For the past several days Matt has been gone, somewhere out at sea on a Navy destroyer.  He’ll only be gone for five days this time, but I expect there will be many more days and weeks at sea in the days to come.  I’m thinking I need to adjust my mindset to one of being OK with being alone… definitely easier said than done.  I am learning.  

Since we’ve been back from our 5 week vacation in Montana and California, we’ve had a nice time of nestling in and being home.  There are long periods of quiet (especially while Matt is gone), some structured homeschooling activities, and a lot of the kids playing with one another (something they did not do much of at all while visiting with so many other people).  When they squabble, they really go for it; but when they find joy in being together, it is really an amazing thing to watch.