Summertime laziness....

Hi, Today is the last day of school for the kids and boy are they ready for summer. It's too bad it had to be so chilly and wet...just didn't quite feel like the last day for summer, maybe spring break? Oh well, tomorrow will be sunny and soon they will want to be inside to play because "it's croakin' out there!" :-)

I am not taking classes this summer. I am down to needing 4 classes, and none of them are offered during the summer semester. And I have to take them 2 x 2 next year. One is part 1 in the Fall and part 2 in the Spring...so it looks like an easier road for the last year of school. Sometimes I think "how slow can this be to get an associates degree?" And "What am I really going to gain from all of this..." I guess the answer to the first is very and the answer to the second is that only God knows what I will gain from this experience. :-)

Angie moved into a little house with a couple of girlfriends last week. She thinks its pretty cool to not live on campus...she's on to the next stage of life...living independently from mom & dad and from school rules. She has one semester of classes and one semester of student teaching and then she'll be done too. We'll have a big party next May for us college grads! Then the next year it will be Katey's graduation party...just call us May Party Central!

Matt went up to Prairie Meadows today for the Bass Pro Shop job fair. After 1 1/2 hours of waiting they called his name and he had an informal interview. He had to tell them how many years of fishing, camping, hiking, etc. he had under his belt. When he told them he was an Eagle Scout the guy said, Good enough for me, come back next Wednesday for a second interview! He took the Compass test for DMACC last week and is set to start classes in the fall. Plus he has a few odd jobs that have come his way to tide him over financially. I am continually amazed when I see God at work in my kid's lives...how things just "fall into place" at "just the right time."

Katey is babysitting for Brian & Lisa Zylstra's little boys this summer as she recuperates from surgery. Lance broke her heart this week and ended their relationship. Time will tell how that all plays out, but for today she's heartbroken. She is glad to be done with school and ready for upper classman status. I think she'll have senioritis beginning next fall...at the beginning of her junior year! She really needs prayer covering during this time of her life...discernment, wisdom, wise choices, seeing herself as God sees her, etc.

Lauren would go to school almost all summer if it was available. She wrote the sweetest note to Mrs. Vos. She let me read it to see if it "sounded right." :-) She told her she was one of her 2 favorite teachers so far. She thanked her for making learning fun, even when it should have been boring! How sweet is that? She is singing on the Tulip Toren Thursday night with all the school kids if you happen to be uptown for the first Thursday Night event of the summer.

Russ has a long way to go academically. Hopefully he'll be receptive to some summer "learning opportunities" around the house and we can work on some math & reading skills informally. I have a call into his SW to see if we can enroll him in something like Apples of Gold and be reimbursed for it. I spoke with him about maybe repeating 3rd grade. He wasn't keen on the idea, but seems to understand that he really is far behind all the other kids moving on to 4th grade...socially, academically, physically. He doesn't think mom will approve, so we'll just pray that she see's the benefit of it since he's had a rough year. We are also praying for some good friends for him this summer.

Bob has been busy working on the bed in the garage during the afternoon's. He's home by 1:30 every day so that gives him a few hours to putter around on it before I come home. He garden is looking great. We've got some strawberries out of the patch this week...yummm!

So, while I titled this summertime laziness...it sure seems like we are all busy at our house. I'm busy at work getting things together for the Golf Classic and working on the triennial General Policy Manual review. It's been reviewed by lots of people, now I get to put it all together, make sure its formatted right, etc. bleck...least favorite job! Good thing it only happens every 3 years! At home I had some fun with the Cricut machine and Bonnie's project. I hope Mari & Jesse liked it! I'm also working on refinishing the porch swing from mom's front porch.

I am so thankful for all the good things God has given to me. The other day I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders with everything that was going on in life...and then I remembered the song from the wedding "Great is Thy Faithfulness" and knew that no matter how heavy my burden was, God would be faithful to lift it for me and take care of my "problems" which, in comparision with other people's PROBLEMS are pretty puny.

Ok, so this is really long...sorry for that...but let's hear what you guys and your kids are up to this summe!

Love you!

Diane