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| Since I haven't updated in awhile, I'll give you a brief synopsis of my Christmas break so far. I had a camp party/reunion the weekend of the 17th, which was fun. Ice skating at the Galleria, visiting at Mark & Amber's, then unsuccessfully driving all over Dallas to find someplace to dance that everyone could get into. Really enjoyable close to finals week!
Came back to Norman Sunday night for basketball practice and games until Wednesday. Spent a couple days shopping and relaxing in big Elgin. Chopped my hair off. Went dancing at Scooters with some of the high school gang...Chelsey, Ginger, Megan, Robin...saw Jeremy and Tyler there. It was so much more fun than I anticipated!
Christmas came and went, and I enjoyed spending time with family. Cassidy made it home from Ecuador, so it was such a blessing to spend some time with her while they were down. I can't wait to hang out with her again this semester...she's one of my favorites! Had Christmas with Mom's side the 28th. OU won the bowl game...beat the #6 team in the nation, which was exciting. Watched it with the fam...all of Mom's side. Had Christmas with Dad's fam on New Year's Eve, then hauled buns to Austin to make it before midnight, which I did by the way!
Left at 6am New Year's Day for Passion Conference 06 in Nashville. I went with Katie and JJ's church in Austin, which I was really nervous about, but it turned out to be incredible. Met some really great people, got to be with a bunch of Longhorns for the national championship (even though we didn't get to see the game it was still exciting).
Passion was mind blowing...I learned so much and am excited about falling more in love with my Jesus! I really love shouting and praising the Lord...it was such a party I lost my voice...one day we'll do that in Heaven!!! I really love Louie Giglio and Beth Moore...they have such a passion for the Lord and are great at expressing it. It was a blessing to hear their wisdom throughout the week. I could go on and on about this week, but I don't have time. We left Thursday afternoon and got back to Austin at 5am Friday. It was a beautiful sight to drive into the city in the dark and see the tower lit up in celebration of their title...my hope is that I shine brightly in celebration of my title...as a daughter of the King--a rescued one!
When we woke up Friday afternoon, JJ and I headed for camp. We had a Ray Bean Retreat at a pool house in Graham, TX. It was a great time. We swam in the heated pool and enjoyed the hot tub and sauna. We played Dance Dance Revolution until our muscles ached, and we ate like it was our job. We worked the pool table and the shuffleboard, and played our fair share of spades and scattergories. We even nearly burned the place down making hobo packs in the oven...too bad there was a burn ban to keep us from a campfire. We were so blessed that Shannon scored the house for us. It was perfect...even if my hair is still green from the chlorine!!!
I made it back to Elgin Monday afternoon and packed my stuff up. I had to make it back to Norman in time for the Bachelor Premiere...we had a watch party at our house!
So that's pretty much my break so far. I'm back in Norman about to start up with my basketball team again, and school starts in a week. This break was very much needed and brought restoration and a renewed spirit back for the second half!
Thank you God, for being so big and for desiring us! You are my satisfaction and joy! | | |
| So I'm really bad at updating and don't really have the time to right now...but I'll just highlight my weekend for the MULTITUDES of you who read this...I know, right!!!
I went to Marshall, TX this weekend to visit two friends from camp at East Texas Baptist University...had an amazing time. Drove to Mesquite Friday night, stayed with one of my friend's friends, whom I had never met, but her family was great and fed me and sheltered me for the night...so gracious.
Saturday morning Maria, Abby, and I woke up and headed to Marshall. We went and watched the first half of the ETBU football game and then went to Bodacious BBQ...mmmmm!!!
Went with Maria to see her dad...he was hunting with his brothers just outside of town...it was a blessing for me to watch them interact...you could see that he was such an amazing man of God. When we got back to her apartment we got ready for their Fall Formal and headed to Longview with a group of their friends to eat a little Olive Garden...double mmmmmm!
When we got to the formal I thought I was going to die...first of all, I can't dance, and secondly I didn't know anyone but Maria and Christine...and sort of their friends. However, it was the most hilarious experience I've had in awhile. Baptist kids are amazing dancers...let me tell you! I spent the night people watching and cracking up...mixed in with a little of my own really sick awkward dancing and personality...but it was so fun...I laughed...A LOT! Christine, Abby, Whitney, and I might have been caught standing in the hallway or along the wall not wanting to dance part of the time, but we did our fair share of dancing...and it was SWEET!
OK...that was pretty much my weekend...but I have to add that I made it home in under 4.5 hours...which is an hour and a half faster than Maria made it to Norman...hahaha...I'm glad I made it alive and without a ticket!!!
Hope you have a great week!
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| Hey guys...and by guys I mean all 2 of you who might possibly be reading this! So I haven't written anything in forever, but a lot has happened since last time I wrote. I moved into my house in Norman, and my roommates and I are slowly getting it decorated. Just in case anyone was wondering, I am still the same girl you know...my room looks like a bomb went off...still not moved in...and I've been there over 3 weeks now...oh well, life goes on.
