Just Keep Swimming...

Another picture? Really, Mom???

Roads go ever ever on,

   Over rock and under tree,

By caves where never sun has shone,

   By streams that never find the sea;

Over snow by winter sown.

   And through the merry flowers of June,

Over grass and over stone,

   And under mountains in the moon. {J.R.R. Tolkien}

I am not the hobbit that I was.

I haven't traveled a long road and challenged a dragon like Bilbo did, but I feel different, somehow.

View of the mealtime food line from the table
(And through a dirty camera lens...)

Maybe I'm just getting OLD. I feel a little like I've lost bits of my former self, all while adding new challenges that are refining and teaching me. I have chosen them-- they are good, important things. I have received a witness that it's my time, my turn, to take them on. Still, I feel like I've not only been thrown in the deep end of the pool, but I have a boat full of people that I am supposed to bring safely to shore with me: moms, dads, kids, youth, and ESPECIALLY my own family.

Happy Davy on a messy floor-- I never said he could crawl so soon!

First of all, having a baby this late in life is a whole new ballgame compared to my first ones. I feel like I have more patience, more appreciation for my sweet little ones, but I also have less energy. Thankfully, I have more help! But with that, there's a bitterness to the sweet things that come with babyhood. I know that it is so fleeting, so short.

I recognize that it's silly to cry about how he's growing and how fast he's learning, but I know too well that he will be gone tomorrow... practically. He is a precious, sweet gift that I am not anxious to let go of. But I know that he is here for that very purpose, to become his own person, to move on, to grow and accomplish all Father has in store for him.

Davy trying applesauce for the first time, thanks to big sister Bonny. Mmm!

Alright. Enough of that! A mother's heart can only take so much.

Not-a-baby-anymore Eryn and bigger sister, Avalon

In addition to motherhood, I am homeschooling, I direct my ward choir, I am making and organizing the costumes for our Spring Shakespeare play, and now I have taken on something BIG. (Because I'm not busy enough, obviously...)

I have taken the helm of an enormous vessel, called a Commonwealth School. It's not really a "school." It's a group of homeschooling parents who get together once a week for supplemental classes and I am their new leader.

Grayse Dawn turned 6 this month.

Luckily, I was inspired to accept the nomination, so I get to have the Lord's help with it all. But I am still drowning a bit while I remember what it's like to lead. I spent three years as a homeschool group president before resigning my position five years ago, and I'm hoping I have learned better what NOT to do, since I made plenty of mistakes the first time around.

Yeah. 

PRAY FOR ME.

Here are more pictures for the grandparentals. {SQUIRREL!}:

Brennan, on his way to rescue his "kidnapped" future prom date.
It was his creative way of asking her.
(Thanks for the Civil War jacket, Granna!)

Here are the accompanying siblings, one dressed as "Death, the kidnapper."

Ronan, Dierdre, and Gavin posing in a real Ford Model-T!
Ronan begged me to take him to a free car show, so we went in between conference sessions on Saturday.

Somehow, thanks to the Savior's love and help, we will make it through.

Hopefully, without drowning.

Love, Mama Rachel