Courtney is back on xanga. That's exciting. Makes me want to use my xanga again. It's always more fun when you have good company like that.

I haven't looked at my xanga site for awhile.

Xanga is my only way of keeping in touch with some people, so I haven't been doing a very good job of that. I must think of a way to improve that, without being boring.

Tomorrow is church. I'm going to tell myself right now: "You CAN get up early and make it to the special class at 9:15am." No, I can't. "Yes, you can." Ohhhhhh, I hope I get real inspired around 7:30 a.m.

Summer

All 3 kids are at Servanthood for the week. Chris, Amy, Anna Beth, and I just returned from Fairhaven in Roan Mtn, TN--our little vacation.  Andrew chose to stay home and work, to help with upcoming college expense. We don't feel too sorry for him, though, as he has two weeks of Servanthood this summer, which he absolutely loves.

We taught the girls how to play tennis and tried to teach them about keeping score. We are not the experts, but I was surprised at how much Chris and I remembered between the two of us.

We rented a really bad video from B'buster. When we realized how scummy it was, our spirits lifted, because not only was it bad, it skipped occasionally. We returned the video, telling them it skipped, and could we trade it for another one for free? I wasn't present when the first video was selected, but once I looked at the title (after watching about 20 minutes of it), I wondered if I would have recognized the antique meaning of one of the words in the title, and thus saved all of us the disappointment we felt, knowing B'buster was about 20 MOUNTAINS away and we had picked out a dud.

We wanted to go rafting on the river, but the price was about a third of our total vacation fund, so we had a meeting and decided we'd rather eat.

We visited our Hickory relatives, and that was fun. Oh. And I read The Sacred Romance while at Fairhaven. It was deeeep, but I'm still trying to live it and learn it--about how God romances us, He being the great lover of our souls. But we go after other "gods" (other loves--people, things, compulsions), just as the children of Israel did. It's a book that you have to jump into and wade out of. If you can get past the beginning, it's much easier to finish. I think it would have to be translated before any guy I know would read it.

God loves us so much. Oh, how I want to return that love, taking what he gives and not getting bogged down in it, just knowing that his purposes are supreme.

Water and Me

We have a new 740-foot well. Meanwhile, there is a full pond about 100 feet from the well. I didn't realize that a well is actually a 1 or 2 inch wide pipe.  Our water smells and tastes like sulphur, but I really am thankful to have water again.

Sometimes I think I am my kids and my husband. I don't really know what I want to do, because they make their plans so fast I don't have time to think about alternatives. Their lives are full of funny stories and excitement that they help create, and I just sit on the edge of my seat and revel in their adventures. They connect me to the rest of the world. I'm happy for them, and I hope they're never like me--waiting in the shadows for them to bring life to me. They open up whole new worlds which I only dream about. One day, maybe it will be time for me to venture out again and stick my neck out. For now, though, I guess they're all the excitement I can handle.

People are so different. Who would ever think I was my kid's mom, or my husband's wife? But being different isn't always bad. Accepting who we are is more important than who we are. I haven't gotten there yet. Sorry, Lord. That's my bad, not Yours.

For the Sugar Plum Princess

My life isn't nearly as empty as my xanga has been. It's not even boring (to me, anyway). In fact, we're almost camping out at our house. Our well seems to have dried up, and we've been without plumbing for two weeks. Isn't that exciting!!!!!!!!!!???????!!!!!!!! We owe favors to a lot of people, thanks to this little inconvenience in our lives. But we'll always be debtors in that area.

Andrew has his first "real" job, and he's already taking a week off to do Servanthood. We haven't heard from him, but he's probably working on homes of people in need. He was looking forward to having some fun with the middle schoolers this week.

Anna Beth is excited about leaving for Bolivia a week from Sunday. She's a little scared about the plane ride. Amy says people should come and "camp" at our house to prepare for the "Bolivia experience."

Amy is trying to convince us that we cannot have Andrew's 18th birthday party with half the family missing (she'll be in Moldova). I was actually wondering if he would notice if we didn't get him a present this year.

This picture is from Anna Beth's 8th-grade banquet. She's the one in the middle.

I'm sure there's a lot more happening, I just can't remember it right now. And besides, I don't even know if the Sugar Plum Princess got this far.

Much love to JJ&J, too, if you got this far. I don't know if I can ever forgive you for drinking our last drops of water. HaHa. Actually, I had a glass, too, so maybe I drank the last drop. Oh No!