Confession...

At first I though we'd been squeezed into an over-scheduled, over-extended lifestyle by the demands of life in the 21st century, and it may have started that way. Now I am realizing that we are right there in the midst of frenzy because we have lost the fine art of rest.

We've been trying to spend the evenings watching "Psych" episodes (Kelsey got them as a graduation present), and I've discovered I cannot  just sit and watch a DVD anymore. It makes me positively twitchy.  I am surfing or planning or chatting or crafting at the same time. I don't even know how to sit and watch TV/DVDs/Netflix without doing something else at the same time.

I think I need to look into Multitaskers Anonymous. 

When your pool water is old...

Remember when our pool started acting up?  You can refresh your memory here. In spite of the regimen of algaecide, citric acid, and flocculant, this spring we had the worst battle with stains and algae we've ever had.

It was so bad, we abandoned googling answers and went straight to asking the neighbor who owns a pool company for help. What we discovered was this: our water is old. Seriously. The same water has been in the pool for, well, every since we moved here in 2007,  and who knows how long before that.

Did you know that chlorine is a gas and to put it into pool water, chlorine tablets contain cyanuric acid as a stabilizer for the chlorine? It keeps it from breaking down under the ultraviolet rays of the sun. When the concentration of cyanuric acid grows to high levels over the years, it prevents chlorine from breaking down altogether. Since the chlorine can't release, it doesn't kill algae. So you add algaecide, which raises the copper level in the water. If your water is already prone to high levels of copper (and this happens especially if you have a pool heater), the copper in the water clings to the pool liner and creates large brownish gold stains.

Now, if this happens several years in a row, other chemicals start to break down. The cyanuric acid breaks down and somehow (magic is my theory) you get a lovely coating of purple sediment all over the flat surfaces of your pool liner.

The water can be perfectly clear, but there are brown stains and purple sand all over the place. The scientific name for this is ick. When you step out of the pool, it looks like the picture below:

Ew

So, you call your neighbor the pool company owner who explains your water is old. You drain about half the water out, refill it with fresh water, and turn over the keys to the gate to the pool guys who will tweak it until it's perfect.

And that's how you deal with old water in the pool. Next March, I will be posting about how you deal with putting in a new pool liner.

So tired...

Do you ever get tired? So tired that you just sit and stare and think about the endless list of things you should get up and do, but you can't manage to actually move. So tired that you imagine you unload the dishwasher and put away the clean clothes, but there they still sit, loaded full and stacked high?

That's how I feel.

It was a long year. Long. I think back to September when my mom fell and November when my dad died. Forever ago. Mom is recovering well. Not without a few bumps in the road, but still recovering nonetheless.

Sometimes I forget Dad is gone, and then something happens that I would tell him about and I think about calling him and imagine how I'd start the conversation. And I remember. It was hard not having him at Kelsey's graduation. She is such a hard-worker. He would have been proud.

It seems forever ago, almost like it didn't even happen in this decade or even this millennium. It's weird.

Since all that happened, there have been countless hours of school and homework and grading and late-night chats and tears and laughter and cleaning and crafting and loading and unloading and folding and putting away.

School ended last Friday, and we rolled straight into graduation and graduation parties. Rolling, rolling, rolling.

Monday morning dawned. I suppose. I slept through dawn, thankfully. On Tuesday, Zane finished up his exams. Summer has officially begun, and we look like the wounded warriors' wing of some scholastic infirmary.

Rest. We need rest, and not just sleep--rest.

I need to watch this again. I'm going to tuck it here to remind myself to rest.

Gradualation...

Because gradually, she is moving into her own life. It's a good thing. It's not an easy thing, but it is good because that's the way God made this world. We are born, we grow, we learn, we leave,  we join lives, we make a life, we give life, we raise lives, we love, we move, we change, we live. Life.

Only dead things don't move, so all things considered, I am excited to see our lives enter this new stage. Truly.

Kelsey graduated on June 1, 2012. It was wonderful. She was beautiful.

The march into the gym. She's the front white gown in this shot,
 just rounding the corner.

