Summer so far.

Finding answers in the Bible is amazing. (2 Corinthians 4)

I went over this really big bridge for the irst time in a long time, such a cool view.

Nothing like enjoying italian ice on a summer afternoon.

The first thing I see when I wake up.

Doing yoga. It's a love/hate relationship. Love because I love it. Hate because it take motivation to get started.

My brother is 10 years old!:)

I had fun with the little details of his party.He loves Legos.

I went on a nature walk with my family on Father's Day. I love this place.

Yes, I probably wore this shirt 10 years ago and still wear it to this day.

Hello! Long time, no blog. I apologize. I've been working and I got Netflix, so I've been distracted. My brother turned 10 last week. It is so weird, because I can remember the day he was born. 10 years ago. I was 7 and while Mom and Dad went to the hospital, they dropped me off at my best friend's house and we went to the mall. We shopped all morning and I got a pair of baby blue GAP socks. Around noon in the food court, my friend's mom got a call and gave me the phone. My mom told me I had a little brother. I said "Great, I got him some socks."

These ten years haven't been the best, with Stephen's autism changing our lives completely, but I'm so glad it did. I am a new person because of him. I am a lot nicer, patient, and have a bigger heart for children.

I've hung out with a few friends and I am very excited to leave for church camp this morning! I will see many old friends but I am more excited for a break from the computer. It really takes over me, especially with my free trial of Netflix. I finished LOST on there (brilliant, you must watch it sometime) and started to watch other TV shows. It sucks so much of my time, so not having a laptop at my disposal will really help me put God first.

Yesterday my pastor gave a great sermon on God's playbook (or the Bible) He has been reading the Bible before breakfast for around 35 years, which is incredible to me; food is always the first thing on my mind. This morning I got out my yoga mat, did my yoga routine and got into the Word before breakfast.

 I am slowly packing up for camp and I would appreciate prayers that the Holy Spirit will just be alive in all the hearts present. Prayer really makes a difference.:) One of my friends is on the worship team and here is one of the new songs we will be singing: 

 

For the first time, I am more excited to worship God rather than see my camp friends, and I think that is very good.:)

I am beyond excited, and I will be back on Saturday. Hopefully I can tell you about my week with God soon after. I will be journaling again this year, so I will bring back some rich details about this beatuful place I will go to for the last time as a camper. I will also be bringing my little waterproof camera, so be prepared.;)

Praying for you and all your summer adventures! Hope you are well!

p.s. I will be catching up on all your posts when I get home!

Choir Tour: The Recap [Part 3]

Day 7:

This morning, Lauren and I woke up and being the insomniacs we are, we couldn't fall back asleep. We got up and enjoyed slowly getting ready in the empty bathroom and eating breakfast in moderation. That day some group went to work on a ramp or bridge and the few left helped clean up where we were staying or with me, rinsing out the tie-dye t-shirts. We put the shirts through the dryer and they all looked great! I wish I had taken a picture of some of them.

We packed our things, rolled up our sleeping bags and claimed spots on the bus as we hit the road. An hour later, we came to a beautiful waterfall! Many pictures were taken. See the picture of the three girls standing and the girl laying on the ground? I put an arrow, pointing out the fact that it looks like Bri's hand is actually an extension from Lauren's leg. Kinda creepy/hilarious. That was unintended... There is also a picture of me and my yoga girls doing the "Mer" pose. The last picture is Big Ben trying to move the boulder.

Day 8:
This morning we all got up early to go white water rafting. We had to wait for one of the river guides to come, so we had some time. Three of our chaperones formed "The Oracle" and answered soul-searching questions, each saying one word at a time. [You will see what I mean in the video.] We went rafting and it was a blast. Some people fell out, but no one got hurt. My pastor was in our raft and it was hilarious. Our river guide would call out commands at the very last second, so it was interesting. I recall once heading toward a big rock and my pastor turning around and giving our guide an "are you crazy?!" look. A second later she gave the command to row and we just cleared it.

Afterwards, we ate a delicious buffet lunch and went swimming in the water park type of lake. There was a zip line, and loads of inflatables. I was content with watching and taking pictures of everyone else having fun, but I eventually joined in, even though I had already changed out of my swim suit. Oh well, the term "yolo" is appropriate to use at this time. I was hanging out with Mitch, Sydney, and Julia on this spinney ball thing when the wind started to blow, tree branches fell, and rain started pounding on us.
We all jumped off and started swimming to shore. I went into survivor/mama bear mode, wanting to be sure everyone made it out okay. The storm kept us under this big tent for a few hours and we hung out in the gift shop as well.

Melissa and I shared how we were craving ribs and pulled pork really bad. Eventually we got the bus close enough for us to get on and start heading for a dinner location. God heard me and Melissa, because we went to a fantastic ribs and pulled pork place! God is soooo good.  

The place we went to also had bowls of peanuts at each booth. So naturally, we started to eat/ throw them at each other. A huge war ensued and it was so fun.Even after all the peanut messes, the waitresses still complimented our youth group to my youth pastor on how polite us kids were. Woo hoo!

We continued driving and had our last night of worship. The Holy Spirit really hit me when we re-read Luke 15. Read it, if you haven't. It perfectly displays the story of Christ's love and our Father's unending love for us. No matter what, He is always waiting for us to return, and completely accepts us. No matter how lost we get, He is seeking us out and waiting for us to come back to Him. It was this night that I realized that Home is whenever I'm with God. As long as he is in my heart, I'm good.I'm home. Let God welcome you home, it's the best.=)


1:12-1:20<3

Hope you enjoyed hearing about Choir Tour. Thanks to all who made it wonderful. And thanks to you, for reading this tale. :)

Painting On A Face.

