Photo Journal - Josie Boettcher

I went to CT this morning, despite not feeling amazing. But, it's like, I have a cold. How long can I stay cooped up in the house because of a cold? I'm sure there are differing thoughts on it. Some people might think I should kind of quarantine until I'm better and others might think I should just behave completely normally. I think if I was coughing or sneezing a lot, I'd stay home, but I just kind of feel crappy and that's all. Hopefully I don't get anyone sick! In the afternoon, I mostly just relaxed on the couch, but also cooked dinner, did laundry, and prepped for breakfast tomorrow. Jonas and Clem went to HC tonight and Clemi came home BURSTING with excitement. She really solidified a friendship with a girl in her group that she's been hoping to become friends with, and she is just so overjoyed about it! She's been lonely and really longing for a best friend. She expresses her sadness about it all the time. She said the girl added her on Messenger...

I didn't feel great today...not terrible, but not up for much. Ben and I went to Costco to start looking for groceries for the HC retreat next weekend. There wasn't much there that would be a better price than Aldi, but it was good to get some momentum! We went on a romantic date to Burger King, where we spent a whole $12 and 15 minutes.  For the rest of the entire day, I laid on the couch and watched tv or read. Hoping I feel well enough to go to CT tomorrow!

I was SO excited this morning! I got up at 7, got myself dressed, and left by 7:30. I stopped and grabbed a venti chai latte (my fav!) on my way over to the Great Homeschool Convention, signed in, and got to the first session just in time. And it was a good session! Almost all of them were. I really only had one that I wished I had chosen something else instead. I ran into lots of friends from CACH, and even from church! I did lots and lots of shopping (not buying) in between sessions. I walked over and got some soup for lunch from the cafeteria, which burned my mouth so thoroughly that I am still in pain tonight and can barely eat or drink anything. 😅 Unfortunately, around 2 I started to feel a little sick. I tried to ignore it, but it really wore at me. I started getting really tired and dragging. Then I noticed that I couldn't breathe through my nose and my throat was hurting! I finished up all of my planned sessions, and headed home around 5, feeling like garbage. I'm so b...

It's finally academic fair day! It's such a chill event and it only lasted an hour, but the prep took forever! The kids had a good time. I was really proud of all of their hard work and their bravery, standing in front of everyone, talking about their boards. They all did such a great job!  I came home afterwards and got lunch ready for the kids. I was prepared to CHILL. But, instead, I called AT&T to try and figure out why our internet stopped working. After an infuriating HOUR on the phone with customer service, they concluded that I'd have to have someone out to figure out what was going on. I started to stress a bit because I had plans to get together with Wild & Free friends to shop at the convention center and have dinner tonight! The repair guys did come, but not in enough time for me to go out, sadly. I ended up cancelling and then everyone else cancelled too! 😞 It was really a bummer. I'm looking forward to going tomorrow still, but it would have been ...

Welp, another day with an impending sense of doom hanging over me! Woo! I just have had too much going on lately. With two choirs and the drama team added to the mix, along with field trips, the academic fair, friend hangouts, and regular school, it's just all been a LOT. A WHOLE LOT. And going to DE didn't help that rushed, not enough time feeling! It was a good trip, but it set me back.  I decided to just do the rest of this week's curriculum next week. It's just that I'm ready for summer and I don't really want to delay finishing up for the year! I'm not sure what I'll do with that, but I know I'm not doing any more school this week.  I took Ruby and Ollie to the playground to hang out with some HC ladies, which was a pretty good time. I wish I hadn't felt like I needed to leave to get stuff done the whole time! But I did get some time to talk to Karen for a while. We've only had little snippets of convo up until today. It was very surface...

I was pretty overwhelmed yesterday, so I decided I'm going to go to the homeschool convention this week. They may seem counterproductive, but I think I really need a couple days of encouragement and rest from the kids and schooling. I'm sad to be going alone, but I think it'll be a good time for me.  Today was incredibly busy. I really felt close to freaking out for most of the day, but tried really, really hard to suck it up. I took the kids to Wild & Free at the Quarry Metro Park and went to the wrong dang entrance, then drove around for 15 minutes looking for the right entrance. I was about to flip out by the time we parked! We hung out for a few hours, then I rushed home and started everyone working on their academic fair boards again. I was so excited for this event, but now I just want it to be over!!!! It has been such a weight on my shoulders, knowing everyone has so much to do to get ready.  I made homemade oatmeal in the morning and packed lunch, then had to s...

