This, my friends, is my attempt to keep July from disappearing from my life in that foggy place titled: “I Don’t Really Remember What Happened For A Whole 31 Days.” (Actually, let’s not kid ourselves, July already lives there and I’m having to pull out photos, Overdrive histories, and emails to try and remember what happened last month.)

What I Focused on in July:
1. Family time – camping, bridal showers, and making memories
2. VBS!
3. A week at the Creation Museum with my adopted parents

Reading Update:
Fiction – 13
Nonfiction – 0
Audiobooks – 2

Traveling:
7 Days. New places? None.

Goals:
Oops, folks, and I can’t find these. I know I took a vacation from goals for the first and third week of the month, but I had week-long goals for the other two weeks. (And this is the reason I try and write these reviews sooner….)

 

What I’ve Been Learning:

VBS really is so much more fun when you’ve been able to properly prepare. Three out of the last four years I’ve helped taught or taught VBS, but it’s always been a last minute thing for me. (Oh wait, we need to split this grade cause there are too many kids, can you take half?) But this year I had been assigned my grades (3rd and 4th) six weeks before VBS started, I had my teaching materials, and I was prepared. And goodness folks was it a delightful week! I had two amazing helpers and everything went really well. The first night we had 14 kids, and ever after that, we had 18-21. It was high energy, the kids were all engaged and asked great questions, and we had a delightful time learning (and singing at the top of our lungs) together.

Packing light is my motto and will continue to be, but from now on I might also try and be a bit more prepared for unexpected ventures. I went somewhere for one night and ended up being gone for a week. The week was actually hugely helpful for me to figure out what I really do miss when I don’t have it.

Sometimes letting go of dreams and expectations is hard, but necessary. (You might think I’m being deep and eloquent here, but mostly I’m talking about my garden. Aka the weed patch.)

Crying can actually be very helpful. Staying hydrated is fairly important, too.

Life is a lot more about people than goals. So, when you’re goal-oriented, sometimes you need to have goals that have to do with people.

Other:

July was a jammed packed month:
-We camped the first week (over the 4th of July), but I was still working at the Coffee Shop so I’d have to leave our campsite really early to go to our house and get ready for work.
-Then came the week of VBS which is glorious and wonderful and so much fun and something I threw all of my energy into.
-VBS ended Friday night and at 3:45 Saturday morning my sisters and I headed to TN for a bridal shower.
-It worked out at the last minute for me to spend the week at the Creation Museum on my way home from TN.
-The last week of July I mostly spent trying to catch up for all I’d missed when I was gone.

What was your favorite part of July? (I mean if you can remember that long ago…)