So school started yesterday...that was fun...I only had one class and worked a little bit. Can I please tell you that I have the best fitting job ever for a creep like me...I am a class checker/monitor for the athletic department, which means I basically get paid to go stalk athletes and make sure they go to class. Between classes, I have to get on the OU Athletics website and look at their pictures on the rosters to make sure I know who I'm looking for...awesome, I know...SICK!
So today my first class was at 8:30...human anatomy...yea, with a cadaver...be jealous. Talk about an amazing way to help digest my grape nuts...mmm! I'm not gonna lie though...even though I have to rummage through a dead human body, I think I'm really going to enjoy this class...morbid, but interesting. It's going to be the most ridiculous workload ever, but what can you do???
Anyway, there's really no point to any of this posting except to say that I'm creepy in many many ways, and I love it...a whole lot! Yea, well I gotta get some sleep so my stalking skills will be good in the morning.
Oh, and PS...if you're reading this you should probably come by my house and visit...I really like company...I like it a lot! If you don't know where it is...there's probably a reason for that...you're probably a stalker, or at least have the ability to be one...or maybe you should just call and get directions...and if you don't have my phone number then you really creep me out, and you should probably just google me...then you could maybe be considered awkward and stalkerish enough to be my friend...MAYBE.
OK...on that note, I just realized that I really suck at life a lot and shouldn't be allowed to put what goes through my head out there for people to see it...b/c it's really random and not funny or interesting at all...sorry you just wasted your time reading it...SUCKA! | | |
| Happy Sunday, July 3, 2005!!! I am home from camp (since Thursday) for a few days, so I decided to update. Just a disclaimer though, it's gonna be a looooong one! It's been awhile...I've survived 6 1/2 weeks at camp thus far (only 4 with kids)...and it has surely been an adventure. I have been the most accident prone person alive since I went out there...especially this past week.
To start the summer off, the second week I was at camp, we were having a staff training mixer between my camp and the boys' camp...and me, being little miss competetive, just had to initiate a boys vs. girls football game, which ended on the second pass of the game with my kneecap taking a quick vacation to the backside of my knee when I came down from breaking up a pass! That was fun...at least the boy didn't catch the pass though, right?!?! Sooo...needless to say I wasn't running anywhere near full speed when kids got there 3 days later with my knee was the size of a cantaloupe. Since I couldn't really do anything physical for my activities, they scheduled me to drive boats and spot on the boats all that week...seems like a harmless job, right??? WRONG! The first activity period of camp the ski director dropped the boat motor cover on my foot and broke a toe...AWESOME! But...minus a few minor cuts and scrapes, and one big elbow to the eyesocket, Sessions B & C went pretty well for me...until the stayover weekend between Sessions C & D. That's when I got my new nickname, "Crash!"
Last Saturday afternoon I had to drive the stayover kids to the older kids' camp for a luau on our brand new pontoon/party barge. The first trip went perfectly...I got all the girls from my camp over, and then I headed back to the boys' camp to pick them up. When I got there we loaded 17 boys, 3 HUGE male counselors, and myself on the 20 person pontoon and headed out. As we were turning wide around the sandbar just before we arrived at our destination disaster struck. The most enormous wave I have ever seen in my life just popped up right in front of us...this wasn't a typical rolling wave from boat traffic, nor was it just a whitecap from the wind...it was this HUGE ball-looking chunk of water that was taller than the pontoon, and there was no missing it. I guess the combination of high traffic, high winds, and the sandbar formed this monster that I took head on and surely lost. Before I could blink in the face of this giant, the pontoon was already being overpowered by whitewater gushing in...and we were sinking straight down to the bottom of the lake! The boat was halfway down when I jammed it into neutral, then we slowly and miraculously came back up out of the water...and the only thing we were missing was a pair of sandals and a ballcap...only the sandals could be rescued, but thank goodness no one was hurt, and thank goodness it was the boys on the boat rather than my girls...they thought it was the coolest boat ride of their lives! When I got to the dock and surveyed the damage, I knew that a drug test was imminent...YMCA policy states that over $500 worth of damages in an accident mandates a drug test within 24 hours. Luckily, I was scheduled for my 6 hours off that evening, so I had a chance to gather myself and try to regroup.
