Has there been enough joy this summer?

Although my girls were happy in school, after ten years of homeschooling, I missed them. Sure, there was plenty of time to write, and my blogs were more frequent, but I spent a lot of time planning the fun things we were to do this summer. Now that summer days are dwindling down to that precious two weeks, I look back and ask myself if there was enough joy this summer?
Sure, we decluttered the house, we painted the bathroom, we finally unpacked the wall art and hung it in my room, we helped our friends move, we helped at Birthright, and St Marys' Rummage Sale, we attended Mass more often and began a weekly eucharistic adoration appointment. All these are worthy projects and have made me very satisfied, but did we forget joy this summer?

No, I must say, no, we managed to fit in joy between all this busy-ness. Maybe even because of it.

Weekday Mass and adoration, spontaneous campfires and visits to friends, lazy sunny afternoons spent in the pool, cool twight learning to ride my bike uphill with Molly running alongside (yikes!) enjoying visits with Grandpa, Abeula, Uncle Bill and cousin Mike, sharing the wonder in Christina's eyes when she received Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist for the first time, watching her watch hatching chicks at farm school, two trips to wonderful Monfort Retreat in New Hampshire if only for the day, a week with old friends on Long Island, three, (count em) inspiring writer's conferences in New York, Philadelphia and Boston, meeting famous writers face to face, learningn to take care of our new chickens, finally transplanting my favorite perennials from my home on Long Island,  growing a super-abundant  veggie garden  (we have 300 tomatoes ripening as I write this, I am preparing to can tomatoes for the first time!) and enjoying all this abundant joy to the soundtrack of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (See my favorite song below)

There has been so much joy this summer, I haven't shared much of it because of intermittent computer glitches (two of three computers in this house are STILL down) and just plain lack of time.
We may not have achieved all our goals (getting to swim in the ocean, visit Mark Twain's home, Sturbridge Village, and climb a mountain as a family, though Bella did climb one at camp), we still have a week to go. . .enjoy these last precious days of summer with your children.

Fun in the Snow

The Beach Down the Road

We often go to our local beach for a walk on the beach with the dogs. The weather has been so warm lately, we enjoyed another run on the beach together.

A Day in Morning Star Camp by Isabella

Every morning, at 7:15, the bell rings and we get up for morning prayers in our pajamas outside the tent. We pray the Morning Offering, the Guardian Angel Prayer, and then we get dressed for breakfast. Some girls are so cold in the morning, they wear their sleeping bags to prayers!
At breakfast, we say grace, we wait on line for the food, which is toast, eggs, and cereal. A different group cleans up after meals each day. My group is group A, for ages 10 and 11.
After that, we have catechism at a table next to the water's edge. We learn about sacrifices and how to do more every day. We learned the lives of the saints, and how lucky we are to learn the Catholic Faith.
Next, we go to the activity that we chose at sign up. I like line dancing. After that, we do arts and crafts. I made a gift box, a surprise doll, and a tie-dyed pillowcase. Next, we go back to the tent to put on our skirts, and chapel veils (or bandannas) for Holy Mass at the chapel by the lake.
Lunch comes next. We sat grace then we eat sandwiches, salad, and chips.
After lunch, we have a different activity each day, like singing, hand jives or archery, followed by swimming and boating . For boating, we can go out in a sailboat, kayak, or canoe. If you don't want to swim, you play croquet, or do beading. I like beading.
Before dinner, we have an hour of free time. I enjoy going to the concession stand where you can buy holy items, bandannas, camp t-shirts, candy, and toys.We visit the woods where the big girls' tents are. We know a secret path that leads to an island in the lake, where the water is so shallow, you can wade across, but you have to be careful of the water snakes!

Before dinner we pray the rosary at the chapel, and then we go to dinner, (you have to hurry to get a good spot in line). We eat hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken breasts, sloppy Joe's, and salad. We get to choose between different things to eat, so there's always something you like. There's dessert after both lunch and dinner. We have cookies, brownies, and chocolate bars. Yum!

After dinner, we have different activities like ball games, hand jives, or archery. Then, we get in our pajamas, and get ready for campfire by the lake. Every night we sing songs while Sister plays the guitar. Most of the songs are folk songs, like "Frog Went a Courtin'", "Red River Valley", and my favorite, "Paper Pins". Sometimes we would have dance night, where we learne swing dancing, the Virginia Reel, The Electric Slide, and Cotton-Eyed Joe. When it rains we have old-fashioned movies inside. On the last night, we have a candlelight procession around the camp to the campfire for Talent Night, where the girls make up funny skits, do folk dances, and play instruments.

On Saturday, after Mass, our parents come to pick us up, and we take our new friends' phone numbers.

I love Morning Star Camp!

I can't wait to go next year, when the camp might be in the Sister's new camp, we'll sleep in cabins instead of tents and it will last two weeks!

My Birthday Cake

My birthday was simple, since I had an ear infection and stayed home with the family, yet full of love. My parents brought me a delicious Chinese Dinner. Francisco gave me Final Draft, the software program I will use to write my screenplay (more on that project later).
Isabella made me a card, with live flowers on it and a ribbon closure, in which she wrote, "Thanks for having many years teaching us the things we know, and we wish you many more years to come. Happy Birthday, Love, Bella and Christy".She included parts of drawings from Christy inside.
Gaby chose a gorgeous photo card of Wilmington Notch in the Adirondacks, and wrote, "Happy Birthday to a talented woman that is very dear to our hearts. May God give you special graces to carry out your work for Him. Love, Gabbi and Christina". She also gave me the best gift, a Spiritual Bouquet of 5 Hail Marys, 5 Our Fathers, and 10 Rosaries. There at the Camp, where there is daily rosary and mass, she should get a lot of those prayers said, so I'm going to be blessed. I am already blessed, aren't I?

Sunday at the Nature Preserve

In my family, we have started a tradition of nature walks as a family after Sunday Mass. This is a wonderful treat for the girls, as Daddy knows lots about nature, having grown up in the mountains of El Salvador. Something happens to Francisco out there in nature which is fascinating to watch, and the girls are drawn by his excitement at discovering a snapping turtle sunning himself in the pond, of evidence of a herd of deer.
We enjoyed the great variety of wildflowers in this preserve; here are the daisies which blanketed the meadow. Unfortunately, my camera batteries wore out, so I'll try and get back for those gorgeous purple lupines next week.