Wow! It's been a while since I've posted....I don't really remember what happened last Christmas or Spring semester, so I'll just start with where school left off. Let me just say that this past summer has been wonderful! My oldest brother got married (finally!) and I got the chance to go on a family vacation to California with my mother's entire family (all except for my two brothers and their now-wives). This totals 19 people, including myself (8 adults, 10 kids). Whew! That was a fun carpool of 5 cars to San Francisco..not to mention when we got to Fisherman's Wharf we were all wearing matching t-shirts with the American flag on them! How patriotic of my grandmother to buy them for us and insist we wear them so none of us get lost from the group...now I know what it feels like to be part of 'that family' who wears the matching t-shirts that everyone makes fun of. Don't get me wrong, I love my grandma. And in all honesty the t-shirts were a good idea, considering there were about 10 MILLION people there, but I wish the family vacay irony could have been spared.
Anyway, after the Cali trip, I went to church camp down south (for me, anyway) in Kingman, KS. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it was probably the most spiritually uplifting week of my life. It's not something I can explain, it was just plain awesome. Normally one or two people get baptized during this week, but this year, the total count was somewhere around 15..never underestimate the power of God and His love! This year, the structure was a bit different. Instead of having daily classes that two tribes attended together, campers congregated by cabins, with discussions led by their counselors (me being one of them). It was a wonderful opportunity to step up and be a role model for the young girls. Normally I would have shied away from being a role model for anybody, but I believe God gave me the courage and the strength to open up to my cabin of amazing girls. I wasn't the best leader of discussions, by any measure, but the other counselors, mainly one who I had previously had a bad impression of, brought me out of my shell and into the world of deep thinking. This was also a first, considering how much of a surface thinker I am. So, in my opinion, this was a great week indeed.
A truly amazing ending to my summer included my middle brother's wedding (yes, two weddings in one summer!). I had the chance to sing in it and, even though it wasn't my best, I think people enjoyed it. The wedding was a beautiful spectacle, made even more awesome by the appearance of my grandfather's old (as we like to call it) banana-mobile. It was the perfect ending, well, to a perfect beginning.
And this, I believe, is where I sign off. Thanks for reading.
Anyway, after the Cali trip, I went to church camp down south (for me, anyway) in Kingman, KS. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it was probably the most spiritually uplifting week of my life. It's not something I can explain, it was just plain awesome. Normally one or two people get baptized during this week, but this year, the total count was somewhere around 15..never underestimate the power of God and His love! This year, the structure was a bit different. Instead of having daily classes that two tribes attended together, campers congregated by cabins, with discussions led by their counselors (me being one of them). It was a wonderful opportunity to step up and be a role model for the young girls. Normally I would have shied away from being a role model for anybody, but I believe God gave me the courage and the strength to open up to my cabin of amazing girls. I wasn't the best leader of discussions, by any measure, but the other counselors, mainly one who I had previously had a bad impression of, brought me out of my shell and into the world of deep thinking. This was also a first, considering how much of a surface thinker I am. So, in my opinion, this was a great week indeed.
A truly amazing ending to my summer included my middle brother's wedding (yes, two weddings in one summer!). I had the chance to sing in it and, even though it wasn't my best, I think people enjoyed it. The wedding was a beautiful spectacle, made even more awesome by the appearance of my grandfather's old (as we like to call it) banana-mobile. It was the perfect ending, well, to a perfect beginning.
And this, I believe, is where I sign off. Thanks for reading.
