SUMMER and the last few weeks

I'm still not into blogging, but I'll try to summarize the last 6 weeks:

* Brian and Z love to read Bible stories and build them out of Legos. Kills 2 birds...

* Read "Blue Like Jazz" by Donald Miller-great thoughts by a non-typical Christian

* Brian spent 5 days off the NC coast with Pete and Mike and a couple of Pete's high school friends. He brought home about 40 lbs of Mahi Mahi-like! Over Mother's Day-didn't like!

* Torrey organized a "pick up trash at church" afternoon for the kids and me while B was still gone fishing. We had fun!

* Started listening to Perry Noble's sermons from Newspring Church in Anderson S.C. He spoke at the Orange Conference and is officially the best pastor I've ever heard.

* Drove to the Ranch to see the babies!!!! So cute...

* Worked with 40 people from one of our Rush Hour teams to landscape the yard of a single mom who plays a character in Rush Hour

* Worked with a team from church to landscape the yard of a young mom losing a battle with cancer

* Hosted a L O S T series finale party, complete with coconuts, plantains, tiki torches, trivia quizzes and mahi mahi.

* Found out Leah is not allergic to bee stings. That only leaves Zach...

* Had my very last preschool end-of-year picnic. I was very conflicted! So happy to be done, but leaving a wonderful preschool/teachers I've been with since Torrey was 3! That was 9 years ago!

* Actually had a blast at a karaoke party! Huge grad party for our favorite high school kid, Seth, from church (look how cute he is, giving a shout out to his dad during his duet with his girlfriend). His dad got up and said "now if THAT didn't give you courage to get up here and perform, I don't know what could!"

* Torrey is working as a "mom's helper" 2 days a week for a gal from church with 4 kids, two of whom have special needs. She's having a lot of fun!

* Worked with 75 people from church for 7 hours painting a middle school in our area.

* Had an ice cream social at Rush Hour where the kids had to earn spoons by showing patience all month!!

* Went to Comedy Works for June's bday and saw Mike Birbiglia, one of our favorite comedians from Comedy Central! Sat in the front row so close we could touch the mic. Some water dropped on Greg's head during the show and he flicked it off. When he did, Mike saw it and talked about it for the next 3 minutes. We DIED laughing!!

* Brought dinner to my neighbor Claire, who lost her husband to Alz. a month ago. When I got there, she told me she just found out she has breast cancer. She also cares for her 50 yr old son with Down's Syndrome by herself. I prayed with her, talked to her about Jesus and she accepted Christ!

* Tried to plan a couple of trips, but nothing has panned out. Hmmmm.... not sure what God has planned for us this summer!

* Got a pass to the lake, so at least we can go swim every day if we want to!

* Loving spending time with our kids outside together, playing catch, 4 square, working on riding with no training wheels, etc. Solidifying our family at this time in ourlives is vitally important as we will head into some darker times in the future with the health of family members. My dad no longer works or drives due to his mild Alzheimer's, and B's dad has prostate cancer that has metastisized to his spine.

* Just this morning, B and I got asked by our executive pastor team to be a part of a creative brainstorming meeting for future sermon series-things like drama/video/etc.

* Days get long with everybody home. And our food bill increases as they raid the fridge!

* Brian has committed to losing 29 lbs by my birthday. Or I confiscate his XBOX game for a year...

Ok, that about does it. See you in another 6 weeks :)