I can hardly believe it's true. I've been packing boxes for weeks now. I've been here for two and one-half years now, so I've accumulated a lot of stuff.

I've had a great time reading through 854 entries, starting back in the fall of 2005. I've remembered funny stories, a few sad events, some struggles, a whole lot of joy in the daily slices of life in our own Small World.

For several weeks now, I've been discarding a few posts here and there but keeping most and moving them with me. It's the perennial question, isn't it? What to take and what to throw away? And so I've taken most of my stories with me to my new home.

You can find me now here (http://smallworldathome.blogspot.com). Please come and visit me! You don't even have to bring a gift.  The boxes are by no means unpacked and everything needs redecorated, but I'm ready for company. We're very casual around here and keep our doors open to friends! (And while you're there, hop over to my studio at SmallWorld Reads!)

Pretty soon, when I get things looking nicer, I'll be having a housewarming party. But for now, please drop in and leave your calling card so I can get my blogroll in gear. And be sure to find the RSS button and add me to your feed!

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This past week I've been attacking my summer project with single-minded determination. Randy and Jesse were gone for the whole week with Group Workcamps, doing amazing things with 350 other teens and adult leaders to help the disadvantaged and needy in a town in rural Ohio. So while they were scraping, painting, digging post holes, hammering, getting blisters, getting wet and muddy, and taking cold showers, I worked tirelessly at home in the air-conditioned kitchen. Duncan and Laurel were absolute angels while I peeled, sanded, spackled and painted, and today we are all enjoying our pretty kitchen.

We added curtains, outlet covers, and a new paper towel holder today. (Who knew it would be so hard to find a wall-mounted paper towel holder in something other than white plastic?) All I really have left is to replace some trim and scrape a lot of paint drippings off the cabinets.

Next project: rip up the vinyl and tile the kitchen floor!

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It's a perfect summer day here in our own small world. I've been enjoying a unique week of relaxation. My schedule has been tremendously lightened in activities this week, and I've done crazy things like read in the middle of the day and nap.

But I think I might concentrate better when I have a full plate. My senses are more sharpened, and I'm more aware of my calendar.

Which comes in handy. Calendars are for things like appointments, lessons, practices, events, meetings, and birthday parties. Birthday parties? Birthday parties? Yes, so this afternoon, while I was napping like a slug, Jesse took a phone call from my friend asking, "Where is Duncan? Emily's party started at 3:00!"

Where is Duncan, indeed. Outside playing at the neighbor's, completely oblivious to the calendar, as was his sleeping mother and reading father. I am mortified. I am pretty sure I've never completely forgotten a party before, and this is one of our closest and oldest friends.

I know she will forgive me, and I know she will understand. But still, I am mortified. No more naps for me.

So anyway, I was taking a nap because I stayed up really late last night waiting for Jesse to get home from a concert.  Actually, it was a very cool night for him. Our friend Mike, who heads up Feed Your Faith, was co-sponsoring a This Beautiful Republic concert up in Knoxville. He took Jesse and two of his friends along with him to help set up and tear down for the band, unload and load up equipment, etc. Of course the best part was that they got to hang out with the band and have dinner with them. This is totally Jesse's favorite thing to do, so that was awesome. I did, however, have to stay up until he got home around 1:15 a.m. And of course I had to read before going to sleep, so I was up late. (This is all part of my excuse about why I was taking a nap.)

Normally I wouldn't be the one staying up waiting for our son to get home (not that he's ever come home at 1 a.m. before), but Randy and Laurel were having a wild adventure at the Lost Sea for our American Heritage Girls Father/Daughter overnight. The Lost Sea is an awesome cave with America's largest underground lake, and our dads and daughters did the special overnight adventure.

Here they are as the left for the evening; they were much, much dirtier when they came home!

I have one more thing to say, and then I need to watch Dr. H. cook supper. (I was going to say that I need to fix supper, but it's Saturday night, and that means Dr. H. cooks!) Laurel and I made the easiest and cutest apron today, and a few days ago we made an adorable tote bag. All you need are dish towels, a sewing machine, and a tiny bit of sewing skills. Go check out Laurel's blog for pictures and a link to how to make these!

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See, here's the problem with summer projects,  or projects of any kind, for that matter: I get distracted. These past few days we've actually had some good soaking rains, and I had to get out and work in the flower beds while I could. I have 2 major flower beds at this house, both of which have several sections within them. I also have about three other smaller flower beds, and a vegetable garden. Usually I get distracted and flit from one area to another, but tday I tried to be focused and stick with one flower bed, and I really made some good progress.

