Photo Journal - Josie Boettcher

Today was a little rough for me. I have had a sore throat since yesterday that I was trying to ignore, so I started the day lagging a bit. Ben and I both overslept, so we didn't make it to prayer, and I barely made it there for the start time Sarah has set for people serving that week! When I got there, Matt, the other person in my position, was already there. I felt really confused because it's my week to serve, but he said he thought we were switching. The only dates we had switched were August 17th for the 24th. Like, it's in writing on Slack. But it's like he thinks we've switched permanently? I have no idea. I'm so confused. Then, he looks me in my eyes and says, "I just don't understand why I'm not on every week. It seems simpler." And I'm just like, "Yeah, I guess it can get confusing sometimes." *shrug* My insecurity tells me he wants me to step down so he has the role to himself, but when I brought it up to Rachel, Jenny,...

Such a nice, relaxing day! After getting lots of organizing and planning done last night, I feel much more calm and like life is doable again. I've been so darn stressed! We had a chill morning, then I picked Jonas up from Max's house. He said he had an awesome time at the sleepover. Sounds like a really late night and tons of junk food and video games, but that's what sleepovers are for, right??  Once I dropped him off at home, Ben and I went out on a date. First, we went to this Latin restaurant called Cilantro. The menu seemed AMAZING. Like, insane. But we were shown to our seats and then completely ignored for 20 minutes, so we ended up leaving. Nobody even noticed us get up and walk out the door. I'm sure they realized it when there was an empty table with menus sitting on it! It's a bummer. That place looked really good. We'll try again another time. We ended up going to La Casita instead, where we had prompt and attentive service, along with delicious foo...

I started school in the morning, because we still have a bunch of things to get done for this week, but everyone wanted to go to the LHM park day, so we left at 10:15 to go there. I, of course, was dreading it. This group is such a challenge for me! I just don't feel like I fit in here. Alas, we went to the park and I found a spot to sit...kind of intruding on a conversation happening between a couple of other moms, one of whom I had met once or twice. I was very grateful that Sara (who is in one of my other co-ops) got there soon after that and she and I talked for a long time. I definitely feel like we click well, but she's the kind of person that clicks well with everyone, it seems. :) A very endearing quality in a person! But not one that I trust, because I never feel like I really know if they like me or if they just like everyone. That sounds pathetic. Me and my stupid trust issues. Christine came over after a little while and joined us, along with a new mom to the co-op....

Ben and I had an uncomfortable confrontation today. I was freaking out, feeling stressed about the 10 million things I feel like I have to do on my own and Ben said something about staying home from cell to help me. I snarkily replied, "You wouldn't actually help, though. You'd sit on the couch, staring at your phone like you always do." He got right off the phone and I realized that my comment was overly harsh, so I texted an apology. He didn't text back. When he got home, he told me he was feeling really upset with me, and felt like I say things to him that I would not accept him saying to me. Whether that's true or not, the fact is that I was rude and hurt his feelings, so I apologized for that. This, of course, was not good enough. Apologies are never enough for Ben. He has to be able to rant and over explain for a while before he can let things go. So he angrily got dressed and left to go for a run, while I got myself ready for the stupid LHM orientation ...

I did these headshots for Ben while I had my backdrop set up so that he can update his LinkedIn. He's feeling pretty anxious about the administration changing in a year and potentially being left with no job. I feel like it's very unlikely, since the person in his position before him was in that job for 17 years, through many administration changes, but he is like 80% sure he's going to have no job and there's nothing I can do to change his mind! So we took pictures. :) And I'll update his LinkedIn for him and make it look fancy. :)

Such a beautiful, awesome day. We spent hours and hours at Wild & Free this morning/early afternoon at Shale Hollow Park. We walked, hung out in the natural play area, and the kids explored in the creek a little. I got so much time to visit with people and the kids had so much fun. I mean, it was just a perfect morning with perfect weather.  We went to the car wash afterward and FINALLY cleaned the dang car out! Man, it was filthy. I don't know when the next time will be that it'll be nice enough out to do this again, so I had to take advantage of my chance. I had all the kids help out...except for Ruby, who just sat in her seat, eating sandwiches. 😅 By the time we got home, I was feeling pretty tapped out socially, so I hid in my room and read for an hour. Jonas acted as a guard and didn't let anyone bother me. I also got to shower and blow dry my hair before heading out to dinner with Kamola. We met at Kitchen Social at 5 and, whoa. Their food was insanely good. I...

