The WHOLE Summer at Home!

We are excited to share that we are going to be home for the WHOLE summer! You read that right...the whole summer!  While other people are busy dreaming of and making plans to get away from home for the summer we are excited, for once, to not be making such plans!  You see this is our first full summer at home in 9 years!  Normally we are traveling for work for at least part of the summer...to lead a summer project in Maine or Colorado or somewhere else, to our staff conference every other summer in Colorado, to lead a Lifelines expedition, etc... it's just part of our normal life.  

But this summer everything aligned just right for us to be home for the whole summer.  First of all we were well overdue for a sabatical and a break for our normal summer assignment.  Second, while our staff conference is indeed taking place this summer in Colorado it just so happens that our baby boy is due to be born the day before the conference starts thus excusing our whole family from making the trip out to Colorado.  And since this pregnancy wasn't exactly planned I just take this as God's goodness to us in giving us a break this summer!:)  

Our original plans for the summer were to move to New Hampshire and to have a baby.  Of course some of those plans changed.  So, then what are we up to?  Well, we are still obviously having a baby (and thus taking some maternity leave coming up pretty soon here)!:)  We are also spending much of our work time this summer fundraising as we have a pretty significant need right now.  We have a good chunk of monthly funds to raise to be able to remain in ministry at U-Maine full time so this is great timing to do that.  Joe is getting caught up on some technical skills training that he needed (he just got back a few hours ago from finishing a whitewater rescue course).  We are doing some work in our national roles with Lifelines and towards the later part of the summer we will get to spend more time than we normally get really planning for the fall on campus and laying a good foundation.  

And when we aren't working we are excited to just be home enjoying Maine and the normal summer activities that most people might take for granted...like growing a garden!  I will be the first to admit that the summer already seems to be flying by too fast and just today I was feeling a little bit disappointed at some plans that have fallen through.  Truth be told I was probably dreaming too big about all that we could accomplish, and do , and enjoy this summer.  I probably need to lower my expectations some...or a lot...and just go with the flow a little more.  Oh, that just doesn't come easy for me, but I shall try.  And there have been things we have been able to do that we normally don't...we planted a garden, Lily planted her own flower garden, we are raising tadpoles, Joe painted the trim on the outside of our house, we adopted our puppy, we cleaned and organized our basement, we refinanced the house, and we actually get to be around for some family events like birthdays and weddings!  

Maybe better than anything is that I don't have to pack and unpack and live out of my suitcase, I get to sleep in my very own bed, and in only a few weeks we will be welcoming our newest little Mainer into our family!