Cody Offff to New Mexico

I've been dreading this morning for awhile now. It's camp day and we packed our middle son, Cody, drove him over to church where he met his fellow youth campers. They're taking two vans alllll the way to Glorietta New Mexico. They'll stop for the night at a church in Amarillo, TX this evening; then head over for registration tomorrow.
He'll have a blast there, I've heard great things about Student Life camps. Todd Agnew, the Grace Like Rain man will be there speaking--how cool will that be. I gave Cody a little extra spending money to get his CD. Cody's always been very Christ-centered, he's looked so forward to deepening his relationship with Christ and with other people in church. I cannot take much credit for his kind and gentle personality--he has been this way since he was very small. With a mommy like me, who would have guessed?

Last night, as my laundry machine worked overtime, we were trying to come up with something fun as a family to do yet something we could do at home because..well...laundry. Alex came up with Yahtzee---so here you see Cody on his last night home for a week, thoroughly enjoying this family fun night:

This morning woke early, did the last minute checklist over and over and over until they told me to just STOP. Cody assured me if he forgot something he wouldn't blame me and if he was cold he would know it was his own fault for NOT taking one more blanket. I don't feel any better for it, I think he could have used one more, but I let it go there. (If he calls me tonight, I'll Fed-ex a blankie over, he knows it too, stinker! That and cookies--he didn't take any cookies and he should have.)

Niki had training at her new job, so she didn't get to go. They said their fairwells before she left (yeah yeah, Mother of The Year Award to me--she really is eating an ice cream bar for breakfast...there are nuts on it, lol). Alex was still sleeping, so Cody snuck in and gave him a hug and kiss:

He's not going to miss home, though, right?

My blog friend, Cat, is sending her son Matt as well, so you might recognize her in some of the collage pictures (she's wearing the green tank). I'm a picture nut-ball, what else is new. So to make it easier for everyone, I collaged them:



I will be missing my Codeman, Codester, all week long like only mommies can understand:

GiGi, Happy 100th Post! I'll be reading your interactive soap another 100!

(how do you get a post count, btw?)

I'll be seeing my baby boy late late late on Thursday...meanwhile if any of ya'll see the white vans headin down the highway to Texas and New Mexico, be sure and wave (and let me know where they are, how fast they're going, how they looked, etc etc!).

We are doing a little housework, I'm doing a little typing then we've been invited to John's brother, Jim's house, practically right behind our church. We're ordering pizza and swimming (they've got an AMAZING inground pool--they saved unlike us). My SIL Debbie (aka Martha) has promised to whip up brownies right from scratch, er, the box.

John and I worked a lot of hours last week, we sooo look forward to being with them, catching up and laughing. God is so good to us, more than we deserve probably. Things were feeling very bleak and overwhelming, that there was no end in sight to this rediculous pace we've kept up for awhile now, He answered our prayers. I can slow it down and not stress about money constantly. I won't stop typing, not until we are debt free (ha!), but I can cut my load down, thankfully. I was very afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up and home school Alex; so when John called yesterday afternoon that his hard work and all those night hours getting his MBA are paying off, I felt 1000 pounds of the past several months of pressure lifted off. I know He could have answered us another way, we still would be okay. If we have learned one lesson these past several months, it has to be that the blessings in our life, all of them, cannot be taken for granted.