Summer Part II (read part one below, first!)

After the mission trip, I had about a week to recoup before I went to Montreat Youth Conference, in the mountains of NC, to "search for the signal." Montreat Conference Center hosts 6 youth conferences every summer for Presbyterian youth around the country. The youth have the opportunity to learn in small groups, experience two different forms of worship, and have fun and fellowship with old and new friends. Montreat reaches out to approximately 600o youth every summer. I have been going to Montreat since I graduated from high school in 1992, and even spent a summer on their staff. It is an amazing place where so many feel close to God, and where it is said the the air is thin and the distance to heaven is close.

This year's theme...

Walking to worship...

1300 youth and adults waiting for worship to begin...

Dave-train playing his mandolin in the instrument band...

Candle-light service around the lake on Friday night...

After about another week of down-time, Rachel and Natalie came to hang with me for a few days of Camp Aunt Becky.

We went to the children's museum

And the local water park...

I was housesitting, so they also helped me care for the dogs...

We ate a lot of yummy food, did some back to school shopping and took in a baseball game, too! It was fun times!!

Then it was time to head back to Montreat for the last conference of the summer. The girls' dad was keynoting for the 5th and 6th conference, so we all met up (Mandy, David, girls and I) for a last Montreat summer hoorah. This time, I served as a small group leader, living on the 3rd floor of the inn and leading Small Group 27, an awesome group of 21 young people and 2 adults from all over the country. It was an awesome experience!

Small Group 27

And now, 3 days of respite before it's back to school. I go back to work on Wednesday, and it's a week of prep before we welcome our students on August 17th. The summer went by so fast, and I would say "where has it gone?", but pictures are worth a thousand words!

Summer is over...and what a summer it has been!

Oh what a summer it has been. I had a couple of weeks to just be before the insanity (FUN!) began.

The craziness of the summer started off with Mission Madness, our church's mission experience for middle schoolers. We bring them to the church for 4 days of mission work. We stay at the church, eat, sleep, shower, everything, just as if we were on a mission trip. It's just a mission trip patterned for middle schoolers who still often need mom to bring something they forgot, or leave for an appointment, or go home because the are flat out tired!

We have a little fun,

And a lot of time for work...

We play games with the elderly...

And slave away at the soup kitchen.

We do some yardwork...

And learn about the homeless in our community...

Mission Madness is something I've been a part of off and on for a number of years, and I think it is a wonderful concept. Did I mention it was hot...that's going to become a theme of this post!


After about 3 days of rest, it was off to Cosby, TN for a mission experience with 8 youth and 6 adults. We went to Sunset Gap Community Center and took part in their outreach ministry, doing some home repairs for a disabled man. It was a lot more than we expected, but it was worth it! We completely de-sided and re-sided a home!

This was the house after the siding was removed...I was pretty hands on in the removal process, so didn't take any pictures of the pretty blue siding!

The "supergirls" hammering the new siding on...

Priming...
This man is Brent. He was our foreman extraordinaire. Not only did he know his building stuff, but he forged an awesome bond with out kids. He was a big part of the growth in faith on this trip.



This was a hard job to say the least, and I was continually amazed with the kids' work ethic. Even though it was a slow process, the kids did not want down time...they wanted to work, and they would FIND something to do!

Did I mention that this was where the house was? Nuff said!
My next post will be about the last half of my summer! Yes, there is more to come!

A Month Later...

So, it's been a full month since I posted last. I've been a little busy. I finished my paper and had my comp exams on Tuesday...I passed, so in August, I will officially graduate with my second Master's degree! It's been a long haul, and I am SOOOO happy to be (almost) done. I still have some revisions to do, but that should not take long.

School is almost over. We have a long weekend for Memorial Day, and then 3 half days (Tues., Weds., and Thurs.) next week, and then we're done until mid-August. I am so beat...it can't come soon enough!!

This summer is going to be busy, too. I have several housesitting jobs set up...this is something I do to earn a little extra cash and also to keep sweet pets from having to be kenneled for so long. It is often a little bit of a vacation for me, as well. I will also be participating with the church youth in a couple of mission trips and a youth conference. One mission trip will be within Greer, and the other in the Appalachian mountains of TN. The youth conference is in Montreat, NC, one of my favorite places in the world. With all of this going on, it will be time to start back to school before I know it! It'll be a fun summer, but I have a feeling that I'm going to be just as tired when we start back!

I hope everyone enjoys their last few days of school and the start to the summer!

SO MUCH

So much is going on...I don't know where to start, so I'll just start!

I turned in the first draft of my paper tonight! YIPPEE! Now here's to hoping that I don't have to add a lot or do too many revisions. I don't know if I have the brain power. I'm at the end of the line...it's time to be done!

Last week was spring break. Late, yes, as we only have 27 more days of school left until summer (not that I'm complaining!). I drove up to Mebane to visit my friends Mandy and David and their girls. We spent the majority of the week decorating the girls' bedrooms...Rachel went with an under-the-sea theme. Her room looked awesome when we were done. We painted the walls aqua with a white glaze and then found some bright colored sea creature stickers (BIG ONES) that we stuck all over the walls. We took down her closet doors and hung these flowy green curtains. It is pretty cool. Natalie, with a totally opposite personality than her sister, went with the peace, love and happiness room. She has a bright pink comforter (and is quick to add that she has a hot pink zebra print dust ruffle), bright green curtains with multi-colored accents, and so we painted her walls....BRIGHT YELLOW! Sounds interesting, I know, but we found some awesome peace, love and happiness stickers for her walls that tie it all together, and it, too, looks awesome! It was some hard work, but the smiles on their faces when they saw the finished products made it all worth it!