Back at it! I decided last week that I'm going to start doing intentional meals for the kids...at least this week and maybe next. Just to see how it goes! I made eggs and toast this morning and got school started. It went fine. There weren't that many more dishes and everyone seemed to be happy to have something other than cereal.  For lunch, I got pre-made pizza dough and taught the kids to make calzones! They loved it so much and it really would have been perfect if I hadn't forgotten to set the damn oven timer. Sadly, they were pretty overcooked. The big kids just dealt with it and ate them anyway. The littler girls took a few bites and were like, this is super burnt. Can't eat it. 😓 We took extra long to finish school today, with all the cooking going on, but it was fine.  I was in a horrible mood all day. I think I might be getting my period? I'm not sure, but the mood was terrible. I told myself all day that I was going to get into some cozy jammies and chill...

Happy Easter! Christ is risen!!! I'm so grateful, every day, for Jesus's sacrifice for me. I am a lifelong, stubborn, prideful, mess of a sinner, but he died for me anyway. And then he rose again because He said He would, and His Word is truth. This is *the* day that the Christian faith is built upon and I will always celebrate it!  Before leaving this morning, we played Buck-Buck and, again, Ben was the victor. Sick of it. 😂 I kind of liked being at a different church for Easter Sunday because Dwell just does not make a big deal of things. I mean, I guess they would have tailored this week's teaching to be more guest friendly, but there are just not a lot of emotions attached to things at our church and, sometimes, I just want to be in a church that is doing its utmost to evoke passionate feelings about things that we SHOULD be passionate about! Anywho, just a tiny rant. I'm good with Dwell, it was just nice to be at Love of Christ today. Zach and Skyla came out! I co...

Today was mostly spent doing Bowman things. We left dad and Marme's to head over to Lisa's at 11:30 and were there until 3:30. There was an Easter egg hunt for the kids (they do 21 and under, which I LOVE!) and then a big meal. I got to talk to Evie & JJ, Ted & Tasha, Victoria & fam, and Lisa for a while. Lots of good catching up! And, man, Paige was so generous. She made an Easter basket for each kid under 18 (she's only 23!). And they were filled with all the good stuff too! I'm so proud of her for coming back from her addiction and staying clean and sober this last year and a half. Good stuff.  After Lisa's, we hung out for just a little while before going over to Wilmington Brew Works to hang with Ben's siblings for a couple of hours. I was torn about whether or not to go. I did go, but I'm still not 100% sure it was the right decision. Nobody else brough spouses/boyfriends and I kind of felt like an interloper, but Ben said he wanted me ther...

Our first day of this short trip to DE! We spent the morning with my parents and dyed Easter eggs. A little after lunch, we headed to Newark and I dropped the boys off and then headed down to Seaford to see Lena for a bit. It's the first time I've been to her house! And she moved in 5 years ago. Shame on me. Anyway, she told me it was an hour and 20 minutes away from Newark, but it took me two hours to get there. I was starting to get really stressed about time! I was planning to hang out with the Boettchers in the evening and that meant (assuming an hour and 20 minute drive) that I needed to leave her house around 5:45. Well, since it took so much longer to get there, I didn't arrive until 4!!! Leaving less than two hours to hang out and FOUR hours of driving! *sigh* So sad when plans don't happen the way you hoped they would. It was a nice visit though, and the girls all said they had a great time. Lena and I really want our kids to be friends. Her son Donnie is aweso...

Although it's the day we're heading to DE, I wanted to go to co-op this morning, since it's our last class day and both of the girls are going to do their plays afterwards. The morning was good! I was free to take photos and give a visitor a tour. I honestly don't want anyone new to join, other than Claire, so I tried to make it seem horrible. Just kidding. I did my best, as always. :) :) The girls did a great job in their plays! And they were so hyped up and excited when they were done. That applause is addictive! And then we drove. We drove and drove and drove. And, sadly, Ben and I got into a huge fight about his siblings along the way, so then we sat in tense silence for about two hours of the trip. I feel like we made up? But we were both pretty upset still. It's just that they never make plans and then, as soon as they do, Ben wants to cancel and/or rush any other things my family has planned. It's not right and I'm sick of it. So...that was fun. Hopef...

Today was a little too crazy for my liking. Me and the kids started work on the academic fair this morning and then Jenny came over around 9:30 to hang out and read. The kids were all waiting for me to finish with her so I could work with them one-on-one, but by the time I was done, it occurred to me that I might not have time to work with them at all! I had to get everything packed and had a couple of errands to run, on top of endless chores, and ferrying the older two around to activities. I needed to drop Jonas off at the movie theater at 12, which I did manage to do in time. He was going to see Minecraft (again) with his friends and he was so, so very excited. On the way back from dropping him off, I stopped at Giant Eagle to grab some dinner supplies and things that I need to bring to DE for Saturday's party. By the time I got home, I really just didn't have a lot of time for academic fair boards at all, but Ruby was waiting patiently for me, so I sat down with her for 15...

