The Saturday 7

1. We did it! We survived May! Every day, one more thing slides off my plate and I can breathe a little easier. Lena's soccer season wrapped up last week, Levi's last game was today, I finished the bulk of the work on a huge church library project, yesterday was my last church storytime, and we only have one more week of school! I still have a few development tasks to finish, and the Soccer Camp responsibilities are kicking into full gear, but I'm feeling like my load is much more manageable. Maybe I should clean my house now . . .

2. Lena loved her first year of soccer. She's already making plans to play school basketball in the winter, because she loves being part of a team. Have I mentioned yet how much Prozac has changed her life?!?! Her last couple of games were especially fun because her coach went to Alaska with our seniors, so Justin got to step in as the sub. 

As you can see, her last game was another chilly one. We only had one warm game all season! She never did score, even though she wanted to so badly, but she grew and learned so much. I'm so proud of her!

3. Last Sunday, I got up in front of church, yet again, to announce our 1st Annual Summer Reading Challenge at the church library! This has been a major labor of love. Esther came up with the idea a few months ago, and we've been hammering out details ever since. We titled it: Virtue & Vision - a Summer of Stories. The basic premise is to consume media (books, podcasts, movies) that inspire virtue or discussion. Esther spent hours compiling lists of suggested media, and I spent hours making them fit neatly on one page each, then printing and displaying them. Another hundred hours (slight exaggeration) went into creating the Bingo cards and assembling giveaway baskets. I also created a facebook page to encourage discussion, and the first issue of our new monthly newsletter. (Because I just can't get enough of writing newsletters - I do one e-newsletter a month for school and two print editions during the school year.) We've had a fair amount of interest, though, so hopefully all the work is worth it!

4. I actually managed to read a couple books over the past two weeks despite the madness. The first was The Teen's Guide to Face to Face Connections in a Screen to Screen World by Jonathan and Alyssa McKee. I got it for like $2.99 or something during a recent Christianbook.com shopping spree. It wasn't particularly earth-shattering, but it was worth reading. In fact, I might make Lucy read it before she can have a phone (she gets a phone when she turns 16). The second book was one I listened to on audio while I was working in the library: Confronting Christianity by Rebecca McLaughlin. I'm coming to love anything she writes, even if listening to her on audio isn't the easiest thanks to her British accent. Haha. I've actually gone back and re-listened to most of it because I tend to get distracted with audiobooks and I forget to listen. 😂

5. I'm sorry, but I just can't come up with anything else. Haha. I'm lame. Here are some pics and memes instead . . .

Lucy chose a Whitecaps game for her daddy/daughter birthday date. 

Going over soccer plays with the expert

A couple serious ones to begin with:

This was a point made in that Face to Face book I recommended above. As much as the world loves to say "Be Kind" or "Kind is the New Cool," kids have no idea how to be kind, because they lack empathy. 

And a couple funny ones:

Or the doctor's office. Why is it so disorienting??

Guilty as charged. But, in fairness, we keep our curtains open too.