Summer Adventures - Last Days of Summer Break!

 August is typically a very busy month as we celebrate three birthdays, prepare for school, enjoy the last days of summer, etc. This year was no exception, and it felt like one of the craziest and fastest months of the year! We had family visit, friends visit, Roger took a work trip, we cleaned out so.much.stuff out of the school, switched classrooms, did a yard sale for school, and tried to soak up the last few days of summer break. 

So many of you have been praying for the staff that we’ve needed so greatly at our school. I’m happy to write that God has provided for each one of those positions! The last person needed was a third/fourth grade teacher, and she was hired on about an hour before the open house for school yesterday! Wow! We serve a big God! Thank you for all those that prayed with us. The school has grown exponentially this year, and with that we experience new challenges and growing pains. We have a great headmaster and administrative team, and with the hand of God to guide and direct us, we move forward with great expectations! It’s an exciting year to be a part of the school, I feel like we have prayed for this spirit in the school for the past six years, and we’ve prayed for student growth for the past six years. For six years, God said, “Not yet, not yet”, and this year, He’s opened doors that seemed impossible, He’s already abundantly provided, and the enthusiasm and unity of the school is contagious. I’m thrilled to be a part of the school again this year, and I’m looking forward to welcoming fifteen kindergartners to my class tomorrow morning! We are going to be tired as we adjust and adapt to a new routine. I know I’m going to be tired! 

Last weekend we had friends visit from Wisconsin. Amanda and her son, Owen, came out to Maine to visit for a few days. The kids enjoyed the scenic boat right out of Bar Harbor on which we got to see birds,  seals, porpoises, and other parts of God’s Creation. We are blessed to live in such a beautiful place. It was a quick few days, but we enjoyed our time together. 

This past week I’ve spent many hours at the school as we prepare, plan, had teacher inservice, prayed a lot, and enjoyed getting to know the new staff members. I’m thankful for my friend, Hannah, who had our children over for several days over the past few weeks. Our children only enjoy being a school for so long before it’s not nearly as fun anymore. The older boys spent some time working at the school this week, and I was thankful for their help. I hope that they look back on the time spent helping and working around the church and school as a blessing and a molding of their character. I’m thankful for Godly men and women that invest in the lives of our children. 

My friend, Allison and I helped at a yard sale this past weekend. It was a ton of hard work, and we’ve agreed that we will never do one of those again! It was one of those ideas that seemed like a good idea about three months ago, but then here we are with just a few people pulling most of the work load. Did I mention it was a lot of work?! Another mom came to help clean up after the yard sale, but it was still a lot of trips across town to the thrift store. I think I took three or four truck loads, and she had three van loads. Around three o’clock, Allison and I sat down for coffee, looked at the mess before us, and said, “Never again”! We managed to drag ourselves back up to finish the job of cleaning up, and finally said good by to each other around 4:30pm. (The yard sale ended at noon). I had Travis and Emma with me as Roger had taken the three boys and a friend to their field day for their bow hunting class. We decided to stop at a food truck for supper before heading home, and while we were waiting, Allison and her family pulled us. It was a nice way to end a long day. I’m thankful for Allison and our friendship. She encourages me, laughs with me, and we can manage to get through most of our “adventures” without tears most of the time! 

Travis turned eleven this past week, and Garett turned fifteen yesterday! We haven’t really celebrated either of their birthdays as I had teacher inservice on Travis’s birthday, and on Garett’s birthday we had a school open house! We will celebrate them on a day when Roger is off of work, and we can enjoy some time as a family to celebrate their special days.  I can’t believe how the years are flying by, but God has been so faithful in giving us these five children. I fail them often, but God’s grace sustains us. We aren’t perfect, and we surely have our moments of terribleness, but again, God is faithful and offers forgiveness. 

We are excited to start school tomorrow! Please pray with us as we partner with families in our churches and communities for the glory of God’s Kingdom! 

Visits with Family, Old Sturbridge Village, & Birthdays!

 Almost every day I think to myself “I really need to write on the blog today”. Yet somehow it’s not been an easy one to cross off my to-do list. Maybe it’s because we’ve been so busy with the end of the summer festivities, family visiting, beach trips, trips to the amusement park, visiting Old Sturbridge Village, cleaning at the school, and so much more! 

I’m happy to be making these summer memories with our children, but sometimes I do stay up at night wondering how I’m going to get everything done. Yet, by the grace of God, we press on. We do the next thing in a great big grand scheme, not always seeing the big picture, but one puzzle piece at a time. I know I’ve been feeling a bit frazzled and frizzled by the anticipation of another school year, compounded with our need for teachers, add to that Roger’s job, mix with times of prayer coupled with anxiety and it’s the perfect recipe for what? Well, I don’t know what, but it’s probably not good! Every time I think I’ve managed to give all my anxiety back to the Lord, the devil tempts me to pick back up my baggage. It’s a moment by moment battle. 

Emma’s 8th birthday was this past week, and I can’t believe it! The years are flying by, and I’m trying to treasure the moments. Emma is very, very different from her brothers, but we are so delighted to have her in our family. Emma loves all things pink, chocolate, bike rides, friends, and singing loudly. She’s unique and special, and we pray daily for her to grow up to love the Lord with all of her heart. 

