David Fry

My Grandaddy, David Fry, passed away Sunday evening. He leaves behind a sweet wife and my Grandmother, Jodie Fry.  His children and family sat by his side and sang sweet harmony during his last days, one of his favorite things. I remember the first thing he said when he  met Aaron, "what part do you sing?".  He called me Elizabeth. He will be missed, mostly by his bride, whom I can only imagine is feeling an enormous sense of loss, of being incomplete without him after so many years. I pray she will find peace and comfort in her new home, and know that she will join him someday. 

Love you Grandaddy! Excited to see you on the other side, singing with the angels!

Something I love about Moscow, it's a community that supports each other. This picture is the line at Pizza Hut, on a Monday night, where proceeds go to a family with a mama with terminal cancer.

I went to hear a doctor speak, a woman who grew up in Moscow and spends 1/2 her year in Bethel, Alaska working as a hospitalist to earn money to work the other 1/2 of her year working at a clinic in Southern Sudan trying to save a village from a disease with no cure. The house was packed.

This is Ilon's school, an outdoor movie event/fundraiser for the public schools. The enormous lawn was filled with families and teachers, and friends of families and teachers.

It's inspiring to be a part of!

We have fully embraced the season. Even though it was 84 today and I sweated in my boots. We are ready.

 OH, and Ilon's a Girl Scout. How adorable.

Emmanuel Lutheran Preschool

Gabe started school this week. He went in like a little ball of fire and hasn't looked back. He loves school, snacks, and stamps!

8 years

And 2 kids later, we celebrated with a gorgeous hike to Elk River Falls, huckleberry ice cream, and an old European breakfast.

It was COLD this morning...

When summer gathers up her robes of glory and, like a dream, glides away.

Sarah Helen Whitman

And enters my FALL. My pumpkin plant is blossoming...

And I'm spent.

So I won the mother of the year award today. Not the BEST mother of the year award, the REALLY? You REALLY did that? mother of the year award. 

I forgot to pick my daughter up after her FIRST day of KINDERGARTEN. 

I found her, after a call from her teacher, sitting in the PRINCIPALS office. Waiting. 

She says, "Mom, did you, like, not know what time to be here?"

In my defense, I had been up for 20 hours and laid down for just a teensy little nap. And slept through my alarm. I'm sorry Mrs. Cox, I forgot my 6 yr old because I slept through my alarm. Am I in 

HIGH-SCHOOL? 

So I have a bad first impression to make up for, in snacks, and volunteer hours, and party organizers, and field trip helpers.  We of course went straight to get bean burritos and tater tots and pink lemonade and I think amends have been made. Ilon LOVED school. She said, I can't wait for it to be bedtime, because I have SCHOOL tomorrow! I hope I hear that for a long time! 

Aaron and I are realizing we are stretched pretty thin, a good stretch, but it means lots of calendars and organization and alarms and naps at appropriate times. I am on nights again, which is a bit of a roller coaster sometimes. The last two nights I got to hold a darling little bundle of baby girl while she had a little rougher transition to this new world than some. I LOVE this job. It's a privilege to be present in such a huge moment in life. Aaron is "enjoying" law school. I'm not sure how else to say that he is appropriately overwhelmed and from what he's seen so far is excited about being a lawyer. 

Prayers for GRACE during this time are WELCOME! 

Mollie and Finn

We had a lovely visit with our Seattle friends this weekend. What a treat! Mollie and Finn came to play, hike, ride bikes, and teach me how to make bread on the side. Mission accomplished! Excited to make a trip out west to visit their home sometime soon.

The little Gabe man is having a rough go of it, a combination of being a 3 yr old boy and sick, and probably allergic to whatever is floating around the air here. Good thing he's so darn cute or his mother would lose her mind. Here's to saline, hot showers, and a spidey-man blanket.