Here are the kids on the way to the airport to pick him up. Tad excited. Me too :)
Here's what we did while waiting for his arrival. 
Jack insisted on getting his picture taken with the bear.
And here is their sweet reunion. 
Kate is already showing him her new shoes. I'm pretty sure the kids did not stop talking until they were sent to bed. They had so much to fill him in on!
Mark had a great time in Texas and California. He said that the Texas retreat was life changing. It was wonderful hearing his stories of healing.
Even California was great because God has given him a new perspective and enthusiasm for school. It's gonna be a tough year but God is working on us to improve life with school. He's challenged us to be more intentional. Last year we sort of just existed. We did whatever came up whenever it came up. As a result we were exhausted and didn't feel like we'd accomplished much. So our approach this year is to have scheduled focused time on the things God is calling us to do and to greatly reduce and sometimes eliminate the things He isn't requiring us to do.
For Mark it means family, pastoring, school and rest. Those 4 things need scheduled focus. Other things need to be scaled way back. Not always eliminated but certainly shouldn't be consuming his time.
For me it's family/household, homeschooling, women's ministry and rest. Notice we have to be intentional about resting or, as we've discovered, it doesn't happen. I need to consolidate and really protect my focused times on these things. Right now it feels like everything is running through my mind all the time and nothing is getting done well. It's all just leaking out and consuming brain power and energy. So not good.
This year we will be intentional about what God has for us and frankly I'm super excited to be more focused. I can see so much more being accomplished!
And it starts this next week...August is on the crazy side. Grace for the moment!