Presentation of a very hard-earned diploma.

The family.

The sweet, sweet friends.

My really cool pink flamingo dress.
Who on earth wears a pink flamingo dress to graduation?!

I am proud of my girl. She worked so very hard, and the road was NOT an easy one.

I am grateful that the Lord allowed her to achieve all that she did. She is His, and she shines for Him. She also received many accolades, for which she gives Him the glory. We do too. In case you missed graduation (and since our little nuclear family and our friends Shannon and Jocelyn were the only folks sitting on our family row), here is a list of the recognitions Kelsey received:

--Senior Superlative: Best Leader
--Class Officer: Senior Representative
--Gold Honor Cord (4.0+ GPA)
--National Honor Society
--Presidential Outstanding Academic Excellence (3.5+ unweighted GPA, 85th+ percentile on ACT or SAT)
--ACSI Distinguished High School Students (areas of Academics and Christian Service)
--Medallion Award (voted by faculty): Leadership
--Silver Honor Cord - 100+ community service hours
--Rainbow Honor Cord - Art National Honor Society

While this is a pretty cool list of earthly achievements and all of us are grateful to have some tangible representations of the fruit of all that labor, nothing compares to the work done on our behalf by Jesus. Nothing. Salvation is THE greatest reward we ever receive, and we do absolutely nothing to merit it. It's all Him. It's all grace.

We give thanks and praise to the Lord for the work He is completing in in her.  He simply blows us away.

Senior joy

Senior Portrait

Best internship ever

Class of 2012 started campout-before-senior-field-day tradition.

Joy Prom

Out with Josh

Senior Field Day

Senior Superlative:  Best Leaders (Jack & Kelsey)

Zack's baptism...

What an incredible night we had a church last night! Wow! Just WOW!!!

Zack has been asking to get baptized for several weeks, and we were waiting for the "upcoming baptism weekend" announcement. We thought it might be next weekend, so on our "to do" list was contact the kid's ministry peeps and find out what we needed to do.

Then last night as we pulled up to church, we saw the baptism counseling tents. Zack about climbed out of his skin. At first Jimmy spoke to the kid's ministry coordinator and she gave us directions for next week. But during the sermon, JD talked about baptism being a step of obedience. Zack prayed to receive Christ when he was younger, but we delayed the baptism until we were certain he knew what it meant. It had been weighing on his heart that he hadn't been baptized. We had been praying the Lord would show us when the time was right.

During the service, I wrote Jimmy a note and asked it he thought Zack could be baptized tonight. He whispered to Zack, "Bud, do you want to see if you can be baptized tonight instead of next week." I thought the boy would leap out of his seat. He wrote in the little notebook he carries to church: "Baptism date: April 7, 2012."

The Lord has been working in his heart recently. Some of the things he's said have blown us away. He takes notes on the sermons and then comes home and talks about them in ways that leave us astounded. Wow again. Just WOW! That's not us, y'all. That's the Holy Spirit working in his life, by the grace of God.

I got just the main part of his baptism on video with my cell phone, but it was incredible.

The song we were singing was "It is Finished," one of our family favorites.

The line we were singing when Zack went under was, "Jesus went down in the cold of the grave."

The line we were singing when he came up: "Defeated the darkness when He overcame."

The lines we were singing as Zack climbed out of the water... "The keys of the Kingdom were placed into hands/ Of children and priests and of fishers of men."

[You can see the whole "It is Finished" video here.]


Wow. Just WOW!

Happy Easter, everybody! We love you all!

Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered—

to receive power and riches

and wisdom and strength

and honor and glory and blessing.

Revelation 5:12

Seasons change...

Obviously, for me the blogging season has changed. There is so much to do interacting with real life that I have precious little time to blog anymore. And to be honest, much of my blogging was for my dad, who used this blog to keep up with the dailyness of our family. That doesn't mean I won't ever blog anymore... goodness, it's in my blood to express myself in writing, but there are so many other outlets that this has fallen by the wayside for the time being... in case either of you have noticed. :)

Our seasons are changing, and here's how:

1. Kelsey is heading to Chapel Hill in a few months to begin living the dream she seized hold of back when she was in middle school.  She has a dorm and a roommate already. Yay! I am so proud of her; she has worked tirelessly, tackling countless hours of AP courses and volunteer opportunities. She has turned into an amazing young woman of God. I am in awe.

