Bold and Unashamed

All summer I prayed for boldness. I'm not a very bold person, in any sense of the word, so asking for opportunities and courage to be bold in my faith was huge for me this summer.

Here at A&M, I'm getting those opportunities.

For example. This morning Cameron (a friend from Cho-Yeh) called me asking me if I wanted to come and do some P&W in the commons lobby. Of course I did! I love praise and worship! Instantly though, I thought about ALL of the people that are in the commons. There is a food court in there, a lounge area, a huge space with pool and ping pong tables. It's constantly packed. How awkward (sorry mom) would it be for Cam to be playing the guitar and for us to sing worship songs with everybody else around? But I went anyways, and boy, am I glad that I did.

At first it was uncomfortable. I'm not a great singer and so singing where people could hear me makes me really nervous. Finally though, I just let go of that insecurity and sang. It was awesome to see people come and sit by us and listen or sing along. Some came and told us thanks, and some even stayed until we had to leave for class an hour and a half later. Yes, there were the people that moved to the other side of the room to get away, but so many more people came and sang along. Complete strangers! At the end, a guy even played piano while Cameron played his guitar and we all sang "How He Loves".

It was amazing. After the first song or two I was completely unashamed and loved being able to worship with others. It was a great time.

Bold and Unashamed... that's what my life is going to look like every time I'm reppin' Jesus Christ :)

The Hardest Thing About College...

The hardest thing about college isn't the classes. It's not the reading, or the studying, or the time management. It's not living with somebody you don't know, or getting minimal sleep, or having to be self-sufficient.

The hardest thing about college is not having my family around to wrap me in a hug when I need them. Today is my gramma's birthday who passed away in March. I couldn't fall asleep last night, and although I was in bed by midnight which is the earliest since I moved to Cstat, I didn't fall asleep till after 2 just dreading what today could bring. Maybe that is why I slept through my alarm and woke up at 7:45 for an 8AM class across campus (yes, I made it with 3 minutes to spare), I wasn't wanting today to be a reality.

After my 8AM, I came back and was able to have my quiet time. After Impact I got a book called "Jesus Calling" which is a daily quick devotional. Today's devotional was about how it's okay to be weak, because God uses our weakness to expand our faith in Him, because we have to rely on Him so much more. That was perfect for today.

After my devo, I decided to dive right into studying and not allow myself any time to think at all. At about 10:30, I came back to my room (I had been studying in my little study area at the end of the hall) and the silence got to me. I LOST it. I missed my gramma so much that it hurt. It didn't help that I was the alone one in my room and so there was no comforting hug to be received.

At 10:45 my phone rang. It was Cameron, a friend from camp that is in my polisci class. I sniffled back tears, and asked him what was up. He wanted to have a P&W session in the Commons Lobby and wanted me to come. Heck, I wasn't going to be productive anyway on the roll I was on, so I went. JUST what I needed. It was awesome to see people come by and sing with us, even if only for a few songs. We sat in the lobby and sang (and he played guitar) for an hour and a half. Not only did it provide the comfort that I was seeking and the fellowship I was lacking, we could see it impacting other people's days as well. JUST what I needed.

After class and lunch I came back to my room to study. The quiet got to me again, and I emotionally lost it. I knew the rest of my family was going through the same thing, and I knew that it would've been easier to be with them. But, nope, I'm in College Station. It was funny though, right as I was pulling myself together, Megan A (impact counselor who lives 3 doors down) came knocking on my door, and said that she "just wanted to see how I was doing and give me a hug". Totally another God thing, because that is just what I was seeking.

God is so good. He had been building these relationships at A&M with Cho-friends and with Megan A to provide that comfort when I needed it. He knew I was going to have a hard day, and He provided for that. God is SO good, and even though it's hard not being home, I know that God is working wonders today both here and in Houston!

Much Better!!

I'm determined to be in bed by midnight tonight, so this is going to be short!

Today was MUCH better!

Geography... which is turning out to be more of atmosphere kinda stuff, shouldn't be too bad. New material that I'm unfamiliar with, yes, but it doesn't seem impossible.

