You may have noticed that it's been nearly 4 months since I last posted. Most of you know the Lay fam well enough to know that it's only because of our crazy summer schedule. It has been a wonderful summer, and I could spend hours telling you all about it, but instead I'm going to attempt to summarize the past 100 or so days with some of our favorite pictures and stories of our favorite moments (in no particular order)...
highlight #1: our wonderful nannies
Deo was our first half nanny... We love her and miss her dearly! She was our nanny second half last summer, so it was fun to grow even closer to her this summer. She is back at school in Tennessee, but we are hoping to see her at Winterfest in December, if not before! Deo, thank you for the amazing ways you served and blessed our family this summer!!!
We also enjoyed a visit from Chrismiss, our beloved nanny from past summers. The kids couldn't quite understand why she wasn't our nanny again this summer, but they enjoyed a couple of brief visits from her, nonetheless. The picture above was taken with the photobooth program on her MacBook. Chrismiss is starting grad school at Auburn, so we will miss seeing her on a regular basis, but look forward to many skype dates between now and the next time we get to see her.
I don' have any pictures to prove it, but during week 2 the kids and I took a quick little "tour de tejas" to see some family (more on that later), but on our way to Keller, we drove through Waco and got to see Skwirlie, another nanny from the past! It was fun to have a quick little Chick-fil-A lunch date with her and to caravan part of the way to Keller.
Deo left after week 5, and our second half nanny wasn't scheduled to start until week 6, so we had the pleasure of spending a week with Hidden Treasure. The kids and I had a ton of fun with her!
HOP was our second half nanny, and was a wonderful blessing to our whole family! She was so creative and always so willing to help! We were sad to see her go when camp ended, but we also know we'll be seeing a lot of her in the months to come since she goes to school in Austin, only about an hour away! HOP, there aren't enough words to express our gratitude! Don't be a stranger!!!
highlight #2: being outside
Well, the weather since the last week of camp has NOT been conducive to being outside (heat index today was 110 degrees), but in the early part of the summer, we had some fun rainy days and some nice moderate sunshiny summer days. We loved being outside...
rain or shine...
highlight #3: visiting family and visits from family
During our "tour de tejas" we went to Keller to visit my brother Jesse and his wife Cassie and see their gorgeous new home. Thanks, Aunt Cassie, for taking us to the neighborhood pool! We also went to stay with my parents at their new barn-house on the Lucky 13! Unfortunately, I have no pictures to show, but it was a fun visit!!!
My grandfather, Dad-Dad, stopped by to see us on her way to Mexico. Always good to see you Dad-Dad!
We had a couple of brief visits from my parents. We always love it when Grammy and Pops come to visit!!!
And toward the end of camp, we had a last-minute visit from Aunt Claire and Baby Kay!!! And we even got to see Uncle Joey for a few minutes too!
highlight #3: birthdays
I am so sad that I don't have pictures to show of this, but as a gift to Jeff for Father's Day and his birthday, I signed us up for a couple's hands-on cooking class called Southwest Sizzle. We had SO much fun! We got to learn how to make some delicious dishes along with the other couples attending the class. At the end of the night, Jeff told me it was his favorite date he had ever been on with me!!!
Grandma Sharon also had a birthday! We took her to breakfast at Beckey's (a local diner-type restaurant) to celebrate her!
highlight#4: camp!!!
Of course, one of the things we love most about our summers is camp! And what would camp be without the staff? This is a picture of the leadership staff. We loved getting to know all the college kids who served the Lord at Outback this summer, and we sad to see them go. Please keep in touch and come back to visit!
One of my highlights of the summer was getting to lead a group of girls each half through a "half-time" Bible study. We went though portions of a book called "Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild" by Mary Kassian. It was such a privilege and such a joy to study truth with those girls. (And I highly recommend this book to any girl!)
As much as I love my summer-time friends, I am increasingly grateful for my year-round Columbus friends. It has been a privilege to serve alongside the other staff wives like Julie and Meg. One week, Meg and I got away for a pedicure to enjoy a little quality time together!!!
The last week of camp was a highlight for sure! It wasn't your typical week of camp at Outback. Mercy Street, an inner city mentoring ministry in West Dallas brought a group of kids to experience camp. It was so fun to watch those kids just soak it in and live it up! And Hank, Landry, and Tucker had a great time playing with one of their staff member's three kids...L.J., Coleman, and Ayla!
highlight #5: sweet time with the kids
We had our first family movie night (minus Tucker, who was in bed). We popped popcorn, ate movie candy, and watched Beauty and the Beast. It was a blast!
Hank and Landry got to go to VBS for the first time ever. They were worn out by the end of the week, but had a great time. I got to work with the fifth and sixth graders, and had fun doing hands-on ministry with some kids besides my own for a few hours that week.
Big news: we broke ground on the treehouse we've been dreaming about for months! But that's all the details you get for now...more coming soon in a treehouse exclusive!!!
And this will merit it's own post, as well, but let's just say we've had some sweet conversations with Hank lately. Some of them have stemmed from reading this great book "The Jesus Storybook Bible" that we read to the kid at bedtime. More on that later, too...
Well, that's our summer in a rather large nutshell. If you were part of our summer, know that we miss you and definitely want you to keep in touch! If you weren't part of our summer and wonder where on earth we've been, give us a call or shoot us an email. We're back into the swing of "normal" life...whatever that is!