School! We got our work done for the morning, despite lots and lots of complaining from Olive. We had to have a serious talk about her attitude in the mornings. I know she doesn't want to do anything, but she's been such a bummer! I ended up telling her that we may have to consider school if she can't get it together when she's with me. Of course, that's not what she wants, but this is just really frustrating.  We rushed out to a 1pm meeting for Jonas's 8th grade co-op he's going to do for science. He seems really excited about it! It was really cool how many people we already knew there. I'm really hoping this year goes well for him! It's a pretty expensive class and will take a chunk of time out of my Mondays, driving him back and forth.  After that meeting, Jonas and I started working on building Murphy's cat house for out back. The hope is that he'll kind of live in there while we're in Maine! I need to get a roof for it, but it's...

I covered for Sarah at CT this morning and it went really smoothly! I got to talk to lots of people and we didn't have any issues at all. Things with TNT are a mess and I texted her asking if we could set up a meeting for next Sunday but haven't heard back. I'm assuming she's trying to disengage from work while she's on vaca? I'd really like an answer though!  Ben ended up feeling bad in the afternoon, so he cancelled MtG at Marty's and hung out at home. We did not do much of anything at all! I did a ton of laundry, a little cleaning, and a little homeschool prep. Once Jonas and Clem left for group, I made dinner for the rest of us...crab cakes for me and Ben! I thought they were delicious, but Ben really didn't seem into them at all. I have no idea why.  I worked on editing the photos I took of the kids yesterday for a very long time this afternoon. I think they turned out really nice though! I've already ordered our new posters. :) So excited! I ho...

It was a good but busy day for me! Lots of time spent with people. I relaxed for a little while in the morning and then Ben and I went out on a date around 11. It wasn't super exciting or anything, just some shopping, but we had a nice time anyway. When I got back from that, I ate some lunch, then took Clem out on our mommy/daughter date. We went to Starbucks and discussed our book, then went to the makeup section and oohed and ahhed over all of the pretty, glittery things. I love that glitter has made a comeback! I just feel like it's too much for me to wear anymore, sadly. :( But I can live vicariously through my girlies. :) Dinner with the Torellis was great! Clem had a runny nose yesterday and congestion today, so we made her stay home, just in case. Jonas stayed with her, since she still can't stay home alone. Clem was sad to miss Tori and Jonas was sad to miss the food, but they both seemed excited to be home alone with no sisters to take care of. 😏 Andrew made chick...

Today was a pretty good day! School was a little frustrating. Ruby is just in this place where she wants my full attention for every single speck of her schoolwork. She used to operate a lot more independently than she has been lately. Now, every math problem, every single thing she does, she wants to sit next to me and get my input on it. It's not that I don't want to do this with her, but I have FOUR WHOLE KIDS, and I do not have unlimited time in the day. Her schoolwork is taking up more than half of the time I spend on school, total. I don't know how to get her to back off a little! I feel like it must be connected to this separation anxiety that's been going on lately. That doesn't help me find a solution though! In the afternoon, we did our next round of papier mache. They are looking really good! I think some might be ready to paint soon, but some will need one more layer of paper and glue. The kids are excited to be getting closer to the finish line and I...

Back to school this morning! It was a good day, but extra, extra long. We weren't done until almost 2! It was crazy. After finishing up, I just did some cleaning and a little yardwork. I skipped cell tonight because I'm just feeling exhausted and not ready to give up our staycation yet! It was relaxing and driving over to the other side of the city is the opposite of that. Trying not to get into a headspace where I'm resentful. I get so frustrated about how convenient all of our meetings are for everyone else and how inconvenient they are for us, but it was OUR decision, and I need to keep that top of mind. We wanted to live over here and we also want to be in this group. The only way to have both good things is to have the one downside of having longer drives. Nevertheless, I skipped tonight and snuggled with my littlest, watching the first Avengers movie. :) *Disturbing artwork by Jonas today. Yikes.

It is the last day of staycation. Wah! We went to COSI in the morning and hung out there for a couple of hours. It was so fun! We went to a bunch of different exhibits and were pretty exhausted when it was over. But, we had promised the kids hibachi for lunch, so we headed there afterwards. I wasn't feeling up to the cost OR the huge amounts of food at hibachi, but everyone else wanted it so that's what we did! It was honestly good. I didn't overeat too much, and we were sat with some friendly guys.  In the afternoon, we just hung out! The weather was amazing, so I hung out outside and weeded for a couple of hours. Hoping it stays nice and cool for a few more days so I can get out there some more. 

5th day of staycation! Today was our big, big pool day. It's the last day of the season for the pool, so we got it in just in time. Ben and I hung out in the lazy river and the deep pool with the kids for the first hour, but after we dried off during the break period (and saw the huge crowds everywhere) we decided to sit out for the second period. We headed home after the two periods, though, because it was just so crowded everywhere...and because we lost our spot. On the way home, we stopped at Rita's for a cold treat and then ran to the store to pick up supplies for dinner.  The afternoon was pretty chill and then Ben and I went out for a fancy date at Cameron Mitchell's American Bistro. We had a fun waiter who filled us in on some restaurant gossip 😅 and ate an incredibly delicious dinner. Ben also decided to put on the reservation that it was our anniversary, so we got a free dessert! But it was awkward because our waiter asked if it was our anniversary and I said no, ...

