Whew! We just came off of a very busy summer and it just flew by way too fast. As I reflect on what this summer was about for us, I realize that it was about family and as much as family is important, the more important thing for us in life is our relationship with God and honestly, I didn't get to spend the amount of time I should have or would have liked to have spent with my Lord. I had such goals for the summer with growing closer to the Lord through study and it just didn't happen. For me, it was much more about just talking and praying to Him as I went through activities during my day.
Here's what we did do:
-Welcomed our oldest son home from the mission field and shared a car with him all summer long. This was quite a challenge on some days and we are thankful for the co-worker who started picking him up in the mornings. What a joy it was to have him home and to sit and talk to him about his life, his faith and his goals.
-Helped our daughter move into her own apartment. Our daughter has had a goal for some time to move out on her own and so after accomplishing a list of things we required she received our blessing to do so. She also took her Golden Retriever with her, so it's not just her that we are missing. Our relationship dynamics have changed somewhat and it's a joy to visit with her during the week and hear about what's going on in her life. She says her favorite thing about living on her own is not being told what to do. I love her honesty.
-Prepared our house for sale. This was a lot of work, however, it paid off! We sold our house in 20 days and we can finally say, "We're completely debt free".
-Found a new place to live and moved. This is exhausting, between having sales to get rid of stuff, donating stuff, throwing things away, packing, moving, unpacking. This is crazy. There were times that I wanted to cry from pure exhaustion. There were times that we needed to grab fast food because we couldn't or hadn't stopped working in time to make food. There were times that our eight year old was given permission to "watch one more movie" just so that I could keep him busy long enough to be able to keep packing or unpacking.
-Enjoyed a couple of days at Symphony on the Prairie, Six-Flags, Holiday World, the zoo and a MLB game between the Brewers and the Reds. I'm so glad that most of these things were done before the house went on the market and that we were able to really enjoy our time with each other when doing these activities.
-Celebrated our youngest turning another year older. It's always fun to celebrate a birthday, however, it's especially fun to celebrate with children who are still excited about having birthdays. Such a joy for all of us!
-And lastly, we sent our oldest son off to Israel for a year. We're excited for him and even a little bit jealous. We can't wait to see what God is going to do in this young man's life. We miss him so much!
Now that we have settled a little bit more into a routine, we've started school again, started up our activities again and have been able to sit down and spend time with the Lord again in Bible study. It's interesting how God never walks away or leaves us as people on this earth do. He's patient, unlike so many of us. He's just waiting for us to come to him and spend time with us and I'm so glad to be able to do that again.
One goal for the fall is to lead a marriage study for six weeks and make our relationship with God our priority. That sounds pretty simple and easy doesn't it? The distractions of this world though are all around us ready to distract us from what's important. Please pray along with us that married couples would take just six Tuesday's out of their schedule and make this a priority. Check this out if you can't join us:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV66dQZAdbM&feature=share&list=PLSzse1nmlqbKceAPlWGdoO2T5_J4SaUQh
Consider attending one of these weekend or small group studies in your area. If you live in our area, contact us for more information and join us in making God a priority in your life and the life of your marriage.
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