(Pictures are completely unrelated – the kids made scrambled eggs and french toast recently for dinner!)

Time has completely gotten away from me and I’ve forgotten to post about monthly goals.  I did finish my May goal of purging and organizing the office and basement storage shelves, but it was early June before I finished.  With the goal of moving sometime, we have spent most of June working our way through the house and purging the things we don’t need.  Our family has worked on this together and it feels good to get rid of things.  We had a garage sale several weeks ago and got rid of some and hauled the rest off to be donated.  

Here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish in July.  Some of these tasks I usually have finished by now, but better late than never!

*Wash winter coats, hats, gloves, snow pants, etc. and put away (At this point I’ve considered just leaving everything out – in just a couple of months, we’ll need it all again!  But, with planning to move, might as well wash it and pack it away so it’s easier to move.)
*Go through the kids’ artwork & schoolwork from this past year – decide what to keep and file away.
*Print school supply lists for the fall and start to organize and buy supplies.  Typically we do this in May when we’re done and set aside everything we can use again.  This year, we just packed everything up, including my stash of supplies we pull from, and it currently is in storage.  In recent months I packed many, many things we’d need soon, hoping we’d be moved by the time we needed them.  Wishful thinking,I guess.  I’m planning to go get supplies out of storage so we can finish this task and make sure we’re set before August hits and the supplies are hard to find in stores. 
*Check some things off of our Summer Bucket List!  A month ago we made a list of fun things we wanted to do this summer, and sadly, we haven’t done many of them.  House hunting and working on our own house has taken up much of our time and will continue to.  However, our whole family is in need of some fun! 

After seventeen years, Kenny is moving on from Young Life.  We still love Young Life and its mission, and it was difficult to leave, but it is time for a change.  At the end of June, Kenny will begin working for Clear Choice Dental Implants in Denver.  He’ll still work remotely from home and still do web development work similar to what he was doing at YL.  A big, big change for Kenny and our family. 

Out to dinner to celebrate Kenny’s career at YL

I’m so proud of the way he took a step of faith to explore other options.  This is the first job change for Kenny we’ve walked through as a married couple.  He was hired in April of 2004, he proposed in May, and we were married in September.  Young Life has been a big part of our lives for so long and changing that took some courage.  We are so grateful for God’s provision and excited for this new chapter.  

At the same time, we’ve been looking for a new house!  Since Kenny and I both don’t love change, I think God is nudging us toward change to get it all over with at once.  We’ve been looking at houses for about two months now and are still hopeful we’ll find something.  We desire to move further north in town to be closer to the kids’ school.  With James entering junior high in the fall, he’ll be at a different campus further north of our elementary campus.  We’ve talked about this move for several years and this seems like the time to try if we’re going to.  

With all of these big, life changes, we have seen God lead every step of the way.  First, by putting Kenny and myself on the same page and being unified in the desire to change jobs and houses.  We’ve involved James and Anna through the whole process and have prayed many times as a family about these things.  The kids are seeing God answer each and every prayer.  As Kenny interviewed and received offers we prayed about each interview and possible job and God lead there.  Each week as we head out to look at more houses, we pray God would make it clear which houses to pursue.  And He does.  There have been some disappointments along the way as offers are declined, but we know that sometimes that’s how God’s answering.  He’s been so, so faithful and we have no doubt He’ll continue to be.  

May 28, 2021 – The last day of 3rd & 6th Grade

August 2020 – The First Day of 3rd & 6th Grade

James & Anna finished school on Friday, May 28th and we are all celebrating!  I think parents are just as excited to be finished as the students are this year.  No more quarantines, no more masks…and it looks like next school year will be back to normal!  James was a real trooper with the mask at school this year.  He hardly complained at all and we’re proud of the way he persevered.  Anna’s difficulty came through all of her quarantines, but thankfully that’s all behind us now.  

We are all ready for a break.  The last few months have been very full and I dare say I’m not going to make much of a plan for our days right now.  Typically, I have quite a list of things to do and accomplish and fun to have through the summer, but this summer, we’re all needing a rest.  Maybe after we’ve had some downtime we’ll think about some day-to-day plans.  

The Calvary came the last week of school for 5th Grade’s Civil War Day and Anna’s class was able to see a brief presentation at recess.

Anna’s ballet season continues through mid-July and James is planning on continuing drum lessons just through the summer, too.  He auditioned and received an invite to play percussion in the Jr. High band this fall, so he’ll likely discontinue private lessons once school begins.  Both kids still have youth group activities at church on Wednesday nights through the summer.  James is participating in an FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) basketball camp one week.  Another week Anna is attending VBS and James has a local youth group mission week with church.  That is plenty going on so I’m happy for us to have slower days and weeks in between.  

Last week we attended Jr. High orientation with James.  Wow.  The Principal is amazing and I left wanting to attend Jr. High!  We are so excited for James and this next step in the fall.  

The Classical Academy East Elementary 6th Grade – Class of 2027

The last day of school was a grand celebration.  Parents made signs and brought noisemakers to celebrate the end of the sixth-grader’s time at this campus.  James went home with his best friend and hung out for the afternoon – lunch out, video games, and mini-golfing.  Anna attended a pool party with her friends and had a blast.  That evening we watched a movie and had a summer meal to celebrate: grilled hamburgers, lots of watermelon and canteloupe, and ice cream sundaes for dessert.  

Happy Summer!