Mama On The Move

I have no idea what's going on in any of the photos from Ben's trip to PR but it looks like they were having a good time!

Ben went on a mission trip to Puerto Rico with his tumbling team members. Nothing like getting a text from him requesting prayer because they are going to a satanic area to pray!  And then the update the next day: I'm glad to say they survived and no one was harmed!

A library on a military base is a wonderful thing.  We can use our computer to request books we want to read and if the library on base doesn't have the book they will get it on loan from other libraries in the area.  Sometimes we have to wait a bit if it's a popular book, but by and large, it's a wonderful system for getting to read pretty much anything we want. Katie reserves books at the base library on an extremely regular basis.  Since Kerry works on base he picks up the books for her when they are available. Kerry and I were heading out for the evening and I asked the girls to straighten up the basement as we were leaving.  We had had some younger children over and they had scattered the toys around and I just wanted the girls to get everything back where it belongs. Kerry had brought home a book Katie had been anxiously awaiting but I had set it to the side because I knew if she realized it was in the house, she would immediately dive into it and the basement

I recently found out that during Ben's entire first year of college he was known as "Ben his girlfriend goes to Princeton."  He was introduced to everyone as, "This is Ben,  his girlfriend goes to Princeton."  If someone was trying to identify him to someone else they would say, "You know, that guy Ben whose girlfriend goes to Princeton." And it just became his name.  Ben, his girlfriend goes to Princeton.

The girls and I went on a college road trip.  Emily is thinking mainly of schools in Virginia, so we decided to ramble on over and check out some of the schools she is interested in. On the way there Emily cried three separate times on the first day.  I considered turning around and coming home, but thought that actually visiting the colleges might help her calm down and realize that there probably isn't one "right" college and she doesn't have to filter through a ton of info and pick "the one" or her whole life will be ruined.  No matter what she chooses, she will be fine.  She'll learn lots of things, get a degree, and go on with life. We also discussed the idea that she doesn't have to go to college next year if it's stressing her out.  She can work, continue to go to community college, go on a mission trip, etc.  There is no law saying she has to go directly to college from high school.  If she needs a breather, so be it.  College will

What Katie finds interesting in a sculpture park: