Life in Pictures

Two of our own got married. Congrats Ben and Jenny!

(Left to right: Walter, Me and Mickey)
Hoedown, sometimes I feel like I am back in high school when we have themed parties...but I love it.

(Pictured: Thomas)
Powderpuff: I have since then discovered that I cannot play sports for fun. I play to win, not for fun.

Back Row, left to right: CT, Addie, Caroline, Kate (roommate) and Alex.

Front row, left to right: Kristen (suite-mate), Courtney, Andrea and me
This is a lot of the girls at the Insty at one of our first 'optional' events.

Left to right:Stef, Asha, Me, Kristen, Callae, Marissa, Addie, Denise M., Denise W., Liz, Jenny, Tanya, Brittany, Abigail, Autumn, Erin, Lindsey, Leesa Marie and Amy.
Liz and me. We met this summer since we both are both DHDL's at neighboring kamps. She is such a blessing to me.
Work Day: Lots of raking and laughter

Left to right: Denise (fellow k-stater), Mallory, Me, Liz and Abigail
Spirit week: The cast of Peter Pan

Back row, left to right: Me and Tanya

Front row, left to right: Kristen, Josh and Lee
Pumpkin baking party. Enough said. You know my love of pumpkin flavored things.

Left to right: Laura, Marissa, Mallory (also known as Malpal), Me and Courtney

Timothy Group. We have been through a lot together but I am so blessed to have these women in my life encouraging me towards the cross. Two of my best friends come from this group.

Left to right: Liz, Me, Emily, Karen, Mallory and Denise
My class. it amazing to know that when we took this picture we barely knew each other and now I have 54 people who are constantly encouraging me in my walk with the Lord and challenging me to live to a higher standard.
My class. Again. It takes a lot to get a serious class picture. This, was not one of the serious ones.

"And in the words of Glinda from my favorite musical Wicked:

I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn and we are led to those who help us most to grow. If we let them and we hep them in return. Well, I don't know if I believe that's true but I know I'm who I am today because I knew you"

This is dedicated to Kelsey. Who told me to update.

So I have been missing from the blogging world for about 2 months. And my friend Kelsey is really into blogs right now, so I needed to give her something to read.

PS. SHE IS COMING BACK TO KAMP! AND COMING TO BRANSON FOR MY BIRTHDAY!

So the few of you that read this blog, my new goal is to blog once a week. We'll see how that works out.

I like lists.

1. It is impossible to write down all that I have learned in the past few months since the big move to Branson. I started the year of nervous because this is the farthest I have ever lived away from Kansas City, I didn’t realize that I was coming to a place that feels more like home everyday. Each day, Branson becomes a little more normal to me. And my second family is hilarious. For example, I took the two younger ones out to ice cream today. I get them from school and the 7 year old boy gets in the car and pulls out a spoon from his pocket and tell me that he has been ready all day.

2. Living life in the kamp community has been a huge dose of encouragement. I see how conistant the full-time staff is in their walk with the Lord. How their love for the Lord just pours out and into their everyday lives. I find myself desperately wanting that for myself. One of the biggest struggles I have had is making sure my time in the Word is not just school-related. It is so easy to get caught up in my assignments that I forget how much I long for that intimate relationship with Christ. I am constantly caught off guard with how my Lord loves me.

3. I have been blessed with a great friendships here, especially my friend Liz. Our friendship is hilarious. We met at leadership weekend this past year because we both were DHDLs at the kamps next door. Little did we know that our first meeting was the beginning our friendship. We both had hard summers being DHDL and we met a few times in the Bean to try and gain sanity over running a kitchen. Our friendship really picked up when I was switched into the same small group this year at the Institute. That in itself is a long hilarious story.

4. I am not going to lie, I LOVE BRANSON. It is such a hilarious place. I have to remind myself it is just a season and one day I will have a kitchen and a washer and dryer (or so I hope). But it is not everyday you see snow on palm trees or go to church in a castle. It's a funny little place that I currently call home.

5. There are 55 people in my class. We are all very different but we are learning how to navigate life together and keep our common goal of seeking Christ the main thing. Even though people are so different from each other, we have the bond of being the Institute class of 2011 with the foundations of Christ. So in the end, we are not all that different.

In other news, I will be returning to kamp as DHDL for theoretically my final summer. I use the term theoretically because, well, its is kamp and it is kinda a vortex and it sucks you in and you can't escape.

And my dodgeball came in second tonight.

I saw Patsy Cline at church last week...I mean the impersonator.

Next up? A picture blog. Get ready to rumble.