things are interestingly good

School started up last week and so far it's gone rather smoothly. My kids have the potential to be wacko, but I've been picking off the trouble makers as they show up on radar. So far I've made a girl cry and gave a real trouble maker a nervous breakdown because he saw his chances of graduating from high school crumble in the 2nd day after he challenged one of my decisions.

I was a complete wreck days before school, because of the anxiety of all the confrontations I was going to have. I finally had to just give the whole thing to God and just trust that he would provide the best words to say during an explosive situation. It's really helped, but I have to make myself not think about it and just trust God. It's tough.

Christine has a tough schedule because she has to move to another room twice every day. Don't forget that she is a science teacher and conducts labs. She still has not figured out what she is going to do on those days. She is also in a 9th grade academy that has only about 120 students out of about 450. This is the 1st year the county is doing it so they have to meet twice a day to figure out what works and what does not. She's tired a lot, but we are hoping that will change after a while once we get use to working again. I think she is doing great given the circumstances.

My sailboat broke it's center board, which took about a week to fix. Then my motor broke which still isn't fixed because I'm waiting on a part. We did go sailing with Kristin a week before school started. It went very well. We sailed out in the back country without the motor so I was kinda nervous when the wind died down. Eventually, a storm started rolling in so we had plenty of wind to get back to the landing.

I didn't work all summer, which was strange. I learned that no matter how much I indulge myself in the things I want to do, I'm never satisfied. Sailing all day, just makes me want to sail all the next day. Snorkling, diving and just buzzing around in the boat, just makes me want to do more of it. So believe it or not, I struggled with being content and enjoying the summer because I always wanted more.

It was a great reminder of how God is the only thing that can satisfy my needs. He is the only thing that can fill the emptiness in me. And He does it so fast and complete when you truly and earnestly seek Him. This summer I was reminded that only God is my joy and peace. He gave me all that and a tan to go along with it.