Precious Moments {June}

Well, June has whizzed by! Blink and you will have missed it. I did. Blink that is. Because somewhere along the way, June passed away and suddenly it’s July…

Lillie in America

On the other hand, the speed at which time is moving means I will see Lillie sooner, which is a good thing because I’m missing her like crazy! Lil has been in America for five weeks now. It has been wonderful and terrible in equal measure. Terrible because Covid hit the camp she is working on right at the start which immobilised many of the counsellors who had to isolate. This meant the ratio of camp counsellors to campers was not as high as it needed to be, necessitating longer hours for all. The first few weeks were fraught with extreme tiredness, whilst trying to learn the ropes and yet not really having much downtime to catch up with sleep or rest.

The camp has sensibly decided to minimise the danger and decrease the number of campers. The knock on affect of this is they do not need as many counsellors. Many have been asked to leave within the next two weeks as they are no required any more. Lillie was asked to stay on, which she is still thinking about as many of the friends she has made will be moving on.

In other news, and in much the same vein as her mother and father, she has met someone rather special during the first few days of being there. They have been inseparable ever since. Camp is ending a little earlier, which is wonderful for us (we get to see Lil sooner) and wonderful for them (she and Jj, her young man) are planning to travel for a couple of weeks before coming home. Here is a lovely photo of the two of them:

This is the first time Lillie has fallen in love, and she’s half way across the world! Both Charlotte and I feel we are missing out on something really important. Sooo, bless his heart, he has allowed me to ask him five questions each day. Some are silly, some are serious, all are about getting to know him a little. We are all thoroughly enjoying his answers which are thoughtful, intelligent and funny in equal parts! It helps us to feel a little more involved ❤️

Gary and His Pond

We celebrated Father’s Day a week later than the actual day. On the actual day, Gary was working, then helping out at a friend’s church service and then leading worship at our church. There was literally no time in his day to celebrate him. So the following Saturday we gifted him with our labour for three hours and laid a lovely table to go along with our weekly waffles.

We all made cards and the littles made him some home-made presents. After we’d eaten, Ads very kindly did the washing and drying up whilst we all headed out to the garden.

We worked really hard. Thomas stepped up and became self-appointed leader, and Charlotte accepted it with grace 😉

Poor Gary has had to redo his pond three times, and to be honest he’s still not quite there yet as the water is very green. However, I think, with the help of Thomas, he has the structure stable now.

I love that Gary never gives up! Hopefully sometime in the future we will figure out what’s causing the green algae growth and then we’ll get some plants and some fish.

Abigail and Becca

Last month and this has been a hive of activity. The girls sing in a youth choir and had their performance in June, which went really well. I met a lovely older lady who I learnt the life story of before the show. She was so nice! Abigail has two shows coming up, one on Saturday coming and one the week after. Her nights are filled with rehearsals.

The girls have got into MineCraft recently, and spend hours creating worlds and playing with each other and one other friend, as well as watching loads of YouTube videos about it.

Thomas

Thomas is living his best life at the moment. He has been asked to stay on for a third year as junior worship pastor, he’s taking advantage of all the opportunities army life has to offer as a reserve, and he’s finally moving out of the flat he has been sharing for the past year. He is very much looking forward to having a space all to himself and is currently hunting for a one bed flat to rent.

Charlotte

Charlotte has been battling a relapse over the past two weeks. Her pain levels have been bad again and she has started to look rather grey. However, yesterday she woke and felt more herself. She’s eating normally again and her colour is slowly returning. So we are all hoping this is a blip rather than a full on relapse. She’s missing her sister terribly, but I think Ads is loving having her all to himself ❤️

I’m covering everyone but me, because next Friday I will be resurrecting my Seasons of Joy post, where I share everything I have been doing aside from homeschooling. I hope you have all had a wonderful week this week and that you have a fabulous weekend planned xx