Summer 2007

Summer's been fast-paced and is basically gone now! We've done swimming lessons, had fun at some water parks, and visited family & friends. Camden played Upward Soccer where we found out that he is pretty shy and not too sure about running after the ball into a group of kids that probably will knock him down if he tries. He had fun though, and we'll try another sport next year that doesn't involve so much mass chaos. Eric has been blessed to play more golf or go to the driving range this summer than ever. He & Camden enjoy the driving range together, and we all enjoy playing a round of golf. Since Camden is getting older and more independent, it makes it a lot easier to do fun activities like this as a family.

We felt the Lord was leading us to look for a new church back in the spring, so we visited many places in late spring and early summer. We joined a new church, Flint River Baptist Church (http://www.frbc.org/), on July 1. We are so pleased that the Lord made our transition quick and easy into the new place of worship & service He had for us. We enjoyed a great time at our church's "Freedom Celebration" on July 1 where we saw Big Daddy Weave in concert and played in inflatables. Renee has already been enjoying being a part of a huge choir. She is also enjoying her new Ladies Sunday School class. Eric is looking into & praying about working in the student ministry. He is also enjoying his Men's Sunday School class as well. Camden is adjusting well to our new church too. He has so many activities focused at teaching him about Jesus & the Bible here. He finished his first year of Cubbies in the AWANA program last year, and he will start his second year of Cubbies this week. He will be a part of a preschool choir starting soon. Beyond Sunday School, he will have a lesson and focused activities related to the lesson during the worship time as well. We are very excited to be settled in a church home once again.

On with summer:
We volunteered at Lighthouse Christian Camp (http://www.lighthousechristiancamp.com/) for a week in July. It reaches out to children who could never afford to go to summer camp, and most of the children come from rough home lives. The children get to do all sorts of fun stuff while learning about God's love for them. They are given the opportunity to accept Jesus as their Savior, and many of them do by the week's end. Eric got to lead 4 boys from his cabin to the Lord while at camp. Renee helped cook all week for the 100 or so boys, volunteers, & staff. What a blessing! God is so good. Camden spent the week with his Mimi & GaGa (it's in the town Renee grew up in where they still live), and he had a blast! He got to visit with his Daddy Gene & Mommy Nell as well as go on fun adventures to play with new friends at McDonald's, the county fair, etc.

We joined today at the Fitness Center on the local college campus where Camden took swim lessons earlier this summer. We are excited about being able to take him swimming more often & year round (indoor pool--YAY!)

We've had several friends have surgeries and injuries this summer, so we have spent some time showing them God's love in practical ways. It's so great that even though we weren't settled in a church home part of the time that God still gave us opportunities to serve Him. We are certainly happiest when doing the Lord's work.

Open House for Mother's Day Out will be Friday for Camden. He will start "school" on Aug 14. He goes on Tuesdays & Thursdays to help prepare him for elementary school and give Mommy some time to get projects done.

I'll end here for now. I'll try to post some pics soon.