This has been one great and busy summer so far. Our two younger boys went to visit grandparents for a few days, then spent lots of time here at home playing with friends. Our two older boys went on a mission trip and to camp for several weeks. As a family we went on a service trip, then later to camp for a week. In the midst of it all, we have had lots and lots of company. What great opportunities God provided for the six of us this summer!

With all of the fun and craziness, I had almost started to forget what “normal” was. How many plates do I get out for each meal? How much food should I fix? It was different every day, depending on which boy was where, how many extras we had, and truly, by the middle of July, I just gave up figuring it out and just started grabbing a big pile of plates, replacing those left unused at the end of each meal. Food portions? I gave up on that too, and found that if I had too much, leftovers were welcome. If I didn’t have enough? I’d make it stretch by slicing up extra fruit or setting out veggies with ranch.

As of Saturday, we are now back to all six of us and just the six of us. It’s quite wonderful. Stories of what happened at camp, and oh yeah remember when we were painting houses on the mission trip, and has anybody seen the book I started reading back in May conversations fill the house. I’m back to making triple batches of waffles, knowing that this will be just the right amount.

At this very moment, I hear my boys playing Sting Pong upstairs. Sting Pong, you ask? Yes. You see, Ping Pong is sooooo regular. Why not see if we can smack the ball at each other from across the table to see who gets the biggest welt? Why??? Why do boys do this stuff?? Beats me, but they are laughing and proudly showing off the circle shaped rings on their skin. “It doesn’t really hurt that bad, Mom. And we need to get used to it for when we play Paint Ball at Dads-n-Lads in September.” Uh-huh, I’ll just stay downstairs and make waffles.

I remember now what it was like to have all of my family home together at the same time. Bliss.

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