Open Your Eyes

Sky Ranch, Summer 2011

How do I even put this into one blog post? Where to begin... I was hired by Sky Ranch on October 3, 2010. I was baking cookies and missed my phone call from them, but had a voice mail of Tamara and some other staff yelling that I got a contract! By the end of the two minute message I was in tears. 1. Because I don't know what happened but when I turned 20 I became very in touch with my emotions and now I cry when I'm happy, sad, just about anything that hugs on the ol' heartstrings. and 2. Because it was a realization that the LORD had chosen me to serve His babies this summer, He chose me, the girl with a pretty rocky past. It was so cool because in that moment I realized that my past no longer mattered, I am so so blessed that the Lord meets you where you're at. It doesn't matter if you've got a little (or a lot) of dirt on you, when you come to Him broken He makes you whole again. You are washed clean. And that is exactly what He did in my life. Sky Ranch saw me not for who I was once was, but as the woman of the Lord I am now, the woman that is so in love with the Lord that it takes over everything else in my life. They said yes to have me come and join the Sky Ranch family!

Ah, I didn't even know what a huge deal that was until I was there either, working there and serving down in Van, TX truly is a family. We are with each other 24/7 and we do e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g together. Through this process I learned a lot about what it means to be selfless and have new levels of patience, and was I perfect at it all the time? Heck no! Some days you just really are so physically, emotionally, and spiritually drained that as a result you get a little selfish. However, you caught yourself in it and got better and better about it. Which is awesome because it made us stronger as counselors when we could persevere, because we didn't have time to feel like that! We were way too busy serving our girls and exposing them to Jesus!

Speaking of our girls, oh.my.goodness I never knew my heart could be so full of love for girls I'd never met. It is crazy to think that once upon a time I didn't know how old these girls would even be. For 7 months I was praying for girls who were completely anonymous, I didn't know how old my girls would be until Staff Revelation at staff training in MAY! So it was a ton of anticipation when I found out that I had a high school girl, that’s crazy! So, every week I would walk through the door (we had different jobs around camp on opening day, so I wasn't actually in the cabin when our girls got there) but anyways, I would walk through the door and have to restrain myself from just hugging every single one of them. I had been praying for them since the day I received that contract, and finally seeing their faces and sweet smiles was an incredible feeling.

Getting to know each of these campers on such a personal level was incredible, we had one-on-ones with each of our girls in our small group and we would walk them through the 'okay, this is a time for me to just get to know where you are in life, your walk with the Lord etc.' and some of these girls would unload stuff on us that they'd never told anyone else in their lives. For real, who am I to be the one they tell that kind of stuff to? Sometimes I wouldn't have even known them 24 hours yet and they already just trusted us.

Some of these girls stories broke me to my core, I had one week where I literally cried just about every time I looked at this sweet girl. By looking at her you would never know everything she struggled with, and it just broke my heart to pieces, and sometimes they feel like the Lord is so far away and out of reach for them that there's no use in believing and that would break my heart every single time, mainly because at one point in my life that is how I felt. And while I can hardly remember that feeling, I still know what it's like to have lived without the Lord and I just want to scream from the rooftops that God is so much BETTER, He is so much BIGGER than anything else in this world, and He created this whole world! Our problems are SO little compared to anything else, He can handle anything we come and lay at his feet and He will wash it all away and it will no longer be ours! Ah, I just want everyone in the world to understand and cling to that truth! And it was incredible to watch our girls get that for the first time, or recommit to it after wandering for a little while.

On top of having incredible campers, I met some incredible staff. I can honestly say two of the girls will be standing by my side someday when I get married. It's so cool to see how the Lord provides you with people right when you need them. And it's so cool to see the types of people He realizes you need that you may not have realized. Enter Katy and Craft Laura.

These two women are i.n.c.r.e.d.i.b.l.e oh my gracious, I don't know what I would have done without them this summer.

Katy was one of my co counselor's and she is hands down the funniest person I have ever met in my life. She has a way of making any situation light hearted and reminds me to find humor in the smallest things. And it's so funny how different our "Life According to Me" situations are, but she is truly a fabulous woman of the Lord and I just love her so much! And I am already having serious withdrawals from not being with you all the time! I can't believe you're going to be all the way in Austin for school (sick.... but, I'll keep her). I can't wait to visit, and you better mosey your way on over to C-Stat for a little Sky reunion dinner at my little blue house and come to Breakaway and just come visit all the time!

Next is Craft Laura, Laura was Sky's craft girl this summer, and she was absolutely wonderful at it! And as a result I had some of the cutest encouraging pictures drawn for me on a weekly basis that just brought light to my little cabin! But seriously, this girl is extraordinary, she's the girl who I could literally talk to about anything, and just brighten my day all the time! She's absolutely a precious jewel (holla camper award adjectives), but for real Laura is one of a kind. She's so positive and sweet all the time. And our "Life According to Me" looks exactly the same, and she makes me feel a bit less crazy for wanting to be married at a young age and just serve my husband and make home the best place in the world for him, and eventually serve our family together. She is the best, and I just love her puffed hair that is puffed that high because it is just the most perfect representation of how much she loves the Lord, and I loved telling bedtime stories about a craft girl named Laura at Cloud Farm Camp and her love Bob. Ah, she's just the greatest! And Praise Jesus this girl lives in College Station so I get to continue to be blessed by her on a daily basis!

This summer was the most magical, blessed summer of my life. Filled with laughs, tears, lots of cheers, feather flocking, mission impossible, glow dances, bedtime stories, bible studies, long but incredible CMD meetings with the best CMD leader in the world, sweat, sweat, and more sweat, skrushes, eye-candy team, wishing wells, hives from horses, breakfast song, space unicorns, chimpanzee riding on a segway, baby monkey, weird dog voice over’s, best skit ever, Deb and Bart, opening show, closing shows, 168 campers, challenging questions, more tears, more laughs, I got soul but I'm not a soldier, not winning camp champ, my little brother in my brother cabin, having his future wife in my cabin, terrible fried food-what's up extra 8 pounds, a sickening consumption of Nutella, Wal-Mart, Sonic, going to Tyler on the weekends, Jill's baby and finding out he is a boy!, so.much.glitter, on your knee's prayer over the girls, patience, kindness, love, compassion, a new family, and just praising our Lord 24/7. There's no place like Sky Ranch and I miss it so much, but I am so ready to take on this next year of school and I can't wait to move in with my new roommates and start life with them! Which I'm sure I'll be writing about next.

I am praying everyone has a beyond blessed day!

Bowling ball.

Purple Patrol- we'll find you.

Sky 4 busin' through your door! (Minus a few counselors)

Tacky Prom baby

Katy and I!

Week 9 Mission Impossible!

Katy, Heather and I!

Mission Impossible! Week 10

Week 9 Cabin!

Meet Drew, one of my sweet Timothy's :) Although she doesn't officially get asked until Wednesday at Lunch!

Cord time!

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. -1 Timothy 4:12