July 1 FAMILY REUNION 2022 | A week all together is a treasure. We spent this past week with my Mom, my sister and her family, and my brother and his family. 7 adults. 7 kids ages 2, 4, 7, 7, 9, 9, & 13. 14 people who don’t get as much time together as we’d like, but who made the most of the time we did have this week.
We celebrated Clint’s 50th birthday and my niece’s 5th birthday early at two fun parties…over the hill decor and permanent gray hair coloring 😂 for one and mermaid decorations and confetti balloon busting in the yard for the other.
We ate tons of great food, tubed, swam, laughed, washed a zillion dishes, hugged, read, watched movies, made lots of sandwiches, played dominoes, ate snacks, rode the tram, played on the lake, chatted for hours on end, and rested well.
Last night before bed, Clint said “you have the coolest family”…and he’s right. What a joy to be able to spend time together and have our kids love spending time with their cousins making special memories.
I’m so grateful that JD and Katie are such incredible hosts and that everyone was able to carve out this special time in their summer schedule. I’m so thankful for my Mom’s commitment as a single mom to have raised her kids in such a way that we all enjoy each other’s company as adults and parents with our own kids.
Let’s do it again soon! #AbelGraffamStrange22 #7000days
July 2 SCOOPS | We have hoped for an ice cream place in downtown Acworth for many years. We are so excited that @scoopsacworth is finally open! They did an amazing job with both the inside and outside of the shop and the ice cream is WONDERFUL! We visited for the first time last night and will be back very soon…maybe tonight! #7000days #Acworthy @visitacworth
July 4 HAPPY FOURTH FROM ACWORTH | What a day! Eli joined me for my morning walk through Acworth. He’s a great coach from his bike. 😎
We loaded up the chairs for our family and set up down at the beach for the fireworks tonight💥 . Eli is a great (driveway only) golf cart chauffeur. At the lake, he did a little fishing…no catching, just fishing. So impressed by the hard work of our @acworthpolice and @acworthparksandrec getting everything ready for the fireworks tonight at Cauble Park.
Emma and Mom did some work getting ready for our cookout tonight while @clintstrange32 ran a few errands. After lunch, we rode to @scoopsacworth for ice cream and then rode around and saw lots of fun Fourth of July setups. Back home for naps and grilling out later. What a fun day of celebration! @visitacworth
Grateful for the freedom we enjoy in America and even more thankful for the freedom we have in Christ. (Galatians 5)
July 6 TUESDAYS ON THE LAKE | We spent the morning hanging as just the Strange 4 and the late afternoon with some of our closest friends enjoying Lake Allatoona. Tubing, eating, laughing, swimming, riding with the wind in our hair, catching up with dear friends on the boat…and bumping into others on the lake, jumping contests, barrel rolls, more laughing, feeding ducks, and much more makes for a pretty solid Tuesday. There is just something about a boat and our beautiful lake. Home sweet home! #7000days
July 9 TRI THE PARKS | Back home after working an awesome triathlon with our @tritheparks race family! We were up at Richard B Russell State Park in Elberton this weekend. We had a blast! So grateful for the opportunity that we have to meet new people and to encourage our athletes to continue working hard. Lots of laughs, lots of hard work, lots of cloud cover (praise the Lord), lots of snacks, and lots of snoring as I drove home this afternoon. 😂😂 The Strange 4 can’t wait until the next race! We hope to see you August 20 at Don Carter State Park on Lake Lanier. #7000days
July 12 BAMA VOLLEYBALL | The past two days have been a blast as Emma and I got to go to Tuscaloosa with our dear friends the Petersons so that she and Haley could compete at the @alabamavball middle school skills camp. They had a blast and learned so much!
This is Emma’s first year playing volleyball @NCCSEagles and she is eager to learn and grow. We had such a great time with Carrie (Bama alum) showing us around town and hearing the girls chat about all the things they loved about the campus. Grateful for these days! #7000days #RollTideForever
July 14 POPSICLES IN THE PARK | Eli had a blast catching up with lots of his friends and meeting new friends tonight at the @NCCSEagles Lower School Popsicles in the Park event. It was great to see our favorite teachers and catch up with lots of awesome families. We are looking forward to a great year in fourth grade! #WeLoveOurSchool
#GoEagles #WeAreNCCS #NCCSFamily
July 15 COMMUNITY | When I first became a Christian (summer before 11th grade), I had the privilege of studying this passage with our student ministry led by @dyersheilaharbor. Acts 2 is a beautiful picture of the purpose of the church. The fellowship of the believers is a critical part of our theology if we understand that Christ loves us and that compels us to love others. I love this particular passage because it gives us a picture of what to aim for.
+ Intentionally spend time together seeking and talking about the things of God.
