michellesingleton.com // Confessions of the Preacher’s Wife

Rob has a tradition he has kept every year with the kids.  Each summer, Rob takes Nathan and Juliana camping.  All three of them look forward to this special Father-Kid Week. 

For me, it is the same every year too.  I anticipate cleaning the house one time and having it stay clean for the whole week.  I imagine laundry not piling up.  I think I will enjoy not having to pick up after the kids, not making dinners, other meals and snacks, not running the kids here and there, not having my phone conversations interrupted and not having the demands that come with being a pastor’s wife of a large and active church.

All that is great… for about one night.  Then it hits me.  My house is just a bit too quiet ~ eerily quiet.  While it is true that the laundry is up to date, my kitchen sink is empty and the dishwasher only has to be run once that week, it just doesn’t feel right.  Things are way too calm.  A big part of me is missing.  My life seems incomplete.

I am reminded how quickly time keeps passing by and how soon the day will come when my kids will leave for college and then begin a life on their own.  The thought is both happy and sad.  Happy that my children are growing up according to God’s design, but sad that I won’t always have as much precious time with them.

It is in these quiet moments with God that He reminds me to enjoy my children now.  To cherish the “now” and enjoy the blessings of my wonderful husband and the family God has given us.

May you cherish your “now.” 

Gotta run.  I am baking some chocolate chip cookies for their homecoming ~ a Singleton favorite.

Yesterday Juliana, Mom and I were coming home from a Girl’s Week-end in Charleston, SC.  Juliana started telling a story about a lady she heard at the rest stop expressing some difficulites with her “business” in the next bathroom stall over.  No words were used, but Juliana had my mom and I laughing so hard, I had to exit I-26.  I was laughing so hard I started crying.  I couldn’t keep my head from rearing back or my eyes open.  That makes for some dangerous driving!

Have you ever laughed that hard?  The three of us carried on for about 20  minutes.  I’m glad we weren’t in church when this all happened.  When we finally got ourselves back together, I pulled the car back on the interstate and continued heading home.

Everytime I enjoy an all out belly laugh, I am reminded of God’s word:

Proverbs 17:22 (NLT) A cheerful heart is good medicine…

Some research studies also indicate there are health benefits to having a good sense of humor.  Check these out:

No wonder you feel so good after a good laugh!

Bring on the laughter… it’s just what the doctor ordered!

Yesterday I had lunch with my dear friend, Kema.  She and her family are home for 6 months from Papua New Guinea where they are serving as missionaries with JAARS.

As we were catching up face to face on the past 3 years, it was an instant reunion!  Good friends are like that.  No matter how much time passes between visits, we pick up right where we left off ~ as if no time had passed at all.

It was interesting to hear Kema’s stories of washing laundry in the river, really BIG bugs, going to the market to get fresh produce (they eat lots of mangoes and papaya) and of course the stories of her children. 

As we talked, we both realized that across the miles and across the different cultures, we have many things in common.  There are days of plenty, days with challenges, people who are pleasant, friends and relationships that are difficult, times of celebration, and times of loneliness, days you feel fat and days you don’t care… but no matter, we are not alone.  God is always present.  He always provides.  He is Big!  He is love.  He is our Awesome God.  No matter where we are or what we are doing, we need Him.  We must to cling to Him in both the good and the not so good times!

We are thrilled to have Kema and her family “home” until Christmas… I will update you with more of their PNG stories. 

As we were driving back from Sparta, Juliana said, “Mom, my life is so good.  God keeps blessing me.  I can’t imagine what is next!”

That is my girl ~ keeping a positive look-out in anticipation for God’s blessings and being thankful along the way!

I couldn’t have said it better.  God has richly blessed me with a wonderful husband and the best kids… I love my family.  And I love how my kids are learning to acknowledge and give credit to God ~ the Giver of all good things ~ He is BIG, our AMAZING & AWESOME GOD! 

How I thank Him for His provision in our family life!

