:)

So, I find it really difficult to keep up with the whole blogging thing. I often find myself thinking-- "i really need to blog about that" as I experience different things in life. I don't mean like I have many life changing events occurring constantly or anything like that...but more so that I want to be able to highlight the things in my life that are memorable and worth stepping back to recount. So, based on that, for this blog I'm going to have to share some randomness of the past few weeks in my life and things that I have been thinking about, etc.

1. The Hititchi Trail Adventure: One Sunday evening a couple weeks ago, Alex, Steebo and I are eating at Francar's and decide to go fishing. Its getting to be the time when the sun will be setting soon...but we're adventurous and so head to fish anyways. We end up going to a place A-Flo knows of and has been to once. Well, to make a really long story short...we ended up hiking about 2 miles in and of course by the time we go to the river it was dark. We had quite an adventure hiking out in the pitch black with only my cell phone light as a guide. This evening is legendary already for the three of us. We had too much fun...i especially enjoyed carrying a walking stick around that was convertible into a javeling, spear, or bayonet, depending on what the sitaution neccesitated. Needless to say, we made it out alive and well...but I would like to give a shout out to everybody that we called to tell "please send a search party if we don't return".

2. Mike Kinnebrew/ Drew and Ellie concert: YoungLife held a concert to benefit campership for club a couple weeks ago and it featured some of my favorite artists. Mike's playing and passion always draw me in. He ended the night with my favorite song "Something Worth Saving" (mentioned a couple blogs ago) and it was just a truly amazing moment to be a part of. I know that song also means a lot to one of my friends that was there...and I feel like I was able to truly undersatnding its meaning as I sat there listening to it. It was beautiful. Drew and Ellie Holcomb with Nathan followed Mike and they are truly amazing. We joked about how every girl there wanted to be Ellie because she is amazing. I love Drew and Ellie and their music-- as well as their heart for high school students and YoungLife in particular.

3. Middle School Field Day: I was asked to play on the Faculty team for the legendary middle school field day student vs. faculty volleyball game. It was fun even though I pretty much sucked it up...I was glad to not to make the team lose. It was one of those things that really wasn't a big deal, but I was glad to be able to hang out with the middle schoolers and have a good time.

4. SharpTop Cove: This past weekend me, Laura, Alex, and three of our high school friends went to SharpTop Cove for family camp weekend to do Kid's club. Well, it turned out that they actually were short on work crew...so we ended up doing that too. So, we basically spent 2 and half days working our tails off at YoungLife camp and it was glorious. There is something about being on that mountaintop with a ton of people that you know are in the same boat as you...and on the same team in a way. I worked harder this weekend than I've worked in a while...and I would go back and do it all over again every weekend if I could. It's hard to explain that magic that occurs are you arrive onto a YoungLife property...but it is truly amazing. It's not that everything is perfect or that there is not stress or problems...but it seems that there we remember that we can give our problems to Jesus (which is the case all the time...but it just seems easier to remember on a mountain top i guess) and our stress is about getting things done, but not angry or frustrated. One of the little girls was playing tag and fell on the ground while we were there...I helped her get up and dust off her knees and then said to her "You know what the best thing about falling at YoungLife camp is?...even though your knee might hurt a little...you're still at YoungLife camp- it's beautiful and the most fun ever!"....and sweet Molly quickly agreed. All I can say is if you've never been to a YoungLife camp, you should totally remedy that if you ever have the opportunity. It will be the best time ever-- guaranteed!

5. Missional Community: My church (New City Church Downtown) has these small groups called missional communities. AFlo likes to refer to them as house church. It's basically an opportunity to get together ina smaller, more intimate environment with people in the church and start really living out the concept of community. We just started attending an MC and we had an informal dinner gathering last night. It was the frist time I've really felt at home in a church group outside of my family's church (currently in Augusta). We arrived early to fish in the pond where the MC is held (The Evans'--- wonderful people!), which is amazing becuase we love fishing and actually caught something. After fishing we had an awesom meal and then played ping pong and really just hung out and had a good time. It was a great experience. It makes me fired up for getting involved at New City.

So anyways, I know these are some random things...but they have been on my heart and on my mind lately. I'm thankful for the opportunities the Lord has given me lately to have fun and relax...it helps me keep my focus on Him...and with that, I know I can't go wrong.