Words and Thoughts

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord my strength and my redeemer."

Psalm 19:14

In my Psalms reading this morning, this particular verse stood out. What a tall order--for my words and the meditation of my heart (my thoughts) to be acceptable in God's sight.  Lately my thoughts are anxious, so my words are sometimes less than acceptable in God's sight. I am working on this. The second part of the verse gives the solution...."O Lord my strength and my redeemer". On my own, I will fail every time. With God's help and with my willingness to submit my selfish desires to Him, I can hope to succeed in making my words and thoughts acceptable to Him. 

What's been going on:

• Julie and Big Sam are married! The wedding was absolutely beautiful and perfect in every way. As soon as the photographer gets the pictures to me, I will share some. He texted me a few.....here is one of them.
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• The kids and I attended Rustic Youth Camp last week. My team of teachers (of the 3rd and 4th grade class) graciously allowed me to just be a helper for the week of camp since I am in the middle of two weddings! It was such a blessing to not have to spend hours preparing lessons and crafts and then packing and taking the whole house to camp! Thank you so much Beverly, Desiree', Chrystal, and Heather!
• I am still washing tablecloths from Julie's wedding!  They must be washed and dried one at a time in order to get the wrinkles out. The wash cycle is 35 minutes, and the drying time is 20 minutes. I have to get them out of the dryer the second the dryer cuts off. Then I hurriedly lay the tablecloth on my bed and fold it carefully before hanging it on a hanger. I think I have washed, dried, folded, and hung 23 so far. We used about 40 at Julie's wedding, so I still have many left. I also have some additional tablecloths that are new that we will also need for Olivia's wedding. They must be washed and dried before using them because they have hard wrinkles in them from the packaging. I think I have about 50 tablecloths to prepare in all for Olivia's rehearsal dinner and wedding reception.
• I'm slowing increasing my running miles. I have really let myself get out of shape with the traveling and wedding planning. I also starting rowing yesterday. I plan to row 3 days a week to hopefully strengthen my shoulder (that I injured doing CrossFit). I hope to go back to CrossFit class in July. 

Today Olivia and I have a long to-do list for her wedding.

Fun!

RYC Fun

We spent the last week at RYC (Rustic Youth Camp) in Alabama.  This was my family's seventh year to attend this camp, and it proved to be so much fun as always!

Lynn and I stayed with Mrs. Beulah (just like we have the past 6 years), but this time we had only 5 children with us--my two youngest, her two youngest, and her niece.  So, for the first time, we had to take only one vehicle to the camp each day.  Clay, Parker, and Carson were overnight campers, and Olivia served as a bunkhouse counselor for the girls.  She also helped teach the 5 & 6 year olds. I spent my week teaching the 3rd and 4th graders with four other wonderful ladies.  We had 27 children, 18 of which were boys! Over the years I have taught 3 & 4 year olds, 5 & 6 year olds, and 3rd and 4th graders.  For the past three years I have taught the 3rd and 4th graders, and that is my favorite class!  The camp preparation is brutal, but the week is always completely worth it!

Julie spent the week at home with Jimmy (she is too old for camp, and too young to be a counselor). Next year she can join the ranks of hard working counselors.  :)

Olivia's friend Brian also worked as a counselor in the boys' bunkhouse and a camp photographer. Julie's friend Sam came for a visit last weekend, and so we have have a fun house full since arriving home from camp Friday night.  I am still doing camp laundry!

There were many highlights of camp week-----3 girls were baptized in the lake, the Florida College Friends musical group gave a concert on Monday night, Jimmy and Julie visited us twice during the week, Julie and Big Sam came over to camp the last day, Mrs. Beulah braided our hair Thursday night, the kids swam and swam in her pool, and they took a record of 2 baths for the week! (Chlorine cleans dirty kids, right?) Many Bible lessons were studied, many crafts were made, and many friendships were established or rekindled.

A fun, exhausting week!