The title of this blog describes exactly how my school year ended.  Loud and suddenly.

For most of the year, I’ve worked diligently alongside teachers and other support staff.  But since I work directly with 8th grade students and transitioning them to high school, the end of the year gets to be crazy as we plan events to celebrate their hard work.  I actually felt like I was reliving the planning of my wedding when planning our 8th Grade Awards Banquet and Dance, as well as our 8th Grade Promotion Ceremony.  My office became overwhelmed with vases, flowers, table cloths, table tents, seating charts, food orders, and many other things.

So for the last two weeks of the year, I felt like slightly crazy.  And then, it was over.

This past Monday, I sat in my office almost stunned by the quiet and the lack of busy.  It’s not that I didn’t have things to do–I had (and still have) several things to do, but it was the startling transition of going from doing everything right now to having the time to organize your day (and do important things like eat lunch and drink water).

Now I’m in summer mode–working diligently and slowly starting to restore balance to my work life and to my personal life.  Preacherman is in summer vacation mode, which has him much more relaxed, because he’s able to devote a significant chunk of time to church-planting activities.  We are excited to enjoy our first summer in Jacksonville, and look forward to meeting people, building our launch team, and growing together.

I’m grateful for the time to recharge and reflect, as well as move forward on some other projects.  I have much that I want to share here as well- I miss writing and processing my learning and growth with my few faithful readers here.  Thanks for sticking with me.  I’ll be back soon- I promise.

Until next time…

Be encouraged! Peace and Blessings!