Aaaand we're back! We started school last Monday, because according to John Paul we must start on the 3rd Monday of August. Fine by me! We got through the first week unscathed, with minimal tears, and the house just as messy as it started but not really any messier so I'll take that as a win!

Name: John Paul

Age: 8 years, 1 month

Grade: 3rd

Most excited to: Do the Application and Enrichment in math. Why? Because it's so fun! I did all of the application and enrichment in Delta before I even finished Gamma!

Future occupation: I don't know, I'll probably go to the ISS (International Space Station), football player, dad, lawyer, American Ninja Warrior...

My Sunday Best, Volume 69: Bloggers on a Trampoline

30-some Catholic women bloggers (along with 8 babies, and 5 babes in uteri) descended upon Ana Hahn's house yesterday and between mimosas, coffee, and sangria, had some lovely and fruitful discussions!

Also a little bit of trampoline jumping. Or sitting, in some cases ;)

33/52: Dress-up and Mischief

My Sunday Best, Volume 68: Kidney Stones and Canning

Happy Sunday! Elizabeth wanted to be in my picture this week, despite her non-Mass attire... Pattern mixing forever!

32/52: Pigtails and Pulling Up

My Sunday Best, Volume 67: Let's Talk About Racism

We live in Virginia, not far from Charlottesville. If you don't live under a rock, you've probably heard about what went down there yesterday. If you haven't heard, I found this to be a helpful summary.

Here's my honesty: I grew up with parents who worked really hard to raise us to be color-blind. Racism was thought to be a thing of the past. Once we hit the Civil Rights Movement in our history studies, it was as though everything was fixed, all minds enlightened, all persons equal. I read that Babysitter's Club book where Jessi's family moved to Connecticut and encountered racism and thought, "Wait, seriously? That doesn't happen anymore. This is ridiculous and unrealistic." In my mind, there was no racism in the world anymore.

It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized that wasn't actually the case.

Not one picture in focus this week, as usual...

7 Summer Dresses {7QT}

Everybody seems to be going back to school, fall styles are filling my news feed and inbox, and... We've got a good 1.5-2 months more of summer temperatures! Fall in Virginia takes a little while to start, and I'm holding on to summer as long as I possibly can. Since I returned the suuuuper-adorable dress from my last Stitch Fix box, I've been on the hunt for casual, nursing-friendly summer dresses and have found some good options that I had to share here in case you're on the lookout, too!

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31/52: Home on the Homestead

My Sunday Best, Volume 66: Hospital Style

Happy Sunday!

I hope you're having a more restful weekend than I am... We're still in the hospital, not entirely sure when we'll be leaving. The mass/cyst/lesion (they seem to be using those words interchangeably) in Edith's lung was pretty large, so they couldn't remove the lobe thorascopically (through a keyhole incision) and had to do a thoracotomy instead, which means a longer recovery.

Here she is before the surgery, looking really stinking cute even though she was hungry and exhausted.

And we've basically just been holding her to try to keep her settled (she wants to rip the IVs out of her hands, roll over on her chest tube, kick out her catheter...), or having me awkwardly lean over the bed nursing her. 

The pain meds seem to be keeping things under control, thankfully. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to get rid of some of these tubes and wires and be closer to going home!

I hit the hospital vigil Mass in anticipation of today being another rough day, and I'm glad I did! Trying to leave to get to Mass wouldn't have been a great idea...

Your turn!

Post your outfit details & links or not, regale us all with your children's antics, reflect deeply on the readings, or just do a straight picture post - anything goes as long as you actually wore your outfit to church. The link-up is open until Friday, so you've got plenty of time to add your post!

Just a few ground rules before you link up:

1. Please include a photo of what you wore to church this week.

2. Please link back to this post in the body of your post, so your readers know where to find other posts (posts not mentioning "My Sunday Best" or not linking back to this post will be subject to removal).

3. Please visit some other posts in the link-up & leave a nice comment - this is all about affirming each other and building community, not just link dropping :)

4. Make sure the link you add is a link to your specific post or instagram picture (hashtag #mysundaybest and mention me in your caption, @rosiehill425 so I don't miss it!), not just your blog address.

5. Enjoy, and thanks for linking up!

30/52: Pancakes and Surgery

Breakfast is getting trickier in the mornings because I started allowing cereal only once a week (and the floor is SO much cleaner because of it) and Edith never wants to be put down. But she LOVES food. So Andrew gave her one of the sourdough pancakes and she was so happy. A mess afterwards, but I got breakfast cooked and cleaned up in peace, so the trade-off was worth it!

We've been trying to prepare for her surgery on Friday emotionally and physically, and I'm trying to decide how to spend the time in the hospital... I think it'll be nice to have a little bit of a retreat, so I've deleted Facebook from my phone and will probably do the same with Instagram. I'll be bringing some books and some homeschool planning (music study planning, which I'm pretty darned excited about) to pass the time, and I'm thankful that we won't be there long enough for me to binge *too* much on chocolate! 

We get to be at the hospital at 5:30 AM on Friday for a 7:30 surgery. Thankfully Edith only has to fast starting at 3:30, which really shouldn't be too bad. As far as surgery goes, who knows? They'll go in through a keyhole incision in her side and then scope things out and see how invasive things need to be and whether they need to remove the entire affected lobe of her left lung (likely) or more than that (we hope not). If they can't remove it easily, they'll have to open her up - shorter surgery time, but more gnarly scar and slightly longer recovery time.

The surgeon estimates 2-4 days of hospital time, probably closer to 2 assuming things go as planned. So hopefully we'll be home Sunday? I'm definitely ready for this whole CPAM experience to be over and done with, that's for sure!

We so appreciate your prayers! Hopefully I'll have good news in a few days.