June and July

In like a lion; out like a lamb?! Wait, is that March into April?! Well for me, it must be April because my lion has just left and I am seeking to lie with the lamb for awhile!
June began with the heightened anticipation of the pending wedding. With John and I determined to not come together until the wedding day, to continue learning and growing together but to not confuse the lines drawn between our two families until we were official married, the countdown to June 16th began with palpable energy. In the midst of this I managed to remember to pay my quarterly taxes (go girl!), get Patick's lunch made every day until the last (21st of June! It's later every year!) and make it to the International Encaustic Conference at Montserrat College in Beverly, MA.
It didn't feel like an exhorbitant amount of doing when we were doing it, but boy! now that we are trying to breath deep and settle into a sensible routine for a household grown from two to four, the rush of June is definitely sitting in on our backs like a lion breathing down one's neck! God's blessings abound though and to have made it through with flying colors is no less than an understatment. We did beautifully and are seeing things from the other side of massive upheaval and loving every moment of it. Brian and Patrick and safely ensconsed in Michigan with their father for the next five weeks, I've returned from a driving workshop route through southern Oregon and Hannah is busy introducing her friends to her new retreat (bedroom!) with its beautifully bold Pink Blast walls and immensely induglent, all-girl cozy bed. John is still making runs up to the farm in Arlington in order to collect belongings and put things in order for the new renter but also enjoying the care that comes from abolishing the status of 'single dad'
that he's worn for 11 years....(and I thought my adjustment was tough)! Needless to say, John and I are very happy. Fully convicted of our decisions, fastly settled in our goals and patiently breathing through the growing pains our children are presenting to us in the change ;) Give it a year.....one day at a time and communicating in all the smooth and rough waters. July has John back to giving loving care to the residence at Rosewood Courte, Hannah getting set up for drivers' ed courses and me locking the door on the studio Monday through Friday so as to put the best stuff possible into this second book-until John sends a text reading 'on my way love!' To which my heart lifts, I concoct something dinner-worthy and look forward to sharing thoughts and dreams with my life partner~Perhaps we'll look back from this place in a year and see that the lion lived in the whole summer-maybe the whole second half of 2010-in our blended home! Whether with the lion yet, or relaxing into the routine and resting with the lamb, it is good. Call it whatever you'd like; it is just so good. in love. trish (this is my super happy face :)))