Music... actually pretty interesting! Going to be some work since I don't know ANYTHING about music, but it'll be okay! We spent half an hour discussing if silence was music. Actually really interesting!

History... YES!!! I have always enjoyed history, and my prof is amazing and entertaining. I have a feeling some good stories will come out of this class!

Went swimming after class today, and then spent 5 hours studying/reading. Whoo! Feeling good! I have found my study spot... on a couch in the hall of my dorm! The libraries are way too quiet for me, and my dorm is way too distracting. Once it cools off I'm looking forward to studying outside, but for now.. that couch is MINE! There is noise from the hallway which is good for me, and yet very few distractions. People are SO nice here and will randomly come up and start talking to you to provide a study break. It's awesome :)

Tomorrow is coming fast though! Goodnight!

I survived.

That's about all I can say about my first day. I survived! My education class was wonderful, and I think it is going to be a really good class. Plus, the fact that I have done a lot of the assignment's through RST is going to be incredible! Cha-Ching!

That class was from 8-8:50. SOOOO early!! I don't know how on Earth I made it to school by 5:30 for 3 years. That's absurd!

My next class wasn't until 12:45, so I had a lot of time. I came back to my room and started on went online to download and print off all of the assignments for this week. It's going to take a lot of getting used to going online and printing off assignments and doing them without the prof even mentioning it. Yeah, A BUNCH of getting used to. I started on some reading that I had to do, and before I realized it it was almost noon. Not knowing exactly where I was going, and knowing I was meeting a friend at the front of the building at 12:25 (everybody gets to class SO early... don't know how long that is going to last) I hopped on my bike and headed off. I went the wrong way and ended up on the engingeering street, but eventually got to the right building.

Political Science. Or, from here on out, polisci.

UGH! I loved government last year. Loved it! This semester might be different. I didn't get a good vibe from my prof, but the fact that I know a friend from Pre-K and a friend from camp that is in that class with me it's going to help. (This is me putting it VERY positively. Ask Megan who got an earful at lunch today right after I got out of class, and she is going to say it came across WAY differently).

I got my mail afterwards, and had 2 packages! One was a book that I am so excited to read called Prodigal God. Too bad now my time to read that is going to be minimal! The other was the entire first set of NCIS that my brother had sent me!! Considering my day was craptastic at that point (i was almost in tears after polisci), I watched the first episode. SO comforting! Then I began to read. and read. and read. I spent 3 hours reading and taking notes but have my education assignment for Wednesday done! I then went to Breakaway!! AH!! That is deserving of it's own blog post, but essentially it was 10,000 + students coming together at Reed Arena for a huge praise and worship session! AMAZING! I was definitely in need of a spiritual boost after my rotten day. So refreshing! That was from 9-10:30, and so I got back to my room around 11. I did some polisci reading and figuring out of assignments until midnight and called it quits. That stuff isn't due for a while, and I think reading that was getting a head of the game? Maybe? Wishful thinking?

Tomorrow I have geography, music, and history. I feel like music is going to be a huge eye opening experience for me because I have NO experience with that at all. But, we shall see!! The syllabus talked about identifying rhythm and measures and genres. Um... I can't clap my hands right to Rise and Shine... let alone something of high class musicalness. We most definitely will see how this goes. Another challenge perhaps?

But, I'm going to bed. I'm exhausted. Let's see how tomorrow goes!!

Breathe

I have figured out what my theme for this semester is... "breathe".

As a swimmer and a polo player, I have learned to limit my breathing when I'm in the water. So for a long time, when people would tell me "don't forget to breathe" I would just laugh at them. Breathing. How silly of a concept!

Megan and Renee have told me for a long time when I would get stressed out to "breathe". To take a breath and slow down. I would always stop, take a second to breathe, and then get all stressed back out again.

A good family friend gave me this decoration for my dorm room that simply says the word "breathe" on it. I absolutely LOVED the decoration when I got it, and enjoyed the reminder.