 

Behind the paint,

There is sometimes pain.

My life is not perfect. Things go awry, awful things are said that shake me to my core. One of the curses of the blogger is that we have control of how we paint our lives, and I am guilty of painting a picture of a sweet little life with few troubles. The ones I do share, I don't go into detail. I am a generally happy person, but when things like this happen, I become lost and simply lose it.

I was praying for God to bring me back to Him, asking for him to do what I thought would make this better. But then it hit me, your will be done. Who am I to know God won't make something of this. In the midst of my pain, I picked up my camera. The last thing I wanted to do was take pictures of myself in this state of weakness. But I did.

"This is where the healing begins. This is where the healing starts. You come to where you're broken within, the light meets the dark."-Tenth Avenue North

I am going to be fine. No one's got it all. Only God does and he has plans for me, and the problem at hand. There is a hope and a future for me, no matter how bleak and dark my world is sometimes. I hope this wasn't too personal or...whatever. I have peace and taking pictures helped me feel better. And editing them were even more fun, hehe.:) 

Hoping you are well, the found Rebecca

 

The last Choir Tour post is coming up in a few days, just a heads up!

Choir Tour: The Recap [Part 2]

Day 4:

 This morning I woke Savannah up to saying "Mer!" close to her, which was hilarious to see.We began our official work and split into groups. My group resurfaced mulch on a playground at a fire station. We ran out of mulch, so we made plans to come back the next day. We came back, ate lunch and I met with the craft team to prepare para cord to make out craft for that evening. A boys versus girls frisbee war broke out which was very fun to watch.:) We went to the chapel to hold our first "Hang Time" with the kids. They were all near our ages (middle and high school). It was incredible to hear their stories. Some shared that they had been abused, or that they were orphans, ect. Some didn't share, but I could see the pain hiding in their eyes.

When we came back, I was sitting with Hanna (whose 17th birthday was that day) during dinner. She was wishing she had a cake. A few minutes, a cake was brought out to her. Gotta love how thoughtful Shelbi (in the gray) was to get her a cake and hide it! We talked about our families in family group and a lot was shared. I never realized how much I had in common with those in my youth group and the struggles we face as one.

Day 5:

I awoke to rain, which was beautiful. We worked on  the playground a little then we painted an office in the girl's home. Afterwords, we played Just Dance 2 with some of the girls living there, which was super fun. We held Hang time again and I got to know loads more teenagers. We had KFC for dinner and pie for desert, which was quite a treat! Mitch licked pie off my jacket, which was weird but funny. I can tell that he is desperately in love with pie, he had two slices. It was a stressful day, but I got by with love from my friends.:)  It was a fun night.

Day 6:

 This morning I awoke with a faint memory of a dream involving t-rexes and an advice giving beaver.Nice. We finished off painting the office and then made plans for tie-dye for crafts that night. Then the girls not working on any projects went for a walk through the neighborhood with gardening tools, on a mission to find someone who needs help with their yard. We helped this one guy attempt to scrub paint off some old shutters so her could re-paint them. We used the hose and had a blast spraying them and each other. We also trimmed and tidied up the church a bit. Some of the girls and I slid each other across the gym floor on blankets. Mitch and I flung bottle caps which was awesome because Drew had already taught me how to.

Tonight was our last night with the kids. Their choir sang for us. I lost is and started bawling like a baby when they began to sing Blessings. 

"When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win, we know
That pain reminds this hearts,
That this is not, this is not our home....."

It was killer because despite all the horrors they have faced, they still believed in God and in love.

 We tie died and I got covered. It was so fun. We later went to the baseball field and played kickball. I didn't play but took pictures and wrote notes in some of the kids' bibles we gave them.

I think I can fit the rest of Choir Tour into one more post; then I will be moving on to semi-regular posts. I hope you guys like hearing about Choir Tour stuff and I hope you all are well.

Choir Tour: The Recap [Part I]

Hello friends! I am back from Choir Tour! I actually got back yesterday. I am going to retrace my steps on this journey by going back through my journal.

Day 1: 

 We left Friday morning and we stopped for lunch at a rest stop park, where I killed multiple bugs with a banana. Many girls made bracelets for practically everyone on the bus and we later stopped at Arby's where I captured a bromance or two.

Day 2:

I awoke with a dream involving me teaching yoga to my youth group. Lauren and I had fun taking pictures and texting odd things to Mitch. We stopped by some pretty mountains as well. Isaac put 58 Popsicle sticks in Lauren's hair, which was fun. The war of popsicles officially began on the bus. We went to a local Mexican restaurant and two of the first years tangoed whilst waiting in line for the bathroom. Bromance Numero Three.

Day 3:

We have arrived at our home for the next few days. We walked to the church and we sang and tripled the congregation. Journal excerpt about the sermon: "The pastor talked about the Holy Spirit moving like a colorful wind. I hope the Spirit will touch everything I do and say this week and onward." 

My dream about the yoga class came partially true. I taught a few girls my yoga routine. We created a yoga pose called the "Mer!" pose. We went to the chapel that night and sang for the kids. They were all near our age (middle and high school) and we talked to them about thier lives. Some of the struggles and horid things they've gone through, I can never imagine... One girl I met, Kasey, was already was asking when we would have to leave and I gladly told her we had three more days. 

More coming in the next few days and I hope you are well!