August 8

It still seems obscenely early to me since the hottest days of summer may still be ahead of us, but the boys started school today: junior year for Isaac and eighth grade for Brady. (And of course Abby will be a junior when she goes back to Wheaton in a few weeks. And like I wrote on Facebook, had things gone very differently, we would be ferrying Logan to his first year of college. It's hard to digest that nugget of reality. But God is still good, even when things don't make sense.)

I was taken aback when I realized just how much Brady grew over the summer. I knew he'd gotten bigger --mostly because when school ended, he was still shorter than me and that's certainly no longer the case-- but when I looked at this image, it was startling. And it reminded me for the umpteenth time that it really, truly doesn't take long for them to grow up.

Anyway, both boys seemed to have decent first days --they shared brief overviews of their teachers and assessments of their classes during dinnertime-- and although they can both think of other things they'd rather do with their time, I think they'll both do fine this school year. 

And for all of that --for being with them as they grow, and watching as they continue to morph into the people God created them to be-- I am grateful.