New Port--I mean OSAGE Beach

Yo.
Hope everyone's Fourth of July/Independence Day is going swell! I'm currently in the Ozarks (Osage Beach to be specific) and enjoying a relaxing day by myself in an empty condo! My family is here for my Dad's side of the Family Reunion. So, even though I don't know the weekend's plans, I DO know that it'll be full of awkwardness and... FOOD. Haha
I think we're just chillin' today and grillin' out tonight for supper... That shouldn't be too bad. Tomorrow I think we're renting boats and Jet Ski's! That's all I really care about. I'm not particularly fond of lake water/swimming, but Jet Skis... That's a different story!
Wellllllllllllllllllllllllll... Anyways... I think I'm gonna head back inside and enjoy the A/C... I'm spending the whole summer outside.
Peace out!

Russians, Friends, Life in General

Wow:
Life is full of strange twists and turns.
Currently I am sitting on a piece of crap mattress, on a bunk bed, at a CONSERVATIVE BAPTIST church camp. I know! I never saw it coming either. I'm a HUGE fan of contemporary EVERYTHING! I mean, for crying out loud--I go to The Crossing! It's the most contemporary church you can possibly find in a 200 mile radius of where I live. If you would've asked me a short 6 weeks ago what my summer plans were I would've told you that I was going to try to get a job working in Quincy at a computer company. However, one night I was joking with my friend, Lorri, who told me she was going to work at a church camp for the summer. I said, "You should hook me up with a job as a lifeguard!" I was TOTALLY joking. Two days later I get a call from the manager at Camp Manitoumi by Peoria. I jumped at it. At the time I was having some friction with some close friends and needed some time away from home.
I've already made it through 3 weeks at this camp. I'm here for 9 weeks! This week we have RUSSIANS. I know, right! RUSSIANS?! I'm not exactly sure how they came to be at this camp, but this week is going to be interesting to say the least. Many of them don't speak English. I have to use an interpreter at the pool to get on people for running and hanging on the rope!
At first I was loving the fact that I was finally getting away from my normal Bowen/Macomb life. However, the day I left for camp I had a hard conversation with one of my good friends I was mentoring from Macomb. He's had a tough life and really just wants someone to be there and care. I feel like I've failed him by leaving. When I visited back home last weekend, he and I had another hard conversation in which he showed signs of rebelling against me. However, I texted back and forth with him today and I think he's doing a little better.
A couple other of my friends from high school are really scaring me. I know college changes people, but wow... These two jumped off the deep end! My heart breaks everytime I hear from them and they tell me about how much they threw up the night before at some party or something. And everytime I start a serious conversation about CHANGE, they say: "Well after this summer I'll start living a Christian life again."
When I get done with camp on August 8 I have a lot of stuff coming right up. I have a wedding for a great friend of mine on August 8. A week or so ago I was offered a paid job on staff at The Crossing. I was offered the Head Tech position in Macomb. I also interviewed to be an RA in the residence halls at Western. The interview went very well, but as of last Friday there are no open positions. Also these two awesome opportunities God has given/laid on my heart are slightly conflicting... If I'm selected to be an RA I'm supposed to only work 10 hours a week. If I accept the Tech position at The Crossing, I'll be working at least 15-20 hours a week. And once evey 5 weeks I'll have to work 30 hours a week... I've wanted this position at The Crossing for quite awhile. I'm not sure what to do about all these options, but I know whatever happens God had willed for my life. It'll work out.
Right now it's late. I'm breaking curfew. And I'm VERY exhausted! I have a long day tomorrow of yelling at Russians who can't understand me...!
I miss you all!!!
God Bless

VBlog2/Picture Post!

Here you go:
Video Blog Number TWO.
Enjoy! (I tried not to touch my face or flip my hair...)



Picture Post:
This is what happened when we set up a Photo Booth in the Studio for the students to have fun with... This is just a couple of my favorites out of the 200+ pictures taken within an hour or so!!!

I call this the RockStar pose.

I can't even tell you how scary this picture is. Can you believe it's actually me?!

Wow...

I just love this picture b/c the colors are inverted and still the shirt gets its message across.

You gotta love Larson and Carter...
Amanda... Ha.
Me, Lindsay, and Diane (Diane is the one whose house we go to to watch The Office!)
Carter was givin' me a smooch!
Thermal
Inverted.

The Truman Show

So I should be in bed right now, but frankly... I'm not tired.
I feel like this is the bout of Insomnia coming back to plague me like my senior year of high school... But who knows.

I've finally figured out VIDEO BLOGGING!!! So here is my first one!



Maybe I'll start blogging more now that I've figured out the whole video thing! Keep your fingers crossed! I really like the idea! Maybe I'll even start editing them and make them really cool with effects and stuff... Who knows?! Anyways...

God Bless!!!

Faith, Hope, and Love

Hey guys,
I know it's been awhile. I'm sorry I've made hollow promises to get back into this blog. I am however writing one now. And I'm going to pour my heart out...
I'm at a church retreat right now. I'm a youth coach for all these high schoolers, and yet here I sit in my bunk praying and writing a blog because I, myself, am crying out to God.
God is so awesome. I can't even begin to fathom just how much he loves me.
Love. This word is thrown around so much by my generation and all those following.
1 Corinthians 13:8a- "Love never fails."
1 Corinthians 13:13- "And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."
1 John 3:16- "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."
Psalm 5:11- "But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you."
So:
What is love?
I'm not going to define it. I haven't looked up every verse that has the word 'love' in it and compiled a Bible-friendly definition of this concept, emotion, and feeling.

All I need to do is understand this:
-God is in control. He has everything for my whole life planned out. He's up in heaven right now, watching the footage of my life in the future.
-God paints on a HUGE canvas. He knows exactly what is good for us, and that His timing is perfect. I may not understand why I'm going through a certain situation, but God has it all planned out and He knows that in the end it'll become clear to me that it's all for the better.
-Forgiveness is not free but given to me nonetheless. I didn't have to pay anything for it. Nothing. Jesus paid everything when He allowed Himself to be taken and hung on the cross.

All those people that gathered to see the Christ tortured and killed on a cross... Jesus died for them. I was standing in that crowd. Every one of us were standing there, scoffing.
Jesus' love is limitless, boundless, unfailing, never-ceasing, unending, and uncensored.

I'm not sure if this really even makes sense. It did however help me.
Thanks for tuning in...