Our Crazy Week

Here is a text message exchange that Greg and I had last week:

I sent this laundry list of questions to Greg on Tuesday.  The reason we were texting and not talking is that he was at Lipscomb all week for Impact.  I also taught morning literacy classes at Y.E.S., and for some unknown reason I volunteered to make lunch on Tuesday for the 80 people at Y.E.S.  (Sidenote: cooking and seasoning 20 pounds of ground beef is kind of a long, complicated operation, especially when you have no husband home to help).  When one of our play dates cancelled on Monday and then new mom I was supposed to make dinner for that night didn’t end up needing it, I took it as a mercy from the Lord, who had noticed that, yet again, I had overscheduled myself.  We did have a (very fun) play date on Tuesday afternoon, as well as Luke’s birthday party on Wednesday (and Thursday morning).  There was also the scholarship contest, of course, and lots of other stuff.  I can’t remember it all, but I did take some pictures, which give some clues:

A rare moment of relaxation.

The kids’ Father’s Day present to Daddy, whose only gift request was votes for his scholarship contest.

I was the emergency sub in Sunday school that day.

Father’s Day dinner at Five Guys, which was the only way we would get to see the children’s father.  To stretch out our time with him, we visited Impact later that afternoon, where I got to meet this guy:

This is my new nephew, Hudson!

And this is his dad, with whom my kids had lots of fun, while I caught up with my sister-in-law, Jill!

One of our many campaign strategies was to make a picture that could be easily shared, with a link to the voting attached.

Literacy class.  I was experimenting with a new app with these.  For campaign purposes, of course:).

On Tuesday evening, we ate dinner with some new friends while Gigi watched the kids.  Then I came home and took them to meet this beautiful child.  She is the daughter of one of our teens from church.

On Friday, I took her and her mom to Impact so that the others could meet her, as well.

This last one is actually from the Saturday before Father’s Day, but I had to throw it in.  This is Anna and the frog she caught while we were at Courtney’s house for the afternoon.

For all the chaos, the week ended up going really well.  Luke’s birthday was wonderful.  Impact went great, and we had three baptisms.  All of our other commitments were fulfilled and went fairly smoothly.  And we won the scholarship contest!  It’s hard to believe that in the fall, there will be three students in this family!  It will be a big change, but one that is for the benefit of our family.  I can’t wait to see what God is going to bring out of all this craziness!

Impact 2011

I love “camp.”  And by camp, I don’t mean cabins and sleeping bags and outdoorsy-ness…necessarily.  I mean, I love the opportunity to essentially take a week off from regular life, and go to a place full of people you love and who love God.  I love getting to see old friends and bring new ones and to all get to worship God together.  I love having a whole week just focused on God, on growing closer to Him, and on expressing our love for Him.  It is awesome.  Truly, it’s a balm to my soul.

The physical experiences of camp differ:  for many at our church, that experience is found in the more rustic setting of Palmetto Bible camp, whereas I prefer my camp experience with air conditioning and an on-site Starbucks:).  What is similar (besides bad food, which seems to be universal) is the spiritual focus and the connection with our brothers and sisters.  It is always a great time. 

Usually I go up for Senior Impact, but this year, four of my five cell group girls were going to Junior, so I went up with them:

 

It was  a great weekend, and two of our Jr. High kids (really, three, but more on that later) made the decision to give their lives to Christ.  I have pictures of one of the baptisms, and cannot find it right now, which alarms me.  But…just trust me that it happened:). 

After Jr. Impact, I went back to Macon to see my babies, but Greg stayed for Senior and experienced more awesomeness:

He reported that our group took some big steps toward honesty and unity, which is so exciting to hear.  In the meantime, I spent most of my week enjoying Gaga’s pool and the lake and various family friends who came to visit.  We didn’t spend all our time in the pool, though, which is the subject of the next post….

A Week of Domestic Bliss

I do this every year after Impact.  After ten days on the road, I always completely revel in being HOME, in enjoying the mundane rhythms of day-to-day life.  This evening, I was looking over my pictures for Project Life, and I decided to do a little contrast of this week and last week:

Contrast 1:  Last week was full of eating out, of cafeteria food, and of fast food.  We had some great times, including our annual outing to Pancake Pantry, in celebration of Luke's birthday and Father's Day:

With Greg's Father's Day gift.

Bears in the snow...with chocolate chips.

"Excuse me, do I have something on my face?"

This week, on the other hand, we have been BUSY in the kitchen.  I put together a little cookbook for the kids, made up of recipes from their High Five magazine (thanks, Grandma), and we have loved trying them out:

On Wednesday, we made "Mac N Cheese muffins" for dinner.   

I decided not to be a "helicopter mom" and instead to let the kids fill the muffin cups by themselves while I de-boned and shredded chicken behind them for Thursday's chicken casserole.

On Friday morning, Luke helped me make homemade blueberry muffins...

...and for lunch, we made pasta salad.  Luke absolutely DEVOURED this, despite the presence of goat cheese.

Today, we made cupcakes, too, so we have definitely been baking a lot. 

Contrast 2:  In Nashville, we regularly gathered with thousands of people for huge productions, for thrilling entertainment, and for amazing worship. (This wasn't the worship part...clearly.)

This week, we went to the grocery store... ...and while the new car buggies wouldn't necessarily qualify as "thrilling" or "amazing,"

the kids were very happy that they could now help me unload the groceries onto the belt.  (And actually, I must say that the turn radius on these bad boys WAS pretty amazing when compared to the old ones.  Maybe now I will stop running into things in the store!)

We also went to the library:

I know, I know...can you handle the excitement?  We are crazy people!

Here's the thing, though.  I LOVED our trip.  But I think I loved being home after our trip even more.  I am a homebody at heart, and I just reveled in this week of time at home, spent with just my little family.  I enjoyed almost every moment, whether we were cooking up some food

or having our daily "Learning Time" (that was for you, Greg:))

I found myself taking an inordinate amount of pictures (even for me) this week, b/c as much as I love adventures and crazy times, I am even more inclined to treasure these moments at home...

Impact 2009

Ah, Impact.  I absolutely love Impact, and have since the first time I went, which was as a counselor in the summer of 2000.  Greg has had a much longer history with the camp:  he was baptized there in 1993, and has hardly missed a year since.  Greg still has a pretty traditional Impact experience, albeit as a youth minister and not a camper or counselor, but my experience has totally changed now that I have kids.  This year, I hardly went to any of "Impact," but I loved being on Lipscomb's campus and seeing so many of our old friends (and family!).  I especially loved just being around so many youth ministry families.  Many of them are old college friends, but we share a strong bond even with the ones we don't know very well.  We all have that common lifestyle of trying to balance ministry with family, while caring passionately about both.  It was so encouraging to me to be around so many families who were in our same situation.

Our guys, trying to be cool:).

Our (amazing) intern with our girls, trying not so much to be cool!

Luke, helping Jack open his birthday present.  (Yes, Jack's birthday present from us.  Do NOT ask when his birthday was!)

Luke and Jack immediately reconnected by pretending to be a train, using the hula hoop.  They ran around laughing, with Jack providing the "chugga chugga's."  Something tells me this is going to become a beautiful friendship!

Like I said, we had a great time at Impact, but after being gone for two weeks (at my parents and in Nashville), I am definitely glad to be home, sweet home!