4th day of staycation! Today, we took the kids to the movies to see Sketch and we walked around the mall for a while. I thought the mall opened at 10, but it actually opened at 11 so we just kind of wandered around, waiting for stores to open. We did get to go to Macy's for a little bit and the girls gushed over all of the makeup and perfume. 😐 By the time we got to the movies, Clem and Ollie were covered in makeup! haha So cute though! The movie was 100x scarier than I expected. Angel is a Christian movie production company, so I knew it would be relatively safe for them to watch, but it was straight horror! Like, kid's horror, but still. Very scary! I felt bad for bringing them to it and am very worried about nightmares. But it was a quality movie, at least! I cried a bunch because, underlying all of the scary stuff, a girl was grieving the loss of her mom, and I just started to think about what would happen to my kids and Ben if I died.  I had a meeting with Nathan after w...

CT was a long one today. We got there early for prayer, for once. I guess Tyler said something during men's cell that made Ben feel convicted to try and go more often and, since the kids had to be there early to serve anyway, we just made it a point to get there in time for prayer. It went pretty well. Both Ben and I spoke up once or twice, but it was difficult to hear one another and being out on the patio was pretty distracting. Ollie and Ruby were so quiet, but a bee kept landing on Ollie and she was struggling to maintain her calm! 😅 There was an after-party once CT was over. I spent nearly the whole time talking to Anne. I can't believe she's delivering in two days! Praying, praying, praying for a smooth induction and that baby girl will be as healthy as possible.  We really just chilled out all afternoon. I read a bit, did some laundry, and dishes, then Jonas and Clem went to a pool party with their cell group and Ben and I took Ruby and Ollie to Bob Evan's for d...

We all slept ok, thank goodness! Everyone (besides me and Jonas) woke up way too early though, making for a very long morning. We headed back to Columbus around 10. Hazel and Dennis do a good job of not making us feel rushed out or too pressured to stay. I have no idea if they were ready for us to be gone! Which is a good thing, right?  In the afternoon, we really just sat around and (most of us) read. We were pretty exhausted, and it didn't help knowing that we had a long evening coming up.  The CACH kick-off party was pretty fun! Ben has been in a more outgoing mood lately, praise the Lord, so he wasn't super surly the whole time. He had a few conversations independent of me, and I was able to have a couple of brief conversations. But Claire was there, and I felt a responsibility to hang out with her most of the time, so I didn't visit with many people. She did go kayaking with my girls though! Haha I was too miserable and hot to take them out. We were drenched with sweat...

First day of "Staycation"! I'm putting that in parenthesis because I just don't know that that's what we're doing, exactly. It kind of feels like, in reality, Ben is just taking a couple of days off of work. 😅 I think we wanted it to be a big deal! But we've got a lot of financial concerns right now and it seems like we can't afford to do a ton. Also, Zoombezi Bay is going to be closed on weekdays, and we did not realize that. That was our big event! So...is it a staycation? Or is it just Ben taking a few days off of work? I don't really know. I guess we'll see what the next 5 days bring. Today, though, we headed out to Marietta to visit with Ben's dad and stepmom. It was a good day! We got there around 11 and headed out to the movies around 12:45. Ben and I bought the tickets for everyone and, man, we were in for a VERY BIG SURPRISE. I normally spend about $30 on tickets for our fam with our Cinemark movie membership (plus the $10 I pay e...

Well, sleep was pretty horrible, thanks to those damn sit-ups. 😅 So dumb! But it's true. The dizziness lasted through the night and was still there a little when I got up for the day. I couldn't even move my head all night long, making sleep very light and uncomfortable. Thankfully, it wore off before our game time at the library, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to drive over there! We did school in the morning, then stopped to go to the library and hang out with some CACH friends. It was a pretty good time for all of us. Ollie is so awkward around people and I just wish she would put herself out there and make some dang friends! She just sits and stares at other people having fun, unless her sisters help her. I was a little quieter than usual with the ladies today. There was some Trump-loving nonsense going on that I just couldn't get behind. They were talking about how the whole world is going to go to hell in a handbasket once Trump is no longer in office, and I...

Today was a pretty good day! Brit cancelled our hangout this morning, due to sick kiddos, but it meant that we had the full morning to get school done. The kids did a great job with their work and, around 12:30, I headed to Christine's with Ruby and Ollie. Clem was going to come, but Jonas guilted her into staying home with him so he wouldn't get too bored. Christine's was good! Ollie and Ruby kept the little ones occupied, while I cleaned the house and Christine worked in the gardens, both front and back. Little Lavendar was OBSESSED with Ollie! Ollie did not even know what to do with all that adoration. 😅 It was cute though. I'm thinking I might just keep going over there on the Wednesdays that I don't have parenting meetings. There's no real reason I have to stop, aside from overwhelm. Since I'm not feeling overwhelmed right now, it's easy to say I can keep going! I think I'll just have to take it week by week and not over-commit myself.  In the ...

