Yikes, a few days have passed since I last wrote.

Friday was the 4th. The memorable parts of the day included going to the chiropractor and in the parking lot seeing quite a few thick cardboard tubes from flooring that was being installed in the new dance studio. I went inside and found the one person laying floor and asked him if I could take them. He obliged and so C and I loaded all of them up. She thought I was silly, but my thinking was they could make really nice scratching posts and walkways for the cats. I could have simply taken one or two, but we took the entire stack. I didn’t want to be later thinking “oh, I wish I had grabbed more”. Part of me thinks I should find other job sites and find what leftover scraps are just going to be dumped in the trash that I could make cat things out of.

We did not realize it, but apparently the 4th of July fireworks had been cancelled due to technical difficulties. Turned out they were rescheduled from September 4. So at 8:30 PM we headed downtown to watch the fireworks. Initially we were just planning to go to our spot we watched from back in ‘24, but C had some cross country friends invite her to watch with them from the park. We parked in a nearby neighborhood thinking the parking up close would be full and walked to the infield. By now it was dark and in the 80s. Definitely a hot “August” night, but in September. To us it felt amazing. It took us a bit to find Cs friends – the one she was communicating with was using things like “on the north side, second pole to the south”, which we did correctly identify but we didn’t see them. After a tad bit of wandering, which I didn’t mind, we found them and walked to their chosen viewing spot. Willie and I had completely forgotten a blanket or chairs – last time we simply stood by the cars and watched them. He and I left C with her friends and walked to the edge of the track to sit on a slight incline to watch. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

The parking was not full near the park, which we laughed at.

On our way back to the cars there was a girl fight and the security personnel drove up on golf carts to put a stop to it. All the watchers scattered, running away, and the two girls ended up in handcuffs. I didn’t see both of them, but one had dark hair with some of it dyed bright red. She definitely stood out by her hair and style choice. It made me sad for her and I wondered what brokenness she had around her. We continued to talk about how girls fight – lots of hair pulling – and how to respond if that happens. I don’t foresee C getting into any fights or any of her friends, but sometimes the darkness likes to try to take on the light.

Having gotten to bed late on Friday, we weren’t quick to rise on Saturday, though I can’t really stay in bed too long and once my mind is awake, there is no shutting it down. There is too much to get done anyway to stay in bed for too long. The planned projects for the day included house cleaning and working on the garage attic. We were able to get the attic stairs in, but nothing beyond that. Cs friend came over to help her with some Spanish. I was so thankful she was able to do that.

In the evening we went over to our friend’s house for another burgers and brats evening with visiting and games. It was a slightly different group than last time, but oh so enjoyable. I love the friends we are making here. Our family actually ended up being the last one to leave, after Willie gave his testimony. My friend Allison asked him to tell it to her four children, so as we sat around the fire he told his story, a snippet of it, hitting some highlights. I think if we were to actually sit down and try to tell the story, without leaving any of the miracles and blessings we noticed, would take hours.

Our new church has three Sunday services. We went to the last one because we were all exhausted from staying up until almost 11. Our waking hours are becoming more “night-owlish”, though we are far from night owls. C is perhaps owlish…she definitely isn’t much of a morning girl if given the choice.

Mama stopped by for a quick visit on her way home. It was nice to see her.

Willie and I prepped more floor boards for the attic though we didn’t put any up.

The kittens were able to come upstairs and spend the evening with us. They enjoyed helping C with her puzzle.