Coaching, Cat, Moving, Chicago, Masters Championship

I have seen alot of pastors and friends that I follow do something called a "brain dump", so because so much is happening in our life right now and I want to blog about it all, but I don't have many spare minutes... so here goes:

Runners Camp- I spent a week last week doing one of the things I love to do the most... coaching. I coached at a runners camp held here in our area put on by a local church. I have been involved in this camp 7 out of the last 9 years. The exciting thing about this camp was that my 4 year old (almost 5) was allowed to participate and he was the youngest and the smallest. They have a track meet on the last day and he ran the hurdles (placed 6th), the 800 (2nd), and the 200 (5th). It was exhausting and a blast. I was so proud of Austin, though (He is the one in the red shorts). Because he is so little and stopped a few times in the 800 but kept on going and finished, he became the crowd favorite.

Our Cat must have 9 lives.
Thursday of that week my 6 year old tied our cat to a tree and didn't tell his daddy until they had been gone from the house couple of hours. He has seen people walk their dogs and wanted to walk the cat and keep him from running off. It almost killed him; we found him very twisted up with the strap extremely tight around his neck from trying to get loose, and bleeding from trying to chew through the strap, but he is fine, and I think Levi learned his lesson.

God sold our house!
For the past few years as we began this journey preparing to move to France, I continually prayed that at the right time God would just send someone across our path who would ask to buy our house without us ever putting it on the market. Well, Thursday of last week that happened, Friday they come over to see the house, and Monday made us an offer. I am a little in shock and not really prepared to move, but I really believe this is God saying, "Okay, get ready... here we go."

So we have one month to get out of the house and find a new place to put 4 kids, 2 parents, and a cat.

This month though just happens to be the busiest month of the summer. In the next 4 weeks we will be doing these 4 things:

French Party
We are hosting French party for all our friends in the area to say goodbye.

Chicago
We are taking a trip to Chicago to meet a couple who may go to France with us who are on staff at CCC (Christian Community Church) a main church in the New Thing Network. We will be meeting with some of their pastors to learn more about what they are doing and hopefully partner up with them in some way for the future.

USA Track & Field Masters
I will be going to Maine to compete in the USA Track & Field Masters Outdoor Championship. Yes, I am officially old. At first I would not even talk about it, but when I realized there is a whole new running world out there in the Masters division, I decided I would celebrate turning 40. I will still be competing in the 35-39 year old group, but the funny thing is I will turn 40 the day after I race. What a way to leave your 30's.

Moving
And we will be packing up all our belongings to move somewhere by August 12, we're not sure yet, but we know God has that all figured out and we are ecstatic about how God is working.