I finished planting my favorite little triangle of impatiens.

This area is on the other side of the impatiens bed. I pulled up 2-3 wheelbarrows full of weeds, planted several hostas, Corabells, and lantanas, and mulched about half of this flower bed.

Another project, going on about 4 years: this sign used to be at my in-laws house. When my father-in-law died and my mother-in-law remarried, she gave us this sign. It needs repainting and our house number is not 207, but who really cares? I yanked about 30 yards of poison ivy off of this tree.

So that particular flower bed--the first one you see when you pull in our driveway--is looking much better. I still have a bunch more perennials to plant and more mulch to put down, but it looks like we may have another rain and a couple of days in the 80s coming up soon.

If I work fast, I might be able to get to this next flower bed, which is possibly even more daunting:

Beyond that archway is a mess of weeds and lilies. I have great plans for that area, many of which include Dr. H's help and money. And since tomorrow is Father's Day, I guess I can't really drag him out to help me.

My house is a filthy pit, but I feel satisfied anyway. Painting the kitchen and cleaning can waiting until the long, hot, dry days of summer set in.

(And I'm glad I'm not a manicured-nail kind of girl. I have some seriously scary looking dirt under my nails.)

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Today's meme over at Heart of the Matter asks for: "your favorite picture of your husband and your kids, or your husband and yourself, or just your husband alone."

I don't know that this is necessarily my favorite picture, but this is the most recent one of Dr. H and the kids during our trip to Yorktown/Williamsburg/Jamestown. Favorite pics might be more along the lines of Dr. H. holding each baby for the first time, pushing Duncan on his bike, reading a book to Laurel, on the beach in Hawaii with Jesse... But I am feeling too lazy to hunt down those photos.

And anyway: this is us, now. This is who we are. And in this picture are just a few great things about Dr. H. as a father that I can see, and probably you can't.
• For one, Dr. H. lets our kids be who they are.
* He likes to take off his shoes and wade in the water.
* He climbs on rocks.
* He doesn't have to talk all the time. He appreciates that some moments are bettered savored in silence.
* He is laid back and relaxed, truly maintaining a policy of flexibility. On this afternoon, for example, we had planned to eat dinner at a beach-front restaurant. But the younger kids couldn't resist the draw of the water, and within 5 minutes they were too soaked for a restaurant. Instead, we ordered pizza back at the hotel.
• He grows with our children. His parenting style evolves with their different ages. He is always willing to adapt as their needs change.
* He values us.

And that, my friends, is a very short list based entirely on the photo above. I could list a hundred other qualities that make Dr. H. such an awesome father, but really, he simply is.

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* Once again I've fallen behind on my Project 52, but go here to see the past few weeks at SmallWorld.

* It's VBS week at our church, and our new youth minister is doing a splendid job. I love his energy, and he's nicely complemented by songleader PartyofFive, who is the cutest pirate I've ever seen.

* It's also Cub Scout camp week, so Dr. H. and Duncan, and Laurel and I have to go our separate ways on evenings this week.

* That leaves Jesse being a latch-key kid, homeschoolers' version. I don't really know what that means, but I thought I should at least mention Jesse. But the real news about Jesse is that he got his braces off yesterday.  He promptly asked for a piece of gum. 

* My past weekend was spent either in the green room during Les Miserables, traveling back and forth between here and the performance location, and visiting with our friends, the Hancocks. They are now off to Mexico, at last.

* And next month it'll be time for Neal and Kristina to head off to the jungle for two years. Since they're selling their house and moving to Papua New Guinea, I guess it also seemed like a good time to move their blog. So if you're a friend of Onfire here as HSB or want to be her friend and follow the Campbell Family Adventure in PNG, go subscribe to Kristina's new blog. I highly recommend being her friend. She has enriched my life beyond description.

* Speaking of new blogs, my semi-local yokel friend whom I never see, JenIg, has also moved her blog. You can continue to find Jen and her hilarious self over at the new Jeneric Jeneralities.

* And one more word about new blogs: if you've been wondering what's happened to all my amazing book reviews and brilliant creative writing, you can now find that kind of thing over at SmallWorld Reads. I still have links to new books I've read here on my sidebar, but I needed to do a little blog tidying.  Now if only I could get away from this computer and do some house tidying....