I broke my kindle last week. It was a sad day...just for future reference, DO NOT place heavy pressure on a kindle screen with your hand....it will break! The good news is that it was still under warranty. I called kindle support, reported the problem, and they had a BRAND NEW kindle to me in less than 24 hours. I was impressed.

I finished the girls' Easter dresses, and they turned out really cute. I didn't take my camera, so I am waiting for their mama to send me pictures of them so I can post them on here.

Today was back to the grind...I've got a week of appointments that I have put off for too long, as well as several meetings, and Hands on Greenville day at my school on Saturday (a beautification project sponsored by United Way). I feel like the next 27 school days will probably fly by...Hallelujah!

Christ is risen...He is risen indeed!

A Few of My Favorite Things

These are a few of my favorite things right now.

My Kindle...oh how I love this thing! You can get whatever book you want in seconds, without the bulk and storage of physical book. I got mine for Christmas...in 3.5 months, I have probably read 10-15 books, and I doubt I would have done that with actual books. I have been catching up on Fern Michael's Sisterhood series...I was on book 6...now I'm on book 16. The only sad thing is that there are only 20 books in the series! Guess I have to catch up on something else next!



This is a Sodastream machine! My friend Jean had one of these when I went to visit her a few weeks ago, and I thought it was awesome! So awesome, that I treated myself to one for my birthday! The Sodastream is a home soda fountain. It makes one liter of soda at a time. You use your own water, attach the bottle to the Sodastream to carbonate it, and then add your syrup of choice. You can also make flavored carbonated waters. I just think it is a very cool way to be a little more "green" and also know a bit more about what you're drinking!


I've had my Ipod for a couple of years now, but I still love it. I particularly love being able to carry it in the car with me. I'm still playing with all the different apps, and figuring out what I can do with it!



Nike+Ipod sensor...this is the coolest gadget. If you are into walking/running, and want to keep up with time, speed, distance, calories, etc., this it the most awesome device. It syncs with the I-phone, or any Ipod touch 2nd generation or newer. You can buy a connector for any other Ipod, though. It is made to fit into the sole of a certain type of Nike running shoe, but you can also buy a case for it to attach to the laces of the running shoe of your choice. Tonight, I wanted to walk 5K, so I was able to type into my Ipod that I wanted to measure distance. While I was listening to music on my Ipod, the app would tell me what my pace was, how far I had gone, etc. I am sold, and for only $19, it is definitely a cost effective gadget (if you already have the Ipod...LOL!).

I fear I am turning into my father, buying the newest fun gadget at the drop of a hat, but I'm actually okay with that! I LOVE GADGETS!

This weekend is going to be devoted to hammering out my paper, and then Sunday, I head for NC to help my girls paint and decorate their rooms! SPRING BREAK...just 3 more days...and thankfully, spring has finally sprung...Happy Spring!

Special Olympics

Yesterday, I went here.
Unfortunately, my camera battery died after the first shot, and I didn't have a spare, so I don't have the pictures to share that I hoped I would. 3 of my 8 students competed. Adam, who is 10, competed in the softball throw and the standing long jump, and got a silver and a bronze! Anya, also 10, competed in the same events and got a gold and a bronze, and Madison, who is 8, and who competed for the first time in softball throw and 50m dash, got a silver and a bronze! I'm so proud of them. They worked hard and got their awards to show for it. Special Olympics is such a wonderful event. Every child walks away with something, and this year, for the first time, all of our kids got third place or above! No 4th and 5th place ribbons for our kiddos...they went for the metal! Thankful to Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who established the Special Olympics for these kiddos who have to work so hard!

The Special Olympics motto is "Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt." and our kids do just that. Whereas we "typical" people often pout if we don't do the best, these kiddos just do their thing, laughing and happy, brave and loving life! We could all learn a lesson from them...I know that I do, everyday.

Birthday Weekend

I got to spend my weekend with these cute kids and their moms. This picture is about a year and a half old...I didn't take my camera this weekend, and I really don't think they slowed down long enough for us to take a picture anyway! Their moms are my friends Jean and Mandy...I tried to find a picture of us together, but I'm sure they will be happy that I couldn't! We have known each other since the fall of 1997...closing in on 14 years! It's hard to believe! We met in seminary. We all went there pretty much knowing no one...I think we had all met MAYBE one or two people beforehand that would be there with us. We lived in a small all girls dorm called Kramer...we were affectionately called the "Kramer girls." There were, at most, 20 of us that lived there. That year was truly one of the most fun years of my life...not only were there NUMEROUS adventures in Kramer, but I made some of my lifelong best friends there.

Fast forward 13+ years, and Jean and Mandy each have a 7 year old and a 9 year old...Jean's got the boys, Mandy the girls, and those kids love each other. They hadn't seen each other since the above picture was taken in July of 2009, but they fell in together like they'd seen each other yesterday. It's awesome to watch a new generation of friends! They have a lot of fun together, and we all predict puppy love in their pre-teens! We were all sad to part ways today, but it was a great 36 hours of fun, and we're planning to do it again soon.

On another note, I'm going to be looking at a lot of this

and this

in the coming weeks. My professor gave me the go ahead this week to take the sadly small amount of data I have collected and create my project with it. I've been given a defense timeline of the week of May 9th, so the paper has to be complete and in good shape by the end of April. I am so excited to finally be at this point...now I've just got to be at one with my computer and research!

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek God's will in all you do, and God will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6