Kelly's Morning Muse

School has begun, soccer has begun, Girl Scouts has begun, the Small Group is meeting again, and Mom alone time has begun once again too. This leaves me time to muse about my family, my life and this journey that God has placed me on.

First, I must tell you that Eric received an email yesterday from one of our interpreters in Africa from the Nazareen Church, Julius. Here was his email:

"Pastor Eric and Kelly,
I have tried many times to send you my greetings but messages failed. I will never forget the good time we had together at Nazarene Church. I also believe that the ministry goes well. We always talk about you. My young daughter chose to be called Kelly. We miss you a lot, we hope to see u in the future. May God bless you. Your Interpreter Jules."

I cried when I read this message because it's obvious from the email that we touched them as much as they touched us. His daughter decided to be called my name! What a huge compliment and testimony to just showing up! Also... Pastor Eric! :) funny huh!

In other news, my computer died a violent death and was resurrected once again. This time I tried the "Make It Work" service and it was fantastic! If you want to use them... just tell them I referred you (Referral ID: 789932).

Our small group is doing "40 Days of Love" based wholly on the Great Commandment and Commission. "Love the Lord with all your heart & Love your neighbor as yourself." As we break down these instructions and try to make them practical in every day life I realize that I'm not always very lovable and other people can be EGR's (extra Grace required), but maybe I'm an EGR to them! In any case, it's part of the journey. Not everyone has to be my best friend, but I also don't have to be disagreeable to those that are not my friends. We can all disagree without being disagreeable, yes?

On a separate note, the Burton Family is high on politics these days. We openly discuss the candidates and their positions. We watched both primaries and we're eagerly awaiting the debates (the VP debate is next week.) It's fun to get the girls to think about our country - especially when they've been out of the country and know that we're not all perceived the same way in other parts of the world.

Enough musing for now... thanks for following the Burton Family journey. We love you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Kelly

School is IN!

Finally, our countdown to grades 5 and 2 are over and the girls have started back to school. The realization that Taylor is in her final year of Elementary School has hit us all and really, Taylor is more excited than you can imagine. Do you remember what it was like to want to be older, but still hold on to the comfort of younger things? Like wanting to look like a teen, but liking to play with your little sister and some of her toys at the same time. This is our home!

Taylor has a teacher that is new to our school, however Mrs. Heuer has been in our district for 11 years. The BIG bonus is that Mrs. Heuer has taught middle school math and T really wants to learn some big-time algebra, so she's excited to have this teacher! She only wishes a few more of her good friends were in there too.

Sammie is already in love with her 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Robbins. She has her best friend Abby in the class too, so all is good in Sammie-land.

Soccer games begin this Saturday and it's going to be awesome to see our girls in action on the field once again!