I'm Baaa-aacckk!

Okay, not that I really went anywhere --- I just got lazy. I don't know why it seems like a monumental job to update this blog. Plus, I'm not sure if more than my followers (thank you loyal readers...all 3 of you) even reads this. Maybe Miles' blog is easier because all I have to do is, for the most part, post his letters. Someone wanna write this for me?haha
Let's see... in June, Jotty graduated with Honors...and was also a member of the Spanish Honor Society. Graduation night was great; it started on time and we had fine weather - NO RAIN! Our last one graduated! Not too long ago I realized that for more than half my life I have been dealing with our children and their schooling. It is NOT a bitter-sweet moment though. Frankly, I am glad to be done with it considering the direction that so many public schools are going...I fear those here in the "bible belt" will soon follow suit. In view of Jotty being the last one graduating, I made signs for us to hold... I thought Jotty would be embarrassed but he wasn't - he's a cool kid! The week after graduation he went to staff week at Camp Alaflo, was home a week then back to Alaflo for a week, then up to Gainesville, Georgia for EFY, then home where Anna and her family just arrived to visit for a week. In between when he was home, he and I worked on parts of the yard. This week he has Youth Conference (I am going as a chaperone) and then we think he starts his job at Walmart in the next week or so.
Our friend, Dan Danford, works at Walmart and let Jotty know they were about to start hiring again. He helped Jotty through the whole application process to make sure the paperwork was submitted in time. Actually, he has helped several people at church get jobs at Walmart. The guy who interviewed Jotty was apparently impressed because he said that Jotty was more qualified for the job he was applying for and would be hired at a level 3 in a better job...that means more than minimum wage. Whatever...he's got a job!!!
The pool and I were pitted against each other for several weeks at the beginning of summer. Our floatron (it ionizes the water, preventing algae growth) kind of died and before I knew it we had algae...a green pool. For the first time in 12 years I had to buy chemicals other than chlorine and "finesse" the pool water back to good health. Note the "before and after" pictures. Now, we are enjoying it nearly everyday. Average water temp is 85 degrees.
JaNae's kids are here every weekday since JaNae is still in school and Jeremy is working. I am so glad we DO have a pool. Cian finally decided this year that swimming was fun and getting his face in the water was fine. While Anna and family were here last week all of her kids were thoroughly enjoying the pool and I think Cian saw them and figured he could enjoy swimming as well as they could. Kira and Ben brought their kids over too. Their two older kids are fine being in the pool but are hesitant and don't want their faces wet. But little Josie; she is going to be a fish! She can completely relax in the water and if they instruct her, she listens and follows. She is very at ease and loves being in the pool. Jacob and Amanda's kids haven't been over much yet because Amanda is working this summer. This is the last week so I expect them to be coming over a lot the rest of the summer. Their kids love the water!
We recently adopted a new kitten. He had been abandoned at the vet where our friend Frances works...to be put down. She is always rescuing animals, paying out of her pocket for their care too. Most of them she has adopted herself but she felt this little guy needed more time than she had since she works full time. She also has several cats and dogs already. Anyway, this little guy was about 3 or 4 weeks old when he was dropped off with a VERY infected eye. His eye had to be removed so Frances paid for that and his meds and then bottled fed him for a week or so. She called and told us about him and asked if we would consider adopting him. Jim said he was fine with that. Feeding the kitten every few hours and having him at her home... she had grown very attached to him. It was no easy task to give him up. She said she prayed about it even. We told her it would be an "open adoption". Anyway, she had been calling the one-eyed kitten "Cyclops". A friend suggested "Popeye" and the grand kids had all sorts of ideas. I was kind of partial to "Jack" as in one-eyed Jack and Jack Sparrow the pirate. Goofing around I suggested to Jim the pirates exclamation, "Arrgh!". Jim liked it best so the kitty's name is Arrgh!. We just call him kitty anyway...(not that any of our cats come when we call)so his name will just be for identification purposes. Please note that we decided that you must include an exclamation point at the end of his name AND, you must close one eye when you say his name--pirate style. The grand kids got a big kick out of that. Arrgh! is a feisty little cat. He isn't being bottle-fed anymore as he keeps chewing the nipples off the bottles. He is very vocal, will play with anyone or anything, and follows us around when he isn't in his enclosure (to keep him from annoying the stew out of the big cats who aren't used to him yet).
That's about it for this update. I updated Miles' blog too if you haven't seen it lately. We were very blessed in that our friends, the Todds, bought Miles a new bike and had it delivered to the mission home while they were there in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, they were there to attend the funeral of a son of very dear friends of theirs. The Todds were not only generous but still thinking of others as they usually do. They are really cool people and our sons get along so well with theirs. Their oldest, Eric, is Miles' best friend.
Well, the rest of the summer will be digging out my sewing room, the office and cleaning the garage, watching the kids, doing yard work and a host of other things that I probably won't finish. Anyone else fill their summer plate too full?
Till later!