We continue to keep busy while we wait to move into our house.
Last weekend we enjoyed going camping at Clifty Falls with a group from our new church. The majority of this group went on a missions trip to Mexico in the spring and has continued to meet as a small group since then. Of the 7 families we went with, I only knew two (one was the family we met in Virginia and the other is the family whose house we are buying). I was curious how it would be camping with a group of strangers, especially ones who have a common bond/experience. I need not have worried! We had a fabulous time and the other families were so welcoming. It was a wonderful time of fellowship as we shared dinners and sat around the campfire toasting marshmallows and making smores. We also enjoyed hiking to see a couple of the falls and spent an entire afternoon at the fantastic pool. There is a lot of diversity of ages and families in the group and our family blended very well with theirs. You would have thought that we'd known them our entire lives from the way that my kids roamed from one campsite to the next. One woman (who has been unable to have children in her 7 years of marriage) was a bit suprised by 4dd3.5 climbing up on her lap as we sat around the fire, but it was a blessing to her. I'm really glad that we went! By the way, we borrowed my parents' Jeep tent (since ours is in storage in VA) and it was fabulous! Have you ever heard of a tent with closets?!? They were so cool, and very practical with keeping things organized! Who knew?!?
The night before we went camping, we were suprised by my middle sister who came to visit from Florida. Only my brother, brother-in-law, and husband knew she was driving up, so the rest of us were very suprised. It has been good to see her and spend some time with her. Tuesday we drove 1.5 hours to go to the Colts' Training Camp. It was a fun time, even in the rain! We got a late start, so we didn't really see a lot, but we enjoyed the experience and took a couple of pictures of some of our favorite players. We've also been helping my sister rip down ugly wallpaper in her house along with my brother. It's a lot of work and we made a big mess! It's nice to live close enough to help though! And, my littlest sister (who came out to help me in Virginia before we moved and to watch the kids while I was here house-hunting) finally got a job. She started this week working at a bank. She's been unemployed for almost 2 years, so we are all very excited for her and thankful for this opportunity. It's a huge answer to prayer!
The other highlight of my week was attending a homeschool moms' night with some of honeybee's friends. It was a very neat group of Christian women who were again, very welcoming. Most of them use the Principle Approach, which I don't exactly use, but I still gathered numerous gems from the discussion which I can apply to what I do. Also, it was encouraging just to be with fellow homeschool moms. I did not realize how much I was missing that! I was blessed with such a wonderful group of homeschoolers in Virginia and have been missing them a lot, but God is good to bring other families into my life. |
