Summer Recap

Since summer is officially over I decided maybe I should blog/reflect on what the Smith family did this summer.  It was an eventful one for us, and we kept busy most of the time.  Our summer started out by running a 20K in Des Moines, IA (the Dam to Dam)--that's 12.6 miles for those of you who are metrically challenged, like I am.  It was a great race-tons of encouragement along the way, and we really enjoyed it.  Most of all, it was a great way for Keith and I to train together, and it paid off.  I think we'll probably do it again next year.

We took multiple "mini vacations" courtesy of the army, including two trips to Chicago, one to Kansas City and one to Branson.  We were actually surprised how much fun Branson was, it was all old people-but they were really nice.  As someone mentioned during on the of the shows we went to, people in Branson aren't afraid to talk about Jesus--we enjoyed that :)  We saw an acapella group of brothers ("Six"), and then Keith wanted to see the magic show in town ("Kirby Van Birch").  Both were great and we had a wonderful time.  Keith was in chaplain meetings all day, which meant I got a LOT of time by the pool or shopping--perfect vacation if you ask me.  Keith also got to meet up with his friend Bryan Walker, his battle buddy from one of the chaplain training sessions.  Bryan will be heading to Afghanistan soon, so it was great for Keith to be able to give him a little insight on the life of a deployed chaplain.

August brought a GREAT vacation with the Johnsons.  We headed up to Minneapolis with all of our camping gear and loaded up the car for the Boundary Waters for a five day canoe trip.  Without going into too many details (see Mandy's blog for the full story) we were only there one night and saw two bears--which ate all of our food.  So, that was an unexpected adventure, but we still loved (mostly) every minute of it.  We were also able to spend some time with the Flaas and Olsons-it was great to spend time with such Godly couples and get a better grasp on the meaning of true fellowship as Christ talks about it.

Now that football season has started, I feel like I see red everywhere--not that I don't love it--being a Husker is great.  My poor cowboys, though, are having a rough season--I guess a fan is with their team through thick and thin...right? :)  That's all for now-thanks for checking in on us!