My Year in Pictures September 2026

September was another busy month. But, I also started to feel like I am finally coming out of the heaviest parts of grief that have cloaked me since my mom passed away. I am finally able to feel hopeful again (which I seemed to have lost along the way). I am 100% a work in progress, but I am thankful to see the light flowing back in.

Elijah is adulting better than me

As I mentioned in a previous post, Elijah has graduated, a year earlier than anticipated. At this point he does not plan to go to college, but is keeping his options open. There are a few things he thinks he might be interested in doing that requires college, but since he is not sure he will wait until he has a solid plan so he doesn't waste money. He loves his job and enjoys working so that is what he will be doing for the foreseeable future.

It's a new car!

 The past month or so we were car shopping for Kayla. We knew we wanted her to have a car with her at college this year so she could get around as needed. She knew she did not want a car (they are too small and she feels safer sitting higher), but she couldn't decide exactly what she wanted. She really wanted a mini-van, but our Silver Van is not safe enough for her to take and I was not giving her my red van. So, she narrowed it down to a couple of SUV's. As it was getting closer for her to leave she still had not figured out what she wanted. So, Matt and I finally went and test drove a couple of her top picks and got something we thought she would like. I felt like she was overwhelmed by too many decisions and decided she could pick between what we had just bought and my red van. We had 30 days that we could return the vehicle as long as we did not put more than 1500 miles on it.

It didn't come in a box

It didn't come in a box, but it has wheels!!!!

 

 

Today was a great day. Matt took today off so we could do some more exploring. The kids woke up without a ton of energy and wasn't up for our scheduled outing, so we revised our plans. We ended up going to the Embassy and Matt and the kids swam and I got my haircut. Then I picked up my car and drove home. All.by.myself. It was great!!!!! It had been 72 DAYS since I had driven a car! Can you imagine?? It was so freeing being able to drive again! I am very excited about my new found freedom.

This afternoon I worked a little bit on the school room (which I am still far behind on), then worked on puzzles with the kiddos.

This evening we had a game night. The kids had planned our dinner, dessert and the games we were going to play. This was the first time they had planned a game night and this was our first "official" game night. "Official" meaning it had been planned out in advance. We have spent many nights playing games, but this was the first planned one. Anyway, they took on this task with great excitement and did all the planning on Wednesday. They told me what they wanted for dinner and dessert to be sure that we had it on hand, and kept all the games a secret. They didn't argue, fuss or fight the whole time they planned it, and they didn't fuss at all tonight while executing their plan. Overall it was a great day. I love my family and I love days where we can spend so much time together!