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

Two Years, Two Glorious Years!

Good morning bloggy readers, it's been a while! A lot of stuff has happened in the last two months, maybe I'll post again this week and catch you up... But finals are looming so I wouldn't put all my eggs in one basket on that one! Anyways, back to my post:

 

Today, April 28, 2011 is my two year birthday of being saved and surrendering my life to Christ. My testimony is not a happy one, but that's okay. Not everyone can have a happy situation to bring them to the Lord. But I knew after the events that took place April 27 there was something more, so much greater than anything worldly that I had been relying on. I woke up the next morning with this huge tug on my heart and I knew it was the Lord speaking to ME. I had Christian friends growing up and I knew He talked to them, but I didn't really think He would ever talk to me.

It's been a crazy two years to say the least. It's been exciting, it's been scary, it's been fun, I've taken the social hit, I've handled the disappointment from my family, and it's been hard at times. But when I reflect upon where I was at this point two years ago- to where I am now. I can honestly say I'm not even the same person. And I could not be happier to say that. I feel so blessed that the Lord made Himself known to me at that time. I don't think I would have the same gratitude for Him and His love for me if I had been a Christian my whole life. I love the Lord, I love this marvelous day, and I love the direction my life is heading. I can't wait to see what the Lord does in my life this year!

Have a blessed day bloggy readers, I love each and every one of you.

"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, 'this is the way; walk in it'." Isaiah 30:21

"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekial 36:26

"...it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace." Hebrews 13:9

Aggieland Saturday

Good Morning' bloggy readers!

First off- can I just say oh my goodness! This month has been crazy busy! Full of both ups and downs, but more up's so I'd say it's still a success. I will quite possibly consider recapping my life this month in an end-o-month post, but we'll see! For now I want to write about this past weekend, in particular-Saturday.

**Warning, long post**
This past Saturday was Aggieland Saturday at Texas A&M (Whoop!). Basically a giant hay day at school full of prospective students. Well, my friend Blake Bell and I were on campus for this fine event and it could not have been a better day. Back story: We approached this day as a 'We're just going to give this to God and let him create our day'. How did this day start? Blake overslept... But divine planning it was! He met me at my apt and we took the bus to campus, we had to head over to Rudder and get papers (and cookies...). Because of Blake's habit of oversleeping (can you tell this may have happened once or twice before...?) we ended up missing all the first meetings of the day. So we hung out a little and walked around campus and I showed Blake lots of things because he hadn't ever really been on campus before. Finally it's time for our meetings to we head over to the appropriate buildings. Meanwhile growing all the more hungry.

Finally our meetings were over and we made the epic decision: McDonalds, or, on campus food? Well, one thing led to another and we found ourselves moseying our way on over to eat on campus and thank God we did! We got our food, prayed, and ate, sat and talked and decided we still wanted more food. Off we went to the pizza line where just the sweetest looking little boy was standing behind us in his little school uniform and his little Texas A&M lanyard around his neck. I then made the decision I didn't actually want pizza, so Blake headed back to our table and I went and loaded a plate with olives and cucumbers. I got back to the table and Blake was looking over at this table of sweet kids who are all here visiting and I noticed he was looking at the little boy who happened to be the same little boy who was behind us in the pizza line. Low and behold he was sitting alone, at the end of the table, not talking to anyone from his class. There is something about kids eating alone that absolutely rips my heart apart (insert the instant flow of tears I had to fight from my eyes) while watching this sweet boy pick at his food.

After seeing this I asked Blake nicely begged Blake to go ask his teachers if we can ask him to sit with us. His teachers were a little taken back by this request but Blake explained we were sitting right next to yalls table; they will be able to see him the entire time etc. Well, we got the okay and Blake went and asked this boy to sit with us. He actually seemed a little creeped out by Blake's request at first but eventually he said yes and came to sit with us. I (being the girl that I am) was so excited and immediately started bombarding the poor boy with questions about him. What's your name? Hugo. Where're you from Hugo? Austin. AUSTIN?! HUGO WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE! Come to A&M you better not love UT because you're from Austin (whew, he said he didn't, he actually wanted to go to TCU before he sat down with us). But long story short Hugo is from a school that takes kids from families whose parents did not go to college and live within the means that puts them right on the poverty line and they take them in at this school and prepare those sweet students to be able to go to college (no, little Hugo did not fill me in on all of that, I did a bit of research on his school when I got home). We got to know Hugo a little bit and he was a shy, timid, sweet, caring, wonderful little boy who is 12 years old and a 7th grader in Austin, he loves soccer and has one little sister and a Mommy. He loves to ride bikes and swim and doesn't understand football. After Hugo had been with us a little bit he went to throw away his trash and the rest of his classmates started to wander on over to us and started asking us things like 'why are you talking to Hugo... he's weird, he get's in fights' etc. We replied with what?? Hugo is awesome, what're you talking about?? Eventually their comments turned from negatives to 'oh... I guess he is cool!' *melt my heart* I just loved it.

