Instafriday

Can you believe it is the last official day of summer?

Michael and I have been loving these cool fall late afternoons and we hit up the park not 1, not 2 but 4 times this week! It is by far my most favorite time of year for parks. The wind rustling through the trees and the falling leaves do it to me every time. :o) 

School has been going well- the days and weeks seem to be flying by now. My kids are doing awesome and I think I am making headway on some problems I've been having in class. I guess the upside is that you are always learning even as a teacher...right? 

I would say that overall my students are awesome awesome awesome!!! 

Trace has been on my heart even more than usual lately. I know it is because the anniversary of his death is looming closer and closer. I had a really rough day on Sunday when I went to church by myself and then found myself driving over to the cemetery where I sat and watched videos on him on my phone and cried and cried.  How can it be almost a year? 

Lately it seems like the littlest things can be a trigger- it is the first year anniversary of our church's satellite that we attend and they are having a celebration...oh yeah, we remember bringing Trace with us last year to the first service and we were so excited. It's a friend announcing that they are having a May baby (I am so excited but it just reminds me of my May baby) or it is just realizing that the seasons are changing once again without him here. 

I stopped at HyVee to pick up some nice mums for Trace's little vase and the super cute 17 year old checkout girl wanted to know if the flowers were "for my home or just for fun" and I hated having to tell her that no...they were for the cemetery. :o( 

So, I've been trying to do things that fill my heart with happy- going to football games on beautiful Saturday afternoons, swinging in the park with my best guy, and seeing little bits of love everywhere I look.