Last week we enjoyed a trip to an amusement park with several of our friends. Allison and I had originally planned on just taking ourselves and our kids, but we ended up with enough friends coming along that it was cheaper to get the group rate! Travis and Emma were delighted to have Lucy and Abel come along, and Emma also enjoyed spending a bunch of time going on rides with her friend, Hope. Hope is fourteen, but Emma really enjoys spending time with her. Hope graciously took Emma on a lot of the rides, and Emma is a dare-devil! She went on all the crazy rides and multiple times! The boys went around and around in the amusement park, riding almost every ride and having a wonderful time. It worked out really well, as we were picking up my sister, Jen, from the airport that afternoon. Jen arrived in Maine for a visit last Tuesday, and the airport was only twenty minutes from the amusement park. 

We’ve enjoyed our week with Jen here as we went blueberry picking, a day at the beach, a trip to Old Sturbridge Village, celebrating Emma’s 8th birthday, hiking, reading and playing games together. Jen, Emma and I also went up to see Hannah on Tuesday afternoon and we had a good time visiting, walking and having ice cream. The first thing that Emma told the boys when we came home was that she had ice cream without them! To which they replied that they didn’t really care as they had ice cream at home! Oh, life with siblings!

The three older boys have been attending Teen VBS at our church each evening this week. I think they’ve enjoyed it, but it is a long evening. Chandler and Wyatt have also been working on a project for a man in our church, so they’ve had some tiring days. I think we will all be excited to go to bed a bit earlier after this week. 

Last night I met with some dear ladies from our church to have a special time of prayer for the school. We just walked room by room, floor by floor, praying for God to provide the right staff, teachers, and students. We are praying with great expectations as we wait to see what God will do and how He will direct us. We still have some very pressing staff needs, but we rest in the fact that God is never late! He has a specific plan to reveal to us, so we will be fervent in prayer as we wait. We pray for unity, harmony and a great spirit of revival to sweep through our school and community. It would be so exciting to be a part of that! Oh, how we pray for God to send revival and may it start with me. 

This morning I drove Jen to the airport to catch her flight back to South Dakota. We were finally able to get the grass cut as the sun was shining today. I met up with my friend, Bethany, and her kids at a nearby lake, and we soaked up the sunshine. The boys and Emma had a great time playing in the water and with their friends, and it was good to reconnect with school friends. We do miss our school friends during the summer, so it’ll be nice to get into a routine of seeing some of them regularly again. 

Roger continues to press on at work, school, church and home, but I know that he is weary. Change is coming, and it’s something that feels real and tangible at this time, but we don’t know yet what that will look like. I’m thankful that God holds our future and whether it’s here or in Timbuktu, He will go before us and beside us. Roger and I have been faced with challenging decisions before but these days it’s a bit harder as we look into the faces of those in front of us. Five years ago, when we moved to Maine, we adjusted, adapted, and came to so love and appreciate Roger’s job. But it’s been increasingly clear that God perhaps has something else in mind for the Robertson family. 

Meanwhile, I continue to make plans for kindergarten teaching and my class continues to grow! I’m excited about teaching kindergarten again, and I’m praying for God to greatly use me to impact lives for eternity. I’ve done quite a bit of reading and professional development over the summer so I’m looking forward to implementing some of what I’ve learned into my classroom. Travis and Wyatt will have a new teacher this year, and they are excited about having their first male school teacher. We’d appreciate your prayers for our children as well as we prepare for another school year. God is so good, isn’t he? While the world around us seems to be going quite crazy on a regular basis, it’s comforting to know that God has a plan in all this madness. He’s not surprised, confused or anxious. He will never leave us nor forsake us. What promises He has given us in His Word! 

Old Sturbridge Village- Jen had been asking about what to get Travis for his 11th birthday which is this month. Travis mentioned that he really likes history, so we decided to look into going to someplace historic while Jen was here. I remember faintly going to Old Sturbridge Village as a young child, so we tried to figure out if we could make that happen. It was hard to squeeze it in, but we did it! Sturbridge is about four hours away, so we decided to stay overnight. The kids always like a hotel with a pool, so we specifically tried to find a hotel with a pool. We made fairly good time getting to Sturbridge, so the kids were excited about swimming. Well, the hotel had a pool, but the pool was green! Even the boys said that the pool looked gross! The kids were very disappointed, but after a year + of Covid, we are all learning to adapt and adjust! The hotel was a bit run down on the outside, so we wondered if there would be a breakfast in the morning. Let’s just say that we were thankful that the hotel was close to a McDonald’s so that we could get sausage biscuits for breakfast! It did make for some fun conversations on the way home as we talked about our adventures. The boys really, really enjoyed the village. They enjoyed the opportunity to help water the gardens, watch the blacksmith, see the old mill at work, and walk through all the buildings. Emma wasn’t quite as interested, but she did well at walking and looking. Travis’s only complaint with Emma is that “She looks at stuff too fast”. We did see the entire village and some of the village we saw twice. It was a good experience and one that I am thankful that we took the time to do.