Blake and I started the day with the plan to not plan, and just let God take us where we need to go. If Blake wokeup on time we would have gone to the first meetings, been done way earlier than we were and we would never have crossed paths with Hugo in a setting where we had time to make a bond with him. Instead our day consisted of so many wonderful things and I couldn't be happier. It just reaffirms my thoughts behind this verse: "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven" Matthew 5:16. If we as Christians always kept that in mind I think we could change the world by setting examples. It is so rewarding to do good deeds too! I love it!

I hope everyone has a blessed week, chin up as I know tests are upon us all as college students! You can do it! I would also like to challenge everyone who reads this blog to do a good deed today. Whether it be clean up after your roommates without thinking a single negative thought, or going and finding a kid like Hugo and just be a friend. All deeds are great no matter how small.

Here we are with fountains... how cheesy can we get??

Bacon

I love bacon.

I don't know what's been going on lately, but I have literally been obsessed with bacon. What have I found myself doing while my mind wanders away from the lecture in class (I know I know I shouldn't be admitting that... but, what's a girl to do) I have been day dreaming about bacon. What can I add bacon to? Roll in bacon? Garnish with bacon???! WELL, have I got one answer for you, everything. I eventually stopped day dreaming and started looking up bacon recipes... And oh me oh my I never knew such a world existed! I have modified a couple recipes now and my belly couldn't be happier! And well, since the Super bowl is upon us I decided to share one with you! Thankfully I have some great guy friends who let me cook for them whenever I want to, so, boys, you will be eating bacon infused dishes the whole game!

***How did this whole bacon thing get started? Well, southernliving.com is my homepage when I open the internet, and they had a loaded baked potato dip with bacon on it and well, the ball got rolling from there!




BACON SMOKIES:


What you need:

• 1 pound bacon
• 1 package little smokie sausages
• Your favorite bbq sauce
• Soy sauce
• 1 cup brown sugar-->but don't shy away from using more!


Directions:


• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
• Mix your BBQ sauce and soy sauce, heck you can even add a little spicy mustard if you like (All to taste, but don't get too crazy--the bacon is yet to come!)
• Cover the smokies in your new fancy sauce, a nice light coating.
• Cut bacon into thirds and wrap each section around a smokie. Place the wrapped sausages on wooden skewers, try and get as many smokies on a skewer as you can.
• Arrange the skewers on a baking sheet and sprinkle them with brown sugar. It's okay to get carried away with this step! It's fun :) and yummy!
• Bake until bacon is crisp and the brown sugar melted.

And there you go! Enjoy!

I hope everyone has a fun and safe snow day!

Oh me oh my...

19 Hours this semester... What in tarnation was I thinking?!?

I don't know when I'll even have time to breathe! I can do this, I can do this, I can do this,

I CAN DO THIS!

I praying for all you sweet loves this week as we endure the week that is syllabus after syllabus, and we get to see just what we've gotten ourselves into. I hope everyone loves their classes, has wonderful professors and has at least one sweet familiar face in the sea of unknowns this semester.

I'm off to write a 2 page easy peasy essay that has the prompt of "the history of..." what to pick what to pick!

Have a blessed and beautiful day, even if it is dreary out!

I "stumbledupon" this earlier, love, absolute love.

Good Morning!

Good Morning all you beautiful Children of God!

Happy Sunday!

I woke up this morning in my happy little apartment room, cozy and refreshed from my 5, count 'em, five hour drive back (in the rain) to College Station. Oh how I have missed this sweet little town! I spent the rest of the day unpacking, rearranging, and organizing my whole room! It was a daunting task, but with a little perseverance and an awesome playlist it was as successful as ever! I hope everyone had a blessed break and enjoyed every second of being home with their families. It's always wonderful to be able to just veg for a whole month and get ready for the next semester, which I can honestly say--I am so ready for this semester to begin! I always get excited at the thought of a new semester, new books, new school supplies, new planners, new professors, just everything new! It is your time to shine, you are your own guide, choosing to succeed or fail. I can't wait to start. Plus, once this semester finishes (successfully) I will be off to Staff training and Sky Ranch! Oh me oh my I just can't wait lovies!

I pray for everyone safety as they return to their beloved colleges and a successful semester!

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

-Galatians 6:9

photocred: bigsislilsis.com

 

Alive

It's like I've never lived before my life with you

So much was missing here

I never even knew

I still picture the place we were when I fell into your world

My heart is in you

Where you go you carry me

I breathe if you breathe

Your heart beats inside of me

You're keeping me alive

-The Afters.

Today I feel like my heart just feels like it's being called to a million different things, I can't wait to get started.

I hope everyone is staying warm and loving this day!

Blessings to you.