Hello friends!  I'm not sure how it's August already but here we are!  I am so abundantly grateful that we had extra help in the month of June to finish out virtual school.  I'm not sure if our intern 100% knew what she was getting into but it was truly a blessing to me (us).  The kids loved having someone else to follow around all day (hahaha).  Once July hit, we took a week in Shell with family and then had a visit from our Regional Director, which made the month just zoom by.  Somewhere in there, Benji turned 4 and I got my driver's license renewed.  So here we are in August, still feeling the summer feels with no school and YL camps.  I'm always looking ahead of course and so I'm mentally getting set up for the coming school year as we *hopefully* try something different than virtual school.  Our original plan fell through (because 2020/2021 you guys...obviously planning is still silly) so we are working on the specifics.  

As I mentally gear up for another school year, there are a lot of thoughts (fears, anxiety...).  I am worried to have a repeat year of virtual school or that I will struggle in the same ways.  

Ezekiel 46:9-10 (MSG)

"But when the people of the land come to worship GOD at the commanded feasts, those who enter through the north gate will exit from the south gate, and those who enter through the south gate will exit through the north gate.  You don't exit the gate through which you enter, but through the opposite gate.  The prince is to be there, mingling with them, going in and out with them."

Okay....lots of gates and entering and exiting.  What does that have to do with me?  It kind of sounds like the grocery stores which now have arrows everywhere telling you which aisles you can go up or down in.  What I take from this verse is that you don't leave the way you entered.  The beauty of life with Christ is that we get to be new creations.  Even if the circumstances don't change, we can be changed by His grace.  I love the hope that this brings.  You don't exit through which you enter.  No.  You are a new creation.  You have learned a thing or two.  You have changed.  You have adapted.  You do not need to hold on to those same fears and worries as before.  Another year with 3 kids, doing an entirely new school program will have it's challenges for sure.  But I have grown (at least a little bit) and I am ready to enter a new gate.  

Intern good-byes

Quilotoa

A boy and his birthday cake

boys