I’ve created a monster!  With the help of our good friend, Dane, I was able to custom build Rob a high tech mountain bike ~ a really nice one!  And I was able to surprise him for his birthday (this is a major accomplishment for me since Rob is just too wise to let much of anything slip by him). 

But now Rob has a new love… mountain biking… every day… every where.

He loves it so much, that he bought the kids new bikes ~ mountian bikes and all the necessary gear ~ and we’ve been riding the horse trails around Willoughby. 

This past week-end, we took the kids to visit my parents in Sparta and while there, we rode 17 miles on the Virginia Creeper Trail.  It was a blast ~ a perfect family adventure! 

The trail is part of the rails to trails program and is 68 miles round trip.  We rode the top 17 miles and enjoyed riding on the old train trestles along the river.  There were gorgeous overlooks of the blue ridge mountains and the gorges below.

Juliana said it was the best bike ride of her life! 

Nathan was all about speed… wonder who he gets his competitive nature from?  And Rob and I were thrilled that the kids had picked up so quickly on his new sport!

Long summer week-ends in the mountains.  Ahhhh!  We are planning another family adventure ride soon… Come along!

Last week, while the kids were at camp, Rob and I enjoyed a date night ~ every night!  It was a wonderful week for the two of us. 

On the last day before the kids returned, I sent Rob a text from my office: 

Are you up for a super date?

He quickly responded:

Always!

What is my idea of a super date?  I arranged to get off of work at noon, made reservations for Rodeo Rafting (guarenteed to throw you out of the raft), Mega Zipline, and Rock Climbing at the Whitewater Rafting Center, Mountain Biking, then Dinner at our favorite ourdoor cafe and a movie… then back to our very quiet house…

That’s my favorite date: loads of outdoor action, an intimate dinner, optional movie and then back to our home for romance… could it get better than that?

We actually had talked about my idea of a super date earlier in the week so I was surprised when I got home from work to find Rob all smiles and feeling quite amorous…

He made romantic advances which led to some “afternoon delight.”  Then he fell asleep.  And while he slept, we missed our rafting reservations.  I had to wake him up so we didn’t miss out on dinner too.

As we were driving to the restaurant I asked, “Why did you decide to skip all the outdoor fun?  You seemed so excited about that… and you know I was.”

“What?  I thought you changed your mind,” Rob said.

“Now why would you think that, Rob?  You know I love outdoor adventure.”

Apparently Rob needs glasses.  He misread my text to say: 

Are you ready for a sugar date? 

And then interpreted sugar to mean “let’s get naked all afternoon.”  Where does he get this stuff?

We went back and checked my text and there was no “sugar” anywhere at all.  All night, I teased Rob about his new definition for sugar and how old he really must be… needing glasses and all.  How could I let something that easy pass by?

We still had a terrific date… any time with Rob is great… and I learned so much about him too:

Besides his need for glasses, it is obvious that Rob still has a one track mind! 

And I have learned a whole new meaning for the word sugar!

Juliana joined me yesterday for a quick stop at Harris Teeter ~ our local grocery store.  While we were shopping in the produce department for some fresh fruit, I noticed Juliana cracking up by herself near the bananas.  I went over to see what was so funny. 

Juliana was entertaining herself with a blue Chiquita sticker that read:

We laughed all the way home over that silly blue sticker!  Ahhh!  Children…

Don’t you see that children are God’s best gift? Psalm 127:3 (MSG)

How I thank God for my daughter!

Today is Paws birthday!  Juliana is planning a celebration complete with goodies, gifts and a special visit to Amy’s house (one of Paws’ doggie friends).  Juliana’s love for her dog is very real, very deep —completely from her heart.

It thrills me to observe Juliana taking care of Paws:  feeding her, walking her, painting her paw-nails (pink of course!), sleeping with her, nurturing her back to health from her unhealthy early days… Juliana is a fantastic “mommy” to her dog.  And I know that she will one day be a super mom to her own children!