Thursday, July 30, 2009

Goings on

Ginger Grandma treats her like a baby, and she doesn't seem to mind.

I thought that I would get some rest and relax and enjoy the summer after camp. HMMM. That hasn't happened. It seems like all I do is run. From orthodontist to dentist to drama practice for church..... on and on it goes. My goals for the fall are a. learn to say "no" and mean it; b. don't schedule more than one day of appointments durning a week; and c. find out what needs to "go" from the schedule. I am contemplating working this fall subbing, and Chris reminded me this week that I would probably be home MORE if I were working than I have been the last week.

We added a new member to our family. When my parents were here, we took a walk at the park, and as we headed back to the van, this little thing just ran right over to me and started purring. Her tail curls up over her body. It's the strangest thing. The boys have asked and asked for a kitten. The answer has always been no, but when we did get one, it would have to be orange. She is precious. Even Chris likes her a little. He is the only one up early, and she sits on his desk while he works until someone else gets up. She has gone through a series of names--Blossom (Orange Blossom Special), Marmelade, Pumpkin, Willow (we found her at Willowmere Park), and now she's Ginger. I think this one will stick. I forgot how much fun kittens are.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Student Life Camp

Stafford Crossing students My Family Life Group
My seat-mate all week
I'm still recovering from Student Life Camp last week. These are the students in whose lives I got to share for 5 days. It was an amazing, hard, wonderful experience. Half way through the week, when there were more hard things to deal with, I was moaning to God about it. I felt like He was reminding me that I did say I wanted to go on a mission trip and not a retreat. From the moment we got there, there were challenges and things that just didn't happen the way they should have. I had planned on working on my Bible study and reading some while I was there. I found out just a week before that I would be leading a small group all week. When I got to camp, it was evident that I was expected to spend most of my time with my group--even their rec time. Then free time was spent with our own kids from our church. There was no time to study or prepare (aside from sacrificing some of the scant 6 hours of sleep allotted for each night). Despite these upheavals and more, the week was worth the work. I was moved. I hope I was changed. I was challenged to live my life fully for Christ according to His directions in the Bible. I was really challenged to care for the poor and to not shut my ears to the needs around me. I hope that Ben was changed as well. He decided to sponsor a boy from Thailand through Compassion International. The speaker was great--David Nasser, and the band was even better--Unhindered. The best thing was that I got to pray with a student who wanted to give his life to Jesus and become a Christian. I can't describe how that felt except to say that it was worth it all. I am hoping that maybe Chris can go next year, too. Maybe we'll even do Mission Camp instead. It's hard to be home. I really like who I was there. I'm trying to find that here.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

More vacation

Hiking at beautiful Jone's Gap State Park in South Carolina.
My niece Ashley spent the week with us while we were there.
Boating on Lake Keowee. It is the cleanest lake I've ever seen.
Ben and Sam in the back of the boat holding Pam's chihuahua, Taco.
Chris and his mom
Chris's sister Pam and her husband Deano at their house.
Pam has a pool, and we spent several days there swimming. It was in the upper 90's and humid some of the time we were there.
After church Sunday at Norma Gean's
Granpa let Fred drive his '68 Corvette. He was very excited and wants to buy it. Hmmmm
We were home from Disney for 5 days then left for South Carolina to visit Chris's family. It has been a while since we have been there, and we all had a great time. I'm about done traveling, but Ben and I leave Monday for camp. I'm trying to ignore all that needs done but won't get done and enjoy the experiences. I guess I need to work like mad this week to get ready for next week and to get things in order from being gone for 2 weeks before that.

Fred had two of his wisdom teeth pulled on Monday, and he's doing very well. The swelling is increasing, but that's normal. I was more nervous than he, but the nurse said that's normal as well. I'm thankful that it's over and he's on the other side.