This week brought a lot of things to a close, and now we move on into the next season. David's soccer season is officially ending today (after 11 rainouts!), and it looks like his team most likely came in first place for his division. Juan David's season closes out today, too (after 9 rainouts), and it looks like his team will most likely take second place in his division. It was a long, unpredictable season with all of the rain, so we are kind-of glad to finally bring it all to an end. We are also very proud of how the boys did.
School officially ended on Friday. Both boys did exceptionally well in their classes and on their STAAR tests. I don't have the paper results for Juan David's tests yet (other than the news that he passed them all), but David's results showed that he only missed three questions on both his Math test and his Reading test. So proud of him. I finished up my second year of PreK on Friday with 43 kids in attendance for what I called our "celebration" (we have to have both classes together whenever there is an early dismissal in order to save the district money). We had a picnic outside, sang a bunch of songs, read a few stories, and just had a great day. This year's kids (and parents) treated me so wonderfully this year, making this one of the best years I have ever had in the classroom.
Mike and I attended a program at our church called ReEngage for the last sixteen Thursdays, and it, too, came to a close on Thursday night. I'd always heard that every married couple in our church should go through it at least once, no matter what stage they are in in their marriage. So, when they opened it up at our satellite campus, we decided to give it a try. What we didn't know when we committed was just how hard it would be to stay committed due to having so many other things come up on Thursday nights. We stuck through it, though, and we are so thankful we did. Our marriage grew much stronger, we learned more about each other, we communicate more effectively, and we know that God used it to prepare us for our current season of unemployment. We are going to miss our small group meetings, but we now have the tools necessary to keep growing closer as a couple. What we took away from it the most was that every marriage has issues, and it put us in a safe place to talk about our struggles together in a group and to learn from each other. If you ever hear of ReEngage at your church or a church nearby and you have the opportunity to attend, DO IT! I do believe it's one of the greatest ministries in our church.
Here is a link to a song that pretty much sums up Re/engage.
So here we are now, at the end of a full season of life, already jumping into another full season. So far, it looks nothing like we originally planned. No trip to Colombia. No trip to the beach. No big family vacation planned. Julian moving to Argentina and Mike losing his job kind-of changed all of that. However, on the positive side, we get to have Mike hang out with us in between his job interviews. This will be a first, and thanks to God's constant provision for us, we can enjoy our time together as a family without the stress of not having Mike's income for at least another month or so.
When God says, "I will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19), He means it. When He says, "Test me in this, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it" (Malachi 3:10), He means it.
I can say that with confidence because while we have been busy praying for God to give Mike a job, He has been busy providing for our needs, teaching us to wait on Him with peace that He's in control. Not once, but now twice we have unexpectedly received financial gifts combined with enough money to cover seven whole weeks of lost income. And on both occasions, their words made it clear that it was meant to be taken as a gift from God.
He's got this, and we can move forward into an unexpected and unplanned summer with peace to enjoy each day as it comes. It reminds me of a conversation God had with me back in 2011 that I wrote about in chapter 13 of my book. "This is one (summer) that I'm not letting you plan. Every moment of every day has already been planned for you." (p. 127, From the Mountain to the Valley and Back--to be republished by August with the new title Unexpected Tears, www.unexpectedtearsbook.blogspot.com)
David's departure for church camp yesterday began our 2015 summer trek with God as our guide. Looking forward to it.
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