Two weeks?! That is all that is left of summer break! We start back to school on August 18th. Part of me is ready for the school routines and structure of the school year. The other part of me is overwhelmed with all the changes that I see looming in the near future. I’m once again reminded that I am not in control, and that God is already at work. He’s at work by confirming that I’ll have a job in the school where the kids are enrolled. He’s at work by a family member giving a donation towards our very large school tuition bill. He’s at work by giving us a home and togetherness. Regardless of how I may FEEL on the day to day, I know that God is working.
We’ve been busy per usual! Both Roger and I are now officially residents of North Carolina. I took Travis and Emma with me to the DMV two weeks ago, and it was quite a lengthy wait! They did very well waiting in a small space with about 7 other people ahead of us in line. As we were finally called, I noticed a little sign that said to please not bring children to the DMV…oops! Too late now as we had already waited and it was our turn. Thankfully, the DMV lady didn’t make any comments other than to say that my kids were better behaved than some of the customers that came to the DMV. Once it was our turn, it didn’t take long to complete the process. I’m very much a list oriented person, so I had all my paperwork ready to go and I was even able to register to vote! Finally after about an hour of waiting, we were back in the car and on our way! As we began the drive home, I picked up my drink that had been in the car and proceeded to take a drink. “DON’T DO THAT!”, Emma shrieked from the back seat. What in the world?! Emma proceeded to inform me that she READ the signs at the DMV. “Mom! The sign said, ‘Do not drink and drive!’ I don’t want you to go to jail!” Travis was gaping at Emma like she had lost her head, and I was quickly trying to process what was happening. I realized that she had been reading the signs about drinking and driving and the consequences of driving under the influence of alcohol. Whew! Now that I had that figured out, I could address the confusion! I explained to my distraught daughter that it’s okay to drink water, tea, soda, etc in the car, but not alcohol. It was a bit confusing for a moment, but we figured it out. I did have a good chuckle with Roger later as I explained what had happened on the way home from the DMV. And go figure- the next day Roger went to the DMV, and he didn’t have to wait at all!
My sister was here last week, and she bought a pool for the kids. It’s one of those ones that’s not terribly, terribly expensive, but expensive enough that you want everyone to take care of it and be responsible! The pool was supposed to arrive on Monday, but by Monday afternoon we still didn’t have the pool. Fed Ex claimed that it had been delivered, but where?! We contacted our neighbors and no one on our road had seen the 200lb package. Seems like a weird thing to go missing! We decided to wait until the next day and then call Fed Ex. Roger called on Tuesday afternoon and gave them the tracking number. They informed him that the tracking number was wrong. While I was trying to get the right tracking number from my sister, our neighbor called. She said that the pool had just been delivered to her house by and enterprise car rental truck! Um-okay! It was all around confusing, but the pool has been set up and is now in use! It’s cold right now, but with the temperatures consistently being in the 90s for the past week, it’ll warm up quickly! We still need rain, so if you’re wondering about that, please keep praying for rain!
We visited yet another church on Sunday morning. This one is in the opposite direction from the school and about 13 minutes away. I will say that this was the friendliest church we’ve encountered, and the preaching was good. Both Garett and Chandler had positive things to say about the sermon, and Emma went off to children’s church on her own. Roger and I were a bit baffled by the taped off pews as who’s still doing that?! But then people seemed to just ignore the taped off pews and sit down anyways. Many churches have gotten away from passing the offering plate for the past few years, but this church took up a formal offering which didn’t seem to jive with the taped off pews. The music was good albeit a bit different. The congregation song was “Raise a Hallelujah” (which we had sung at last week’s church) but it was followed by “Blessed Assurance” (the hymn). Those aren’t two songs that I would’ve imagined going together, but it’s fine. I can appreciate a church that doesn’t throw out the baby with the bath water so to speak when it comes to music. Not ALL newer Christian music is inherently bad, nor do I think we should ignore all the hymns either. Probably a weird opinion to have, but this isn’t the place to have a discussion on church music! We appreciated the friendliness, the sound doctrinal preaching, and the role that the church seems to be trying to have in their community. We will probably re-visit the church again in the near future.
Garett and Chandler have been busy with Drivers Ed this week. How are we here already?! It’s been a full week of classes for them from 8:00am to 2:00pm. The first day of class was a bit of a mad house as about 200 cars seemed to be pulling into the high school to drop off kids for drivers ed. The instructions were to stay in your car until you spoke with the drivers ed instructor. I figured that there would be about 25 students taking drivers ed- not 200! Thankfully, we were early and were able to get in the driveway of the school. The boys said that the instructors made it very clear that no nonsense would be tolerated and that all cell phones had to be turned off. Garett said that out of the 200 kids there were probably about 7 kids that didn’t have cell phones. Chandler says the number is closer to 5 that don’t have cell phones! Seriously?! I knew we were “weird”, but that means 192 kids ages 14-15 have cell phones! Wow! I’m not opposed to technology, and Garett will have a cell phone someday, but no wonder technology is an addiction. This week 4 kids have been dismissed from drivers ed because their phones were on when they were supposed to be off! We do plan to allow Garett and Chandler to have cell phones, but not until we are prepared and equipped and we’ve had a serious discussion. Since those things haven’t happened yet, we will wait. The boys will be glad to have Drivers Ed behind them, and so will I! The county is a bit behind on getting students through their six hours of behind the wheel with an instructor, but at least we are making progress. One big blessing for us is that drivers ed is free for our kids! It’s free for students attending school in that county, and since the boys will be attending school in the next county over, they are able to take drivers ed for free- how awesome is that!?
Emma’s birthday is on Monday. How is it possible that she will be nine years old?! Emma and I are probably the ones that have struggled the most in recent days. She’s missing her friends, and I’m missing mine. The boys are off busy with working, fighting with each other, and eating, but Emma and I are feeling a little “off”. We miss our friends. We will adjust, but it’s been a long week. Emma’s been a bit emotional about not being able to have any friends over to celebrate her birthday, but we are taking everything one day at a time. God brought us this far, He can certainly bring us friendships. We are trying to come up with some fun ideas for her special day, but so far nothing is popping into my brain. Regardless, we will celebrate the fact that Emma is nine years old and we are thankful for the gift that she is to our family. God is good.
I will be starting teacher in-service next week, so please be in prayer for that. I’m going to miss teaching my own classroom this year, but we are so thankful that I’ll be able to work where the kids are enrolled in school. Also, please continue to pray for our children’s adjustment to a new school. Pray that God will be glorified through their lives, that they would grow in their relationship with their Heavenly Father, and that they will be a good friend and find good friends.
Due to the lack of rain, Roger has been working fire patrol more than we originally anticipated. It’ll all balance out later when he can take off a few days here and there, but it looks like he will be on call this weekend for fire patrol. The job has been good, and we are thankful. There’s always a few challenges along the way, and please pray for him to have wisdom and patience.
As always, thank you for your prayers and love.
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