What I'm Up To - August 2024

Well, August is about two-thirds over, and it's definitely been a bit of a whirlwind. After a long, somewhat leisurely (and not too hot) summer, August came out swinging.

No worries though. I was feeling a little anxious about it in the weeks leading up to August 1, knowing what was coming. As we've gotten into the groove of things, however, it doesn't feel as unsettled as it did at the end of July / beginning of August.

The first week of August brought the beginning of the cross country season, and I'm coaching both the middle and high school teams (four high schoolers, six junior highers). We practice on Mondays, Wednesdays, and some Fridays, and we just had our first meet last week. It was incredibly hot, but the team did well all things considered (two HS girls placed top ten in their races). As always, I love coaching even if it means giving up a little time in the evenings to get to sleep early. Practice starts at 6:30, so Lyla and I wake up around 5:50 AM on those days.

In a similar mode, I also started seriously training for the Dinosaur Valley Endurance Run (25K). Goal time here is just around 2hrs or so, which would be an 8 minute mile. Of course this isn't road running so we'll see how things go. But training is going well. This past week was the fourth week of official training, and I'm feeling pretty strong.

The girls started school about two weeks ago as well, and I'm happy and proud to say the both got back into the swing of things pretty quickly. We had a little bit of anxiety going into the year after some school difficulty last year, but Pais has really grabbed the reins and seems happy to be back. We also really seem to be rounding a corner with her -- she's much quicker to calm back down after heated moments, and we've really worked hard to move into problem solving mode when things are overwhelming or stressful.

A few weeks ago I built a new raised bed for the garden, and it was finally "cool" enough (read, not hellish) today to bring the bed to the back, pull out some of the older spring beds, and fill the container with new soil. The soil looks great, and I'm excited to get the fall garden going. Right now we're planning for carrots, broccoli, garlic, and maybe sweet potatoes? We'll see.

Finally, we've made a switch for our church home. After about two years of just recovering at St. Paul Episcopal in Waxahachie after the stint at LIDE, we felt it was time to find a place where we could feel more at home, and perhaps get more involved. After some debate as a family, we decided to try All Saints Dallas, an Anglican church out of the AMIA. They seem to have an equivalent focus on liturgy, scripture, and matters of the Spirit, which is a refreshing thing to hear, and seems to sort of "check all the boxes" for the different desires in our family. I think we're ready to try this place out long term, and it's exciting (and a little anxiety-inducing, if I'm honest) to try to wade back out into these waters.

Life feels a little tiring, a little challenging, but I think for the first time in a long time, I feel truly good about the direction we're going as a family. We're finding rest where we can, and pushing towards growth and new goals.

Tagged: personal,