I want to thank all of you who prayed after my last post. Your prayers were vitally important, and things went very well. I will get into more of that later!
The suitcases at our house got a workout this summer. At one point, they just stayed sitting on the cedar chest in our bedroom. There is was no use in putting them away. They were just going to get pulled out again so someone could go somewhere. That's how this summer went for us.
To put it another way, all 4 of us were under one roof with nothing going on for only 28 days from June 1 until August 12. Twenty eight days out of 72. That's about 38%. And I'm not even counting the end of May. The kids got out of school May 20, Stewart's MawMaw Edith fell and broke her hip on May 21, Evan's birthday was May 23, we celebrated May 25, and then MawMaw passed away May 30. Those two weeks don't even count. We were so stressed out over MawMaw and then so busy planning a funeral after she went home to heaven that that was just a blur.
So yes, we had a busy summer. The first week of summer was VBS, as always. We actually missed two nights of VBS because of MawMaw's wake and then funeral. The day of MawMaw's wake, Stewart prayed to open the House of Representatives in Baton Rouge at the request of our local state representative and church member, Mike Johnson. That was pretty cool. We took Zach with us to get a little civics lesson while we were at it.
We got to see the inner workings of the legislature and also got to see my girl (as I call her) Julie Emerson, who is also in the House. She is my girl because I babysat her one summer and drove her to swimming lessons. Her family is family to me. And look at her now!
Stewart and I left the Sunday after for the Southern Baptist Convention in Birmingham, Alabama. We celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary there, and had a great time being away without the kids. That trip wound up being pretty much my only vacation this year.
The very next week Stewart and Zach went to kids camp with the church. They had a ball!
Evan and I were at home alone. But that week, I started a home group Bible study with 12 ladies from our church. We met together for 7 Tuesday nights during the summer, and we had an absolute blast! The friendships we formed were so sweet. The Word we learned was so powerful. The Lord definitely put this group together, and I am thankful that I had this time to look forward to every single week.
After that, we were home together for about 2 weeks. We did go to Claiborne Parish for the 4th of July. We had not been able to go in a couple of years, so it was nice to be able to spend time with Papaw and Jo-Jo. It was fun, as always! We got to hang out with family at Lake Claiborne and see some fantastic fireworks.
That brings us to the first full week of July. We had been warned there was a hurricane coming. Yet I was about to send Zach off with Aunt Jan for 8 days. Thankfully, they were going in the opposite direction of the hurricane. Zach got the amazing opportunity to go to Family Space Camp with Jan for his 10 year old birthday gift. They spent 3 days at the space center in Huntsville, Alabama, and then spent several days touring Chattanooga, Tennessee. Zach came home with an actual NASA flight suit, which I think is the coolest thing ever!
While they were gone, we prepared ourselves for Hurricane Barry. That Sunday we canceled our church services because we were being told to stay off the roads and prepare for the worst. Stewart and I did our first ever Facebook Live event in place of a church service that day. It actually got picked up by Baptist Press, which we were totally shocked! We had a lot of fun doing it, and we may need to start doing more of it!
The day after our Facebook Live, I dropped Stewart off so he could head to El Salvador on a mission trip with Compassion International. He had an amazing experience, which you can read more about on his page. So again, Evan and I were home alone. Hurricane Barry wound up being just a big rain storm with not much rain or storm attached to it. We were thankful!
On Thursday of that week, Zach came home from his adventures with Aunt Jan. I immediately began washing as soon as he got through the door. On Friday, the boys and I drove to Lafayette to pick Stewart up from the airport. After a quick lunch in Lafayette, we came home, and I washed and packed up again for the biggest journey Zach has ever been on!
We were notified last October that Zach had been nominated by his 3rd grade teacher to attend Envision: Pathways to STEM, which is put on by the National Youth Leadership Forum. This was a huge honor even to be nominated! When we received the materials, we knew Zach had to attend this camp. It was right up his alley! They were to do robotics, emergency medicine, crime scene investigation, and other science experiments. He was excited, too. The only problem was - we would be leaving him on a college campus for 6 days without us. That was very scary for this mama, but I knew he had to take this opportunity with which he had been blessed.
