Family is all you need!

Philosophy is done. Summer is officially here. Relief. 

Been thinking about my family a lot this summer. Sister is officially done with grad school and has her Masters. So proud. 

Mama, daddy, Manda, and Josh all get to see each other this weekend. Am I jealous? Yes. I miss them. All of them. If I could pick one word to describe my family, it would be Ragamuffin. Because we are, if you look at our pictures growing up, you can tell. But I love it that way. I love that Mom let us run around barefoot all day and let Josh take mud baths. She let us be kids. And therefore, we made the best memories. My favorite memories. 

When life gets crazy and friends move away, I know that I still will always have my family. They get me. Yes, they think I am so weird, but they still get me. We all get each other. We laugh at each other, think things are hilarious when really its not that funny, and we live life. We pray, we cry, we laugh, we yell, we chase each other, we get on each other's last nerve, but we love each other. 

During spring break mom said, "Can you two (Josh and me) go into my room and wrestle each other away from me?" Or her other favorite, "Be so quiet so I think I am home alone." 

We love comparing ourselves to the Middle. But really, we are so that family. 

Natural parks, camping, Montana, the heat, guide dogs, the beach, summer camp, home schooling, raking the fall leaves, selling persimmons in the front yard, playing outside when the sun is going down, being kids, being ragamuffins, hugging mom, and waiting for dad to come home. 

All words that describe my childhood. I love my family and I miss them a lot. 

I thank Jesus every day for blessing me with such amazing people. They're the best <3 

xoxo, 

Whitney Rose 

Miss Whitney

So, I am finished with my third day of nannying of this week and I feel so blessed to be spending my week at  Flathead lake taking care of some pretty cute kiddos! What has amazed me the most this week is that I went into this summer having NO job opportunities and now I have three or four! Let me explain, the family that I have been hanging out with this week has had a lot of relatives and friends who have been at the lake and a handful of them got my information and might use me to babysit. It started yesterday when a friend of the family knew some other families who need a sitter and got my information. Then today a family who lives in Columbia Falls asked me for my information too! From watching the Emerson kids this week, to their friends asking me for my information, to Grandma's friend telling me she might need me on Fridays, I am so overwhelmed with JOY.

I feel so completely blessed that all these different job opportunities are jumping out at me this week. Especially by the fact that I had no possibilities for a job at the beginning of the summer. God is so absolutely good to me. I feel so blessed by the Emerson's and their friends. I am so glad for this opportunity to help them out this week. I absolutely love children and love spending time with them, so for me to be able to do this with my summer is just so great. I know this is where God wanted me to be.

Today while on my way home driving Gilbert, I stopped to get gas. I felt like such a big girl, making money, driving my own car, and pumping gas. (Good thing Paige taught me how to pump gas last quarter!) It feels good to spend time driving and really getting use to the van while I am here before getting back to SLO.
I feel so happy that even though last year was hard, I was able to grow so much. I am so happy to have this stress free summer, working on nannying as well as my online philosophy class. Life is simple right now and that's the way I love it.

So, tonight as we get ready for another night of summer baseball, I can't help but smile at all the tan lines on my back (from two different bathing suits, my sports bra, and tank top). I am so glad this is where God has me this summer. From tan lines, to goats, to Gilbert, or Flathead lake, this summer is working out exactly the way it is suppose to be.

And as what my kids call me, I leave you with:
- Miss Whitney
tonight. :)