walking next to you...

i got home from camp yesterday and well, it was really wonderful. i went to summer camp with a bunch of junior high kids for a week and wow, wow, wow, it was such a neat experience. don't be shocked but i didn't take one photo...that is because everyone else took so many photos, linda included, so i figure if i wait just a while, i will get some and post them for you to enjoy:) it was such an amazing opportunity for me to be able to spend a week with junior high kids. if you know me you know i have a crazy weakness for junior high kiddos. i don't know what it is about them but they are amazing and free and no matter how complicated they think they are, from the outside looking in, they are simple folk and i like that:) they live in everyday, not rushing like crazy and not dwelling in the past and they are just fun. we ate together and tried to sleep in the same cabin together...it took a while for the sleep part but once they settled down, the sleep was super...and i am pretty sure they were grateful that they didn't stay up to crazy hours of the morning!

getting to be a part of their lives for a week was so lovely and it made me remember how much i love that age group and how much i miss working with them. we spent time in the word together and for anyone who thinks junior high students don't know much, i'm sorry but you may be wrong. they are the smartest girls and they were so there and they understood what was being spoken and they received it so freely. the theme for the camp was identity, self identity, how we identify others, what we are called to be in Christ. it was so good and i know it spoke to the students but it really spoke to me so loudly as i am in a transitional period of my own and identity is key. i know i was supposed to be there.

i got to see bec while i was up there because she is on the summer rec staff and she is so good there:) i am so proud of my little sis and how so not little she is. she has been growing into such a lovely young lady and it is so easy for me to talk about the billion ways that i am proud of her. it was good but it is good to be home.

today was just rough all around. i think the thing that brought about the blah feelings all around was a funeral i attended this afternoon. it was for a dear family friend. a friend who was at the airport with his family when my family moved here. a friend who loved the Lord, his family, and others deeply, honestly, and with great compassion. he was a really good man and today we celebrated him but it was not without great sadness and i think that is ok. i know he is with the Lord but it is always hard to lose someone.

i shopped for a bit after all was said and done. it really was a long day and shopping isn't on my radar very much these days so today i did. i don't regret it either:) when i got home, i decided to do myself a favor and relax. something i have not done in a while so i did. and it was SO good. i had dinner, played with the newest member of our family...a little pup named penelope(penny for short...i will post a photo soon:), pulled out a little project i am working on, grabbed a cactus cooler(my guilty pleasure, not often but tonight i did:), and run fat boy run. seriously, if you have not watched the movie, i recommend it. i bought it before i watched it and actually tonight was my first viewing and i loved it. silly enough, i even cried during parts, perhaps due to preexisting emotions. who knows... i watched, ate, crocheted, it was so good.

it felt like one of the longest day ever. i was grateful though but i am glad bed time is just minutes away:D

this made my day. jac made this for me a while ago and i found it tonight and smiled. thank you jac.. i will post camp photos soon and one of penny indeed!

noapte buna friends:)