Tonight I was talking to Laura (someone from camp who graduated from A&M in the spring and who I got close to this summer and look up to) and she was asking me if I was ready for class to start up tomorrow. I kinda sighed, gave an "ehhh" response, and quickly tried to change the subject. Laura (who knows me extremely well) stopped the conversation, called me out for avoiding my nervousness, and asked me again. I nearly broke down in tears because I was nervous, scared, worried, anxious, excited, intimidated and every other emotion under the sun. All she said was "You can do it. All you have to do is remember to breathe and you will make it through tomorrow. Don't stress out, you have so many friends from camp right here on campus that can meet you where you are if you need them. You can, and you will do it. Just remember to breathe. Breathe Kylie, breathe".

After talking to Laura, I walked outside, unlocked my bike, and took a smile bike ride around campus. I timed just how long it takes me to get to my first class tomorrow, and was enjoying the cool 98 degree weather. Campus was relatively quiet, and after finding my 8AM class, I rode around for a little bit. I thought a lot about breathing, and realized that it is more than the simple inhalation and exhalation of oxygen. Breathing means taking time to stop. To stop whatever you are doing, and breathe. To focus on God and all of His creation that is constantly surrounding us. It may only be a second, but taking that time to breathe and refocus our attention on what REALLY matters, regardless of how stressed out we are, is so refreshing and provides us the strength to make it through whatever is going on.

So, that's what I'm going to do tomorrow. Right before I walk into that 8AM education class, I'm going to take a second to breathe. Soak up the beauty surrounding us that is God, and breathe, knowing that our God has a mighty plan and everything will be okay :)

Back in the Water

I WENT SWIMMING THIS MORNING!! Oh my goodness gracious, it was fantastic to get in the pool again. I grabbed my suit, cap, and goggles this morning and headed down to the Rec. Luckily there were a couple other people in the pool, so I wasn't making the lifeguards work just so that I could swim. I didn't do much... I did a 500 free, 400 IM drill, and then 100 easy. I wasn't in any sort of rush, and took my time. I could hear Coach Dennis' voice in my head at some points... so funny! I loved just being able to glide through the water, and the comfort that the water provided. I hadn't swam a practice in 11 months... So, even though this was no where near a "practice", I still was in the water and LOVING it!

I forgot how much enjoyment I used to get from swimming, and the calmness that I would feel when I was just gliding through. I was ALL smiles when I was in the water. I think I was even laughing to myself at some points about how much I missed the water. I loved it!! This is going to become a regular thing, and I'm so excited!

Legal? Moral? College No Parents!! Let's Do It!

Don't get freaked out by the title of this entry... I haven't gone crazy yet!

There is so much freedom here that people do the craziest things! Essentially, if it's legal, and if it's moral, then why not?!

Examples that I have seen in my dorm... basketball being played up and down 4 flights of stairs. Legal? Yep! Moral? Yep!
Another example... golf down the hallways of the dorms, a total of 4 holes (one for each hallway) and trashcans as obstacles. Legal? Yep! Moral? Yep!

Tonight I was hanging out with my Impact group and the same kind of thinking happened. We went "coneing". Essentially, you order an ice-cream cone in a drive-thru, and instead of grabbing the cone (like normal people), you grab the ice cream itself and flip it over. The person riding shot gun is videotaping because the reactions are HILARIOUS! This is basically what happens... (although it's much funnier when you are actually in the car, plus the reaction isn't very good on this one, but you get the gist ). Is it legal? Yes! Is it moral? Yep! (I mean, the workers get a laugh, and the mess ends up in the napkins in the drivers lap, so they don't even have to clean it up). After coneing (We had a cookout earlier, and the p&w later), around 10:00 we met up on campus and went "pond hopping". Essentially, you run through campus (all 25 of us that went), and in every fountain that you see, you all go swimming in it! Is it legal? Kinda. The police all turn their heads the other way... it's kinda a "every freshman has to do it" kinda thing... So YES! Is it moral? Yep! We even drip dried by having a dance party before we walked into our dorms.

You only get to be in college once, so you might as well live it up! Right? :)

I have missed being BUSY!!

Ever since moving up to Cstat, I have been anything but busy. I mean, moving in was kinda crazy, but other than that, college life has been SO lax it's scary. I was constantly busy my senior year, and then working at Cho-Yeh I was always on the go. ALWAYS. Even being home, I was always trying to get things done. So being here, and having NOTHING that I had to do, or really even needed to do was terrifyingly boring and scary.

