School Starts Tomorrow!

Well, we're starting school tomorrow. I don't feel like I've had a summer break, but there is so much going on that I've decided I'm just not going to get a break if we stay home. We have our annual timeshare week on Lido Beach in Sarasota during the last week of August. We were going to skip it this year since Greg won't get any vacation (he started a new job two weeks ago). However, now I think we'll go, taking two cars down on Saturday. Then, Greg can go straight from there to work Monday morning, and the kids and I will stay until Wednesday. Perhaps I can get a little down time!

Our Anniversary

Well, today was our 18th wedding anniversary. It hardly seems possible. Here we are 18 years ago today!










After church, our kids went home with our dear friends, the Lacognatas, while we went to dinner at Carrabba's by ourselves! We had the same thing we always have at Carrabba's - Chicken Bryan! Yum! Here is a picture of both our families last year at a museum in Sarasota, FL, called G-Whiz!




We were also privileged to visit Disney's MGM Studios in Orlando with them in December of last year. This is my Chase on the left and Sarah Lacognata, her best friend, at MGM.



God has awesomely blessed us with wonderful friends, and the Lacognatas are among the best!

Life Purpose Statement

Well, I did it! I wrote a life purpose statement. I borrowed from Linda Dillow's book and examples, as she said we were free to do, mostly for the format but also for some of the wording. I leaned heavily on the Bible for more of the actual wording. Here it is:

I want to live my life purposely, counting everything worthless except the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, focusing all my energies on forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, becoming all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. (Philippians 3:7-13)

I want to live faithfully, believing god for what I cannot see. (Hebrews 11:1)

I want to live paradoxically, going against my selfish nature, against our culture, giving a little bit more than I feel like giving, going the second mile, being conformed to the image of Jesus. (Romans 8:29)

Life Purpose Statement

I'm reading this awesome book/study by Linda Dillow called Calm My Anxious Heart.



Chapter 7 "A Faulty Focus" talks about having a life purpose statement. This sounds like such a great idea to me! BUT I'm so awful at stuff like this. I'm not creative, I'm not a good writer, and I can't seem to find just the right words! I really like this idea, though; so I'm going to give it a stab. Has anyone ever done this?

Toothless? Not Quite!

Today, Gerren had 4 adult teeth pulled under anesthesia by the oral surgeon. He just doesn't have enough room in his mouth for all his adult teeth. (Greg had to have two of his adult teeth pulled also when he was a kid.) These are the yucky teeth that came out of his head and that he wanted to keep!



He doesn't look like he's missing any teeth does he! He does look tired, though. He never even needed a Tylenol. He did, however, get a $6 smoothie! Next summer, after the remaining adult teeth are in, he'll get braces. Yippee!

Where Has Summer Gone!

Well, it's been a month since I've updated this blog! Ridiculous! It's summer; we're not doing school all day, and yet I've been so busy. We're supposed to start school 2 weeks from today. I've accomplished most of what I wanted to this summer, but I don't feel like I've had a break. Maybe we'll wait another week.

Here's what we've been doing:


Feeding the baby,



Brushing our teeth,



Learning to use a spoon,



Laughing at ourselves,



And generally being too cute!

Well, that's what Carys has been doing anyway!

Great things that have been happening to us:
1) Greg started his new job today working as a commercial building superintendent for this awesome Christian company in Ocala. We're so thrilled to be going back to a regular paycheck!
2) Landon passed his second CLEP test, Western Civilization II, received another score of 74 (out of 80). At the ripe old age of 14, entering high school in the fall, he has 6 college credits!

Things we're not really looking forward to:
1) Gerren gets 4 adult teeth pulled (under anesthesia) by the oral surgeon next Monday to make room in his mouth for the rest of his teeth. About a year later, he'll get braces.
2) I broken a tooth last week that I know has been cracked since Christmas. It was basically a shell of a tooth with a huge filling in it. I'm having it pulled by the same oral surgeon (yes, we're putting his daughters through college) next Thursday. Then, I will begin the long and expensive journey of yet another dental implant (my 5th!).

It's Meal Plan Monday! I'm going to try to follow a theme to make myself post more often. Here are my menus for the week:

Monday - Creamy Marinara Tortellini, Jiffy Salad, Garlic Parmesan Bread
Tuesday - Awesome Mac & Cheese, Company Carrots
Wednesday - always our long afternoon/evening in Ocala - dinner out
Thursday - Meat Loaf Miniatures, Italian Green Beans, Creamy Ranch Potatoes
Friday - Homemade pizza and salad
Saturday - Dinner out after church
Sunday - BBQ Pork sandwiches, chips, baby carrots & dip

Crazy Busy!

Ok, it's "summer vacation" and I should have some free time, right? No way! It seems I've been busier than ever. Of course, everyone needs to have an evaluation. So, I have one scheduled for every free day. I've also been busy planning for the next school year. The good news is that I'm close to being done with that. I'll definitely be finished by the end of June. So, I'm really hoping that July will be a restful month before we start back to full-time school in August. I am dying to catch up on my scrapbooking and spend a little time around the pool. We've also been busy with dr's appointments and dentist's appointment, etc., etc.

Some awesome things have been going on in our lives, too. Greg got a new job working as a superintendent for Fabian Dinkins Construction in Ocala. He'll be supervising commercial projects. He's so excited to be working for this awesome Christian company. We also have contracts on our two rental houses and the lot next door to us. If all goes well, we will pay off our mortgage and be completely debt free! God sold all those properties in a 3-week period in an almost-dead real estate market in Citrus County after I told Greg we could go help launch a new church in the Phoenix, AZ area if we sold all the properties. I guess God really wants us to go to Phoenix! So, in September, all six Meahls will hop on a plane for Phoenix. Whoo hoo!

Now for pictures! Here is Carys in her new bike helmet so she can ride on the back of Mom's bike. Isn't she cute?




We just finished a special small group series at church. We attended a group at the house of some sweet people who have a farm and cows. The kids had a blast! Here is a picture of Chase at the farm!