Just an update...

With the last few posts being about birthdays and anniversary with a lesson in the midst - I decided I would just post a general family update for those of you who are interested. :)

We have now into our fourth week here in Borger and for the most part we are settling into our new house, job, church, etc. By far the biggest adjustment for all of us has been the HEAT! Although we have lived in Texas before and have experienced hot summers - it has been awhile and the combination of the heat with a drought has made it almost impossible! Yet - God is good and slowly we are all becoming more and more acclimated to it and finding plenty of ways to stay cool - including trips to the pool!!!

Every week we are getting to know people in our new church family better and better. All of us have begun forming friendships and relationships! Joel has literally jumped in with both feet into his job at the church with the Senior Pastor and Pastor of Spiritual Development being gone to Zimbabwe - he has had to hit the ground running in putting the Children's Ministry into place! He is primarily focused on planning the school year schedule right now as well as finishing up summer! With a church of over 1000 members - there are a lot of children and families to meet and get to know - we are more than excited about the challenge! Ha ha!

I am in the beginning stages of helping coordinate the preschool department, workers, programs etc. Being that I LOVE preschoolers and I LOVE their mommies - I am really excited about this opportunity. So far we have started with some basics that really needed to be done immediately - toys washed, batteries replaced, broken toys thrown out, etc. Another big challenge that we will be dealing with in the coming months is changing all the cribs since slide down sided cribs are no longer legal and the ones in the church are way out dated anyway. I am really excited to start to get to know the parents and families of these precious little ones!

The kids - well they are enjoying the last of the lazy summer days! Their typical day consists of sleeping in til about 10:00 or later (often later), cleaning rooms, and then in the afternoons either going to the pool or playing video games. We did go to the library yesterday and got a card - so now they all have some books to read on a regular basis! I was able to get them registered for school this week and so that has made them excited to start school, meet more friends, meet teachers, etc! Malachi will be in Jr. High band (is that even possible he is that big?), Kestra will be in the 6th grade choir (where did my baby girl go?), Tyler will have a similar schedule between the Special Education Dept and regular classroom that he had in Bayfield. As for Hannah, we are looking forward to the school counselor calling us to go do her schedule but she is looking at the possiblity of taking some Pre-Advanced Placement classes in English, Science, and History! So hard to believe we are entering the High School journey!!!

Among the MANY blessings since moving here - we were blessed on Monday to have food, school supplies, toiletries and gift cards dropped off by members of our new church! What a surprise and huge blessing! Thanks to this - we have all the school supplies we need, the kids all have some new clothes, our pantry and freezer are overflowing...God is so gracious!!!

As of today, we have 18 more days til school starts - yes I am counting!!! Ha ha - so ready for the routine but I have enjoyed the time with my kids these past few weeks since the first part of summer was so crazy busy!!! I am looking forward to my sister visiting in about a week - YAY! Other than that - we will be just making the most of the last two weeks of summer break...and Joel will be frantically working on the fall children's ministry schedule! Ha ha!!