VBS and ramblings from a heat wave

I think we are getting the same heat wave that sat over the western U.S. for a week. Ever since Madison and Garrett were children, vacation bible school (VBS) has been a part of our summer. Nearby churches open their doors to all denominations for fun songs, crafts, mission projects, and all for free. The songs are so catchy - the girls sing them all year. My friend Michelle and I wrote "LDS" on the line where they asked for what church we attend, and they are just like "cool" (Lutherans are generally cool with that). I was just thinking we should all be "cool" with other religions too - just like those women at bible school. The chapel was bursting with shouting/singing of children singing "Lift me up with Jesus" - As I picked up Becca and Livi, a few people came up and told us a "Becca-ism" - The song leader was passing the microphone during the singing, saying "Who do you follow?" answer "I follow Jesus!" then: "Who do you follow?" "I follow the Lord", etc. It came to Becca, who was sitting near her friend Kelsey, the song leader held up the mike to Becca and said "Who do you follow" Becca said um... um...."I follow Kelsey!" To really get some free babysitting during the summer, a really smart mom would go from one VBS to another all summer long!
Madison made varsity field hockey last week! It's a big deal because they are state champions. Madison even got a black eye practicing for tryouts. She and Patrick were outside practicing field hockey with the kids while I talked out front with the Sister missionaries, and when I came inside, Patrick was holding an ice pack to Madison's eye, and holding Cecily in the other arm. He looked very flustered and was like "Mrs. Jefferies... help!" The hard part was that Madison's friend didn't make the team, and she left her stick in our van. I want to give it back to her, but want to do it with the stick wrapped in candy or flowers or something. It was really sad. One of the new sister missionaries is from SLC, and is very shy - has always worked with the handicapped and never been outside her home state. She just arrived from the MTC last week, and she has really been adjusting. Every time I see her, she is crying. The mission president for our mission made a new rule that the missionaries can only go to members homes if an investigator/non-member is there for dinner an they are able to teach. We can bring food to their home, but no more meals. On Saturday, they came to our home because they hadn't eaten anything all day, and had no members with investigators. We fed them of course, and the new missionary was starving. I felt really bad about this new rule, and thought,"what if this was my daughter?" I might write to the mission president and kindly tell him what I think of this new rule. I know we need to do better finding people to teach and strenthen our faith, but we also need to get to know the sisters before we turn them over to our friends. I guess I would cry too if I were that sister!
Poor Livi melted in the heat wave on Saturday - It was our Swimming finals, and I thought she was drinking enough, but she collapsed with heat exhaustion. It was really scarey. The officials closed the meet and cleared the pool deck for about an hour. Our team won by seven points!
Lots of sports going on! I realize that if you have high school kids, you basically can't go anywhere the month of August- because team sports start. It's all good though - I think we're going away for Labor Day, and then Rhett and I to Paris - yes!!!!!