SUMMERTIME!!! and the living is easy??

Summer. 
Vacation.
 Summer Vacation.
Remember those words and how they affected you when you were a child, a teen.
I remember those words, singularly or together and a HUGE smile would come across my face.
I LOVED SUMMER!!!
Those carefree days of not having to get up early to go to school. Of riding bikes with friends. Of hide n go seek games and steal the bacon in our neighborhood.  The fun of slowly eating a popsicle-the best kind being the ones you made from KoolAid and froze them.
My siblings and I sold our popsicles in the neighborhood for 5 cents.
Another family sold candy that were in jars.
We both made some money that we probably spent at the others houses.

Summer was magical.
Every year we would spend 4-6 weeks at my grandmother's beach house in Ventura. I learned how to dive thru waves, and then how to body surf and finally how to surf. We went looking for shells each morning. We walked along the beach from one end to the other. We met and played with friends we would have all thru our childhood. I had my first crush at Solimar.

Then I grew up and had to get a job in the summer during college vacations. 
Well, that wasn't so much fun.

But then I got married and had kids and got to experience summer vacation all over again through the eyes of my children.
I was never a mom who dreaded summer. I loved again, those carefree days. I loved spending time with my kids. For years we had a beach day every week where we would go to Santa Cruz for the day and my hope was to give them a love for the ocean as much as I had.
We had season passes to Great America and often went when Scud got home from work and most of the crowds had left for the day. 
I loved letting the kids have friends over to play.
It was just a blast for me. I hope they thought so too.

Today I read two things from 2 of my friends at Woodleaf that were very meaningful. Sarah is having a "YES" day with her kids. Anything they want she said YES to. They had some premade parameters: because we live in the mountains, it had to be physically feasible, safe and affordable. Those kids will have a blast today and have gone thru a number of things on this list already as i write.
Sarah and I talked about why don't we always have "YES" days for our kids. I remember reading something by Chuck Swindoll when our kids were in elementary school about only say no when you absolutely have to. That too often we say No out of convenience to us, but why don't we say Yes more??
And if we said YES more, how would that influence every part of our lives.

My other young mom friend, Christine, posted an article from another blog about saying these six words to your kids:
                " I love to watch you play"
How awesome is that??
I loved watching my kids play. Whether it was baseball, basketball, swimming, gymnastics, football, playing the piano or even playing video games. 
We NEED to take the time as moms to stop and ENJOY watching our kids play. It will do wonders for us. We must take the time to stop, slow down, put the lists away, get off Facebook or blogs and take the time to ENJOY our children. We need it and so do they.

So for you younger moms who have your kids home now for the summer.
ENJOY them. PLAY with them. HAVE FUN with them.
All too soon, those carefree days of summer will be gone.
I miss them and am almost certain you will too.
Living is easy in the summer; if you have the right attitude.

The ending of summer

Today feels like summer is ending.
For you, it may feel over already if you are back at school or about to start school again.
For me, my first hint was that my husband went to church with me today. It is the first entire weekend he has had off since the middle of May.
Working at a Young Life camp where you never actually know what day of the week it is, summers for Scud always include working on what the rest of the world knows as Sunday. For him, its either day 1 or day 2 of the camping week. So to be able to go to church with Scud makes me know that summer is ending.
The next thing that made me suspicious of the ending summer was that it was warm and I decided to go to the pool to read and swim some laps. Woodleaf was completely empty. No one whatsoever at camp, not a single car in the parking lots. What happened to the 300-400 kids that were everywhere just a week ago?
Another clue to the ending of summer was how frantic I get when I see how bad the Giants are playing. I am sure they know the season is only 5 1/2 more weeks, but my mind and heart scream at them to pull it together.
I love summer. It is so much more relaxing than any other time of the year. I tend to read more books in the summer than the rest of the year. I have longer times with Jesus than any other time as well.

One thing that reminds me summer is NOT OVER is that I haven't been to the beach yet.
I am a beach girl thru and thru. I grew up spending my summers at my grandmother's beach house north of Ventura. I learned to bodysurf and surf. I loved walking on the beach for miles. I became a collector of sea shells at the age of three, and I can not go to any beach today without looking for shells. Hopefully next week, I might get the chance to take Kellen and Jax to the beach-at least for a few hours.

I am not ready for the routine of fall. Where I have to account for my time, book meetings, prepare studies. Mind you, I love being friends with college kids, but I love the beauty of no schedules that summer affords.
I have been told that I am flexible and usually handle change well.
Its just that I don't want summer to end. I want to own my time and my schedule.
But in reality, I don't own my time. You don't own your time.
We each have been given a certain amount of time to live on this earth. None of us knows how much time we have.
ONLY GOD knows the length of our days.
"Our times are in Your hands" say the Psalms.

So now I need to figure out what it is that I should be doing with my time. What is it God wants me to do?
As much as I hate summer to end, I am so grateful for the break of the normal routine. Thankful that I got to know and love 52 kids from all over the country in Arizona. Thankful for time with dear friends who served on assignment at Woodleaf during the summer. Thankful that because it was summer, Katie and Nate got to take a long weekend visiting us. Thankful that Kellen and Jax spent a week exploring our home and enjoying the Sugar Barrell. Thankful that I got to see college kids that I have come to love dearly, serve Christ here at Woodleaf.
Now its time to get back to work. Time to get back to that which God has called me too.
Time to enjoy the next season that God has in store.
But ...oh how I love summer!!