Summer

Summer is here folks... in full swing. I love summer. I love how relaxed everything is. I am a total nerd about summer... I love the smell of hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill. I love the sound of crickets (NOT the sight, the SOUND!) I love the sound and smell of sprinklers watering the yards. I love babies in swim suits and sun hats. I love the sun... my current pale skin would tell you otherwise but my sun spots prove my love for the sun in summers past! I love how much day light there is in summer. I love snow cones and watermelon. I even love the smell of sunscreen.

Summer has always been good to me. My summers as a teenager were better than I can describe. All the time with friends, all the youth group events. We lived for the summer back then! Here I am now on the other side of that, married to the guy in charge of all of those events :) And while it does take him away from me and our kids, it's worth it... Worth it for the kids who will never be the same again because of this summer. Bob's summers had a big part in making me who I am and his wife, Debbie and daughter, Hannah had to sacrifice a lot for us. The least I can do is offer my husband now and pray that God uses all his time and all his effort... and pray that God be glorified through swim parties and cookouts, fishing trips and movie nights just as he is glorified through mission trips and youth camp. It's all for Him anyway. There was a night during the summer of 1996 (I told you I was a nerd about summer!) when I realized while hanging out with a group of my youth group friends that God was actually smiling down on us in that moment. Smiling because we were just a group of kids enjoying our summer vacation, laughing our heads off, enjoying each other and that honored Him. I wish every student in our ministry could experience that pleasure.

Tomorrow we go to Schlitterbahn and Hudson and I are going along for the fun. Taking two kids along to most things just isn't possible for us this summer. But we'll do what we can. I wonder what this summer will hold? Ronny will go to Missouri to camp, to New Orleans for building projects and to Guatemala for mission trip. The kids and I will go visit my sister in Houston and my cousins in Tyler. We'll swim a lot, eat popscicles and soak up every minute of summer. Hopefully Hudson will be potty trained by the end of the summer and Avery may even be crawling and pulling up. Whatever happens though, I know every thing is a little sweeter in the summer.