Summer Vacation!

 Our boys are in Wisconsin, so Emma’s an only child for a few weeks! She surely seems to be enjoying it!

 We have had our first full week of summer vacation, and I think I am done in my classroom. Last week, we spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the school as we decluttered, cleaned, and filled the dumpster. Two of the teachers and myself worked on decluttering stuff thats been hanging around the school for a while. With the continued growth of the school (Lord willing) its becoming imperative that we have a better system of organization for our resources. Karla is very, very good at decluttering. So while I’d sit there thinking about whether or not we should keep something, she’s hauling it off to the dumpster! We were a good pair as we both like organization! We worked until the dumpster was full on Monday, and then we really couldn’t continue on as we had no place to go with the trash. On Wednesday, Emma had the opportunity  to go over to a friends house on Wednesday afternoon, and that was such a blessing to me. I was able to finish up my classroom and get a few groceries before picking her up. 

On Wednesday evening, Roger brought home a friend, Andy, with him for supper. I actually really enjoying cooking for others, but Roger asked if I was up for having company for dinner. He said that his friend was gluten free so that might be hard to cook for him. Um…no, we eat a lot of gluten free meals, its just that the kids and Roger don’t realize that. We grilled out chicken, made salad, fresh fruit, and a fruit dip. It was a good evening to interact with a friend of Roger’s, and we do appreciate the opportunities to have people over in our home. 

Thursday was beach day! Emma and I met some moms at the beach for a morning of fun in the sun! Emma and some of the kids got in the ocean, but no way for this mama! I went down and stuck a toe in the water and that cooled me off! It was a fun morning of visiting and fellowshipping with other moms and their children. Those informal get-together are some of my favorite memories from summer vacations. 

Roger worked up in Millinocket on Friday, so Emma and I were on our own for the day. Emma and I went on a walk on the Breakwater with Allison in the morning. One of Allison’s spiritual gifts is discernment, and that is not my gift. I treasure her wisdom and insight, and her ability to tell me to “calm down and start praying!”  Our walk went by really quickly, but it was a beautiful morning spent with good company. On the way home, I saw that a few of the teachers cars where in the parking lot, so I went in to say hi. Becki and Karla have encouraged me and prayed for me so often over the school year, and I needed some prayers again. Roger and I are in the “waiting and praying” stage in many, many areas of our lives, and we so appreciate the extra prayers. As we prayed together once again, it was like feeling the spirit of God moving. There is such sweet fellowship in praying with fellow sisters in the Lord. I don’t always like what my friends might tell me, but I also know that these dear sisters have my best interest at heart, and their desire is to help me grow in the Lord. 

Roger, Emma and I were supposed to go to my sister’s house for supper on Friday night, but then Roger ended up working. So Emma and I decided to go up anyways to visit, but not stay for supper. We arrived at Hannah’s around 1:30pm, and we decided to go to Bangor to go to Mardens (discount store). We were getting ready to merge onto the highway (like on the on-ramp) when we heard a funny sound. That description is what drives Roger crazy when I tell him there’s something wrong with the vehicle. When he asks me to describe the noise, I use words like “thumping, funny, weird, etc.” and he’s like what type of description is that?! Ha! So that’s not my strong suit! Anyways, Hannah pulled over to the side of the road on the free way, and we got out of the vehicle to inspect it. One of the tires was leaking pretty badly, and Hannah thought that there was a rock in the tire. We wanted to get off the freeway, so we hopped back in the car. We made it to the next exit, and off the overpass, and even into a driveway of a store as  we knew that we weren’t going to make it to a car repair place. I haven’t changed a tire since my days in drivers ed, but we knew we needed to get the spare tire and the jack out. We were in the parking lot of a pool and spa place, so that was not much help in a tire repair option but at least Emma could use the bathroom. Hannah and I were reading directions, and getting started when a guy and his daughter came out of the pool store. He offered to help us change the tire, and we were so thankful for his help! It’s so nice to know that there are still guys out there that will offer to help those in need. I had a Dunkin Donuts gift card in my purse from one of my students, so I gave it to Hannah to give to the guy for his help. He didn’t want to take it, but we knew he went to Dunkin as his daughter had a drink from there! It wasn’t much, but it was a gesture of our appreciation. I always look back on moments like these and you can totally see God at work. First of all, we made it off the highway. Secondly, we made it into the parking lot of a store with a bathroom. Third, God sent someone to help us. Fourth, I had a gift card in my purse so we had something to give. God is so good!

Our van has also been in the shop, so we’ve been a one car family for a few days. It’s actually been a good time to have the van worked on as we have less people in our family that need a ride! On Saturday, Roger asked if Emma and I would want to take a drive up to Millinocket to see the place where he’d been working. We’ve been up there before, but it has been a while. We enjoyed the afternoon tromping around, eating wild strawberries, and creating memories. Emma went swimming in the lake, which was too cold for me! It was a good day spent together. 

It was quite the drive up there, but the time to talk together was much needed! Emma had on headphones for a while as she watched a movie on my ipad, so it gave Roger and I the opportunity to talk things out. Roger has been facing some challenges at work, and then those very same problems have been evident in a totally different area of his life. It’s one thing to face struggles in the secular workplace, but its almost twice as disheartening when those struggles are apparent in the Christian arena. It’s like the devil has been working overtime to sow discouragement and frustration in Roger’s life. Sometimes it’s hard as the spouse to know what role exactly God wants me to do- pray? Yes! Offer advice? Um, not always! Roger and I are complete opposites in some areas of our lives, and that has worked out well (for the most part) in almost 16 years of marriage. We all have mountains and valleys in our spiritual walks, and Roger is going through a valley. Good, Godly friends can be challenging for women to find, but it often seems like men have a harder time making those friendships. I’m not entirely sure if it’s because most men don’t talk as much as women; if there’s not enough Godly men; if they don’t seek each other out; I really don’t know. A few years ago, Roger was gone for over six months to do aviation training. In that time, very few men reached out to him to call him or to check on how he was doing mentally, spiritually, etc. (I could count the men that reached out on less than three fingers.) I’m thankful for men like Roger’s brother, Nate, who call him regularly to talk through things. I’m thankful that we are not “islands unto ourselves”, but that God does provide us with an encouraging word, a prayer, a friend, etc. exactly when we need it. We all need the body of Christ (the church). 

It’s been really quiet around our house! Emma told me for the first time today that she misses her brothers.  Garett and Chandler had the opportunity to attend camp last week. Wyatt and Travis will be attending this week. Our boys are not big phone talkers (or talkers in general!). We called the boys on Saturday on our way home from Millinocket. It was good to hear that Chandler and Garett had a positive camp experience. Chandler said that the food wasn’t his favorite, but he really enjoyed the competitive team events. Garett said that his favorite parts were the competitive events and the preaching. What a blessing to hear that the boys had the opportunity to attend a Bible camp! I know that the preaching was solid, and both boys mentioned how much they enjoyed the camp speaker and his chapel messages from Ephesians 4. We are praying for Wyatt and Travis this week as they attend camp. Camp was life changing for me around fifth grade, and I am so thankful that the boys have the opportunity to attend a Bible camp. We are so thankful for this opportunity for them. I miss them like crazy! I did not expect to miss them this much, but wow! I asked the boys if any of them missed me, and they all said “yes”. But Travis says, “Yeah, I miss you. But I haven’t cried because I don’t miss you that much!” Haha! Well, I’m glad that no one is crying tears cause they miss home so much. They are making good memories and having life experiences.