nostrils, cheese boxes, and blessings

summer has begun here. 

and if you ignore the current challenges of our foster care situation, summer has been wonderful so far.

you know...all 2 weeks of it.

my dad gave me some old processed cheese boxes. i seriously have them all over the house. ones with pencils, ones with succulents, one for our salt and pepper shakers. 

it looks like i might have a problem, but that's ok. 

the last few months have been filled with traveling for our foster daughter, little miss, and doing school stuff for the boys.

with asher spending last school year in a small private school, i was volunteering there almost every week. and not because i'm a great mom who devotes her time to education, nope, it's because i was required. 

i'm kinda a slacker when not asked to be otherwise.

judah has many talents, one of them being that he can suck his upper lip into his nose. 

*talent*

my sister visited in may and we took her to a museum and out to eat at a place that has milkshakes so good you could lick the glass. 

and maybe we did.

we loved having her here. 

certain aspects of our life have been "unpleasant" lately. and when i used that word to describe our situation, my friend laughed and said that was one of the biggest understatements she had heard.

it really has been so rough. but we are pressing on because what God has called us to do, He will see us through.  i didn't mean to rhyme there. 

I've been spending a TON of time in psalms. 

they comfort my soul when everything around me feels like pure chaos.

 because of our "turmoil," we have been spending a bunch of time with our extended family due to logistics.

my mother in law is truly the most fantastic mother in law to grace this earth. 

she even lets us eat cherries, which we all love. and which makes it feel a bit more summery even though we are kinda bogged down with other things. 

as we struggle through our current situation, i have also been seeing all the wonderful gifts God has given us. 

cherries are one of them.

family is another.

and His grace sustaining us.

see? even in the hard stuff, the sucky stuff, the want-to-give-up stuff, God's blessings are still here.

may we have eyes to see them.