Today.. that was a different story. I set my alarm for 9 (I'm trying not to let myself sleep too late. Because then I just stay up later, then sleep later, then stay up later... it's a vicious cycle), and had some quality Jesus time and got ready (which at A&M means throwing my hair in a pony tail and putting on nike shorts and a t-shirt. Doneskees). I headed off to Target, and then followed my GPS to Michaels where I found a whole new part of Cstat that I didn't even know existed! Oh yeah! I headed back on campus, and walked a good 25 minutes to Sbisa where I had lunch with Kevin. We then walked took a very very very long-cut scenic route to get to the Rec where he attempted to teach me how to play racquetball. I understand it from outside the glass, but put me in there and it moves way too fast for my brain right now. BUT, I'll get the hang of it. I won't let Kevin say that he can beat me at that just because I don't know what I'm doing. Then Kristen Dennison from Cho-Yeh and another friend, Maggie, came up to the Rec and we worked out for a while and went exploring the Rec. We walked onto the pool dec, a pool that I always wished I could swim at in college (back when I thought about swimming in college) and a HUGE flood of emotions rushed over me. I never thought that I would miss swimming as much as I did!! It was ridic. Right then I decided that tomorrow I was going to go swimming! This time though, I am going to be swimming for ME. Not for my friends or coaches. Not because I had to, but because I want to. So excited! After the Rec I came back to my dorm and created a quick craft project. The wall next to my desk has become my "inspirational wall" and so I created a little cross that says "loved" to hang up there. It's SO cute! And a constant reminder of the love that I have from all directions in my life. My small group from Impact then met up for a surprise event. Having NO idea what that meant, and no plans for the night, I decided to go. Oh my gosh. So much stinkin' fun! Reneé (my small group leader) had come up with a photo scavenger hunt to go on!! The first thing we had to do was "take a picture with a Corp guy holding up a gig 'em"... Umm... we finally found 2 Corp guys who wasn't doing anything super important, but the picture turned out really funny because there is a huge gap in between the 2 guys... so funny! Then we had to "take a picture doing the stanky leg in the commons lobby". UM. For all who don't know... the commons lobby is one of the most populated buildings on campus, especially around dinner time! It didn't help that I knew 3 people in there from Langham! Then we had to "take a picture planking underneath the catwalk between Evans and the Annex". Luckily there was like NOBODY around, and so it wasn't too terribly horrific. Once we got done taking this picture (only our 3rd out of 15) a giant 60mph wind/hail/lightning/rain storm came out of nowhere. The wind HURT and it didn't help that we were right by a construction sight so dust was everywhere. It looked like a hurricane/tornado mix! We all took off running for the nearest car (most of us had walked to where we met) and hopped inside. Well... the scavenger hunt was obviously over so we went to Freebirds for dinner. (Funny story.. Renee (best friend, not Impact leader) has been trying to get me to go to Freebirds for YEARS and I have always used the excuse "I don't like burritos" even when I don't recall ever trying a burrito) I ended up having tacos, deciding I couldn't have my first burrito without Renee. It wasn't half bad! After Freebirds, we met up with another small group and some other leaders from Impact and played Disney Scene It. It was SO much fun! It ended up being like 6 freshman and 10 leaders, and we laughed SO hard. Gosh. I have missed having fun being surrounded by strong Christians who are pursuing our Savior and just being able to be myself (as weird as that is) and just LAUGH. Gah, it was awesome!

I didn't get dropped off at my dorm till 11:30, and had been gone for the most part since 10 this morning. It was SO much fun though, and I absolutely LOVED being busy! I'm already planning on how I'm going to be busy tomorrow... I'm probably going to let myself sleep in a little bit, and just have a lazy morning because I think Genny will be here all morning (I barely get to see her with rush stuff... she just texted me that she JUST got done with rush and is getting dinner... CRAZY!). Then I'm having lunch on campus with a leader from my impact group, and then going to the rec and to academy to look at bikes. That night my impact group is having a cookout, and then we are going pond hopping! Supposedly it involves jumping in the fountains around camp.. so excited! Another busy day!!

