I Survived!

Beaten up. Exhausted. Mentally worn out. Full of new knowledge. Ready to see my family.

These are all things I felt as I returned from finishing my second seminary class in Austin, TX. It was a great class and I learned SOOO much, but it was exhausting, intense, and I was mentally worn out and ready for a break. The class was the followup to my Biblical Interpretation class from a few weeks ago, and it was called Biblical Communication. In the class, we took our passage that we studied in Biblical Interpretation and created a small group Bible study, wrote an online article, prepared a preaching message, worked on public speaking skills, and gave a message to our fellow classmates to which we were graded and evaluated. It was fun, encouraging, terrifying, informative, and challenging all at the same time. We literally worked from sun up to sun down, so I didn’t get to experience anything Austin has to offer. Next time I visit I will though.

This week, I am taking an Old Testament class, and again, I am learning so much. In discipleship this morning with a friend, I even got to share some of the things I was learning and it just reiterated again how rich the Old Testament is and how relevant it is to the New Testament and to our lives. When I finish this class, it will be Ed’s turn to complete his class! Again, because life has literally felt full with class and life responsibilities, we haven’t done a ton of fun things nor have I taken a lot of pictures. But, here are a few pictures to recap my last few weeks.

We splurged one evening and bought these cookies from Chip NYC, which has probably the best cookies in all of NYC (in my humble opinion). This is the chocolate eclair cookie. They change them everyday and only have 4 at a time. I made the mistake of following them on Instagram and it makes me want their cookies EVERY DAY when I see them posted.

While I was gone, Ed was super dad!  He took the kids to the park, to gymnastics class, to Central Park zoo and they even braved watching the 4D movie at the theater.

This picture is a reminder to me that they really do love each other and don’t fight all the time.  No, seriously, love these kids!

Ed competed in the Queens 10K race in Flushing Meadows park. This is the place where Men in Black was filmed. Recognize the Unisphere? So cool that its so close to us. Great job on rocking a fast time Ed!

The kids were out of school one day (yet again…this month, between Muslim and Jewish holidays and school work days, they have only gone like 1 or 2 whole weeks), so we met friends at the beach and enjoyed letting our kids freeze themselves in the ice cold water. It was really fun for both the adults and the kids, and it is always relaxing to me to get away from the city and experience the peacefulness of the beach with the wide open space and less people and God’s creation.

Oh, this kid. I told Ed that after 3 other kids, #4 is going to give us a run for our money. She started coloring on her arms the day before in the car and I stopped her, and she was so mad that she only finished one arm. So, on this day, she took the markers and recreated and finished the masterpiece. The joys of a 2 year old when you can’t leave them alone for more than 2 seconds without something being torn apart or written on or broken. Those blond curls and sweet, sassy demeanor make up for it though.

The kids love when Ed runs sound at the church on Sunday mornings. They love to go before church and help him set up and “work” the booth with him. What a great start to Father’s Day for Ed.

The girls have 8 days left of school….let the end of school madness begin!