We left our VRBO home in the morning to head back to Seward. For four nights we enjoyed spacious yet cozy accommodations. On the inside it looked like a log cabin in the woods. With the seven of us, two hotel rooms is pretty much a necessity. With six of us we can still make it work when you find a place with two queen beds and pull-out sofa. With the house there were enough beds for almost each child to have their own.

The way back was uneventful. We emptied the fridge of the remaining food we’d collected over the week for our picnic lunch at the beach, the time we ordered pizza, and the one night when we cooked. To take everyone out to eat averaged $150 for a sit down place. We didn’t stop for a meal and used the remaining food to manage for lunch. Dad and the kids walked to McDonalds for supper tonight and spent around $70.

I wasn’t hungry until they came back. They had already had the conversation about guarding against Mom stealing their fries. Josh asked me on their way out if I was sure, if I wanted any fries and I said no. I was prepared to live with my choice even as my daughter’s chicken sandwich revealed to me that I probably could have eaten something. I was saving room for dessert to meet some friends who’d recently moved.

She was a junior counselor with me at camp. Her husband is now an assistant professor at the university and they’ve only been living there about a month. She reached out to me yesterday mentioning their recent move and saying we’d come to her mind. Isn’t that something? I told her we’d be in Seward the next day, and that Ethan was a student there returning for his sophomore year. We hung out for two hours and they all played.

They have four kids a little younger, but they remembered each other from camp. They are a wonderful Lutheran family who will make a great addition to the community and I anticipate and pray that the community will also be a blessing to them and for continuously growing children. Her sister lives very close to us and recently had a baby. It’s been on my mind to contact her. The high school kids missed their first day today.