The day we dropped him off at the University of Texas Dallas, it felt like I was leaving him at college. We did the whole check-in process. We went to his dorm room and helped him make up his bed. We met one of his roommates. We helped him plug in his cell phone and Kindle. (Yes, he had to have a cell phone for this. That was another "trust" thing that we had to tackle. Thank goodness Jo-Jo had one we could borrow!) Then we took him to a room for his first activity, and we had to say goodbye. Y'all. I tried to hold it together as best I could! When we pulled out of campus, Stewart said, "Well, obviously, we are not ready for our kids to go off to college!"
For the next 6 days, we watched our phones like hawks, waiting on some kind of update from our "scholar," as they call them at Envision. We would get pictures texted to us from the camp. Zach would usually call nightly and we would get somewhat of an update. He had so much fun that he couldn't hardly tell us fast enough about everything he had done in a day! Zach learned how to splint an arm or shoulder in case of a break or dislocation. He dissected a cow heart. He learned how to solve crimes with science. He built two robots. On departure day, he gave a speech on the robots they built. Envision was a life-changing experience for him and for us. And we are so grateful to his teacher for her giving him this opportunity!
We were home one week. Just one. Then we went back to Texas. (Did I mention that we went to Texas 3 times in about 2 weeks? Yeah, we did.) This time, we went to our old stomping grounds of Forestburg, Texas for a revival. What a joy to spend time with Forestburg Baptist Church in worship and in the Word. We got to spend time with people who are so dear to us. We got to eat at all our favorite places. We drove down many of the dirt roads we used to frequent to go visit our church people. On Tuesday, I spoke to a group of 45 ladies at a luncheon where I told them what all I have learned in the 11 years since we left there. It was nothing short of God's grace to me. The boys got to have the full Forestburg experience, and they loved it! It was a great way to end the summer!
Now the suitcases are put away, the backpacks are hanging by the back door, and the boys are back in school. This mama is getting her life back and preparing for a fall full of ministry. But this summer is one we won't soon forget! Now, bring on the cooler weather and the pumpkin spice EVERYTHING!
The suitcases at our house got a workout this summer. At one point, they just stayed sitting on the cedar chest in our bedroom. There is was no use in putting them away. They were just going to get pulled out again so someone could go somewhere. That's how this summer went for us.
To put it another way, all 4 of us were under one roof with nothing going on for only 28 days from June 1 until August 12. Twenty eight days out of 72. That's about 38%. And I'm not even counting the end of May. The kids got out of school May 20, Stewart's MawMaw Edith fell and broke her hip on May 21, Evan's birthday was May 23, we celebrated May 25, and then MawMaw passed away May 30. Those two weeks don't even count. We were so stressed out over MawMaw and then so busy planning a funeral after she went home to heaven that that was just a blur.
So yes, we had a busy summer. The first week of summer was VBS, as always. We actually missed two nights of VBS because of MawMaw's wake and then funeral. The day of MawMaw's wake, Stewart prayed to open the House of Representatives in Baton Rouge at the request of our local state representative and church member, Mike Johnson. That was pretty cool. We took Zach with us to get a little civics lesson while we were at it.
We got to see the inner workings of the legislature and also got to see my girl (as I call her) Julie Emerson, who is also in the House. She is my girl because I babysat her one summer and drove her to swimming lessons. Her family is family to me. And look at her now!
Stewart and I left the Sunday after for the Southern Baptist Convention in Birmingham, Alabama. We celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary there, and had a great time being away without the kids. That trip wound up being pretty much my only vacation this year.
The very next week Stewart and Zach went to kids camp with the church. They had a ball!
Evan and I were at home alone. But that week, I started a home group Bible study with 12 ladies from our church. We met together for 7 Tuesday nights during the summer, and we had an absolute blast! The friendships we formed were so sweet. The Word we learned was so powerful. The Lord definitely put this group together, and I am thankful that I had this time to look forward to every single week.
After that, we were home together for about 2 weeks. We did go to Claiborne Parish for the 4th of July. We had not been able to go in a couple of years, so it was nice to be able to spend time with Papaw and Jo-Jo. It was fun, as always! We got to hang out with family at Lake Claiborne and see some fantastic fireworks.