The next morning my camp director asked me to drive our 15-passenger van up to the maintenance barn and she would pick me up there to go take my drug test...so I venture out in the Plano van toward maintenance. When I get there, I have to pull through a gate and parallel park just inside...so that's what I start to do. When I'm through the gate (or so I think), I start cutting the wheels to park and hear a deafening screeching noise. I look out the window and see the gate being dragged with me...I had caught the handle on the back of the van. So within less than 24 hours I had sunk a boat and crashed a van...LUCKY! Oh yea...on top of my two wrecks I had developed a lovely stye in my eye as well...what a great start to Session D! When I got back from my drug test, I headed down for opening campfire, where I was in a few skits. Of course, one of the skits required me splattering sunscreen all over my face, and of course, with the 30 hours I had just had it was only proper that I completely fill my eye with sunscreen and have a reaction to it that caused my face to go numb and my lips to swell. So by Sunday night I had wrecked two different vehicles, gotten a stye, and used an entire bottle of the clinic's eyedrops for the nurse to fix my eye...AMAZING...and the week has just begun!
Monday morning I was scheduled to teach sailing all four hours...the first two went perfectly, and the third went great as well. However, during the last hour before lunch we had sailed all the way to the other side of the lake from camp and turned to head back (I was in a boat with a 6 & 7 year old girl). As my boat turned around, I see another one of our boats completely tipped over in a high traffic area...just what I was hoping would happen! So I hop out of my boat, swim/tow it over to the Brazillian counselor in the 3rd boat to hold (who can barely speak English and cannot swim at all). I swam over to help tip the boat back up and just as I got there the other counselor had just gotten it flipped back over. So I swam back to my boat and headed in...only the wind decided to go insane and our rudder stopped working properly. I was stranded with two small, hungry children half a mile from camp on a tiny sunfish sailboat. I thought I would be able to catch the wind and head back in if the girls would just sit there, but apparently God had another plan...and it was to make me swim...a lot. My girls were crying when I sent the rescue boat past us to save the Brazillian boat that was drifting around the bend, but I just kept swimming. I swam our stupid boat from the cliffs, through the treeline (which is the scariest thing ever to be swimming through giant trees that are just under the water and look like human arms reaching out to grab you), and almost to the cove before our rescue boat got to us to tow us in. So...in about 45 hours I had wrecked twice, ripped an eye out of my head, and gotten stranded with two crying little girls...what was God trying to teach me?!?! The rest of the day went fine, as did Tuesday...until time for our nightly program. We were outside playing our nightly activity game when I looked up and counted 6 girls from my cabin. That would be great if I hadn't had 7 girls that week! So I head to the bathroom thinking she probably just forgotten to take a buddy and ask...NOPE! I run as fast as I can to my cabin and find her curled up in a ball under her sleeping bag hiding from us because some of the girls in my cabin called her crazy...ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! While I was taking care of an argument between my two sailing girls from the day before, she got mad and went and hid so she didn't have to go with us. And of course, it was the only time this entire summer that I haven't counted my girls walking out the door...so I had a missing camper for half an hour...SWEET! Thank goodness this was a short session and kids went home Thursday morning...I needed the break! I hope 4 1/2 days is enough to break my curse!
OKAY...sorry that was maybe the longest post ever, but that's my last week in a nutshell. It's really been a great summer, and I've met some amazing girls and made some great friends! God is teaching me new things daily, and I feel like I am really growing right now. Also, I am starting to see the impact we have on kids' lives, even if we don't realize it at times. God has done some extraordinary things in little girls' lives this summer through some of my friends, and I know He is working through me as well. It's so amazing how if you ask for opportunities He is so faithful in just laying them right in front of you. Even though last week was insanely crazy, He really used it to open my eyes to some things and to make me a stronger leader. It's awesome to see His work not only in the other beautiful counselors around me, but in myself...I don't know that I've ever been cognizant of His use of me...but now I'm beginning to see what a vessel I can be and am finally becoming! It's truly exciting, and I'm thrilled to have 4 weeks of camp left and a couple hundred more young girls to influence and hopefully help lead toward being shining lights for Christ! God has put such a passion in my heart for this calling, and it is a joy to know I'm in His will right now...right in the big middle of it! He is so good and His words and love and fellowship sustain me. Although I should be exhausted and sick of camp right now, I cannot wait to get back! It's like one of the other counselors said the other day..."God is like an energy bar!" So true, and such a blessing. I'm missing everyone out there a ton but know that I rejoice in knowing that I'm doing exactly what God wants me to do right now! I love you guys and hope your summer is going great! | | |
| So we may have just made the best discovery ever at camp...the Frontier office has wireless...Praise the Lord! I know camp is supposed to be a place where you're away from all the technology-type stuff, but when your cell phone doesn't work, and you only have an hour or so off out of every 24, it is rough to stay in touch with people. Needless to say...I'm so excited that wireless exists!
I've been at camp since Thursday of last week, and I've only had one ant bite so far...LUCKY! I had almost forgotten how much I love all my camp friends...they're absolutely great, and I love them all. What other people would be completely sick with you?!?! OK...I can't take not playing with them anymore so I'm gonna go...send me some messages...miss you all...LOVE YOUUUUUU! | | |
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