It's been a while

Hi!!!

Yes, it has been quite a while since I have written a blog, but I am back in action now!

Last night I saw the movie Julie and Julia with my parents and it inspired me to write in my blog again. It was a cute and funny movie, but it is definitely a chick flick, so grab your girlfriends and go see it! It even made me want to try whipping up one of Julia Child's recipes and if you know how much I cook, then you know that says a lot about how good of a movie it was :]

The rest of my summer project was AMAZING! I got to go on our last hike because my knee was healed enough, I went white water rafting, I rock climbed despite my dislike of heights and I hiked to 12,000 feet on the last Sunday we were there (we started our hike at 3 AM). I learned so much about God, myself, and others through these outdoor adventures, doing programs, and just living life with 16 students and 17 staff for 4 weeks. Here are a few of the things that God taught me over the course of my 4 weeks in Colorado:

• I can learn a lot about myself and God when I am taken out of my comfort zone.
• I am afraid of failing and that hinders how I interact with other people, what roles and responsibilities I take, and it also lowers my level of self-confidence. He also taught me that I am not the only one who has this fear :]
• We established norms as a group and the two that was the most difficult for me to follow were "I will attempt to be gracefully honest and intentionally vulnerable" and "I will attempt to accept the real self: good & bad." God was so faithful to showing me how fruitful it can be to open up to people and be vulnerable. I also learned and am continuing to learn how to accept and love the good and bad in myself.
• The body of Christ is so important and God has made us different and unique intentionally so we can fulfill our needed roles.
• God uses other people in our lives in amazing ways!
• I do not like being physically weaker than other people and I do not like having to be helped...yay for injuring my knee, He works in all situations :]
• I am by no means perfect and God knows that and He loves me with his perfect and infinite love. In Him I am free from condemnation.
• I can be responsible to people without being responsible for them.
• God is SO faithful and can use me! July 4th was an amazing day :]
• Growth is not easy.
• Conflict is not all bad and can be healthy and lead to growth.
• I need to address issues as they arise and not "keep a laundry list" and not let things fester.
• God is so good :]

So yea, the Lord taught me a lot and it is really cool because He is continuing to teach me things back home by putting me in situations that allow me to put into action what I learned on summer project. Granted, some of the situations as not very fun, but growth takes time and is not easy.

Saying good-bye to all of my summer project friends was not easy. I did not think that after 4 weeks it would be as hard as it was to say good-bye to the students and the staff. There were a lot of tears...yes I cried...quite a bit. I am just so thankful that God brought us all on the same summer project and created friendships that I know will last for a lifetime :]

Now I am home and I have 2 more days of swim lessons. Then I am going to help Kacy in her Kindergarten class until baby Kylee comes. She is due August 21st, so she could come any day now...so exciting!!

SKYPE...is probably one of my favorite things right now. I love being able to talk to family, project friends, and friends from SLO and actually see the person's face. It makes my day when I get to spend some time chatting on skype :]

Snail Mail...is another one of my favorite things right now. I have been sending letters to some of my friends from summer project and it is so fun to write to them and get letters back from them :]

What is coming up?

• Kacy is having Kylee sometime soon :]
• Kimber (my oldest sister) and Reese (my niece) are coming down for a visit after Kylee is born. Yay for having almost the whole family together!
• I am going to Mississippi on Labor Day weekend to camp, hike, and white water raft with two lovely ladies from my summer project. I can't wait to see them :]
• I am driving back to SLO around September 10th to get ready for my 3rd year at Cal Poly...time sure does fly!

Well that is all I have for now :]