At the beginning of this summer, I predicted that June would be the busiest month of the three by far. Ana was going to finish up school the first week, then VBS would take place the second week. That would be followed up with a week in New Orleans at the SBC Annual Convention, and we’d finish June at Falls Creek for youth camp.

Then, we signed a contract on a house. Which made June busier (with all the paperwork and processes that we had to/will still have to go through) and made July (closing and moving in, we hope) a potential rival for the title of busiest month of the three by far.

And now? Now, I’m just waiting for something to happen in August because it just keeps getting busier and busier!

All that said, we’re halfway through June. Yes, already! Can you believe it?! Our week of VBS literally FLEW by (what with the aviation theme and all), and we had so much fun. I’ve been accustomed in recent years to doing the bulk of the teaching for two grade levels of kids, without any helpers. This year, I was put on the second grade team with three other ladies, all three of whom were/are public school teachers. It was, in a word, AWESOME. Most of the time, I just sat back and marveled at the way they effortlessly did all of the things I would have spent hours stressing over on my own. I had so much fun getting to know the kids in all the different age groups and getting to spend more time with the adult and youth volunteers in our church. Six months into life here, we’re still the newbies, so every day was a great opportunity to connect with more people. Wes jumped into the recreation time with all of the grade levels and is suffering the aches and pains of attempting to keep up with teenage volunteers and our college intern. As a result of his athletic endeavors, one of the kids introduced him as “Wes, the coolest” to another kid, so the debilitating pain inflicted in dodgeball was worth it all.

Our soon-to-be new house (we hope!) was inspected earlier this week. The inspector is also a church member, so he was very honest with us and told Wes that he thought we’d be very happy with the house. There were no major problems that came up, and when our realtor discussed the two minor issues that we felt needed to be addressed with the seller, they agreed to fix them both. After all the runaround and insanity that accompanied the sale of our home in Oklahoma, we’re kind of shocked by how smoothly this whole process is going. The only hang-up in the whole paperwork end of it has been my own stupidity, as evidenced when I called the title office in Duncan to get the form to prove that we’ve sold our house and paid off our mortgage, only to be told, “Mrs. Faulk, you HAVE that document. I gave you two copies, remember?” I nearly confessed to her that I was delirious with glee at the time while signing all those closing papers and had no idea what she was giving me, but before I could admit to that, she told me she’d email another copy right over to the lender here in Houston. I keep waiting for something about this to be difficult or tedious, but aside from scanning and emailing every document we own (which has, believe it or not, NOT been as tedious as I expected), it’s been relatively simple. I think we actually may move into this house next month. Eeeee!!!!!

Before that can happen, though, we have to get through the rest of the month of June. Which, as I mentioned before, is still only halfway finished. Both Wes’s parents and my parents came into town last night for Parents’ Night at VBS, and after class this morning, the girls left for a week in San Antonio with the Faulks. They’ll come back on Friday, after we get back home from the convention, and then they’ll leave on Sunday for a week with my parents, freeing us up to go to Falls Creek (WOO-HOO!) with the youth. I got a little weepy saying good-bye to them (which means that I actually went into the bathroom and bawled for ten minutes), knowing that we’ll be apart for quite a while. Emma sensed my sadness and told me, quite diplomatically, while patting me on the shoulder, “Oh, I will call you, Mommy.” Implied with that was, “Don’t call me — I’ll be too busy having fun without you!” Oh, well. This sure beats having them cry and tell me that they don’t want to go, doesn’t it?

Sigh.

Up next, Wes is doing a wedding tomorrow evening, then we’re jumping in the car and driving until we reach the French Quarter. We’re super excited about visiting New Orleans and spending some time together, even if the majority of it will be spent in meetings and assemblies. This will be the first SBC Convention either one of us has ever gone to, and we’re excited about seeing it all firsthand, rather than just hearing about it later. We’ll be sure and write an update once we’re back…