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These past few days we've been blessed by getting to spend time with our sweet friends, the Hancocks. Casey was our minister for the first five years that we lived here. And beyond that, Casey and Teri were our wonderful friends. We shared a lot of joys and a lot of sorrows together during those five years.  When we came to this area, Libby was just 9 months old and Laurel was not quite two-and-a-half. Here they are now, at nine and ten.

Corbin and Duncan were born just 7 weeks apart, and they were inseparable for those first 4 years. Here they are now at 7. I was so afraid that Duncan would be lost without Corbin when they moved away to the midwest  two years ago.

The Hancocks just bought a Wii, so there was a lot of Wii playing inside during this steaming hot weekend. I even had my first Wii experience. Predictably, I didn't get it. But everyone else had fun!

Teri and I enjoyed a weekend catching up and talking about their future, because that's what this trip is all about. Three years ago Casey and Teri began making plans to begin mission work in Mexico, and now they are at last headed to begin this next phase of their ministry. For the past couple of years, they've been raising support and partnering with a church in Cincinnati. I remember my father saying to me many years ago, when Casey was in his second or third year of ministry at our church: "They won't be here long; I bet they'll be on the mission field within five years." As always, my father knows best.

It is hard to be sad when God's work in the Hancock's lives is so evident. Still, I can't help but get weepy thinking that the next time we see them--when they are on furlough in 4 years--that Libby will be 13, Corbin 11, and baby Ian, who we've only just met, will be nearly 5. But greater than the sadness is the joy in knowing that, at last, they will cross the border into their new lives.

I'm seeing a short-term mission trip coming up in the next couple of years...

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My last post featured summer projects I hope to will accomplish before mid-August or so. But here's the thing: I can't find time to even think about those projects, much less actually get to them. And so I've decided that I absolutely must have a cook, a chauffeur, and a maid. If I didn't have to cook, didn't have to drive kids here and there, and didn't have to clean, I would be so set. So I'm wondering if I could get a fundraiser going here? Like, every time you read my blog, you'll have to donate $100 to the SmallWorld Cook, Chauffeur, and Maid Fund?

Just wondering. If you donate to my fund, I'll donate to yours.

On today's agenda:
* go to post office to mail 1500 pages of work (that fills one large Sonlight box, in case you were wondering) off to place where I freelance
* go to library to deliver 9 overdue books
* go to title company to pick up keys to Mom and Dad's new house
* pick up Duncan from VBS
* stop by Mom and Dad's new house and consider the possibilities
* come home and grade American Lit exams, do laundry, etc. etc. etc.
* go to swim meet, 5 p.m.

I'm thinking that no wallpaper is coming off today.

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We officially ended our school year on Friday, so I'm ready to face the summer projects. I'm trying to be a realist this year. I have just a few projects planned that absolutely must get done:

1) First and foremost, paint the kitchen.

It's been about 10 months since I peeled most of the wallpaper off; you can see one of the last remnants there in the corner, where I can't reach (a-hem, Dr. H.). That is absolutely the first project of the summer, and if it's the only one that gets done, I'll take that.


2) Next, the sunporch must be straightened and made clutter-free.

This is a project that I do every summer because during the winter, the sunporch becomes the junk room. Every single thing, large and small, that does not have a home, finds one in the sunporch. So this extremely cute room (which is currently a craft room, but someday may be my writing nook) with loads of potential charm is a disaster area by spring. Every year. But this time I am vowing to keep the sunroom clean and well-used. And that leads into #3...

3) Figure out how to use my new space.

So, a little background for those of you who aren't avid, dedicated, obsessed readers of my blog: we bought this house because it has a 1-bedroom apartment attached to it (separate entrance) so that my parents could live here in the winter, as they've done for 7 years. But this year my parents up and bought a house a half-mile down the road. And so here we are with an extra bedroom, bath, kitchen, and living room! And another closet and even some storage! I haven't really absorbed this yet, but once we clear out my parents' furniture and what-not, we need to figure out how we're going to use this extra space. I'm thinking that this living room might become the library/game room. I'm picturing the walls lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and a couple of comfy sofas. And of course all the junk from the sunporch, neatly organized. But I'm still processing.

So those are the projects. This week I have two goals. First, I'm going to get the keys to my parents' new house (they are still in New York working toward putting their house their on the market) and take a couple of loads over there. And second, I'm going to finish getting the last chunks of wallpaper off. (And as a separate goal, I'm going to get this year's school books and such put away!)

So tell me about your summer projects!

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