Emma and Eli: July 2017

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This July post always seems to get lost in the busyness of the start of the school year!  But…good news, I still have 2 days to go before it’s time to write the August post, so plenty of time to spare!  July was lots of fun…after a super busy June, July is a month typically to be in town and to do things around here.  We kicked off July with some fun celebrating our little buddy Jack Bitner’s 8th birthday.  He and Emma are getting too old too quick!  Those two were just babies yesterday it seems!  We are having a great time watching those two grow up together…God really does write the neatest stories!  We celebrated the 4th by spending most of the day at home after our vacation the week before.  Emma and I decided it was time to finally make that pallet flag that we’ve been talking about for so long!  We had a great time that night cooking out with friends and then watching the Acworth fireworks!
We went to Henry’s for their summer shrimp boil with friends and spent a lot of evenings at the park.  The most exciting park activity this summer was that our Eli learned how to ride his bike!  4 years old and he is off and riding…free as a bird!  Ask him about it…he is so proud!  We love seeing how much fun he is having riding his bike!
While I was still out of school, I had lots of opportunity for lunches with friends, shopping with Emma, and playing with Eli.  Clint and I love the slower pace of summer…the late nights in the yard…and nowhere really to be.  Right up until it’s time to get in a routine, which we realize is really the best thing for us!
The week of July 10, I had to be in Louisville for some classes I’m taking at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  As always, the Strange crew was well taken care of in my absence.  Clint really is the coolest Daddy and he planned a fun week for the kids with all of the Daddy only restaurants (Stevie B’s, etc.) and Lakepoint Station!  One night my family was out so late that I fell asleep waiting for them to FaceTime so we could do night night prayers!  As soon as I came back to town, our summer started to wind down as I headed back to the office and the kids got back involved in their summer camps.  Before I headed back to work, we had the privilege of watching our NCCS Academy Singers sing the National Anthem at the Braves Game on Sunday after church…what a treat!
Clint and I are so grateful to have formed some really sweet friendships with some couples at church these past few months.  We went out with two of the other couples for dinner in Cartersville one evening and it was such a sweet time!  We will intentionally make more room for that this year! I had one last hurrah to the lake with our Upper School Ladies from school…always a treasure as we head out for two days at the lake!  Good for my soul…but not so much for my waistline!  Lots of laughter and a sweet time of prayer over our upcoming year.
We have some dear friends that are walking the amazing adventure of adoption with us.  They are farther down the path with where their kids are and it was a blessing to spend an evening swimming and hanging out with them.  It’s definitely a cool thing when you realize that it’s after 10pm on a work night and the conversation could easily go a few more hours!  The next week at school got pretty busy as our new faculty and staff hit campus.  This is always a great time of getting to know one another and starting discussions of what it means to be a part of the NCCS family.  To officially kick off the year, we always have a cookout with all of the Upper School families.  This year one of our teachers hosted and it was a really great time!  What a treasure it is to be able to live out our calling everyday at NCCS with some of the dearest friends I’ve ever had in my life!  I don’t take that for granted.  I love that we have so many staff kids growing up together too..what a blast!
As July came to a close, we all were looking forward to Clint’s birthday!  We love celebrating Clint.  He champions everyone else all the time and it was a blast to have a day to just celebrate him!  Clint’s parents came in town and we went out to eat at Henry’s (always Clint’s birthday choice).  Clint took the day of his birthday off from work and took Emma to Six Flags all day to celebrate!  I enjoyed some special time with Eli and he took me out for sushi!  We did our best to extend the birthday celebration and took him out on the lake the following weekend to celebrate just with our little family.  We rented a pontoon boat and packed lots of fun boat food and headed out on Allatoona for several hours.  We took our tube and we had the best time just being together!  We will do that again soon!  Happy Birthday Clint!  You are the best!
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