Today we had Wild & Free in the morning and, while it was a good time and I was having fun conversations, I was just FREEZING COLD for the entire morning. A couple of the girls weren't faring any better. I ended up giving up and just leaving early because I couldn't handle it anymore. The real problem is that I was underdressed. I just wasn't prepared for the wind. I should have worn my winter coat and a hat. Instead, I had on my spring jacket and no hat. That was the wrong move.  After group, we headed to Walmart to grab some tri-fold boards so that we could work on Academic Fair prep tomorrow. Of course, while I was there, I bought a bunch of other crap too. *face palm* $65 and a very frustrating self-checkout later and we were out of there. I know most people probably feel this way, but I really can't stand self-checkout. It's super upsetting to me that every store I go into, I have to add 5-10 minutes of work to my shopping trip at the end, complete with wei...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RUBY!!! She is such a joy in our lives. Low maintenance, easy to please, and always with a ready laugh, she is fun, smart, and full of spirit. I'm so grateful that God gave her to us, when we hadn't even planned on more kids! What would motherhood even be without this girl?? I love her inquisitiveness and her love of all things logical. I love how funny her jokes are and her witty sense of humor. I love her routines and her steady nature. It's so easy to be her mom at this age (9 WHOLE YEARS OLD!!!) and I am excited to see what this 10th year of life brings for her!  Today, we ate all her favorite meals: homemade oatmeal for breakfast, fish sticks, boxed mac, and green beans for lunch, and...well, the Chinese restaurant was closed, so we actually didn't eat dinner. We were all still really full from movie theater popcorn and slushies! We went to see King of Kings . We had cheesecake with strawberry crumble topping for her birthday cake and it was a goo...

Ben hung out with Jesson this morning and then met us at CT. I didn't hear much of the teaching because I was out in the hall talking to Jillian and then Sarah Groom. I'm going to start volunteering at the booth soon and I was concerned because of how much need was still up on the slide during announcements! She said she heard from Mike Sullivan that our HC might be moving to main campus. I really don't want to! I've spent most of my time at Dwell going to CT at 4th St. and I love it there. It's such a diverse group of people and I've formed so many acquaintanceships over the years, especially while working for Oasis. I know I'll have exactly zero say in any decisions made for our HC and I'm trying to just be okay with whatever leadership decides to do. I know some people would really prefer to be up at main campus. When I asked Jenny about it, she said she hasn't heard anything about it. So we'll just have to wait and see what happens!  We'r...

Today was a busy day! But it was good. In the morning, we spent a lot of time cleaning up because the house was pretty destroyed and we were having the Shauls over for dinner tonight. Ben and I both got cleaned up real nice with the intention of going on a fancy lunch date to Kitchen Social. We also needed to stop at the store to get some food for tonight and I was hoping to run by American Eagle to grab my pickup order. Alas, our car had different plans. So. I hop in the car and start driving and notice that it's driving really weird. I thought the power steering was out or something! Just goes to show that I've never had an actual flat tire before because I would have known. The dashboard starts going wild alerting us that the front right tire was completely flat. Since I didn't get any alerts about low tire pressure yesterday, I'm assuming it was a fast leak because all of the air was gone by 11am today. Ben put some air in the tire and we spent our date dropping the...

LHM went pretty well today, honestly. I do think having a better mindset was helpful and, also, having that decision made that we're going to stay in next year was helpful too. I was kind of glad that the picnic afterward was cancelled, because that part of our time is always the hardest on me, not really having many friends in the group. Anne is usually feeding Ezra right after class, Jillian is in leadership and has to do leader things, and Christine is usually cleaning up her classroom, so I tend to just stand around awkwardly while my kids play with their friends. It's very uncomfortable. I'm usually good at making friends! I don't know why it's been so hard in this group. Oh, and it was "tacky/mismatch" day, and the kids were definitely up to the task! They looked so funny. :) After group we stopped at McD's for lunch and then I took Clemi to choir around 2. It was fine. I just sat and read and my book is really good right now, so I was thankful f...

I haven't posted in a very long time, but I can sum up the last week or so in this post. Nothing! Yep, I've done nothing. I mean, the usual things, of course. School, and CT, and HC, and Wild & Free, and running back and forth to choirs, but nothing productive or interesting besides those things. I have really been struggling with my energy and motivation this week. The upstairs hallway still has lots for me to do, but I'm not working on it right now. I hate doing the floor trim and I can't decide on a color for the little pops we want to put in. I've been really sleepy and, today, extremely grumpy. I checked, and it is right in the middle of my cycle. I guess that, at least, follows the trend. And I don't feel crazy, crazy yet, just a little touchy and sad. Praying it won't get that bad again. I felt worse mentally when I was on the pill.  Ruby's birthday is on Monday! And we go to DE next week. It's going to be busy coming up and that's str...

