At the family reunion, my sister announced that she was expecting baby #3. Notice the shirts on 2 of the kids in the above picture. It was a surprise to everyone. We were all a bit worried to see how next summer's bride was going to take it. Her response, "You're the one that has to wear the dress." We already have our bridesmaid dresses so we're stuck with the size that we bought. Nearly 2 weeks later, I received a text that things were not going well with the pregnancy. She was able to see the heartbeat a couple of times but was labeled as a high-risk pregnancy. Then the next day there was no heartbeat. I had lost a baby 9 years ago so we compared notes on our losses and we can find comfort in that common bond.
About a week after our Iowa trip, my uncle on my mom's side was in an accident at work. He shattered his 12th vertabra. He was taken to the hospital for emergency surgery on his back. They cleaned out bone fragments from his spinal cord but cannot guarantee that he will walk again. While in the ICU, the nurses nicknamed him "Pain" which fits him quite well. If you knew my uncle, you would totally understand. He is a comedian, not afraid to give people a hard time, and can make anything funny. He is currently in a rehab center and we're all praying that he will walk. The last I heard he could move his knees but not his ankles and toes.
Here is my uncle with his family last Christmas.
Just before our trip to Iowa, I volunteered myself to help teach a new Sunday School class at church. I am very excited about it. After we came home, we had a Sunday School meeting and could figure out exactly how to go about the new class. I will be teaching with a good guy friend and we will get to teach the high school seniors and a couple of recent grads. Everyone is so excited to see what the Lord will do with this class. One little hiccup....ok, a major hiccup. My co-teacher is in the hospital with a possible blood clot in his brain. He has been suffering through some severe headaches for over a month. I would like to go visit him but I'm not sure if I want to bring the kids so we'll see what happens. As for our class, someone has offered to sit in with me until he is out of the hospital and ready to come back. We're praying that God will heal him quickly and he'll be back on his feet soon.
Every Sunday for the past few months, we have brought some neighborhood kids to Sunday School with us. The first Sunday after we came home, we picked up one kid who told us his niece and nephew had moved to Texas. With all the emotions already stirred up with my uncle's accident, this news just caused me to overflow. I cried the entire way to church and through part of Sunday School hour. And it wasn't just a normal Sunday at church. We were hosting a young adult conference so there were many many many people there visiting, some I knew but hadn't seen in about a year. I had to wipe away the tears and move on. Some people did notice that I was upset and came to comfort me. God can reach people in Texas. However, we received some confusing news yesterday as we dropped off the same kid. His niece and nephew were visiting because his niece's birthday is this week. I asked if I could get their address. The boy ran over to get the address and came back with just a house number and street address. His niece followed him back to our van. I asked what city and she didn't know. She just knew she was staying with some sort of relative. So I just repeated the address and said, "in some town in Texas." The niece looked at her uncle (who is 9) and said, "We don't live in Texas." So I looked at her and asked if she was still in Wichita. She said she was. Well, if that's the case, then they can certainly rejoin us at Sunday School if they want. We do miss them.
Wichita has set a record for being the hottest summer recorded. We had 52 days in triple digits. Some of those days breaking or tying records as well. 104, 106, 111....yeah, that's hot. And to have them for 52 days in one summer is miserable. But to keep some perspective, the record we broke was set in 1936. They endured 50 days in the triple digits and most people did not have air conditioning in their homes back then. We are spoiled 70 some years later. I usually stayed inside with the kids. If the kids played outside, they weren't out there for long. Seth was beside himself with misery. As a plumber, he works hard and often times in the heat. I'm pretty sure crawl spaces aren't too air-conditioned. I grew up in Iowa where not only are summers hot, they're also really humid. The heat didn't seem to phase me too much. Seth grew up in Idaho where it can snow in June. A few summers ago, they actually had a heat wave with temps into the 100s while we were visiting. No one was used to the heat. It was not a common thing to have an air conditioner. That summer, there were lines across the stores to buy air conditioners. Seth has not out grown his Idahoan weather tolerance - or intolerance as the case may be, even though he hasn't lived there in over 13 years. He was always looking at the forecast and Saturday when we went to bed, he was just giddy. The high for Sunday was to be 79. The highs for the rest of this week are in the low 80s. The lows are down into the 50s. Yes, it is super nice weather!! Thank you Lord for bringing us relief from that heat!
Last Sunday we had our annual Sunday School picnic. It's always tons of fun and I look forward to it every year. Good food, good fellowship, fun games. I won a box of ice cream cones which I may open up today. I played some volleyball and our group game was 4 on a couch. What fun! And I truly enjoyed the devotion. Do all for the glory of God and give it your all. Quit making excuses and put God first.
A guessing game at the picnic.
Here is my grandma last Christmas with most of her great grandchildren. One is missing from this photo. A new one has since been born and another one is on the way. She has 7 more in heaven with her twin sister who was a blue baby. She turned 80 years old yesterday. She is one amazing and blessed woman.
This weekend, my family celebrated my grandma's 80th birthday in Iowa. We were unable to go partly because Seth has to work today. They trade off holidays and it's been a while since Seth has worked a holiday. So yesterday, we had our own Labor Day celebration. We went to the theater and watched Zookeeper. Soooooo funny!!! The audience was in hysterics through some scenes. It is definitely a movie I will see again. Kevin James is always funny. We love his movies. After the movie we ate out at our favorite restaurant - HuHot. It's a Mongolian grill where you pick out your meats, pastas, veggies, and sauces and they cook it for you. My kids go through multiple times.
Tomorrow we start school. We tried out our new routine last week. J did great. The girls not so much. And I did horribly. Perhaps we'll do better this week, and with schooling to do, we'll have more things to keep us busy. I am looking forward to starting this year. We are using a new language curriculum so I'm anticipating how well it will work for us.
One last hurrah before school starts. I let the kids sleep in the living room last night.
Just in the last couple of weeks we have been up and down. But God remains the same. He holds us all in His hands and causes all things to work for good to those who love Him. His plan is perfect, even when we don't always understand it. He knows the big picture and He has a purpose. I completely rest in Him. God is good all the time.
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