Summer...

This summer is absolutely FLYING by. I think the feeling is intensified by the fact that our school system switches to an year round schedule this year (which I am happy about).

It seems like each year we spend the month of June catching up on things...reading, sleeping, playing outside, swimming, eating Popsicles by the dozens, staying up to watch umpteen million Disney movies and endless Deadliest Catch reruns.

At some point, usually as we begin thinking about our 4th of July plans, it hits me..."wow summer break is half way over". Which spurs me into travel agent action. Finding day trips to fill our weekends with, searching out places that are educational as well as entertaining, booking a hotel room for our annual trek to Holiday World, finding a snatch of time that Mark and I can get away together, etc. And in all of that, knowing that I can begin dealing with "Back To School" preparations on August 1st. Except this year, those preparations must be done before August 1st.

Last year Forrest began school the first Monday in August. Preparing for that wasn't difficult or time consuming. Uniforms were bought in one place, one check was written to cover text books and the first monthly meal plan. Two reams of paper, one package of pens and another of pencils and off he went. This year, Chloe and Cammie begin school on August 3rd...and the list of school supplies for a 1st and 2nd grader is significantly longer than the list of a 1oth grader.

Beginning today, I am on a sprint to August 10th. Because on the 10th, our life will fall back into the comfortable school year rhythm. Routines will be reestablished and I'll be able to take a deep breath and know that I have a few months respite until the holiday season begins.

Until then, this is what the next three weeks hold:

-Thursday July 16...Leave for Holiday World

-Friday and Saturday...Holiday World

-Saturday night upon return...do all laundry related to trip because on

-Sunday...Forrest leaves for Georgia for his visit with Grandmother Carol in Savannah.

-Monday and Tuesday...get the house in order, grocery shop, plan for sitter

-Wednesday July 22...register Forrest for school, buy text books leave at 10 for Big South Fork National Park

-Wednesday afternoon through Saturday...relax with my husband who desperately needs a break

-Sunday...meet Carol in Atlanta to retrieve Forrest

-Monday-Thursday...school supply shopping for girls, uniform shopping for Forrest, catch up laundry, pack and CELEBRATE MY SOPHIE'S 9TH BIRTHDAY!!!

-Friday July 21st...Mark and Forrest leave with some of the guys from church to sleep on an aircraft carrier somewhere in Alabama...and I leave with all 4 of the girls to visit my best friend that moved back to Indiana (I am still in denial about that and am in no way ready to deal with the torrent of emotions that I am desperately fending off)

-Sunday...return from Indiana in time for evening services at church

-Monday...Chloe and Cammie start school

-Tuesday...catch up laundry and take Hannah shopping for cute outfits for Youth Congress

-Wednesday August 5th...CELEBRATE MS. HANNAH'S 12TH BIRTHDAY...and go to Youth Congress

-Thursday-Saturday...Youth Congress

-Monday August 10th...the day routines return to the Suffridge household

Oh, and Hannah and Sophie have been promised a bedroom makeover for their birthdays...which means painting is in my future...August 5th is my deadline, or so I am told.

Please, don't misunderstand. I am in no way complaining about how hectic the next three weeks will be. When I read back over the list, yes, I feel a little overwhelmed with the inevitable "to do" lists that go along with each bullet point... But I am also overwhelmed with thankfulness and gratitude.

My life is unbelievably full and rich. I am blessed beyond measure. There are difficulties in my life to be sure. But those problems and issues are tiny when compared to the heaping mountains that are my blessings.

I think about how blessed I am often...and I assure you, those musings are not done in a prideful fashion, but in an incredulous manner. Honestly, I question God about it on a regular basis. For the life of me, I cannot comprehend why he is so generous towards me. I am certain that I am not worthy of his favor.

When I think about the life that I lived before...the person that I was and the path that I was on... and I compare that to the life I live now, the person I am becoming and the path that is before me...there are no words.

From the tiniest aspect of my existence, the minutiae of my day to day, the mounds of laundry and the innumerable tasks involved in keeping a family of seven running...to the major aspects such as praying with someone in the altar, or watching as the 4th of our 5 children was baptized in the glorious name of Jesus, to testifying in the women's prison, I am blessed and oh so thankful.