Headed to the Island

We leave tomorrow morning. Bright and early. I should be asleep. But, instead I am typing to you. Whoever you are. :) Three years ago we started going to a family camp. It is great! It is amazing! It is simple fun! No tv. No computers. No cell phones...if I leave it be. Let's go there for a minute. I have this slight obsession with my cell phone. It does cause problems in my marriage at times. I am sometimes so busy texting that I forget to engage with those around me. Why do I do this? I don't know. A sick habit? TW is convinced that in the future there will be rehab programs for people who are addicted to technology. And, we recently read an article where being on technology does affect different chemicals in your brain. Weird, but could explain my impulse to grab my cell phone at a red light to check the most up to date news. I mean really, what did I do at a red light before my cell phone??? Sing, think, pray, talk to those in the car, contemplate my day. So, this week I will be stepping away from the phone. Wow, this will be hard for me. Very hard! Especially the first couple of days because I want to keep everyone up to date on just how much fun we are having...because yall are dying to know right. ;) I have vowed to check it in the morning and at night. Rest of the time it is put away. Sorry for all the rambling. Like I said; no phones. Instead lots of giggles, ropes courses, water slides, archery, swimming, canoeing, tubing, and heck I might even water ski. Back to the basics. So, peace out! See ya in a week!

Food Drive

Our church is doing a food drive that lasts the whole month of June. It is for Hunger Month and they are calling it Stuff the Truck. Each weekend there is a big moving truck parked up near the church and there are volunteers out collecting the different donations. This week during the kids' and I's Bible time we focused on serving. I figured what better way to put our learning into action then to walk around our apartment complex/"dorm" :) and collect canned food from all of our neighbors. We have 10 floors in our building. We hit 6 of the ten floors. Intended to make it to all 10 ooops. A few times we took friends with us to walk around and other times it was just our family. We haven't done a total count yet, but I will let you know as soon as we do.

Play Ball

The girls ball season is coming to an end. AKP had her last tball game last night. We were supposed to go to a pizza party afterwards to celebrate the season, but the girls had friends over to spend the night instead. It was so fun to watch her play. She has quite the stance! One of the dads told us last night that she has the best hitting and fielding stance on the whole team! Of course, I already knew that. ;)

Tonight we had AAP end of the season celebration. We went to a burger joint with the team. Fun times! Each of the girls got silly bands (the newest craze) as their prize for a great season. This was the first year that the girls played with almost all of the normal rules of the game. It sure does add more excitement and intensity to the game. It was great to watch! Most of the time she played first or pitcher (although she didn't really pitch because they use a machine, so basically she fielded a lot of balls from that position). She had the most experience on the team so they relied on her a lot! It was a fun season!

That's What Friends Are For

Wow, that song brings back memories for me. Michael W. Smith. That's What Friends Are For was played on the going away video my best friend made for me when I moved as a kiddo from one town to another. That move was hard on me. I clung to that song. Love that song! The title of it is exactly what I thought of today when I received this sweet gift from my neighbor and pal...

I have been battling a PMS headache the past two days and she came home from Target with that sweet little gift for me. I love the caption on the card "headache free wishes"...so cute! Chocolate and a sweet card...what every gal needs to survive PMS. :) And then she gave this to my bubby...

She has quickly learned how to get to his heart...FOOD and any character he loves. He is totally into Toy Story right now. He often asks for Spiderman Mac and Cheese. I buy it for him once in a while for a special treat. She brought him two boxes of Toy Story Mac n Cheese. So thoughtful!

I hope I am as good of a friend as she is. We have only been pals for going on 10 days and I have borrowed a ton of things from her. Just to list a few...vacuum, broom, bacon bits, mayo, coffee, paper, packing tape, her mind (advice), her children (to entertain mine), my kids eat her food, and I am sure there are tons more things I am forgetting. Thank ya Beth! You are a true servant of Christ and a true blessing!

Submit

There is something about watching a man worship the Lord and raising his arms fully to Christ while singing in corporate worship that truly warms my heart. I think it is probably because we see women as way more expressive in their emotions. To see a man submit himself to the Lord in this way is humbling. Men are supposed to be strong, have it altogether, be the provider, the protector...and when I see them submit in this way it just does something inside of me. At that moment everything seems peaceful. I love to watch people worship our maker!

Community

Wow. It sure has been a while since I have been on here! Life has been going in full speed for the past several weeks. But, then again when doesn't life go in full speed! May was full of visitors, end of school, swimming, and packing. Yes, packing. What is that you say...why yes, yes we did just move 10 months ago. But we missed cardboard and packing tape so much that we figured we would do it all again for more fun! :) We moved into the campus housing. Something I said I would never do. When will I learn to quit saying I will "never" do something? Sure does seem like that is the very thing God is going to call me to do. He is so funny isn't he...a real knee slapper. :) Over the past year I have talked with many gals who lived on campus and I picked their brains and in the back of my mind I was wondering what in your right mind would cause you to want to live in such small living quarters. I didn't actually say that out loud, well maybe I did a time or two because you know me, I just kind of lay it all out there. The word I kept hearing was "Community." "Oh yes, it is small, but the community!" "Oh the community is wonderful." "The community is all worth it." I mean seriously I must have heard that dozens of times. So, after telling TW that I would never live here I then agreed to pray about it. Yes, that should have been my first response, but I am a slow learner. :) After prayer and talking with TW we agreed that this was the next step God was calling us towards. I must say that I have been pleasantly surprised and we have only been here 6 days. The community...I get it...I got it five minutes after we walked in our front door. Our sweet neighbor and new friend propped her door open and she kept an eye on the kids while they played so that we could do the moving in duties. So, sweet! Our kids hit it off right away and so did we! Let me give you a mental picture. Our hallway is much like that of a hotel. Our front door lines up right across from their front door...probably a maximum of five feet apart. We both prop our doors open and the kiddos run back and forth and play...and so do we. :) I now remember why I didn't get much studying done in the dorms...I am way too social. Housework? Who has time for housework when there are pots of coffee to chat over? So, once again...God calls me to something that I don't want to do, and I ended up enjoying it! When oh when will I learn that he knows best???