Really? Is it almost over?

Summer vacation is so close to being over I can almost feel the morning breeze of ACU's campus with the hustle and bustle of all the students walking to and fro. I will step onto the campus this year as a Sophomore!! Very excited about that. I still have a couple of 100 level classes to take, i.e. math and english. I am very excited about English, but dreading the math. This semester will bring forth new learning and new possibilities, for me both of those are such a blessing. I will start beginning Greek and have memorized half the Greek Alphabet, will try and finish the last half today. I am taking 12 hours as I did last semester.

I have enjoyed the relaxed summer this year. This is the first summer since my kids were born that I haven't worked a lot. As I had put my wedding business on hold until I decided if I could do school and weddings at the same time it left me with some much enjoyed and cherished downtime. The feeling of waking up and deciding what I would do with my day ahead with the kids was very fun, being your own boss has certain pro's, but you always know there is work to be done and it is hard for me to totally forget about the stress of that. Because I wasn't working a ton there wasn't a large amount of stress or guilt for not focusing on editing/designing/shooting. The other side of that coin is not working/no extra money. So we have pinched and squeezed every ounce of value in each dollar this summer. It is all good though, it has led to a simpler agenda which I have loved. My kids...not so much ; )

I have devoured numerous books in the last 6 weeks. My two favorites were The Help by Kathryn Stockett and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. I was surprised to read that The Help was Ms. Stockett's first novel.

I got back into a weekly Bible study group on Sunday nights with a group of ladies at church. We are about to finish the book of Ruth study by Kelly Minter. It has been a great study, I love the book of Ruth and this book has allowed me to savor the lives of Ruth and Naomi and our Faithful Father. Truly inspirational.

I also started on my own the study of Revelation by Beth Moore. I unfortunately could not attend when the ladies did this study at church so I am doing it on my own. It is not as much fun, but I am sure the learning will be wonderful.

I can certainly testify to the fact that school can easily crowd it's way into your spiritual walk. Even if the classes I take have the Bible in them. Learning the Bible and searching the Bible for your own growth and worship are two very different animals. I have decided that this year I will stay in Bible study at church even if my schedule is a bit tricky because there is no substitute for the fellowship of believers and digging deeper into God's word for the soul purpose of knowing God and trying to walk more closely to Him. Good intentions had me at the beginning of the year in my own study, The Covenant, by Kay Arthur, but without that weekly gathering and accountability I find it difficult to stay on track each and every week.

Yesterday was Rob's and my 15th Wedding Anniversary. We are celebrating with a cruise in December, so we kept the day pretty simple, we did however enjoy a nice meal and Artwalk with two of our three kids, the other was at a sleepover.

I am thankful for Jesus, and his undying call for our affection.