+ Watch the Lord work in miraculous ways
+ Take care of the people that the Lord has placed in your path
+ Celebrate what God has done, is doing, and will do
Acts 2 community is a beautiful gift from the Lord and I’m so thankful for the people He has surrounded @clintstrange32 and me with in every season. What a treasure they are to us and what a blessing it is to serve them as well!
God is faithful. He is working.
July 15 ACWORTH ALL DAY | My day started on a long walk by Lake Acworth with one dear friend and ended by Lake Allatoona watching the sunset with some other dear friends on our golf carts. This my friends…is what summer is for. Spontaneously enjoying God’s creation. How creative is our God?!! #7000days
July 17 BACKPACKS | Sometimes the easiest way to share the gospel is to make sure a kid has a backpack they can be proud of full of supplies to help them start out the school year on the right foot. Grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the #BigGive at @nsckennesaw today as we packed 250 backpacks for foster kids in our area. They will be given out at an event next weekend at another local church for foster families that also includes haircuts, well checks, and a variety of other necessary back to school items.
Join us in praying that these backpacks are a tangible reminder to the precious kids and their families that God sees them and He will ALWAYS make a way.
July 19 WOODLANDS | We dropped our sweet girl off yesterday for one of her favorite weeks of the summer. The Lord has done some awesome things in and for Emma during her time @woodlandscamp and we are praying the same would be true of these days. She was excited to reconnect with camp friends and meet lots of new people. I’m so grateful for @bigjonestes and their entire team at Woodlands that creates an awesome experience for kids to learn about Jesus and understand how much fun the Christian life should be! It’s so exciting, year after year, to see college students investing their summer in these campers. Emma and Eli have been so blessed by their counselors and they can’t wait to serve at Woodlands when they are in college! #7000days
July 20 ELI WEEK | When his sister is having a blast at camp, Eli is living the dream as the only child at home. Tonight’s adventures took us to @terminuswakepark and their aqua park. This guy laughed, climbed, swam, fell down, became best friends with the lifeguard, blobbed himself by accident, and worked so hard that we had to get ice cream after. And he was sound asleep shortly after we got home and he took a quick shower. The water park was a blast and we will definitely go back. Two thumbs up for quality time with this guy. He is truly a blessing to @clintstrange32 and me! #7000days
July 22 SUMMER RAIN ON THE PORCH | Reading on the front porch and enjoying a summer evening thunderstorm. Oh how I love summer in the South! Also, I haven’t had to water my flowerbeds all week thanks to all the rain we’ve had 🙌🏽🙌🏽
July 23 THANK YOU LORD | The alarm went off early this morning, but it was totally worth it to drive up to @woodlandscamp to bring our girl home. We are so grateful to @bigjon, @ErinBarnett, and all of the rest of the team at Woodlands for the way they invested in Emma and all the campers this week…and all summer!
Emma has come home with a renewed excitement for the things of the Lord and gratitude for her time away. She grew some existing friendships and met a lot of new people this week at camp. Going to teen camp (13-18yr olds) meant she was one of the youngest campers. Clearly she was encouraged by many of the high school guys and girls she spent the week with. We believe God has HUGE plans for our Emma and we are so grateful that God used this week at camp in a special way to grow her.
And we are THRILLED to have her home…especially her brother who adores her…but wouldn’t dream of telling her 😂 #7000days
July 29 CLASS OF 2023 | Today was a great day with some of the best senior guys and girls you could ever spend a day with! We got up extra early to gather for Senior Sunrise, we laughed a lot, ate a ton of great food (thank you Senior parents!), caught up with each other after a great summer, rafted…some also swam (many of them involuntarily), got rained on, prayed together, looked at what God’s word has to say about senior leadership, and kicked off the school year for these seniors in a really special way. Thanks for joining us to pray over each of these incredible seniors and their teachers and small group leaders. We’ve got a great year ahead of us! #GoEagles #WeAreNCCS #NCCSFamily #ClassOf2023
July 31 MY MAN | Happy Birthday Clint! 50 looks good on you! We spent the day yesterday celebrating @clintstrange32, the best man I’ve ever known. He is a godly man who truly pursues and considers the things of the Lord for himself, for our family, and for others. He has always been wise beyond his years. He is patient and kind, strong and gentle, funny and fun to be with, helpful and all in for what everyone else wants to do. I am so grateful that the Lord has shared Clint with me, he is the answer to many years of prayers! He is so easy to celebrate!
We started our day yesterday with lunch at Clint’s favorite GA Tech hangout… @nuevo_laredo_cantina followed by shopping @ikea, ice cream @jenisicecreams, @topgolf in the rain…which was a blast!, @chickfila for dinner, and shopping @wholefoods for some fun things to make this week.
Happy Birthday Clint! You are such a gift to me, Emma, Eli, and everyone who knows you!
