This has been a weird summer. Since I posted last, Clay had a great week at camp, but then was stranded an extra week in Colorado waiting for a church vehicle to be repaired. As of this very moment one month later, the vehicle is still in Gunnison, CO and "should be ready" today. Apparently, in some small towns, if you leave the state in good faith that the people working on your vehicle will do what they said they would do, you get taken advantage of.
So Clay got back from CO a week late and we spent a couple of days together as a family before the kids and I headed down to The Woodlands w/ B's friend Tanner for Matt Bullard Basketball Camp. It was a nice, relaxing week w/ my family, and Clay came down and joined us for two days at the end of the week.
The next day, he left for Hardin Simmons in Abilene, Super Summer Session 4. Another great week of student ministry. This time, B got to join him. He was in "Red School", with all the other 8th graders. B had the "best week of camp ever" and is now a super summer junkie. He won a contest to be red school's "chosen one" for the whole week. This made him the main participant in each day's messy games, which was disgusting. However, it also made him quite popular. He says he doesn't want to be famous, because it was annoying all week to walk through the camp and hear kids whisper to each other, "Look...it's the chosen one!" :-) When he got home on Friday, he had notes and numbers written up and down his arms and had 10 missed calls on his phone from fellow campers. I'm sure he also got something spiritual from the week as well, since that is what Super Summer is most known for...but when you're 12 and "the chosen one" the spiritual lessons are difficult to decipher right off the bat.
So, Super Summer ended and we've now had a full week home together. Though the week formerly known as VBS (Summer Blast) has kept the kids involved in the evenings, we've done a whole lot of nothing. Clay and I even went on a date one night while the kids spent the night at VBS and then with friends. We're enjoying new episodes of "The Closer" and season 3 of "Prison Break." Clay has been getting ready for next week's mission trip.
This was the trip that all of us were going to go on together. But Hurricane Dolly has Matamoras in 3 feet of water in some areas and telemundo reports that it is a "disaster zone". Our contact in Brownsville has asked our group to bring chainsaws to help clean up in their area. So the trip's VBS in the park in Matamoras is scrapped, and probably the construction in Matamoras as well. Instead, they'll work primarily in Brownsville, helping to clean up there. So I've decided not to take the kids. Numerous reasons all related to the effects of the hurricane, but mainly because I don't think it's a trip for a 9 year old anymore.
So in the morning, Clay will leave us again. Pray that God will give them an adventure to remember and opportunities to share Christ with the people the help in Brownsville. Churches probably pass the area hundreds of times each summer on their way into Mexico for mission trips. This time, the people in Brownsville won't be passed by.
When he gets home next Friday, he is immediately on VACATION...for 2 weeks. And I can't wait!
