Summer has gone. Now, the weather is cooler, the trees are beginning to turn, football season is in full swing, and the pumpkin seeds my kids threw into the front flower beds have produced a few bright and shiny orange pumpkins. Fall is here.

With fall comes a busy time of year. Summer activities have slowed down, but the fall is full of its own brand of busyness. Between school activities my kids are involved in, community events, and church programs, we have a full schedule leading into the holidays.

But it will be fun and enjoyable, and there will be some great opportunities for rest and relaxation mixed in as well.

Along with my recent diagnosis of sleep apnea a couple of months ago, the month of September brought with it another health scare. I have been diagnosed with skin cancer, and am scheduled for surgery later in October. Your prayers in that matter would be greatly appreciated.

With my various recent health challenges, I have made a conscious effort to scale back in many of the activities I am involved in, while remaining steady in what I can. In order to make time for some of these things, I have revised my writing schedule and reduced the amount of posts I attempt to complete each week and month. That is not a choice I am really happy with, but am convinced it is necessary right now.

It is crazy to think that summer has come and gone. School has started, and we are moving back into the routine that we find ourselves in for most of the year.

August was a month that was very different than most of the year for me. There was a lot going on that is outside of the norm, both personally and professionally.

This summer, I was diagnosed as having sleep apnea. As a result, I was given a CPAP machine, and I am having a difficult time getting used to it. I wonder if it is causing me more problems than giving help, and have been tempted to stop using it at times. Add to that the soft summer we have experienced, and the fact that my allergies are still responding to something, and my sleep has still been suffering.

On top of that, my oldest daughter has experienced a busier schedule this year, as a Junior in high school. She has been selected by her peers as a part of the Homecoming Court, and as a co-captain of her cheerleading squad. She has also elected to take some very hard courses this year, and is doing well with them so far. I am very proud of her efforts and involvement in the school and the community.

The rest of my kids are much the same, busy, involved, and loving it.

On the professional side of things, our newly hired worship minister has not been able to make ends meet on the part time basis that we can offer. As a result, he has submitted his resignation, and we are searching for someone to fulfill that role again.

August is here! Summer vacation is winding down, school is about to begin, and hopefully some cooler temperatures are in the near future.

July was a very busy month for me. From my diagnosis with sleep apnea and the details surrounding that and getting adjusted to a new reality to a mission trip to an Apache reservation in Arizona, July was packed with stuff.

With so much going on, and with traveling taking up a good chunk of the month, I set my writing aside for a few weeks, only covering what I consider to be the bare minimums for JeffRandleman.com and DeliberateDads.com.

However, with the summer ending, and things falling back into a normal routine, I expect to ramp it up a bit more as we enter into the fall.

In looking over my stats for the month however, I realized something significant, to me at least. I usually only pay attention to the top seven posts for the past 30 days. And they are consistently the same ones. It hit me this time, that I rarely look at the next ones on the list. And what I found stunned me.

Summer is half over, and new things are on the horizon. We have a lot of exciting opportunities ahead of us here in southern Missouri. I suspect you are experiencing similar things as well.

This month sees the beginning of a new series at our church. We are going to look at Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church. This series will extend for the rest of the summer and much of the fall, taking a comprehensive look at this book. The church in Corinth is a mess, but by the end of his letter, Paul shows just how beautiful the mess can be.

Also, July brings with it our mission trip to Arizona, to American Indian Christian Mission. This is an incredible opportunity for many people in our church to experience missions for the first time, without leaving the country. We are really looking forward to this trip. I am bringing two of my daughters with me. This is the first time I have been able to experience such a trip with my own kids. I’m looking forward to it.

Needless to say, our summer is busy, heading into the fall. How about you?

In the meantime, just in case you missed them, here are my top seven posts for the Month of June:

We have entered into June. The year is almost half over. This is slightly alarming to me. Time seems to be flying by far too quickly this year.

May held a few surprises and big events. My oldest daughter turned 16 and got her drivers license. We now have a third driver in the home, and the insurance that goes with it.

Our church hired a new youth minister, and we took a crew to Kansas City to move him down here. His family is in place and beginning to settle in.

I went to the doctor for a few seemingly unconnected symptoms, wondering if I had heart issues. It turns out that I most likely have severe sleep apnea, and further testing is needed. You can read more on that here.

That means that my writing schedule was way off. I have lost my stride this month, and it shows. Hopefully, I can slide into some sort of a new schedule that will allow me to write the things I want to write, and post them on a consistently regular basis.