I’m not going to lie; July was packed. I hesitate to use the word “busy” because I think I use it a lot, and it usually implies duty and a bit of negativity. Payton says that when I use “busy,” I’m usually worried (usually true!) or I don’t like that I’m required to do all sorts of things that I didn’t choose–or maybe I just chose things too close together. I like “me” time. Who doesn’t? But, really, my time is not my own. I’ve been bought with a price, and there’s work to be done.
STOP
Don’t worry. I’m not negating the need for rest or for a slower pace, but I can clearly see the problem with always categorizing myself as “busy.” I think this pace will probably not slack much as we head toward adoption, continued training, and pretty soon getting overseas, which means a whole slew of new and uncharted waters. I want to stop putting my days into one of two categories, either I’m “busy” or I got to accomplish everything I wanted to do. Rather, I’d like to learn to take what the Lord has put before me and say, “I know that if you have orchestrated these things in my day, I can walk through them and praise you at the end of the day!”
I also need to stop dichotomizing the “spiritual” activities and the “unspiritual.” That really trips me up because then the laundry, dishes, cooking, and grocery shopping all meant I racked up 0 points on the spiritual scale, leaving me with a sense that I didn’t really make a difference today for God’s Kingdom. That’s a bunch of bologna! If I don’t learn to do all of my work as heartily unto the Lord, then I’ve set myself up to never feel like I’ve done enough!
All that to say, July has been full of good things! Here’s a few highlights:
Week of Mayhem – This is one of the biggest weeks for the youth during the summer. Mostly it’s packed with activities that are just plain fun. The whole thing started Sunday with an all night lock in–I only made it until 1:30am and then went home to get some sleep. We had a Putt-putt tourney, a work project at the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store, Elitches (an amusement park), and then a Field Day. By Friday, all of us adults were pretty spent. We’re not 17 anymore, that’s for sure!
We started the youth Lock-In with games at the park. This one is called Swervin’ Buckets, which is my favorite game of the summer. It’s like Ultimate Frisbee except you have goalies with buckets and you throw a kickball or two.
Camping Trip to Twin Lakes – The same afternoon we finished Week of Mayhem, we headed out west as 40 adults (plus at least as many kids) made it up to the mountains for food, fellowship, and campfires. The view was incredible! You can read about that adventure here.
Life Groups – We’ve been able to get about half of the small groups and share the Big Picture of what our future will look like. We’ve had a lot of fun making the food and being able to share about what life in Asia Pacific will probably look like. The mass chaos of cooking all new recipes was a total disaster in my kitchen, but the end result was apparently edible! I now have a freezer full of peanut sauce, coconut creme sauce, and a few lontong rolls. Now that I’m not terrified of banana leaves, I’m less apprehensive when another presentation rolls around. Although I really am still not sure how to pick out a ripe papaya–Payton’s had better luck so far.
This is me with only the salvaged parts of my second batch of lontong.
And these are the few that actually made the cut.
Adventures: Payton and I snuck in one trip up to our favorite trail and ate tiny strawberries. I was able to take two of my youth girls up to the same spot a few weeks later when the raspberries were ripe.
And there’s more that went on in July, but I’ll save it for another post….when I’m not so…busy. 😉
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