Happy School Year! I love that we start a calendar year in January and a school year in August. New beginnings that are all full of possibilities!
Emma is in 5th grade this year, which is middle school at NCCS. Eli is in 1st grade. These are exciting days for our kids and we love watching them learn and grow! This is also my 15th year at NCCS and I am more thrilled than ever about this amazing calling that the Lord has placed on my life to watch our high school students take steps towards what God has called them to spend their lives doing. Another new thing for us is that Emma is playing middle school softball for the school and I’m enjoying being the assistant coach for that team. She is really enjoying her new teammates and the chance to play for her school. Eli is running cross country again this year and also playing soccer through the Y. The goal is to keep Eli super active so that he can sleep well each night!
The first week of school we took the entire Upper School on retreat which is always a precious time for our faculty and students. The next week Emma went on the Middle School retreat for the first time ever! I always go up to visit the MS retreat for one day and it was such a treat to get to see her there with her friends. We decided at the last minute to hit the road to Memphis for a big reunion of the Abel-Graffam-Strange families. It had been almost 2 years since the whole crew was all together…Mom, all the siblings and spouses, and all 6 grandkids/cousins. We had a BLAST together…tons of giggles, lots of great food, and awesome quality time! My brother and his family just moved back from being stationed in Germany and will now be based on out DC. So happy to have them stateside! My mom had one goal for the weekend…a family picture with all the people.
Clint and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary on August 23. What a treasure to see the way that Clint loves and leads our family so well. These first 16 years have FLOWN by. We can’t wait to see what God has in store for the years ahead!
We spent the rest of August doing all the summer things that we wanted to do before fall arrived. Insider info…I’m writing this towards the end of September and fall STILL hasn’t arrived. We had snow cones at Pelican’s, did lots of swimming, played outside for hours, and soaked up all the sunshine we could!
Emma and Eli are growing so much. This summer was such a treat to get to know more about them as little people as they are becoming more of who God created them to be. They are both so enjoyable to be around! We love their sense of humor, their thirst for knowledge, and mostly the way that they are both growing in their faith and seem to have a heart for serving others. With a new school year underway, we can’t wait to see what God has in store for them both!
