Summer 2014

I’ve been thinking that I need to write another blog post but I’m not sure what to write about. The only thing that comes to my mind is what’s going on in my life with the kids this summer. Most of this summer is about JM. Here goes…

We started off the summer with Clint and I chaperoning Ben's 8th grade class trip to Brown County State Park for a couple days. We did some hiking, shopping in town and campfire time. 

We are now done with our season of our kids being at Covenant Christian School. This was a big decision for us as we've been with CCS for 13+ years. We will now be moving onto Elkhart Christian Academy. We're excited for what God has for the kids in the next school year. 

We also dove into little league softball for Bekah. It was a challenging season to say the least. In the end, Bekah got to play a game that she enjoys and had a great attitude through it all.

Bekah also picked up the ukelele this summer. It's fun to see her be a natural with a new instrument. She will be joining the middle school worship team at church this summer playing keys. 

Playing the game he loves

 JM went to University of Wisconsin-Whitewater for wheelchair basketball camp the week after school was out. This was his first time at this camp and he loved it! He learned about discipline and hard work in the game of basketball. He came home stronger physically and mentally. It did my heart good to see him learn and grow from those that are years ahead of him with experience and knowledge of the game.

Anna and JM

The day after JM came home from wheelchair basketball camp, our 3 high schoolers, JM, Anna and Ben, left for a week of SOS (Summer of Service) in Cincinnati. The kids always look forward to this week. It’s essentially a week long missions trip where they have special speakers come in, daily worship and daily outreach opportunities in the community. Each year our kids come home more spiritually mature and having experienced the movement of the Holy Spirit.

Hanging out with his friends at camp. :) 

A week later JM left for another 5 days of wheelchair basketball camp at the University of Illinois. This year he drove there on his own. This was a little nerve-wracking for me but I also knew that I needed to let him go on his own. This was an opportunity to let him grow up and figure out how to navigate his way through it all. He had to pack up on his own, drive on his own, follow the navigation on his gps, and check himself in on his own once he got there. I was confident that he could do it and he did. I’m so proud of him! Better yet, he was proud of himself. He grew up while doing it all on his own. This is part of letting him grow up. He had been to this camp before so he knew what to expect, which helped. It was a great week of camp and a huge confidence builder for him!

My brother bought a house this summer and asked me to re-do his landscaping. We decided to pull out all of the existing landscaping and start over. Last weekend I went over to pull the tall weeds out. There were a lot of weeds so I just pulled and pulled not really paying attention to what I was touching. My goal was simply to clear it all out. On Sunday morning I woke up with poison oak rash starting on my legs and arms. Ugh! On Monday morning I woke up with breakouts on my neck! So this week I’ve been treating poison oak on my legs, arms and neck. The itching is the worst!! The swelling on my legs is painful. Today I’m finally to the point of being able to go into the sun without being miserably itchy. Each day is getting better. Lesson learned: wear long sleeves, pants, gloves when clearing out old landscaping that has anything and everything in it! Also pay attention to what you are touching.

The month of July doesn’t slow down at all. In fact, it speeds up! I’m feeling a little overwhelmed with all that’s happening this month.

The first 2 weeks will be spent in Grand Blanc/Flint, MI for the majority of the time. JM and I will be spending Monday-Thursday at a ScoliSmart Bootcamp at a chiropractic office in Grand Blanc. It is an intensive 2 weeks of using methods to straighten the spine. I’m not going to go into detail about this process because, quite frankly, I don’t understand it all. At this point we know that JM’s scoliosis has progressed to the point of if we went to Riley (we were recommended to go there) we would be facing surgery. Surgery is our last option for JM. After being told to go to Riley I immediately went online to find another option and within minutes found information about the ScoliSmart Bootcamp program. After doing hours of research and a phone consultation with Dr. Morningstar we were scheduled to go to Grand Blanc, MI this month. We’re looking forward to seeing what God will do with this. I will post updates on the progress.

After being home for a week after bootcamp, Clint and I will be taking a team to Nicaragua for a weeklong missions trip. I’ve been to Guatemala, Honduras, Romania, Uganda and South Sudan but never Nicaragua. I hear there are a lot of bugs there. I hate bugs! I’m already praying that God will keep the bugs away while we’re there with lots of females on the team! :) We will be doing a vacation bible school along with some outreach/work opportunities in the community. It should be a great trip.

Two weeks after being home from the missions trip … school starts! August will be here before we know it. 

August also means that Michael will be coming home from Costa Rica. The countdown has begun...