Terrible blogger in the month of July, am I. I've been tipping back and forth between guilt and frustration over it, (no time alone to think complete thoughts, having to share my computer, no routine, yada, yada, yada) until the other day I finally figured something out. These summers with Scott home and me home--they are a gift. This year, he doesn't have to work in the summer. This year, I'm not working. This summer, our whole family is unscheduled, not obligated to be anywhere. We're able to take trips places, or stay home and get bored, or be run all over kingdom come to play with so-and-so and do such-and-such. We get to go places and see people.

This summer we have these things. Will we next summer? Maybe. Maybe not. So I need to embrace the summer I'm in, and be grateful for it.

The thing is, this is the way summers have been since Lars was born. So I just slide right into taking it for granted, even complaining about it. And maybe it takes me two thirds of the summer to figure this gratitude thing out every year. Can you say S.L.O.W. L.E.A.R.N.E.R....? I don't deserve these summers. And yet, God has graciously given them to me year after year, and patiently waited for me to realize the blessing.