Tuesday, July 24, 2012

summer stuff

hey all. i'm still good. sunshine keeps me happy and moving in the right directions. and i've been going and going and going. we're having vbs at my church this week. today, i sat with a group of refugee kiddos during snack time, and we talked about cartoons. afterwards, one of the boys thanked me for talking with him and that he had a great time. melt. i'm teaching a group of 1st and 2nd graders. they are so fun. i really love that age. we've been back a week and a half now from a vacation to texas. ben had to work so he couldn't join us. the hardest part of the trip was being away from him for so long. we left colorado and made it to kansas one the first day. it's still exciting then because we get to stay at a hotel that has a nice pool with a slide. and because we still get to go to texas. we stayed with friends in dallas for a couple of days, went to both our old churches, did a photoshoot with a friend and i got to have dinner with another friend. then we drove to houston to visit family. as we were pulling into my mom's place, her front door opened and my family came pouring out the house, all smiles and bear hugs. my siblings, my nephew, my mom and stepdad, my sister in law, and all the dogs. i was absolutely swallowed up in love. and it's so nice once we finally get there because we still have time to relax and not drive a lot and just sit around enjoying each other's company. my sister's boy came over every day and played with his cousins. my kids LOVED that. my parents still have our old Construx, giant buckets of them, and all the cousins spent hours building cool stuff together. bliss! forts and spyglasses and boats. it was awesome. i'm usually in bed by 11pm. usually more like 10:30. but every day that we were gone from home, i was up past midnight, talking with friends and family. my mom and i stayed up one night til after 3am. it was the night after my grandparents and everyone else had come for our last night in houston. mom and i made tons of food and for one of the first times ever, i got to help her in the kitchen. for years now, i've either been busy with band practice, off at college or had a tiny baby that i was following around, making sure they didn't get into anything at gramie's house. but this year, the cousins watched a movie while i got to chop, clean, stir, and peel all kinds of things. it was really, really nice. anyway, after everyone left, mom and i ended up sitting at the kitchen table, talking and talking and talking. it was so nice that i texted my hubby about it later and told him that that conversation was the whole reason God gave us the opportunity to visit. but i was pre-mature in that conclusion. i had brought with me a book to give to my brother. you guys know how much i love cs lewis. well, i thought my brother would too. so i brought him 'the problem of pain.' my brother has been asking questions about faith for years. he's a thinker and loves to question everything. and having faith in something he couldn't test or prove wasn't ever something that he thought he'd be able to do. i thought maybe he'd enjoy lewis because lewis was a thinker and he loved to widdle an idea down to its most basic elements. plus, you can't debate with a book. it just keeps its same side no matter how much you question it. it won't come over to your side of thinking. you don't have to agree with it, but you can't argue with it. you can't talk over it. the ideas in a book, whether you agree with them or not, naturally get into your headspace and you end up thinking about them. that happened to my brother in the most beautiful way. i knew he was close, but i didn't realize how close. a week after i gave him the book, he asked Jesus into his heart. like really. he's been going to church with my parents and having all these discussions about their faith. and the lewis book just helped him make sense of all those conversations and things he's heard and seen at church. THAT's why God provided the oppotunity for us to visit texas. how awesome is that?! and yay LEWIS! I just love that guy. anyway, after we left houston, we went back to our friends in dallas and spent another couple of days. my friend treated me to a gigantic dinner of sushi that was the bombdiggity! and we played cards and talked and relaxed and got filled to the top with love. we love that family so much. then came the trip back. the first day is no fun. we drive and drive and drive and still don't get home. we get to the pool at the hotel. the pool with the slide. which is fun, but after being away from home for so long, i am exhausted and just wanna be home already. the next day was the roughest of the drive. i was so excited to be able to see ben and sleep in my own bed and get back to our life, and the kids were sooooo done with sitting in car seats with books they've read ten megamillion times already and done coloring pictures of fields and flowers and aliens and monsters. they just wanted to be home too. are we there yet? but we made it. and ben was outside when we pulled up so i jumped outta the car and got a big ol' nice, long hug. he helped us unpack the car and let us order in so we didn't have to go back out and i didn't have to make anything. he loves me. anyway, i got all these amazing memories, amazing photos and we got to see and visit with so many people. i was great. i am so grateful to God that the trip went well. i'm so grateful for friends and family that love us so much. {i'll share photos in my next post.} i can hardly believe school supplies are everywhere. can't a kid just enjoy their summer?! anyway, i have to re-register one kid, buy school supplies and some sneakers. probably some new undies for all. ;) we have dentist appointments tomorrow. well the kids do. i have my first dental cleaning appt in more than a decade on monday. i am not looking forward to that. but i need it bad. so i'm gonna find a happy place in my head and try to endure it. if they give me laughing gas, i'll try to post again. coz that would be hilarious. til next time

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