Finally summer--for these few weeks!

Summer. is. here. Amen. : )

Until June 9th, it is officially beach and pool time. Early May brought the return of mine and Amanda's annual beach trip to the gulf. It was fantastic. The weather couldn't have been better! It wasn't at all crowded, so we hardly had a wait--even at LuLu's (certainly a giant inspiration for the trip each year..). The only complication during the entire trip occurred on the way back up the interstate. The road was blocked entirely, so we had to re-route ourselves on a few back roads to find 31 and get back to 65, a little further north--which we did...after an hour's detour! Well, thanks to GPS and a handy map, we made it fine. Upon getting back onto the interstate, we noticed the pizza hut that we always stop to eat in. Conveniently, we had no missed this exit due to our detour. So, we had pizza hut. Not as good as LuLu's, Bahama Bob's, or anything else we dined on at the beach, but it was pretty okay. This year's trip was awesome and a few days longer than last year's. Next year, we're thinking of stepping it up even more--to a cruise! Woohoo!

Now, it's preparation for summer term and doing my regular amount of long-term planning in the spare time. Abby's well-entertained by having me home more than usual, but she'll have to adjust come the 9th. We are lucky to have Renee (and her puppy, Hippo) with us for several weeks of the summer and are loving her company! It's been fun to cook together and Abby loves having extra people/critters to play with.

This week: Special prayers for Mana (Amanda) who is abroad in Guatemala on a mission trip. I pray that she is blessed by the people she meets and that they, too, are blessed by the message she shares with them. And, that is that our Lord, Jesus Christ, is the Way, the Light, and the Truth. It is through only Him that we have salvation and we strive to live our lives in His image. Love you, Mana!

"Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you." ~Isaiah 55:4-5