That brings us to the first full week of July. We had been warned there was a hurricane coming. Yet I was about to send Zach off with Aunt Jan for 8 days. Thankfully, they were going in the opposite direction of the hurricane. Zach got the amazing opportunity to go to Family Space Camp with Jan for his 10 year old birthday gift. They spent 3 days at the space center in Huntsville, Alabama, and then spent several days touring Chattanooga, Tennessee. Zach came home with an actual NASA flight suit, which I think is the coolest thing ever!
While they were gone, we prepared ourselves for Hurricane Barry. That Sunday we canceled our church services because we were being told to stay off the roads and prepare for the worst. Stewart and I did our first ever Facebook Live event in place of a church service that day. It actually got picked up by Baptist Press, which we were totally shocked! We had a lot of fun doing it, and we may need to start doing more of it!
The day after our Facebook Live, I dropped Stewart off so he could head to El Salvador on a mission trip with Compassion International. He had an amazing experience, which you can read more about on his page. So again, Evan and I were home alone. Hurricane Barry wound up being just a big rain storm with not much rain or storm attached to it. We were thankful!
On Thursday of that week, Zach came home from his adventures with Aunt Jan. I immediately began washing as soon as he got through the door. On Friday, the boys and I drove to Lafayette to pick Stewart up from the airport. After a quick lunch in Lafayette, we came home, and I washed and packed up again for the biggest journey Zach has ever been on!
We were notified last October that Zach had been nominated by his 3rd grade teacher to attend Envision: Pathways to STEM, which is put on by the National Youth Leadership Forum. This was a huge honor even to be nominated! When we received the materials, we knew Zach had to attend this camp. It was right up his alley! They were to do robotics, emergency medicine, crime scene investigation, and other science experiments. He was excited, too. The only problem was - we would be leaving him on a college campus for 6 days without us. That was very scary for this mama, but I knew he had to take this opportunity with which he had been blessed.
The day we dropped him off at the University of Texas Dallas, it felt like I was leaving him at college. We did the whole check-in process. We went to his dorm room and helped him make up his bed. We met one of his roommates. We helped him plug in his cell phone and Kindle. (Yes, he had to have a cell phone for this. That was another "trust" thing that we had to tackle. Thank goodness Jo-Jo had one we could borrow!) Then we took him to a room for his first activity, and we had to say goodbye. Y'all. I tried to hold it together as best I could! When we pulled out of campus, Stewart said, "Well, obviously, we are not ready for our kids to go off to college!"
For the next 6 days, we watched our phones like hawks, waiting on some kind of update from our "scholar," as they call them at Envision. We would get pictures texted to us from the camp. Zach would usually call nightly and we would get somewhat of an update. He had so much fun that he couldn't hardly tell us fast enough about everything he had done in a day! Zach learned how to splint an arm or shoulder in case of a break or dislocation. He dissected a cow heart. He learned how to solve crimes with science. He built two robots. On departure day, he gave a speech on the robots they built. Envision was a life-changing experience for him and for us. And we are so grateful to his teacher for her giving him this opportunity!
We were home one week. Just one. Then we went back to Texas. (Did I mention that we went to Texas 3 times in about 2 weeks? Yeah, we did.) This time, we went to our old stomping grounds of Forestburg, Texas for a revival. What a joy to spend time with Forestburg Baptist Church in worship and in the Word. We got to spend time with people who are so dear to us. We got to eat at all our favorite places. We drove down many of the dirt roads we used to frequent to go visit our church people. On Tuesday, I spoke to a group of 45 ladies at a luncheon where I told them what all I have learned in the 11 years since we left there. It was nothing short of God's grace to me. The boys got to have the full Forestburg experience, and they loved it! It was a great way to end the summer!
Now the suitcases are put away, the backpacks are hanging by the back door, and the boys are back in school. This mama is getting her life back and preparing for a fall full of ministry. But this summer is one we won't soon forget! Now, bring on the cooler weather and the pumpkin spice EVERYTHING!
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