Fresh Start

I love the beginning of Summer.

Its exciting, warm, and full of fun activities. 

The only thing I love more than the beginning of Summer, is the end of Summer.

The schedules, the (hopefully) cooler weather, and freshness of a new year.

And the structure. 

Oh, the structure. I love it!

We had a guest speaker at church last week talking about the Fresh Start that the school year brings.

Reminds me of how happy a brand new notebook makes me.

So clean. So fresh.

I love the school year.

(Of course, it helps that I'm not going back to school this year!!)

Yesterday we had our School Year Luncheon with the youth families.

We do this to introduce the school year calendar to the parents,

and to celebrate the wonderful things that the kids did while they were out of school for the summer.

We also use this time to show the summer video,

which was made by yours truly!

You can watch it here.

You can't watch it on a mobile device such as a phone or iPad though.

Just like last year, the parents surprised us with an end of summer gift.

 Michael and I could not have asked for a better group of parents and volunteers to support us in our work with these kids.

We are continually surrounded by love and encouragement.

God really knew what He was doing when he sent us to JV.

We had such a wonderful summer!

But I am excited about the possibilities of the new year.

I am looking forward to fresh start for myself, for Michael, for our ministry, and for our youth kids.

It is going to be a great year!