God is so good :)

Day 1... Survivin' and Thrivin'

It's been a CRAZY day. It seems like this morning was FOREVER ago though!

Genny had rush (sorority stuff) all day today, and so she left at like 7. I quickly went right back to sleep and didn't wake up till 10:15. That's a record. The latest I've slept all summer is 9. WAHOO! Maybe that's because I didn't go to bed till 1:30... haha :)

After getting ready (it doesn't take long... typical college station attire consists of Nike shorts and a t-shirt... Cha-ching!), I headed off to Walmart and Hobby Lobby. SO stinkin' excited there's a Hobby Lobby AND a Michael's in College Station! Although this could become a bad thing... haha. I met up at Firehouse Subs with some of my Impact friends, and had a great time catching up and just hanging out. I miss those girls and that awesome fellowship!

I came back to my dorm after lunch and just hung out. I put some things away, and started investigating how to get a mailbox. Going to try and finish getting that accomplished tomorrow, so after that--bring on the mail! I then spent some time in my dorm just relaxing. I don't have a problem at all being by myself for the most part, and since most of the people I know are all rushing, there weren't many options. I skyped with Kole to see how his first day was, and then ended up skyping with Carley for about 2 hours! Oh how I miss that girl! I talked with Carley until about 5:30 when Genny was supposed to be done with rush. After talking with Carley I might have taken a quick nap... For some reason I was getting VERY cho-sick. That place is my home, and I miss camp so much. I can't wait for rush to be over so that I can see those friends again! (They literally cannot have any social life during rush. As in, they aren't allowed to... STINKS!) I don't think it helped when I realized how limited my friend-list was, and when I realized that I'm in a totally new city where I really don't know anybody and don't know my way around campus, it wasn't fun! Luckily, right as I was beginning to feel helpless, Genny walked in from rush! It was about 8:00 at this point and I was STARVING, but we had promised to have a roomie dinner. We decided to walk over to Sbisa (about a 15 minute walk) which is THE best dining hall on campus. Well. Guess what? They closed at 7 during Gig'em week... LAME! We were close to Northgate at this point, and that was about our only option. We opted for Subway which was only like 5 minute walk from Sbisa. The guy helping us... MAJOR creeper. Luckily Genny is VERY good at talking to people and pretending like she cares what they are saying (I've been in CS about 24 hours and we were already being invited to frat parties.. Um no thanks). We got our food, found a table FAR away from the counter, and then laughed at the guy. SO glad that we are on the same page as far as that stuff goes! We walked another 20 minutes back to our dorm, and then began our SUPER FUN paint project!! If you know me at all (or have ever stepped foot into my room at home, or seen my bunk at camp) you know that I HATE blank walls. They terrify me. They have to be decorated! So, Genny and I decorated this AWKWARD (I know you are reading this Mom... [she HATES the word awkward!]), long, ugly, disgusting blank wall above our closets and made it much more "us". :)

I know I forgot to post pictures last night, so I'm going to post a couple dorm pictures, and a picture of our new wall!!

First Post from A&M!!

I'm here! It's crazy to think that after 13 years of sitting in Cy-Fair I've finally made it out and onto the next step! Move in was a breeze looking back. Although I did get stressed at times and had to look up on my wall where there is simply the word "breathe", it all came together really well! I LOVE my room! It's very "me", as you will see through the following pictures.

After getting everything situated, my family and Genny went out to eat at On The Border -- YUM! So good :)
We then came back to the dorm and hung out and went "exploring". We walked around southside of campus and went over to the Rec, and then went through the northside of campus. We even went to Northgate--interesting to say the least!

We headed back to the dorm and rearranged some of Genny's furniture to make our room more homey. And we planned decorations so that these blank walls are GONE for good! I am not a fan of blank walls AT ALL!!

We kinda hung out here tonight. Genny went and met up with some of her friends from fish camp, and I talked to Kevin for a while. It was nice just hanging out together though and realizing all the things that Genny and I have in common -- she's AWESOME!

Plan for tomorrow? Or for today I guess since it's already 1AM...
Making a Walmart/Michaels trip in the morning. Having lunch with some of the girls from my Impact (Christian Freshman camp at A&M) group, hanging out with friends/seeing Megan's appartment that afternoon, then meeting Genny for dinner at Sbisa (BEST dining hall on campus!) and then having a "painting party" to finish some of the decorations for our room!

