catch up

well, we did have to get a new washing machine. we decided to go ahead and look at used. we found a set that was only two years old and in great condition. it retails for about $2400 and we got the set for $700. i am very proud of it. we are washing and drying in style these days!!!

the weather is absolutley wonderful around here. it rained all day yesterday a steady down pour. that rarley happens and it was exciting. today is a little warm with highs in mid eighties, but the rest of the week looks to be very fall like. highs in mid to upper SIXTIES!!! i can't remember not being hot and this is nice!

we have a free weekend this weekend. not even a soccer game. this was scheduled to be a makeup week and we have not had to miss any games so we are just free!! i hope we get to relax and hang out with some friends.

i had a great time meeting up with everyone while in nashville. my sisters and i went shopping at opry mills. it was a little chaotic, ok alot chaotic with 5 very small children, one stroller and three adults. we had a great time. i think, if anything, it served as great birth control for my two sisters!!! hehehehe.

i also had a great time meeting up with two of my best friends from highschool. it was almost surreal being in jessica's house with five kids and talking about each other's lives past and present and talking about other old friends and where they all are right now. it was wonderful. i found out that God has been working on several of our old friends and saved a few. all three of us commented on how this is what we are always hoping and asking God to do, but it seems amazing to see him do it to old friends. thank you God for being active and alive and maybe even using seeds from 10 years ago to do your work!!!

we had a really great time meeting up with jon an kristi reynolds and their kids. it was so easy to hang out with them. we just picked up where we last left off. our kids really enjoyed one another--especially lindsey and anna. they are very much alike and they knew it as much as anyone!

one really cool part of the weekend was getting to visit the Lipscomb campus again for the first time in a LONG time. many changes have come along. we got to see several famliar faces and even see the president, Randy Lowry, (whom we got to know only since our move west). it is amazing how home just always feels like home. i pray one day God will lead us back to our roots and allow us to live and work in familiar land again!! until then i find myself strangley satisfied here. i am in a place where only God can meet my needs.

the focus of the Zoe weekend was on Jacob. jacob wrestled with God all night caught in the grip of a God that would not let him go, and when he finally did let go, Jacob found himself limping away with a hip torn from the socket. i think that is a great analogy of my last two years with God. the move, pregnancy, bedrest, depression, and grave's disease. it is strange to wrestle with God and come away limping yet in strange peace that God gripped me so tight through it all that i could not squirm away. he was drawing me to him no matter what. he was changing me and through it all, when i could not pray or read scripture or find peace at church, i was peacefully in the eye of the storm with God. you know how you can hold on so tight that you bruise. that was me. but that bruise is a precious reminder of my night spent wrestling with God and his grip that was so strong it would never let me go. thank you God for never letting me go!

it was also really fun hanging out with my honey over the weekend. i love him so much. we had a great time. i thnk he enjoye dme as much as i enjoyed him. we were able to enjoy one another all because of my mom taking our kids for a while. it was so nice. you don't realize what a gift time a lone with your spouse is until you don't have it and then briefly have the opportunity to enjoy it. we are blessed. thanks mom for EVERYTHING. you are so special to us and give us way more than we deserve.

you guys have a great day,
summer