throwback Thursday (#tbt)

I have loved all my memories from Timehop lately.  Anyone else?  Some of the ones from Facebook make me cringe, but most of them, I love.  I thought that since I am spending my day running errands with Noah to get him ready for camp, that I would share some old pictures from this day in history. 

This is one of my favorite bible verses of all time, and it's one of the first I committed to my memory when I started memorizing scripture years and years ago.  I used to have a stack of note cards with me at all times, with all these verses written out on them, and anytime I had a spare moment, I would pull them out and work on them.  I wish I was still that good, but the truth is, if you don't practice this every single day, you lose a lot of what you've memorized.  With smart phones now, this is no longer necessary, the carrying around of all the note cards.  I miss doing that, though and sometimes hate the whole smart phone thing.

I'm just going to confess here that I've been a little nagging lately.  I'm rolling my eyes at my own self.  I needed this reminder today, to give myself a bit of perspective.  I accused my husband of being grumpy the other night, and though maybe he was, if that was the case, he wasn't the only one.  Again.  I'm rolling my eyes at my own self.  #perspective

On this day, two years ago, this was where Graham and Drew were.  This was the year that both of them went back to Arizona for the Navajo missions trip.  Drew was helping them with scripture memorization, and this boy you see pictured that he was talking to was his favorite kid there for two years straight.  This trip was not made this year, at least not in this capacity.  Things are changing and now the Navajo missions will be a part of NAMB (North American Missions Board).  Some people did return there this year, but it was more like a maps trip, where construction work is done.  I know Drew was so bummed about not going this year.  He went for three years in a row.  Graham went for two years in a row, and the first year, we all went. 

In honor of high school camp happening all around me, I thought I'd share about the year I stayed home to help my friend Abbey with her wedding stuff, and the year that Flat Jen went in my place.  Why, yes, I did make a flat version of myself and it went everywhere that Missy went.  I'm laughing.  This was a few of the girls holding me.  (Raven, Hannah, and BK.) 

This week, sweet Callie turns four!  I think we agreed that her birthday is the twentieth.  We got her in September, and she was three months old, just about to the day, when we got her.  I love the dog, I HATE HER HAIR. 

Speaking of camp, this is usually what my laundry looks like upon the return of campers.  However, this year, Noah is the only one in the family going.  For the first time in fourteen years, Todd isn't going and neither am I.  I haven't been in a few years and he wasn't able to this year, because of work and another trip he already went on.  It's so weird that only one of the boys is going.  Jonah opted not to go because he hates the beach (and it's at the beach) and also because of his summer job.  He didn't want to take the extra time off, because he missed several days in a row when he went to that truck meet at Daytona Beach with Graham. 

I was just thinking back yesterday, to how much fun we've had over these years of attending camps as counselors.  Believe it or not, my favorite camps of all time were always kids camp.  I loved the location, I adored the children's ministry pastor at the time my youngest two were that age, and I loved being around the teenage junior counselors as well.  We always had so much fun.  For years, that was what we did, and how we took our time off. 

Nine years ago this week, Todd and I had the privilege of going to Iceland on a mission trip with some great people.  These two guys are just two that were on the trip, but there were a few more with us.  This was on a ferry boat on the North Atlantic ocean.  It was a FOUR HOUR ferry ride from Vestmannaeyjar to Reykjavik Iceland.  I learned on that trip that when the ocean is rough, it is best that I go to one of the bottom levels of the ship and lay flat and just sleep.  It seems hard to believe that was nine years ago.  We met some dear people on that trip, who lived on the island that we were sailing from in this picture, and I am so thankful that I get to "see" them all the time on social media.  That is when social media is a beautiful thing.  Our friends, Gudni and Gudbjorg just celebrated their thirtieth anniversary yesterday.  Gudni is the pastor of the church we stayed at while were on the island, and they, along with their three children, became like family. 

Well, this was a fun post for me.  Thanks for reading!  Now on to all the pre-camp errands.  There is nothing quite like waiting until the last minute, huh?  We have several places to go today, and then I'll come home and chill (literally, it's a hundred degrees today it seems) and read until it's time to start making dinner. 

Love to all!