Hello Framily (Friends and Family!)!
Well — it has happened — I am one of “those” grandparents who pulls out photos at the drop of a hat and even subjects perfect strangers to the short video of Rylie’s sweet smile. Thank the Lord this season of my life hit when there is Facetime on my phone and Skype on my computer. And when Khloe holds the phone it’s like a ride at Disney!!
Have you ever tried to explain what it is like being in a whirlwind? That would be me trying to describe our summer! Our “busy-ness factor” was 99 out of 100. It began as we were driving out west — Andy would have daily phone meetings with those in his office back in Orlando and the developer working on the database management system from Canada. This continued as we set up our apartment and the summer began. The first group to “arrive” is our new staff, and it was soon evident that Andy’s work on both the new registration program and database management system paid off!!! All of our registrations (8 of them!) ran very smoothly! WAHOO!!! In the last one, we registered 2800 people in 10 hours!
During the summer, Andy oversaw three other areas. The office services team made sure our things got mailed, packages big and small were shipped and received, and that all of our copiers, printers and staplers were in fine running order. The technology team made sure our computers worked, people were equipped to use the programs that ran on them, and that our broken phones, iPads, laptops and the like were repaired. All of this is done to support the various programs we run: New Staff training, training for those going overseas, seminary classes and training for those taking leadership on various campuses across the country. Finally, the coffee shop, Cru Brew. This area took A LOT more work than we had expected just a few months ago. The couple who had lead the coffee shop for 10 years were unable to serve, so a new couple had to step in. There were stumbles at the beginning of the summer. Yet, as weeks went by people stepped up and much coffee, soda and popcorn were served to our staff.
The Information Services Team that I worked on answered hundreds of email questions, helped register our staff and served those who came for our many summer programs. One of my big thrills was meeting and serving some of our staff from South America, Africa, and Western Europe. It was such a joy to help them navigate our conference. Cady, Kevin and the girls (along with Kevin’s parents) came to Colorado for a week in late June. We loved seeing them, hanging out with the little ones, and exploring new places in Rocky Mountain Nat’l Park. And helping them experience some of the great Colorado foods we love (like cinnamon rolls with icing and butter!!).
Prior to this summer, Zach and Becca had decided that they wanted to move to Colorado Springs, two hours south of Fort Collins. It’s a beautiful area, home to The Olympic Training Center, The Air Force Academy, Focus on the Family Ministries and The Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame! Zach had secured a job before we all arrived in Colorado, and during the summer they found a condo. Andy and I were able to visit their new place and help them move in some of their things. It’s just around the corner from one of the truly amazing places in America — the Garden of the Gods.
Our big conference saw more of our staff in Fort Collins than in the past few years. Our whole family served “till we dropped.” And then it was all over. It is our tradition to stay in town a couple extra days, but we then had to zoom back before Becca and Zach packed up all of their worldly belongings in Orlando and drove back to The Springs.
And last, but certainly not least, last week we turned our attention to helping Rachel pack up her things and we drove with her to get her settled back into college.
We are now back in Florida (wow it’s humid here!), settling into a new “normal”. The whirlwind has slowed, and this is our first time as true empty nesters. Thank you for your prayers for our summer, and for us now. We so appreciate you!
Here’s a few more pictures from this summer:
The Kelloggs 