Back to School

The first week of school has been a crazy one this year. All three of my girls have had a virus that causes fever, soar throat, and headaches. At least it only lasts for a couple of days. Rachel missed the first day of school and Hannah came home sick Tuesday and missed school yesterday. Today they're all well.

This is the first year we have had kids at 2 different schools with 2 different schedules. We are getting used to this.

The first week of middle school is going well for Hannah. She is meeting new friends and is excited about her classes. Rachel loves school and is doing terrific, too.

We've been to the back to school/meet the teacher nights, and the school year is now in full swing.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night!

Well, this is it. I am pumped! A new ministry year kicks off this weekend at LifePoint.

For Children's Ministry (infants - 6th grade) that means promotion. Chloe will now be in KidPoint Green (the older pre-k class), Rachel will be in BreakAway (4th-5th grade), and Hannah will be in 6th Street (just for 6th graders). Hannah is also serving on the presentation team for KidPoint. Last week she met with her team and brought home a cool puppet and some scripts.

I am so excited about the nursery team this year. Most of them are returning from last year, but we have some great new additions as well. There are 56 members on the nursery team that will be staffing the 4 rooms for the 3 services.

Yes, I said 3 services! This weekend we will begin having a Saturday evening service at 5:30 in addition to the 2 Sunday morning services. During the Saturday service, classes will be offered for infants - 3rd graders. Our family will be worshipping together on Saturdays. And on Sundays, Lance and I will be working while our kids go to their classes and serve.

It has been an amazing summer and I can't imagine what is in store for us this fall. I love this place!

Vacation

We had a great time in Virginia last week. We stayed at Big Meadows Lodge in Shenandoah National Park. Big Meadows is in the mountains just off of Skyline Drive. The views there are incredible. The lodge was built in the 1930s and has been kept up and restored to preserve it's original look and feel.

We went on two hikes while we were there. The first was a hike/climb called Bearfence Rock Scramble. It was a 1.2 mile loop trail that took you up to and over a summit where you could enjoy 360 degree views. This loop also follows the Appalachian Trail for the last half mile. I've been on the AT before, but this was the longest I've hiked on it. So now I can say I've hiked the AT, if only for half a mile of its 2,175 miles.

Another day we hiked about 5 miles total. We started on the nature trail from the lodge and then continued on to Dark Hollow Falls. The hike down to the falls was steep and after playing in the water and taking a lot of pictures we had to hike back up. The girls all did great on the hikes.

We also saw some wildlife up close. A skunk, a wild turkey, 2 black bears, and as Hannah said, "tons of deer." We decided to keep count of all the deer we saw on one day, but quit by the afternoon when we had already seen over 30. One thing the girls loved was walking out in the meadow (that the lodge was named for) in the evening with deer all around us. It was amazing how close you could get to them. And, it was fun to see the little fawns running around and playing.

A couple of times we left the park to eat at some of our favorite restaurants and to tour Luray Caverns.

After a really busy summer, this was a great week to get away, relax, and make some memories.

Wow

I came across this while on vacation in Virginia last week. I wish I could have gotten a photo of the Native American man that I saw in Wal-Mart just before I exited and saw the car. It had to be his, he was dressed to match the vehicle, all black and yellow, with beads, leather, and stuff from head to toe.

HSM 2

All summer my girls have been counting down the days until High School Musical 2 airs on the Disney Channel. Only 5 more days!

Ouch

Can you believe this? Finally some relief after a lifetime of pain.