Catching up, taking off

Sorry no posts in a while--we've only been home 72 hours since camp (which was all-consuming), and we head out again tomorrow for the big Rome trip. A couple of updates:

Camp was AWESOME! If you frequent the PBC circle of blogs, you'll see more detail. But suffice it to say that all the work and worry that went into the programming end really paid off in a great week of camp that made it all worthwhile.

Mrs. Sal has a JOB! We worried (and prayed, and then worried some more) about how all our summer plans would impact the very necessary task of her re-joining the full time teaching corps this year. Never fear--God took care of everything in a 3-day window. After 4 interviews in 72 hours, Ann was offered a job on the spot this morning, less than a day out from our departure for Italy. It's a teaching assistant job--she's a bit worried because she could likely hold out and get more $$ by stringing the process along a bit. But the principal assured her that it would turn into an early childhood teacher slot by next year, and the money isn't the most important thing. This job not only has the advantage of being the proverbial bird in the hand, it also is close to home and seems to present the best path toward the achievement of her long-term professional goals. (If she takes the "better" offer of private school or public elementary school, it's harder to see the end result winding up in public school early childhood, where her heart lies). And for us, it's one more great opportunity to trust God that He really does know what He is doing. Once again, I am confident that He will honor our decision to think long-term and not just chase the cash. (And it's hard to complain about how little money you make when you're packing for an $8000 trip to Europe that's only costing you for meals!)

And speaking of the trip... the countdown is on. We fly out tomorrow afternoon. All of the expected butterflies are there, plus a couple unique to nerd-dom: what books do I take on the plane? 14 hours could mean several junk suspense novels (I'm thinking Clancy, Ludlum, or Ted Dekker... maybe all three), or I could put a serious dent in a Churchill biography that I've been putting off. Either way, I'll get to do some serious reading--my colleague who is the lead chaperone for this trip is a much more serious scholar than me (an ancient hist PhD, and a man of prodigious work habits), and has put together a 180-page typed guide to our itinerary. Oh, and I hope they show Spider Man 3 on the flight--my boys went to see it with their grandfather, so I missed my excuse to go see it in the theater. That's more Sal speed.

All of you friends out there, please pray for our family over the next two weeks. I'm not taking the laptop, so there will be no blogging from Europe. Ann will likely post pictures when we get back.

I promise I'll post more interesting stuff in July. My brain is cluttered again; time to dump it all in this spot.

SuperWeek

My buddy Mike says I've been a blogger wimp, having not posted in spite of being off for the summer. Sorry--Google has been jumpy about letting me in, and Mrs. Sal has had a honey-do list a mile long as we have been revving up for camp.

Speaking of camp, that starts tomorrow--the 26th annual SuperWeek! Since the vast majority of readers of this blog are camp staffers, not being able to post for a week won't be that big a deal. This year, all three of my kids (plus a nephew) are going to camp with us. I'm excited about the week for them, of course--being a camper is great. But I am also very excited for us grownups. Camp is a spiritual oasis; it's like going on a God-centered retreat. Yes, there are innumerable fun things to do. But there is also twice-daily worship, a daily Bible study, and most importantly, the fellowship of fellow staffers who are all there for a week of putting God first. If that doesn't sound fun, consider this--if you don't like being with Christians and praising God, you probably won't like heaven very much!

Prayers, please, all around for safe travel for everybody and for the week to have its intended goals of touching young lives significantly. Oh, and decent weather (or at least no monster hailstorms).

Go ahead. Envy me.

Just thought I'd point out, I didn't go to work today. And I won't be going Monday, either. Nor any day that I don't really feel like it until mid-August. 'CAUSE I'M A SCHOOLTEACHER! I will, of course, have to deal with students in my professional capacity for a couple of weeks... IN ROME! So life is pretty good.

Seriously, I have no idea how all you people with "real jobs" do it (I've been told teaching is an "unreal job"). I have nothing but respect for the folks who take their very limited vacation time and spend it on such things as PBC (and of course, SuperWeek starts in 8 days). For all the many gripes that teachers have about the pay (and believe me, a small number divided by 12 is even less per month than the same small number divided by the 9 months we actually work), I've said for a long time now that time is far more valuable than money. If I made six figures, I'd just spend it all, but I wouldn't be able to do the time-things that money can't buy (like camp, and enjoying the kids all summer). Now, I'll grant you that the best of both worlds would be even better--time to travel and the money to go places. But God has been awfully gracious in that area, too. Happy summer, all!