August...already?

Wow. So, it has been a month. Really? A month? Where did the time go? Why is it that time goes so much faster the older I get. Or maybe it is just that the older my kids get the crazier my schedule gets. Who knows? But I can’t believe it has been a month! And what a month it has been! I will try to bring you up-to-date.

Well, my family survived Camp Extreme week at church. It was actually very good and not too stressful. The only stressful thing was the time commitment. Everything else about it went smoothly and was fun. It is just such a time commitment. But time well spent.

I went on my Emmaus Walk the following weekend – the last weekend in July. That was so wonderful. I can’t put it all into words here, but I can tell you that it was an amazing and life-changing experience. I went into that weekend thinking that I knew what Love and Grace are…but I really experienced both that weekend and I will never be the same. I made some really great friends…gave up some junk I have been carrying around for a very long time….got to know myself a little better….just had an amazing experience. If you have never been on an Emmaus walk and would like to….talk to me! I would love to help you have that same kind of experience that I had. It is indescribable!

I am only 1.8 pounds shy of having lost 70 pounds. Which means I am only 40 pounds away from my final goal. That is pretty exciting. Scott and I are going to go on a long-weekend type vacation when I hit that mark. We might even go on a 3-day cruise if I can convince him of that! I hope that this will happen in the early part of next year. I am not going to start planning it until I am like 15 – 20 pounds away. But that is definitely something to look forward to! I am really going to try to stop focusing so much on where I am going with this and focus more on how great I am doing NOW and where I am at NOW. It is so easy to get so caught up in the numbers, when really it is more about how I feel and look. I mean, I am adding years to my life by just getting healthier. So…that is what is going on with that part of my life. I have started reading the “Lose It for Life” book again because I just think it has so many great lessons in it that I will need to continue to apply for the rest of my life.

Other exciting things in the past month:

Well, the little thing of an answered prayer (dripping with sarcasm) that Jimmie was alright and they were able to “fix” what was wrong with him. We were all pretty worried about that, but God came through in a BIG way!
Scott and I were asked to sing at a wedding of a girl from our church. The wedding was in Columbus, so they paid for our hotel the night before and we were able to really enjoy our little “honeymoon”. My parents and his Mom helped with the kids, so we were without the kids and had a wonderful, wonderful time together! Sometimes it is easy to forget what just being a couple is like! The rehearsal was fun and the wedding was amazing. We just enjoyed ourselves so much!
We also got to have a date day! Yesterday we went to a Red’s game and there was a MercyMe concert afterwards. We went with another couple and just had a wonderful time again! The weather was perfect and we just had fun together. We ate dinner at Montgomery Inn and that was a special treat that we weren’t expecting to do. Then Scott went to the Bengals game last night….so he had a really fun sports day! Even though he doesn’t like the Bengals, Isaac does…so they had fun doing that.

Let me do a “Missy-Style” post to update you on the kiddos:

Isaac
Football has started! We are in our 4th week of Football! We had our first game this weekend and we won! That was very exciting! He is really enjoying football and having a lot of fun with the other boys on his team. He has an awesome coach this year and he is learning a lot. He needs to be more aggressive…he is much too nice! I keep telling Scott that he gets that from me. But really, I think he is just so much like my Dad. Although, Dad was a good football player. He just needs to learn how to be “mean” on the football field while still being the “sweet-boy” that he is off the field. Hopefully that will come. But he really tries hard and hustles – so that is all we can ask of him! Scott is having a lot of fun being on e of the coaches. I think they have like 7 guys and I don’t know who is having more fun, the coaches or the kids. It is a good group of guys. So, right now football is Monday – Friday for 2 hours each night. This week it is only 4 nights and then next week, during school, it is 3 nights. He starts 2nd grade on Tuesday of next week. That is so hard to believe! It seems like just yesterday he was born – let alone kindergarten and 1st grade! We are going to go up to his school probably every night now until they post who his teacher is. He really wants one certain one, so hopefully he isn’t disappointed. We have just about all of his supplies…but we haven’t bought him any new clothes. Hopefully we can squeeze that in sometime this weekend. He is just doing great! Keeping us busy, but doing great!

Faith Anne
My little drama queen…she is doing good. We just took her to her 4 year check-up last week and she is 42.25 inches tall! She is just growing up so fast! She starts preschool the week after next and is very excited about that. We got a letter in the mail telling us who her teacher is, so she has been telling everyone about that. She is a little confused because she just assumed she would have the same teacher again this year. She certainly keeps us entertained – she is always making up songs and singing non-stop. She also loves to dance and just be the center of attention. I need to look into getting her signed up for something – bad Mommy. But she is doing great and I just love her personality!

Gracie
She is just at such a fun age – although she is still into absolutely everything. Probably the cutest thing about her right now is that she won’t go anywhere without her “Pew”…which is what she calls her purse…and yes, it is a Vera Bradley purse. In it, she stores her pacifier (called her ball) and a few little toys. It goes EVERYWHERE with her. Jodi calls her Sophia from the Golden Girls. It is too funny. Mom and Dad’s neighbors even commented on it! But she is just so much fun because she definitely has a very strong personality. There are lots of aggravating moments, but there are also lots of sweet moments too. I am enjoying her more and more now as she is getting out of her holy terror stage. I am sure there will be more holy terror moments to come, but it is getting better! It is funny to me how different she is from the other two.

So, that is my play-by-play for the kiddos. Things are going great right now. Oh, sure…I am worried about finances – we always are. But God is so good and He provides for all of our needs. Worrying is just not doing anything for me, so I might as well just let go and let God. He wants to take those worries from me, so I am going to do my best to give them to him.

I do have a couple of prayer requests. First, my Aunt Barbara on my Dad’s side of the family was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given 3 – 6 months to live. Jodi and I went to visit her on Friday and she looks pretty bad. I know that we serve a God of miracles and that He is in control. And I have complete faith that if it be His will, she will be healed. So, please just pray for His will in the situation and for the family to be strengthened. She is a Christian and her son Michael is a Christian, but I am not so sure about the rest of the family. They could all use some major prayers. Again, God is good and He has performed miracles in this family before (remember my cousin Michael from last year). I just pray that His will be done and that we, as a family, are able to minister to them.

Also, please keep Jodi and Jimmie in your prayers. There is a very good chance that the two angel girls they have been loving will be leaving them next week. So, please pray that they are strengthened for whatever the future holds – both Jodi and Jimmie and the Mayce and Aniya. Whenever those girls leave them, I am confident that they leave with the love of Jesus in their hearts like they have never known before – and that is because of Jodi and Jimmie. So, I know that they are following His will, but that doesn’t make it any easier to say goodbye to a part of their heart. So, please pray for them!!! Jodi and the girls were up this weekend and my kids just had so much fun playing with them – we had so much going on that I didn’t get to spend as much time with Jodi and I would’ve liked – but we did make sure the kids spent time with the girls. They are definitely a part of our family and will be missed!

Alrighty….well, I better get back to work, I guess. Work is great – Stinky Pete is gone and I have a new boss that I absolutely love!

Love you all and I hope it won’t be so long next time!!!