildness throughout the afternoons and evenings as we clear out backpacks, work on homework, and try to get dinner going, etc. (And it's odd having no drivers to run errands again and fewer adept chore doers!)

I've been more troubled, this time around, about sending them out into this world in any degree, but I've also had three very reassuring and comforting experiences about it all that just seem ... so nice of the Lord to give me. I keep reflecting and drawing on them to guide my thoughts and give me hopeful light to hold to. One brief one I will share here: 

As I fasted over all of my children shortly after they returned to school, an image just formed in my mind. I just saw light in them--I saw them as light really; a bright circle at their core. I saw that light moving forward through their days; through their activities and their interactions with others and it seemed to be drawing light in others more fully to the surface and in turn, their own light grew stronger; and those combined lights then carried forward together like a river that carved a path through darkness--decreasing the power of Satan as it went and frustrating his plans.

And here those little circle of lights are. Off they go!

Abe and Daisy headed off to BYU. They are such pros now that they didn't even need us to take them down like we have in the past. (Or maybe they never needed us to in the past ... and we just needed to! I guess we are becoming the pros at letting them go.)

But not too big of pros. We still needed to go with Goldie to the unfamiliar Utah State campus to see her safely settled (in her seventh floor dorm with no AC--poor girl).

Penny started 10th grade--her first year at the actual high school. (Which is convenient for us as it is only a block away! No more driving to and fro to pick her up from various school activities.)

Jesse, entering 8th grade, is on his own this year at the junior high. (I was so grateful that he had Penny to show him the ropes and look after him last year, but he seems ready to manage it all by his lonesome now.)

Anders: 5th grade.

Summer: 3rd grade.

Mette: 2nd grade.

Kindergarten for my little Hansie.

And this little gnome isn't leaving my side. (Quite literally! Ha! With these last four kids packed so closely together, I have had almost no time to give individually to them, so I was feeling a little guilty to have a little extra time to focus so much on Starling now. But in our back to school blessings Mike talked about me receiving great joy from her and using this "gift of time" with her to grow our relationship, and so I'm trying to just feel grateful as opposed to guilty! [After all, she had to wait patiently for a very long time to come to our family. Perhaps none of us should begrudge her a little extra time now that she's finally here.])

And here begins the adventures of another school year for this wide range of ages and large number of children!

And, because I have nowhere better to put them, a few pictures of me and Mike. Perhaps he and I will also have a little more time together now that we don't have quite so many older kids keeping quite so many younger kids up quite so late! (Though ... Mike's about to enter the time of year where, with his work, I don't actually see him at all--alone or with kids. So ... we shall see. But! Either way, I take great happiness in my marriage to him. I really love him so much and feel so so grateful that, although there is a lot that is bad in this world ... none of it exists at all in him. It makes me feel so incredibly safe and secure.)

(Notice my wee sidekick. I think she is in all the photos--just conveniently cropped out.)

(I know. They all look the same. But we don't have many pictures of us, so they will all stay. And thanks to Abe for taking them.)

The End.