I always look forward to summer every year. I have this wonderful picture painted in my head of our family going on vacations, spending time at the beach, swimming, and just having a lot of fun. The reality of summer is that we live in Michigan. Yes, we have the beautiful lakes all around us, but they are at least an hour drive from where we live. Summer is BUSY in youth ministry. You have camp, and a lot of other summer activities. We have to take advantage of the time off of school with our “kids”. Am I the only youth pastor wife who views their teens as their own kids?! We had a young man stop and help all of the ladies get down the stairs yesterday at church. I beamed with pride, as if I was his mother. Anyway, back to summer…
Summer is nothing like the image in my head. It is HOT. We had beautiful 70 degree days for WEEKS! But, it was rainy a lot so we couldn’t really go out and play much. Now, it is hot. I hate hot. Hot makes me so grouchy. I hate being sticky and sweaty. Addi gets hot really easily, too, so we can’t play outside for very long when it’s hot. Today, though.. I am tired of my kids being robbed of summer fun. We are putting on our swimsuits and going outside to play in the sprinkler. I keep hoping we can set up our little pool to swim, but we will see. We live on church property and it would kill a 10-12 foot circle of grass. :/ Scott has a softball game tonight, so we are daddy-less again. I want the girls to look back and have awesome memories of their childhood.
Ministry is tough. I know a lot of ministry kids who leave the church because they felt their parents put the church before their family. I don’t want that for my girls. I want them to see two parents who LOVE JESUS. Who serve him wholeheartedly. I think a lot of people forget that our ministry is our own family, too. We are often expected to drop everything for others ALL THE TIME. Please don’t misunderstand me. The blessings of ministry far outweigh the downsides. However, there are many sacrifices that families like ours have to make. We make them willingly. But, I need to remember to make the family time that we do get special. Even if it’s just the girls and I because Daddy is often busy. We have lived in Michigan for 4 years.. tomorrow I think actually makes 4 years for us! WOW! Sadly, we don’t really know what there is in Michigan. We’ve been to the Detroit zoo countless times. We’ve been to port huron, Frankenmuth, outlet malls, blah, blah, blah. But, if anyone knows of anything in the state that is FREE, or really cheap, I am open to any suggestions. There are only so many “at the house” activities we can do. 😉
Chloe also got an AWESOME early birthday present from Mimi and Papa Pullen this week!! She is such a big girl! She calls me “mom” all the time, which makes me really sad. I am not old enough to be MOM, and I don’t feel like she is old enough to call me that. *sigh* I wish they could stay little forever. Ok, maybe not.. I can’t wait for the days when we can shop together and not have them stashing clothes, candy bars, and toys in the stroller. I always have to do a serious search for stolen goods before we leave ANY store. haha! Anyway, my scatter brain needs to be quiet now. Here is a picture of my big girl on her big girl bike!!!!
