One of my dreams, is about to come true!!!

This weekend, Saturday, we are going to take a group of 15 people over to Leavenworth to go white water rafting with YD Adventures. I am really excited about going Rafting, can't believe it's the day after tomorrow! Really wished that some of our teens were able to figure out how to pay for the trip - but we'll have a great time anyway.

Josiah has been asking me for the last two weeks, if we would ask if they would make an exception to the age rule, so that he could come with us rafting. I finally gave in - the worst thing they could say is no, right?

Well, about the time I decided to ask about them making an exception (this week), we found out that Josiah has a baseball tournament this weekend. Snafu. How do we decide??? Josiah's the size of some small adults. He's a month and a half short of 11 (the required age to be able to go Rafting...). (If I would have known the age was 11, we would have seen if we could have gone rafting later in the summer... I don't even know though, if they raft that late...) We've been planning this rafting trip 6 weeks, the tourney only 2 days...

Well, the YD Adventures leadership came back and said, yes, he could go! Completely surprising us. So we had to choose between a brand new tournament that we found out about a couple of days ago and going on a once in a lifetime trip rafting. Reality, he plays baseball daily, Rafting - never been. Who knows if we'll be able to even go next year.

Honestly, I've dreamed of this weekend since before the day he was born. I was a student leader with Youth Dynamics back in the day. It was my home, I loved our people and I love our YD Adventure trips. We went white water rafting, repelling, camping and so much more. I made friends, we went on adventures.

Rod & I were volunteers at YD for some time. Since then Rod & I have gone on the day paddling training trips a few different times since we've been married. I love to Raft. I've watched as other parents took their sons on their first river adventure & couldn't wait for my turn... I kept thinking, one day, one day... And Saturday is going to be our turn.. Seeing something come to reality brings tears to my eyes!! One of my dreams, is about to come true!!!

That usually means... Cellulitis!

(Julia running the bases at Bakerview Park, just like her big brothers! June 2009)

I don't feel particularly witty tonight. There's a lot going on. I'll feel like I got some things finally checked off of my list though, after this week!

I have a few projects that I'm working on... Rafting with Youth Dynamics Adventures is this upcoming weekend in Leavenworth, WA. Trying to get that all together. One of the teens emailed me seriously wanting to go rafting again this year. I wasn't planning on it, because I hadn't gotten much of a response before. We're doing it, in the Lords good graces, because I haven't had the time or energy to get it together!!!

Really glad that we are going, I just don't particularly like all of the work involved in organizing something like this. Especially when I haven't had the time to do a good job. We've only been planning on going about a month, and tonight, I sent out the final info - which I usually do eons ago... Better late than never, I guess :D

Another thing that I'm doing this week - I'm a certified tester for homeschool testing - and i'm testing two days this week. I usually stress out about testing, but once i'm doing it, I really enjoy it. I can test a couple different tests, but I like the Iowa ITBS - because I like the results that I get back. I don't make a ton of money from it, but since i'm testing my own kids anyway, I figure I might as well serve another family & take care of their testing needs at the same time!

Personally, I'm a little concerned about Josiah's test scores. He's not really up to grade level - or I don't think so. I'm testing him at grade level this year to see how I'm doing. Then for this next year, I'll make the adjustments I need to make. He was a late reader and that affected so many things involved in schooling.

Feeling quite thankful that Jedediah is reading already. Josiah took off about the same time Jedeidah really got readers. Now Jedediah is beyond readers - and I'm feeling really good about having two down. Two to go!

Sunday morning Rod got up and he had a fever. That usually means cellulitis. We watched it allll day & didn't see any signs of it on his right leg. After Urgent care closed, we finally notice that yes, he has real signs of cellulitis. So he & Josiah went over to the ER to get Meds. About an hour later (quick trip) he came home with plenty of medication. He took today off. I'm feeling quite good about the whole thing though, because it's the most mild case of it he's ever had! In that, there's a blessing!!

What I do feel bad about is that he can't really take any more days off of work - I'm pretty sure that he doesn't have sick pay. But he did get a good two days rest & should be feeling much better tomorrow ~and he'll be feeling better in time to go.. Rafting!