"Confidence is the feeling you have before you understand the situation."---Anonymous

Lots going on over here although it doesn't look like it. Classes. Homework. More classes. I'm off in a few minutes for the next set. Then there is a wee break until two more for the summer. Fletcher and I are set for adoption classes in July and I go to Brain Camp right after Harp Camp.

I am having the post-school "let down" which I don't usually have when I am typically in Jonestown at this time of year, sweating, working hard-hard-hard, laughing, using every moment to breathe, pray, and recalibrate. Here it is different. Not normal. Don't feel calibrated. No time for it. No hard working with the kind of kids that "fit"......But taking care of my pup and walking with him are good things. Learning about brains, God, writing, how to use colored markers with adolescents, and how to organize all the stuff (or teach them how to do it)--all great tools for the toolkit and the next "job".

We met again with the home design/builder team. We seem to be getting closer to something. Will keep updating as we go.
We certainly want to do our part for the economy.

I am amazed at how silly and self-absorbed I can be. This may not change but I can laugh at myself when I discover it. "Good Lord!" as Dad would say. It'll burn.

Went to the Pride Parade with Book Group. It was glorious and banal. It was Wallingford Kiddies Parade meet New Orleans the Weeks before Mardi Gras meet 15th century Paris or Florentian revels with a dash of something you might find in the back section of the Seattle Weekly. Not entirely family friendly but a Bucket List sort of thing. My head is still spinning from all the input. I imagined Jesus sitting next to me on the curb and smiling at the diversity and saying "These are ALL my children."
There were several "reading" foci--King Co. Library, Book Mobile, Seattle Public Library, Summer Reading from Woodinville or something like that as well as several animal rescue organizations.There were also Dykes (sp?) on bikes. No bagpipe bands although lots of utilikilts. Are there no Dykes with pipes? It is not a proper parade without bagpipes.

Off to class.

"Better Lovers of the World, We're Gonna Be..."---Michael Tomlinson

"Sun! O Radiant Sun!
Great gift of the Creator of Light!
We claim the passion in our bones!
We embrace the fire in our soul!
O fertile hope and dreams awaken!
Let us rejoice in this longest day of light!
Sun! Radiant Sun!----Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr (Circle of Life, p. 158)

My Heart will be with Mary J. camping today up in Deception Pass.
My Head will be at SPU with the rest of me, learning more about working smarter not harder with the middleschool contingency.
(Note to self: It is pretty cool to receive the research affirming all the "nutty" stuff and techniques I have been using for years and to receive the tweaks needed to make them more worthwhile for this age and stage. The presenters keep calling middleschool "Hormone Heaven"...alrighty then.:)

Solstice with my black and white little buddy. Long, wonderful walk this morning. He is healthy. I am healthy. We are safe. We are strong. We are happy. We are enjoying Life. We belong. I am thankful. He is who he is.

We bought a truck this week. We are looking for a small, pop-up camper to put on the back. The truck has 4 seatbelts, small enough so I can drive it comfortably and safely. Looking forward to camping with this set up. One piece at a time.

Back on the adoption path. Doing paperwork. Getting fingerprinted. Getting things notarized. It is what it is.
The presenters at my workshop this week have said more than a few times that Dogs needs to be licensed. Teachers need to be licensed, updated, relicensed, etc...and Birth Parents don't..

It is Solstice. Time for Open Hearts. Time for Light. Time for Warmth. Time for Healing. My take is that I am thankful for another special day from Creator and it is always time for all of the above.

School is out! Summer is in! The classroom is clean! My house is...sort of.
My dog just got attacked by a pit mix on our walk afterschool. I beat it off with my metal coffee cup full of something celebratory---we had to come home. Porter is fine.
I am not. I also had to get a refill.

All Four Directions--Thee I thank.
Directions Above, Below, And Within--I thank Thee
And forward I walk
on my Own Path, with the Beloveds who will come this way with me.

These others---
on their own Path now.

So freeing. I got to see the Harvest. For once.
That was enough.

I have lived another year to see just how delicate and beautiful the lacy flowers of the elderberry are. Thank you, Source.

I am also managing to endure the endings into beginnings of 8th graders...oi.

6th graders are fairly even-keeled for this time of year. They are counting days (which is workable) rather than back-counting seconds (which is distracting and annoying).

Ancient Rome here we are. Stepping stone haiku poetry here are are. Historical fiction here we be. Book of Judges--yup-Samson and Delilah--all about integrity and whom you choose for your friends and trusted ones.

Porter was on the mend for 13 wonderful, near-normal days, and then he had a relapse on Thursday. It has gotten worse since then with today being the worst, but this is becoming part of the way his life/needs are now. Maybe someday, we can enjoy the simplicity of a bag of dogfood and clean water with a chewie or treat now and again. If not, we will remember what it was like and be thankful that he is not diabetic or worse. He has two kidneys. I need to remember that. One ball. Two kidneys. Two brain cells that fire too well at times. He's OUR DOG and we love him!

We met with our social worker this past week. The last foray into adoptionland has begun. Poor Fletcher--his jaw was on the floor and his eyes were almost bugged out as each hoop was discussed. There were jokes made on the other end of the line about a couple that was being worked with that was on their FIFTH Homestudy. OH, this is just Number 4 for me, Number 1 for Fletcher. ALl in all, we will know by July 14th where we are and what plans to make from there.

The remodel/knock-down is in the finance search phase. We are making serious inquiries. That, too, is a process.

My health is excellent. I have some summer healthy brain and learners classes to look forward to. We are planning a little Oregon getaway mid-summer. I will be doing some online research.

These precious, light mornings at 4:30 are wonderful. Waking quietly, softly, gently while walking and listening and talking with Source. These are golden Breath moments. It does feel so good to be warm. On the outside.