2. No prama this year. Kelsey and her boyfriend broke up in September. (His mom is still one of my best friends on the planet. No teen season of love/breakups will change that.) Blessedly this time, in one of those scheduling debacles that plagued our entire time at our old church and Kelsey's current school, the Joy Prom is the same night as the Junior/Senior. It took her about 1/2 a minute to decide she was going to the Joy Prom instead. So, no prama posts for 2012 either.

3. Zane has successfully transitioned into the neighborhood school from the Christian school. As we wrestled with what to do for next year when registration time rolled by, he asked to stay where he is now. He has friends. He has a starting position on the highly successful varsity football team. He has a leadership role in FCA. He has opportunities to share the gospel with people who don't know yet.  So, he's staying.

4. Zane is also plugging-in to student ministry at our new church. It's pretty cool how old friends from different places have welcomed him. I have never seen such caring and compassion come from a group of guys. Usually it's a trial-by-fire type of friendship among teenage boys, but here there is genuine encouragement and accountability. It is an answer to prayer after many months of suffering and solitude.

5. Zack is staying right where he is in school for next year. He hates change. Hate may be an understatement. With Zane leaving their school last year and Kelsey leaving school and home to go to college next year, we decided after much prayer that Zack needs to stay right where he is, even though it is very challenging for him academically.

6. Jimmy's found himself in the position of many in the business world over the past few years. As the company makes cut-backs through attrition, his hours working are steadily increasing. His territory is doing great, though. We are blessed. (But we are busy. Who isn't?)

7. Our transition to a new church family is pretty well complete. We don't know how to "sorta" do anything, so we dove head-first into the deep end. After three months of visiting the church and two months of being in a small group, we joined. Thing is, our small group is growing huge, and we find even more people asking to visit. With a void of small groups in our immediate area and several interested families, Jimmy and I felt called to be part of the core team of families planting a new small group, closer to our part of town. We're busy training and learning, and we're totally excited about having the opportunity to participate in our church's gospel mission.

8. In light of college for Kelsey next year and college for Zane two years after that, I am pursuing a full-time job. Last time I crashed and burned on the schedule, but prayerfully, that won't be the case this time. The way positions work now, things are much more streamlined. We'll see. Haven't heard anything yet.

9. Although she has up days and down days, my mom (Miss Daisy) continues to recover well from the fall last September that landed her in the hospital/rehab for several weeks. She is looking into new things to do and does better and better the busier she stays during her retirement. In this season, we help her with groceries and lawn care and housework. She's pretty feisty though, so our roles even in those areas are decreasing. I'm proud of her "fight."

10. Summer Bible study has always, always, always been my favorite activity of the year.  For so many years, I have wished for SBS fellowship to last all year. This year, through our small group at church, I have been blessed to connect with a group of women who are committed to fellowship, prayer, and Bible study on a regular basis year-round. I believe "doing life together" is the current term for such relationships. Jon Acuff would be so proud of us. We "love on" each other too! SCL fans will know exactly what I'm talking about. I dearly love my old SBS friends. Dearly. Yet, I am so very grateful that those types of relationships can be year-round and not confined to just June-July.

11. After nearly two months of searching, we finally found my dad's will, which named me executrix. It didn't go so well. I tried, but living such a full life over two hours away from where everything needs to happen made it difficult to carry out my duties. That and the fact that my brother and I hold very different values systems made it clear that the conflict wasn't worth going to court. So, I resigned the position, after a time of prayer and seeking godly counsel.

12. So far one of the things that hasn't changed is where we live, but who knows what will happen there either. Our "yes" is on the table, as we say at church, so we're waiting to see where the Lord will lead in lots of areas.

Thanks for stopping by. I love and miss so many of you who used to drop by here on a regular basis. I pray the Lord is shining His glory through you each day!