Wonderful Summer!

It has been sunny (only one day of rain) and quite warm for the Pacific Northwest - at least the 80s daily. The best part of our summer was mid-June - July when our French kids and their kids came to stay. What a blast! Being a grandparent is wonderful! Saying good-bye was horrific, knowing it might be another two years before we have the chance to reconnect. I'm hoping not. I "plan" to start saving $$ for a summer 2015 voyage to France.

That aside, it's August. School starts in three weeks... well, kind of. The staff meetings and open house and all of that starts in three weeks. School starts the Wednesday after Labor Day around here. I'm so glad because summer in the PNW is July, August, September! This week I was reminded why we teach. A month ago, one of our alums contacted me through Facebook and asked if we could get together. To me that means they should come over for dinner and a nice long chat. That happened, Tuesday night... five our our former students showed up at our door (I had planned for four but the fifth heard about it and just came - love that) and we had a wonderful dinner together. As we sat out in the back, surrounded by the beautiful yard and great food (I am a good cook!), we listened to their stories of the first year of university. One of ours was at SPU during the shooting last Spring. She shared and we cried, incredible stuff. All had roommate stories, significant other stories, concerns for the future, and one brought a recommendation form for a scholarship. LOL! Love our kids! As frustrated as we get with some of the stupidity that happens around us, we know that impacting kids to be world changers is why we are in education. They will change the world. They are extraordinary!

And now... we're going camping one last time before school starts. It's unlikely that we'll be able to get away again before September. We could probably do something over Labor Day, but joining that stream of traffic just doesn't seem relaxing. This camping trip is again out to the property of an acquaintance, located on the Cowlitz River, dry camping. There's something about no electricity or water that calls us back to nature. Don't get me wrong. We have big batteries and a water tank so we won't do without, but we will use it sparingly since it is in limited supply. The most exciting thing about this trip is that our local kids are camping about 40 minutes away and the oldest granddaughter has decided that she wants to be baptized, so grandpa and I will join them Saturday afternoon and T will baptize his oldest grandchild. My heart is so full that it's leaking out my eyes at this moment. Whatever we do, may we be faithful so that those who come after us will also know the reality of a loving God in their lives.