So far... so good!! :)

Here We Go!!

I move up to Texas A&M TODAY! I'm pretty sure I'm more a mix of emotions than anything. Excited, nervous, ready, intimidated, anxious, sad, overjoyed, enthusiastic, pumped up... Every emotion under the sun!

We are getting ready to eat lunch, and then we are heading out! We have TWO cars loaded to the brim (although I'm pretty sure I could probably squeeze more things in there if I had to), and are ready to drive off. It's going to be an adventure, but I'm ready!

I'll try to post pictures later tonight :)

Classes don't start until the 29th, and so this next week is kinda a free-for-all. It should be fun though and I'm looking forward to this first taste of college... without the actual college classes part!

Feeling Better

Phew! I was really stressing prior to leaving for impact. I had no idea what to pack or how to pack for college. The task seemed daunting and my room was a warzone since I never actually unpacked from cho-yeh. I literally would sit down to pack and would nearly be in tears or incredibly frustrated after only 10 minutes. Nothing was getting accomplished and I was freaking out to say the least. When I got home on Sunday night I decided I was going to have everything packed up by Monday morning and it would just be done. Well--I ended up talking with Carley for over 2 hours Sunday night and by the time I was able to start packing it was after midnight. That was a failed attempt.

I woke up Monday morning with a new energy- I was going to be productive! And I was! I didn't leave my room from 8am to 3pm. I didn't even get food (which is incredible for me)! Almost everything is packed now. I still need to figure out what pictures I am taking (luckily I have 4 12x12 bulletin boards dedicated to pictures) and how I'm going go hang my stuff on the walls. I need to still go get a printer and pack up all my laptop stuff. I will have to do laundry on Saturday to get the last bit of clothes packed. I have a couple things I want to get but don't need (new toms, a Vera Bradley purse or laptop case), so who knows what will happen there. But--I'm finally feeling better about getting everything done in time!! Phew!

I move up to cstat on Sunday-be awaiting pictures of my overly decorated dorm room!!

IMPACT- Delta Asher Megatron!

Last Thursday I left for a retreat that A&M puts on for incoming freshman that helps plug them into the Christian community of College Station. The retreat is called Impact and was SO much fun! It was like 4 days of summer camp but geared toward college kids. The praise and worship was incredible--that is definitely going to be one of my favorite parts. I love live praise and worship but don't really get that at home. We also were broken into BG's (basic groups) which was essentially a small group. In mine there were 4 other freshman and a junior who was our leader. My group got SO close and are all planning on hanging out once we get to cstat.

Another really awesome part of Impact was how we were able to just hang out and have fun together. In college it is so easy to look at the partiers who seem to be always having a good time and to think that is the only way to have fun. WRONG! We had so much fun just being us. We played 4 square, entertained each other by playing random games and having talent shows. We talked about everything and anything under the sun. It was so much fun simply being us.

I'm excited knowing all these awesome people are going to be in cstat too! It helps ease the uncertainty a little bit.

Impact was AWESOME :)

Location:

The LAST Day

Why did I ever guess my last full day at camp would be like a normal day? I can laugh about it now... but then.... not so much!

On Thursday, one of my campers got sent home with lice. Each camper is checked before they are allowed into camp, but somehow Cat got past, or got it while she was at camp. After she left, the other 13 campers and the 4 counselors in our cabin got checked, but none of us had lice. PHEW!

On Friday, Morgan (one of my co's), said her head felt really itchy and so she went to the infirmary to get double checked. Guess what-she had lice! Then all of us had to go get re-checked... 6 campers and 3/4 counselors had lice, including me! This was 10:30 in the morning...

We were all confused as to how on Thursday none of us had it, but then 12 hours later, half of us had it. It didn't make sense. We were put into quarantine, and had to wash and lice-treat each of our girls. It took us until 7:00 to go through the 6 girls hair. We only found lice in ONE of our girls hair, and then when the nurses looked at the other 5, they said that they were lice-free and probably never had lice. Oh, how convenient!

