Although I’d rather not have to ever deal with May again in this lifetime because of the hectic schedule the schools and extracurricular activities put on parents (and parents of four kids, especially) – we are now into summer and we have scheduled the kids’ days pretty full.  Luckily, it’s going to be driving them to weekly activites and not daily activites, though!

Last Friday and Saturday, three of the four kids attended a local VBS.  The youngest was a participant (her last year!) and the two middle kids were helpers.  Our son was in charge of the games for the kids and our second daughter was a helper in the youngest age-group.

Then yesterday, we sent three of the four kids off to Camp Chrysalis!  This church camp was started over 60 years ago, back when our church was part of the ELCA and many of our older members were around to help set it up.  In fact, a retired pastor that belongs to our church was the first chaplain at the camp – amazing history for our little church and the camp in these hills of Texas!  Although our church is now part of the LCMC association, we still support Cross Trails Ministry and many members still donate their time and money to help keep the improvements and upkeep up-to-date.  HUGE thanks to my foster mother, as without her financial help our kids could not have attended camp this year.

We have one child left at home and let me tell you, she is LOVING being an only child for a week!  She is the second child, so her alone-time with one or both of her parents is usually interrupted by one of the other kids.  She literally SKIPPED to her bedroom last night, anticipating her sleep not being interrupted by her bedroom-sharing younger sister.  :-)  She leaves for the same camp next Sunday, so she is not going to miss her opportunity to have a full week of Christ-centered teachings, activites, singing and FUN!

Here’s a look at how happy she was when we dropped the other three kids off at camp yesterday.  I think the look on her face in this photo is priceless!

Of course, the rest of June and July are already scheduled and we’re working on something for August, too.  The oldest has three weeks of Camp Chrysalis, whereas the two younger ones will be there a week.  The day we pick them up from camp, we have to drive a little further to take my husband and son to a Boy Scout camp for the evening.  Then the #2 daughter will go for a week.  The day after the oldest returns home, she and our #2 daughter leave for Denver with our church youth for a mission trip to Denver.  The end of June, my husband and son will head out to west Texas for a week at Boy Scout camp.  In July, daughter #2 will be volunteering at Girl Scout camp as a PA (personal aid).  Daughter #1 will be having surgery on a bothersome ganglion cyst on her right wrist on July 18th, and her birthday is July 23rd.  On top of all of this, my husband and son will still be having their weekly Boy Scout meetings on Mondays as well as monthly weekend campouts.  OH, and there’s our yearly family reuinion on my husband’s side of the family here at the Harrison Wilderness Base over the week of July 4th. 

No rest for the weary – or a day off for the parents of four kids, that’s for sure!!!