Our second day of school went really well! I should make the kids get dressed and take some dang pictures of them. I skipped Wild & Free this morning, because nobody except Ruby wanted to go. I had plans to get together with Jenny to read in the afternoon and everyone just thought it would be too hard to get our school stuff done with all of the interruptions. I agreed, so we chilled at home and got a couple of hours of focus time.  My time with Jenny in the afternoon was good. The book we're reading is pretty convicting and this chapter pushed a lot on relying on friends to hold you accountable about different things. It would be very awkward to ask some of the questions Gary suggests, but it would be really good to help one another think along those lines! I cannot wait for the day when I don't feel like such a disaster of a person. Will that day come or does learning more about God just make you realize how very far you are from being like Him?? We made mini pizzas for d...

First day of school!!! Everything went off without a hitch, and we all had a really good day! It took a bit longer than it likely will on a normal day. We took a break for lunch and then had to get back at it for another hour or so. It was fine, but made the afternoon seem short. I got groceries delivered at 4:30 and then had to get dinner started right away. I was hoping for some time to do papier mache at some point, but we finished school around 2 and then I was waiting for groceries. I don't know. I probably would have had time to do it, but I'm honestly intimidated about how messy it might be and making the glue. I have to do it, though, because I need to know how it's going to work for my class! I can't keep procrastinating on this forever.  In the evening we went to HC and that was pretty fun. No deep conversations or anything, but some fun ones, at least. Ben wasn't grumpy, so that was a big relief! I've been feeling very convicted about the feelings I h...

The depression seemed to back off a little today, thank God. We went to CT in the morning and the teaching was actually really good. I had never listened to a teaching from Josh Benadum before. The kids had a great time in their classes, and we hung out for a few minutes afterwards.  After CT, I did a lot of last-minute prep for school tomorrow: got Ruby's spelling program set up, changed some things around in the dining room, filled out my school planner for the coming week, and got Jonas's curriculum downloaded. I didn't have a ton of relax time, but I was productive! In the evening, Ben took the littler girls to the pool while the big kids were at group. I stayed home and started painting Clem's closet. It's over 80 degrees in her room and it was not a fun project to work on, but it needs to get done. I really need to go get hanging rods and more paint tomorrow, if I can make the time. But we have a lot going on... We're starting school tomorrow! Very excited...

I got up super early today and went to Main Campus for the first day of my new job. It was...uneventful? I think the Saturday childcare is pretty straightforward. The hardest part will be hiring people to come in consistently and I'm not at the point where I need to find people yet, so I'll worry about that when I get to it!  Afterward, I ran to Kroger and grabbed ingredients for some food for Noemi and James's party and then came home and prepped. I got to spend a little time playing a video game and then we headed out. It was a pretty good time! We had fun talking and catching up with people, but it was really hot out and there was definitely some tension/sadness about everything going on with James. I spent a little time talking to some of their friends who aren't in Dwell, but not nearly enough. I disappointed myself with my lack of effort today. I'm just feeling so darn sad still! But I hung out with new people for a little while, at least. Hopefully I'll b...

Today was the first day of the week that we didn't have plans. Finally! I played my game for a little while this morning, and felt a little sad, knowing it's coming to an end with school starting next week. Then, before lunch, we started the papier mache project I've been putting off for two months. Our first step was creating the skeletons of our projects. Ruby and Ollie both made piggy banks, which I think will be adorable. I started a simple bowl and an elephant sculpture. I'm not sure how that's going to turn out! Jonas is working on a turtle and Clem is making a very round cat. I'm not sure when we'll start with the actual papier mache part, but hopefully very soon! 

We were supposed to have a playdate with CACH this morning, but I wasn't really feeling like being out in the heat. I asked Ruby and Ollie what they thought, and Ollie did not want to go, while Ruby did. Since I didn't feel like going, it was 2 against 1, so we skipped. Jonas was super upset that I didn't even mention it to him, though, because he wanted to see his friend Aliyah again. I felt a little bad about it, but not terrible. Instead, we went to the library for a little while and got some new books, then went to the pool for a while. It was SUPER busy there, which I hated. I went in pants and socks and was burning hot, totally unprepared for being there for long. However, I ran into Becky from co-op and she asked me to sit with her. We ended up talking for almost two hours, and it was actually really nice. We haven't gotten the chance to actually get to know each other, so spending some time one-on-one with her was really cool. I'm glad I did it! I was very r...