Love/Hate Relationship

Summer has officially ended here in Stillwater as students prepare for their first day of classes tomorrow. The town has been busting at the seams this last week, and while I really enjoy this time of year, it's more of a love/hate relationship. It always comes too fast.

Work has pretty much consumed by life as of late. I am managing five high-level event timelines while diving into chair and professorship impact reports and helping my coworkers with their projects (retreats, stewardship assessment meetings, etc.). I know this means very little to most of you, but it's a big deal in my world, and at times, I struggle to manage it all while still being excited to go to work every day.  I know this is temporary, and I am so thankful to be busy because it means my work is needed. I just hope I'm able to remind myself of that when times get hard.

This weekend was full of work, but lucky for me, it was the fun stuff (mostly). I got to help out with the Student Foundation exec retreat at Camp Redlands. I am no longer the adviser, but I'm so glad I still get to be there for things like this. I really enjoy getting to know the students, observing their unique personalities and seeing how they work together. This incoming group is going to be great and I'm excited to see all they'll accomplish. It rained so we didn't get to tackle the high ropes course, but hopefully we can reschedule.

Today I was at the Scholar's Roundup, which is an event that gathers scholarship recipients together to write thank you notes and take pictures that will later be sent to their donors. I haven't been able to help with this for the last few years due to a scheduling conflict, but it was fun to be there this year. It takes an incredible amount of planning but there's nothing quite like the feeling you get after a successful event. Plus, I came home with a huge box of cookies. (Yes, I am still doing the Biggest Loser so these will have to go in the freezer for another day.)

I promise to get back to regular programing as soon as I can. I know these mainly text entries aren't near as much fun as looking at my nephews. So I leave you with a few pictures from my visit to Hennessey last weekend to celebrate Mom's birthday. Enjoy!

We spent a lot of time outside enjoying the cooler weather. It's amazing how nice 95 feels when you are used to 110! I was pushing Asher in his swing and out of the blue he said, "Aunt Abby, I wish it was Fall already." I agreed and then asked him if he even knew what fall was. He then went on to tell me that's when the leaves fall from the tree and Grandpa lets him play in them.

Asher got quite brave with Maple and Scout and actually wanted us to put him down so he could pet them. Of course he had to have his boots on around "the girls."

Asher loves to watch cartoons on the computer with Mamo.