The last day in July has arrived!! I only want to know how on earth did it get here so quickly?! Summer break is flying by, and we realized today that we have 35 days of vacation left! And for fourteen of those days we will be away from life in Maine. I am flying out with the kids next Tuesday to head to Wisconsin for a few days. Then Roger will fly out to join us and we will head to the family reunion in South Dakota. It’s going to be a fast fourteen days! The kids are excited about seeing Nana and Papa in Wisconsin as well as a lot of friends that they remember there. Then we will be able to spend time with Roger’s parents, siblings, and lots of cousins. It’s sure to be fourteen days to make memories to last a lifetime.
Last week after we dropped my sister, Jen, off at the airport, we did a few days of nothing. The weather was a bit dreary last week, Garett was gone to camp, and Roger was working. The kids and I hung out at home a few days, took a trip to Goodwill, and did get to go out to the lake with friends on Friday. Generally we don’t find any treasures at Goodwill, and it’s a quick in and out stop. However, we did find a bike for Emma last week. She figured out how to ride a bike earlier this summer, and then her bike broke. She’s been asking for a new one for a while, but bikes are way out of the budget. However, she spotted a bike at Goodwill, and although it is red, it is her size! She told me that she asked God to give her a pink bike, but God must want her to have a red one instead! (Sometimes kids can just amaze me!) Travis told her that if God was giving her a bike she better be thankful no matter what the color might be! Yes, thank you, Travis! The bike was $8.00, and Chandler carefully inspected the bike before buying it. He examined the wheels, the tires, the chain, and then declared that “For $8.00, it’s an okay bike.” Well, alright then! We’ve had one happy girl as she has ridden up and down the driveway several hundred times a day!
Chandler has been collecting scrap again, and he even asked my sister, Jen, to stop at a free pile on the way home from somewhere. He collected a few chairs from that free pile, took the seat cushions off and put the metal in his pile. He found a few cords in a free box at a yard sale, brought them home, stripped off the plastic, and took out the copper. His pile has been growing, so when Roger had a day off last week, Chandler wanted to go take in his scrap. He and Roger took it to the scrap yard, and then Chandler took the check directly to deposit in the bank. He made $14.87! He was very excited, and he certainly has an entrepreneurial spirit!
Garett came home from camp on Friday. Emma asked every day when he was coming home, but none of the other siblings asked! I missed him, but I was certainly thankful that he had the opportunity to attend camp. He had a great week at camp. He said that the food was great, the preaching was good, the games were fun, and he would love to go back again. That’s a good report! Another family had driven up to pick up kids from camp, so I only had to drive to a local pick up point to get Garett. When I picked him up and he climbed in the car, I immediately smelled an unpleasant scent. Being his mother, I asked him if he had changed his socks and underwear during the week. He looked appalled that I would ask, and Immediately replied, “Of course, Mom!” I knew that something smelled! When we arrived home, I sat at the table making a grocery list, and he sat at the table and talked to me about all his adventures. Then...he took off his shoes!! Oh wow!! Yup! That was the nasty smell! He had forgotten to bring another pair of shoes, so he had worn those shoes all week! They had probably gotten wet, and along with stinky feet, the smell was over the top! Emma came into the kitchen and immediately pinched her nose. “Somethin’ smell in here! And it not good!” Uh, yeah! I told Garett to put the shoes outside to air out, and told him to go take a shower and use lots of soap on his feet. He did take a shower, but he came back wearing a set of clothes that I had sent to camp in his bag! When I asked him about his outfit, he replied, “I didn’t have time to wear these.” What?! How on earth?! You know what, I didn’t even ask! My stinky, smelly, wonderful son is home, and he is clean again, and I love him dearly! I’m so glad that he had such a good week at camp.
As you know, we are heading to a family reunion in South Dakota. This was a big commitment for our family and a huge challenge to figure out how to get a family our size out there. God provided tickets to fly to Minneapolis at a decent price, and although not cheap, we could make it work. God provided some additional funds through a few people that have helped us, and Roger has been working extra days (a tiring feat) to try to make this trip feasible for us. Roger and I try to operate on a cash budget as much as we possibly can, so we have been diligent to try to make things work. However, there is one event that the whole family (as in all the siblings, parents, cousins, etc.) wanted to do in South Dakota during the family reunion. I did the math every which way possible, lost sleep over the matter, prayed about it, and we just decided it wasn’t going to be feasible for our family to do this event. Roger is working, not just for our immediate expenses, but also to be able to send the kids to the Christian school, and replacing the suburban is looming directly in front of us (before December). We just couldn’t come up with the extra money for our family to do this event with the rest of his family. I know it was hard for Roger to call his parents and tell them we couldn’t do it, but he did it. Although at peace with the decision, it wasn’t an easy one. However, God is so much bigger than my feeble mind can comprehend! The next day Roger called me from work to say that our family was going to do the activity! I was wondering why he had changed his mind about it. He said that someone (I have NO idea who) had called him to say that they were going to pay for our family to attend the activity with everyone else in the family! I, of course, wanted to know who paid for our expense, but Roger said that they wanted to remain anonymous. They wanted to help out our family, they knew about this activity, and God, in His sovereignty, chose someone to bless us! So, God has provided yet again for our family, and I’m sure that we will enjoy making memories with Rogers family in South Dakota!
We appreciate your prayers as we head across the country on a trip next week. Also, please be in prayer for the upcoming school year as the students, staff, and school board all need our prayers. And please pray that Roger will continue to be safe as we hurtle through the last few weeks of the very busy summer season.
Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
We love you,
Sarah
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