Wow…this summer has been a crazy, crazy time!  Here we are in August, it’s almost over, and I’m not at all sure how the days were spent.  They’re a kind of blur in my mind, all melding together and overlapping and getting jumbled up.  But, there are a few themes that seem to stand out…let’s see if I can make some sense of them.

The Kids

Summer didn’t seem to slow down for us much.  Devin continued his martial arts classes and added a season of swim team to his schedule.  Liana tore it up in piano and gymnastics. The rest of the time, we spent at the pool or playing games inside to escape the heat.  With only two more weeks of vacation before school starts, I think they’re ready to get back into the groove.  They’ve also seen WAY too much of each other – they’re getting on each other’s nerves.  Funny how they can spend all day sniping and bickering, but still want to sleep in the same room together at night.

We’ve also spent way more time in medical offices than I’m happy about.  Liana has a lipoma (benign fatty tumor) on the bottom of her right foot.  It’s spreading her toes out when she stands on it, though it doesn’t hurt her at all. After seeing three doctors and having that foot ultrasounded, x-rayed, and MRIed, we’re off to a fourth doctor this week.  We’ll be having surgery done on that foot after school starts to remove the tumor, and I’m not sure what the recovery for that will be like. Ah yes, another adventure in parenting!

The Ministry

Women’s ministry at FEFC has been an adventure to say the least.  I’m still waiting to hear whether or not I’ll be hired as the Interim Administrator for the church.  The process has been long and frustrating at times. Still, I see God’s hand in it all.  The delay has meant that I didn’t have to put Liana and Devin in child care over the summer months. There are also some family decisions that we would have made earlier in the summer if I had the job, but have been delayed until the family finances are certain.  Now that more time has passed and circumstances are changing, we’re discovering that the decisions we would have made at the beginning of the summer are very different from the decisions we would make now. Seems the long delay is in our best interest.  There are other potential blessings from this excruciatingly slow process that are still materializing – let’s just say God has been good and we’ll leave it at that for now!

In the meantime, I’m the newly-elected chair of the newly-formed Women’s Steering Committee.  That means I get to run the meetings and continue to do what I have been doing all summer long. It’s such a great group of gals, though, and we’ve got some fantastic ideas for keeping the ministries toodling along.

I’m in the middle of my first opportunity to teach on depression in-depth.  It’s been very well received so far, and I’m so very thankful!  My notes and stuff are posted on the teaching page if you want to check them out.  I’ll do a full summary on that once the series is over in a couple of weeks.

The Training

My triathlon training is keeping on, despite the oppressive heat.  I wish my belly fat had evaporated away with the water in Lake Travis, but it hasn’t.  More frustrations, and some concerns as I get closer to my first half-ironman on October 25.  I’d like to lose 20 pounds between now and then – running is so much easier with less weight to carry. Still, I’m keeping after it, getting about 95% of my planned training in despite the rest of the craziness.

The Fall

With a potential job on the horizon for me, and a busy kid schedule again this season, there’s no reason for me to think that the pace of my life will slow down any time soon.  I’m so encouraged, though, that I seem to have finally learned how to manage a busy schedule without going completely insane. There was a time in my life – not too long ago – that I would have cratered under the pressure of so much to do.  These days, I’m letting a lot more go (especially the housework!) in favor of getting the rest I need and spending quality time with my husband and children.  It’s a much better way to live, and a lesson I’ve learned the hard way after crashing and burning on more than one occassion.

So….there you have it. Summer is melting into fall, and life goes on at the same crazy pace.  God is still good, Austin is still dang hot, so some things don’t change. It’s been busy but a blast, and I’m looking forward to what the next season has in store!