summer madness

Well, it all starts on Thursday. Just a couple weeks ago I opened my planner and flipped through the summer months to look at the summer as a whole. It was the first time that I noticed how many trips have been jammed into our schedule. I'll admit, I was shocked- and then stressed- and then sad that my husband is spending 21 of his summer days without me. And then I returned to my stressed state. I had the same sort of summer-shock last year, and I imagine I will continue to have summer-shock annually as long as we work with youth. With as much as there is going on in the next few months, I know that once Thursday hits, summer will be over in the blink of an eye. It all ends up feeling like one long, crazy month. But when it is over, and we are looking back, I am positive it will look like this:

It will be blessed. We will be tired. Somewhere in there, David and I will get sick. At least one youth group kid or counselor will get injured- hopefully not me (knock on wood). Neither David nor I will have worn enough sunscreen and will have more freckles to show for it. The youth group will have an abundance of crazy, but hopefully not illegal memories. Somewhere in there, a vehicle will break down or get a flat tire. We will learn which kids can be trusted and which of them need to be watched 24/7. The combination of quirky personalities, ridiculous games, and lack of sleep will cause us to laugh more than we thought possible. Yet between laughing fits, we will take innumerable deep, cleansing breaths in order to deal with difficult situations without resorting to violence. David will have drank an ocean of water and a lake of coffee. We'll love God, the kids, and each other more. We will have prayed more in 3 summer months than the rest of the year combined. And we will be thankful everyone survived and more than ready for our yet-to-be-determined vacation at the end of August.

*deep, cleansing breath* I can't wait.