We had LHM today and I wasn't dreading it quite as much as usual. I was prepared and I know that we only have three left of this school year! I had a few good conversations and the kids all had a great time. I spent a lot of time thinking about whether or not we will rejoin next semester. I've been pretty convinced that I'm going to step out of it, but Ben and I decided together that I will do it again and I will force Jonas to go up to the Bridge program that he's been resisting. I think it's what will be best for all of the kids. Maybe not best for me? But I can continue to make friends and I'm sure I'll have more fun next year. Feeling optimistic, what can I say? :)  After LHM, we had Micah over for a couple of hours. I did some work in the hallway, putting up door trim. So frustrating running up and down the stairs to the saw! But I got that all done, aside from the caulking, and then spent an hour and a half cooking a big Indian dinner: chicken tikka ma...

We went to CACH this morning and hung out there until around 1:45pm. It was such a fun day! Classes were fun and Claire came to visit. She's hoping to join with her two boys. I really hope we have space for her.  Ben's family camping trip they planned fell through and he found out that they remade plans without him to just do it in DE. He was really hurt and I spent a lot of hours today thinking about that. They opened up the possibility of coming out here to do it instead, after he expressed how upset he was. I didn't love how he tried to guilt them into coming out. I mean, we are the ones who moved out here. But, at the same time, it wouldn't kill people to show us they love us by coming to visit every once in a while. I do see his point, I think my pride just keeps me from doing stuff like that. Never let them know they hurt you! Silly, I know. I went to the dermatologist in the afternoon and got my left cheek mole removed. My dermatologist is so insanely efficient. ...

  Jenny came over to hang out for a bit this morning. We did finally choose a direction for our time together, moving forward. We've just been catching up for the last couple of months. I think we're going to go through Colossians, which is a great book and will be good to study for a while. I don't know that it's going to help us with our areas that are lacking, necessarily? But I don't actually know everything that's in Colossians, so I guess we'll find out!  I painted the little railing at the top of the stairs today. I had to do THREE COATS! And I really think it'll just peel off because I didn't sand the whole thing, like a dummy. Very, very dumb on my part. Alas, it looks fantastic today! It'll look ratchet in a few months, but right now it's perfection.  At the very last minute, Jonas decided to try out for the VBS play! I've been asking him for weeks, but he kept saying no. Clemi's enthusiasm finally got to him and he decided ...

  We had Wild & Free this morning at Blendon Woods. The natural play area was crazy. Muddy and dangerous and just cray! But the kids had a blast and I had a wonderful time, as always, visiting with friends. I didn't pack lunch because I didn't think we'd want to hang out in the cold and eat, but everyone else did pack lunch and it wasn't that cold so I kind of regretted that decision. We did hang out for a while until hunger forced us to leave.  I picked up McD's for everyone and then came home and replaced the bathroom door upstairs! It was pretty heavy and Ben has helped with all of the doors so far, so I was worried I wouldn't be able to do it on my own, but it actually went really smoothly. I cooked us some dinner and we hung out at home in the evening! Spring break is feeling real good. I wish it could last forever. 

  We started spring break today!!! Clem was begging yesterday and I was thinking it over. I ended up deciding this would be the best week for it, since it's our three co-op week. So, so glad! I literally just read my book for like 6 hours today. I did no work upstairs at all and sat on the couch forever. It was absolutely wonderful.  We headed to HC in the evening and had a really great time! We had good convos and Ben actually started to get excited about a potential race with some of the guys. I hope he decided to do it!  *I was scrolling through Lightroom for something to post, since I didn't take any photos today. Man, what a change! 

Today was a pretty slow, relaxing day. I went to church with the girls in the morning. There weren't many people from HC there today, so we didn't stay too long.  When I got home, I did a little more work on the floor and finished up as much as I could get done without doing the stairs or taking the bathroom door out. It's looking so darn good!  The rest of the day was spent reading and chillin'. Clem went to group in the evening and had a great time, but Jonas said he was feeling sick, so he missed out. 

It was a good day! I mean, there were some emotions happening, but it was ultimately good. Ben woke me up this morning saying that he was not going to go on the guys cell retreat as planned. I was not surprised at all but was very disappointed. I'd been hoping this would be an opportunity for him to show that he's a part of the group because he always feels like such an outsider. My thought process was that there's all these new guys...and if Ben went to this retreat at the same time as all of these new people, he'd be seen as an established person in the group. Does that make sense? Not going on the retreat makes it seem like he's a fringe member, leaving him to forever feel like an outsider. Whatever. I need to just let it go, since I cannot control his behavior or feelings at all. But it hurts a little. I want fellowship for him, but he just won't allow himself to be vulnerable with this group again at this point.  Because I thought Ben was going to be gone, ...