It’s official been “Summer” for a week… even though the weather in Washington State seems to disagree! It’s been a rainy and cold month of June. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I have lived here my whole life. Summer really is July-September for us if you’re going off of the weather. However, at this moment the sun is shining and I can see blue sky. It makes me my heart happy!
Now summer is usually a time where people slow down, rest, sip lemonade… but not for me. Summer is one of our busiest seasons in children’s ministry. The kids are out of school and parents want activities to keep their kiddos active and engaged. A lot of fun stuff happens at the church during the summer, but as an administrative assistant, most of these fun activities come with permission slips, registration deadlines, reminder emails, reminder postcards, etc. Events don’t just throw themselves together. It gets busy around the office!
This Sunday was our first official registration deadline. We’re going to the Oregon Zoo tomorrow. This is always a fun, full day with the kids. We leave the church around at 8:00am and usually get back around 5:00pm (depends on Portland traffic which in some years has been bad – like detour around the state bad). The Zoo Trip is one of my favorite activities because of how relational it is. There is something special about spending the entire day out and about doing an activity with the kids. You get to learn a lot about the kids by spending time with them outside of the church walls. Lots of laughter and smiles happen at the zoo. As well as comments like, “I’m hungry” and “My feet hurt”, but I try not focus on those as much.
The rest of the summer seems completely full before it even started! The 4th of July, my Dad’s birthday, Jeremy and I’s anniversary, Family VBA, a road trip to San Francisio & the Redwoods, a new niece or nephew, kid’s camp, a leadership conference, a 5th grade graduation trip to the Mariner’s game, and a camping trip! I won’t be bored this summer! That’s for sure! It’s important for to remember that while all these are good things, I’m still going to need those down moments. I need a relaxed day here or there. Having slow, quiet times don’t just happen. They are intentional created.
A big bonus to this summer is Jeremy and I are actually going to take a trip! Most of the time I treat the summer as work only. It’s hard in between all of the events to find a time to get away. However, my hubby surprised me with the random idea of maybe going on a short road trip. I’m always game to go some place I’ve never been before, so we finally settled on the San Francisco area. Jeremy grew up outside of the city and I’m excited to see some places from his childhood. We’ll be driving home through the Redwood Forests, so we decided to camp for a few days there. I can’t think of any place cooler to camp than the Redwoods. Most summers we get a weekend camping trip in, but this summer we get a 5 day road trip in July and a weekend camping trip in August. I feel like one blessed lady! I can hardly wait to pack up and go!
I know that the summer of 2012 is going to hold a lot of great memories and I’m excited to start making them!
Amy Scott's Thoughts 