Aug 26, 2014

That was fast ...

Is it really almost the end of August?  Second week of school?  Where did the summer go?

I just realized that I haven't written anything since April - when I got my Pony.  I guess we were just that busy having fun!  So I will attempt to recap, if for no other reason than to have the written memories for myself (I often wonder who - if anyone? - reads my stuff!).  Nothing profound or earth-shaking tonight, folks.

May was the end of school - lots of last minute assignments and finals and (for Daniel) prepping to move to a different school. We had a year-end class trip to Six Flags, and a (only slightly) teary goodbye to LMS with Harlem Renaissance and the Moving Up Ceremony.  I think Ashleigh and Michael were just ready to be done :P  We also arranged a Gathering for our gaming buddies ... I was thrilled to see Dave & Dom, Dan & Rachel, and Josh for Memorial Day weekend.  We basically hung out in St. Louis all weekend - City Museum, Six Flags, Ren Faire ... personally I had a blast!

June ... June was a rough month.  That was the month I declared war on the arachnids in my immediate territory.  After counting over twenty "insurgent strike attempts", we called Orkin to clear the area and set up a perimeter defense.  A few suicide runs have come close since then, and one very large soldier - possibly even a 5-star general - made it within 12 inches of me.  But I have prevailed, and the overall number of attempts has dropped significantly.  A recent surge of activity may signal a need for a renewal of the perimeter guard tho.

At the end of June I went to YFN for my fourth time.  I didn't take any of my own kids - so I was able to focus a little more on "my" girls.  We figured out early on that there was something big in store - the train was late picking us up in Springfield, lost more time on the way to Dallas, and took so long to get our luggage sorted that we almost missed check-in at camp, then a couple of the girls had a fairly large dramatic blow-up one night.  After a chat with the leaders and each other, all was sorted and made well and many of the kids had breakthroughs the rest of the week.  We came back and proceeded to have an awesome summer at youth with interns and events and parties and outreaches!

The kids and I took a couple trips to Six Flags in July and August - we saw Third Day, but missed Mercy Me (Family Force 5 in a couple weeks!!!).  We learned how to do it cheap by packing lunches (the kids weren't thrilled about that but I insisted on not spending the ridiculous amounts on park food) and refilling bottles with *water* instead of junk soda ... better for you anyway!  One of the trips was the annual youth group trip, which started out a little sketchy because it rained on us the entire drive there.  But it cleared up just as we got there and stayed dry the rest of the day - and then *dumped* some serious rain on us on the way home again.

School has started now - Ashleigh's senior year, Daniel's freshman year.  There was a bit of an issue with Ash's schedule but it got worked out to everyone's satisfaction, allowing for all three of my kids to be in the same gym class next semester.  That may or may not be a good idea ... friends have said things like "that will be one heck of a dodgeball team".  As big of a school as SHS is, I must say it surprises me that a senior would have so many classes with a freshman and sophomore ... she shares at least half her day with one or both of her brothers!  Of course she is also driving to school this year, which allows a little more flex in my work schedule - I don't have to be off to go get them from school.  Final cool school thing ... free breakfast and lunch!  Some schools had it, and there was the income-based program, but now the entire school district has free meals for all kids, period.  No more lunch checks!!  It's a little ridiculous how excited I got over that letter.

This weekend we get to help celebrate Aaron and Ariel as they get married - I've only known Ariel since Christmas 2013 but man she is one really cool person and I love seeing the two of them interact and play off each other.  *Really* looking forward to seeing the growth in the youth group with having a married couple pastoring!!

So, I think that's it for catching up ... I hit the highlights anyway.  I'm watching and listening as some really neat looking clouds roll in, hoping we get a good storm but kinda not expecting to.  The cicadas are singing, the house is quieting down ... tomorrow is Wednesday and then it'll be almost Friday and then Friday will be here with a short day which always makes it feel like a long weekend on top of Labor Day making it an *actual* long weekend ... I may even go to bed early tonight.

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