This has been a very busy month.

My middle son missed out on the sign ups for a camp program, so since I didn’t want him spending another week glued to his tablet, we held Camp Mommy while his sister went to her week. We went to Chuck E. Cheese, the park, the comic store, out to a sushi place for lunch, McDonald’s for one of our breakfasts and he came with me to church for three days, which was nice especially since he’s not a big fan.

My oldest son got his driver’s license last week, and has volunteered to get the groceries and drive his brother to his friend’s house. He even got to work on time, which was a tremendous accomplishment!

My daughter went clothes shopping – if anyone lives near a Justice, they’re clearance is 60% and then they take off an additional 40% off! We buy everything too big so that it will still fit next summer! We couldn’t afford to shop their otherwise – they’re prices are way too high.

GISHWHES, information at this link, is over, and went very well. I’ll have a separate wrap up post on that later on.  Preview: Endure4Kindness is coming in mid October. This year, I’m going to be taking pledges. All of the money goes to Random Acts.

I’ve just returned from a spiritual retreat, and it really has energized me to get through the rest of the summer and has given me inspiration for the upcoming fall season. It was called Drawing Closer to G-d, and we learned how to make mandalas, and I was quite surprised at how nice my pictures came out. I have no artistic ability, but this was just the right balance of creativity and spirituality. I will have a separate wrap up on this also later on. Right now, I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed, but in a good way.

This piece was my proudest one during the retreat:

This next one I just did this afternoon. It has great meaning to me, but again, that might require its own reflective post:

I’m still in a deeply saddened place remembering Robin Williams. I’m trying to come to grips with the whole thing, and wondering how someone like him can’t hold on, and how someone like me managed to break through to the other side when I was in such a similar despairing place. I only hope that I can continue to do so, and continue to talk about my depression and depression in general, and be aware and there for people who need a shoulder to lean on.

Two requests:

The first is continue to pray and talk about Ferguson, MO and Michael Brown. This cannot continue.

The second is please send me your good thoughts and prayers. I am having some medical stuff going on beginning tomorrow. I’m trying not to think about the money it’s going to cost me, but for now, I have to focus on my health and deal with the monetary fallout when it eventually happens.

Thank you.

Kb