Finally on Friday night, I was able to go have the nurses go through my hair. After shampooing with lice-killer-stuff and combing through my hair they said "everything we thought was lice, was actually dandruff or paint chips! You never had lice!"

Relief flooded through my head, and then I was extremely frustrated because I had spent 10 hours by this point in quarantine picking "lice" out of my girls hair which wasn't actually lice because the nurses had no idea what they were looking for. UGH! We had made it fun for our girls though by making up songs and eating a bunch of junk food and dancing around like fools!

Just to be safe, Cho-Yeh had taken ALL of our clean and dirty laundry, bedding, towels (essentially anything that was fabric) and took them to the laundry mat to wash them for us. There were about 30 people in camp who were suspected to have lice that they did laundry for (only 5 ended up having it). Well, doing laundry for 30 people isn't cheap, or a quick process! Finally at 2:30 Saturday morning (yes, after spending an entire day going through my girl's hair I was still up at this point) we got our laundry back! The girls were sleeping on camp sheets and camp pillows because they didn't have their own stuff, and by 11:00 they were in dire need of going to sleep. So, at 2:30 we then had to pack all of their trunks for them so that their trunks could be taken for parents to pick up in a few hours! I think we finally went to bed around 3:15 that morning, I ended up just sleeping on my egg crate because I was too tired to find my own sheets!

To say it was a day I will never forget would be an understatement. I am so lucky that I had the co's that I did and an amazing cabin because the entire process was really smooth. It could've turned out quite a bit worse!

On closing meeting every Saturday, the summer staff votes on the one boy and one girl counselor that they think did the best job that week. The winner's, called "bombers", receives a bandanna and get to sign a plaque that is eventually hung up in the Dining Hall. I was the Week 9 BOMBER! WAHOO!!

Haha, it was an unexpected and eventful last day... but it all turned out okay!! :)

Amazing Summer, Amazing People, Amazing God

This summer was fantastic! I can't even put it into words how awesome it was. I spent 10 weeks at camp and loved every single second of it!

I had children ages 7-10. I was with 5th graders for 4 weeks, and at first I HATED that age. You couldn't carry them, they didn't NEED you, they knew how to have an attitude... I wasn't happy! I missed my 3rd graders who were so loving all the time, and I wasn't very excited to be with the 5th graders. By the last week though, I was IN LOVE with this age! They were able to understand more at Bible Study and devo's, they enjoyed spending time with you but could also do things by themself, I figured out how to handle their attitude and have fun with them at the same time. It was INCREDIBLE!

I was honestly shocked that I liked that age. For being so gung-ho about kindergarten, and despising middle school--5th grade is A LOT closer to middle school than kindergarten! The idea of youth/childrens ministry was never far out of my head. I get SO into Bible Studies, especially "gospel-day", and I am in my own world the second I'm able to talk to children about God. I absolutely love it!

The people I have met this summer have truly become like a second family to me. The people there know me so well and can read me like a book. We are honestly like a family, and we would do ANYTHING for each other. I miss them like crazy, and know that if I ever need anything, they have my back 110 percent.

God has shown me so much this summer, and has revealed Himself to me. I look at the person I was at the beginning of the summer, and who I am now, and love the changes that God has made in my life. For example, at staff training week we had to get into groups of 8 and talk about what God was doing in our lives at that specific moment. I knew what I wanted to say, but I was so freaked out to talk about God in front of other people. I was intimidated that they might know more than me, or might judge what I would say. I was so nervous talking about it, and was so glad when it was finally over. After the group talk was over, one of the girls in my group pulled me aside and asked me about why I was so nervous. We then prayed together about it, and she told me she would be praying for me about it. By week 4 of camp, I was able to get up in front of the entire camp on Monday morning and read out of the "Good Book" and talk about one of my favorite Bible Verses. We also had Bible Study Groups once a week during lunch, and I was really able to open up and talk to the 8 girls in my group. That change from the beginning of the summer is incredible, and is only one small way that God has been working in my life. God is SO GOOD!!

This summer was awesome, and I know that I was right where God wanted me! I'm excited to put what I have learned at camp into action here at home, and once I move to college. He is SO good :)