Okay...my unintentional summer sabbatical is almost over....

Thanks for the encouragement (?) to start blogging again. I had never really intended to stop!!... but the summer took a VERY busy turn! Anyway.... I kept a few things in mind and even jotted a few funny conversations with my kids to catch back up. So the summer summary....


1. We committed to working with the college group from Memorial for the summer. A highlight for us was 2 hours each Monday night spent with about 15 kids who wanted to study more on how to become leaders. It was challenging, encouraging and refreshing! What an amazing group... it encourages me for God's kingdom!


2.My husband's younger brother, Aaron moved from Ohio to live with us this summer before heading to AIM for the fall. - Wow. We've always loved him... but it was fun getting to know him all over again as an adult. He impressed and blessed us. And little did we know that God intended to use Aaron to address many of the hopes we had for the college group. It's amazing to watch our God work. He was a blessing to our family and this became a special summer because he was here. We seriously miss him already!

3. My husband's other brother, Jeremy, and his wife Jessica, and daughter Elizabeth, moved to Tulsa, and moved in with us until they bought a house.
How exciting to have them here! We are thrilled. God opened amazing doors for jobs and a house... making their transition quicker than I had ever dared to hope for. They lived with us for about a month.

With both brothers and family, the house was full and hopping with activity... but it was a special and unique time that I doubt will ever happen again....and I can honestly say I treasured every moment with them! Aaron's in Lubbock, and Jeremy & Jessica are now getting settled into their new home, but come this fall...we may get to have the whole family ( including Jason's youngest brother, sister in law and nieces, together for Thanksgiving. This will be a first that I can remember, so I'm thrilled at the possibility!

3. VACATION! The crazy summer was brought (nearly) to a close by a wonderful vacation in Destin, Florida.

We went with some dear friends... and it was wonderful! We sometimes ask our kids what the "highs" and "lows" of their day was... so I'll share a few of those for our vacation time....

LOWS:

Julia throwing up massively about 5 minutes before we left the house. Undeterred, we loaded the car and left. She continued to throw up about every hour, despite stopping in Russellville and then Conway for Rxs, (sorry we didn't call you Dusty...) until we finally stopped in Memphis, TN. At one point Eli was throwing up at the same time. Somehow I managed to keep the car completely clean. I was impressed with myself. That was probably a "HIGH" for me. :-) I'm a pro with baggies now....

Also, I got stung by a jellyfish. What's funny was that it was on the inside of my thigh, and it was painful enough that for a day I couldn't walk comfortably or gracefully.... My mother-in-law told Jason last night she heard you were supposed to "pee" on jellyfish stings to inactivate the poison. I'd say I wish I knew that then... but somehow I think I would've just put up with it anyway. :-)

HIGHS:

No phones or email for a week... no "to do" lists... no makeup or fixing my hair....

Homemade Strawberry shortcake almost every night, AFTER the kids went to bed!

Swimming every day... naps every day...

Going to beach, enjoying the view and the sounds, then, after getting hot and sandy, coming back and jumping into the cool clean pool to swim for another hour!

a spectacular lightening storm one night!

our kids enjoying each others' company so much that they wanted to have a "sleepover" together... even though they were already on vacation together!

Eli lost his first tooth!

We not only 'remained' friends through the week... we enjoyed and were thoroughly blessed by the whole time together!

Overall it was a wonderful time and a HUGE blessing... really the first "major" vacation that I can think of that we have ever taken - purely for the sake of relaxing, with no agendas. It makes me appreciate more why God called us to rest at times.

***

Well... I have in front of me a stack of 7 papers on which I have jotted notes or conversations to eventually blog... but I think I'll save those. The summer is not quite over.. we have a busy weekend , school begins next week ( and my baby is off to Kindergarten!), and then a garage sale to plan for next weekend... but after that, things should slow down. I'll save my cute stories for then... and won't take so long to get back!

I'll leave you with this Julia-ism: (with me while grocery shopping):

"Mom... we have to get some freezing dinners. We are all out of freezing dinners at home."