Where did the month go?

December is tomorrow.

What?!!

Yeah, I know, right!? So where did the year go? Sometime I'll have to do a recap of each month but I've got limited time on the computer so it'll just be quick.

I've finished painting my living room, dining room, kitchen and breakfast nook. I knew I should have taken pictures when my house was the cleanest it has been in way too long, and now it's messy. I did manage a couple pics of the breakfast nook and the back of the bookcase. But I'd like to get a few more of the rest of the house. I'll do my darndest to get it photo worthy today.

We had Thanksgiving with Bryan's folks on the actual day. It was fun. Mom and I brought crafts to work on which meant lots of girl time with the only three girls in the fam that are over the age of 2. A just ran around with the uncles and took a nap while us girls decorated sugar cookies. And of course I didn't take a picture of the whole lot of finished ones. Brent created a loot load. He was going to town.

My very chocolatey Cookies. They were yummy.

The most creative. Take note of the dismembered Santa done by Bruce,

the naked Santa done by Alyssa, and the Tree at Night by yours truly.

I tried my hand at making purple icing but failed miserably. It turned out black.

So Brent went nuts making Death Creations.

However, the most really awesome Santa is mine. Can you see the skull?

My Snowman Family (awwwww)

Bruce's Blue Man Group

(and of course I didn't take any pictures of his "Art inspired" cookies.)

Then we moved on to the ribbon trees that I brought. I didn't get a chance to take pictures of those. 2/3 of the way through we get a call from our friend Keith saying Em is having abdominal pains and is going to the ER. He asked us to take J for a bit and we offered to keep him over night. So we had to leave. Priorities but I'll take a photo of my tree later on.

Then we went down to my grandparents for Thanksgiving weekend. It was crazy. We ended up playing a game that my sister and her hubby suggested. It was too much fun. It had 5 games in one. My team won- Go Team!!

Too much pie and loads of turkey later, we headed home on Sunday.

We'll head back down to the farm for New Years. Then we'll celebrate a b-day, Christmas, and New Year's all in one shot. I'm excited for it all!! Now, I need to finish Christmas shopping...

25 Things I'm Thankful For.

Thanksgiving sometimes seems to get overlooked being so close to Christmas. And with all the hubbub of finding the right gift, only-so-many-more-days-to-buy-buy-buy, and Black Friday being right after the day of Thanks, the Turkey day seems to get glossed over or becomes a second thought.

So, because of Thanksgiving Day, I thought I'd take a moment to count my blessings, if you will.

1. My husband. He is wonderful. He's human and knows he has faults, but he tries his darndest and works hard at trying to be like Christ each day. He is also good because he knows I have faults and loves me in spite of them.

2. My baby girl. Who's not so much a baby anymore seeing as how she is 2 and 2 months. She's so smart, and kind, loving, compassionate and polite. She's a wonderful kid and I am blessed as a mom to have her as mine.

3. My extended family. They are amazing and I'd have lost my way a long time ago if it wasn't for their love and direction.

4. My in-laws. They've taken me in as their own, love me, care for me, and I'm proud to have them as my second mom and my dad.

5. My dearest friends. They may as well be family.

6. My church family. They are loving, gracious, supportive, generous and encouraging. It's lovely to see a church body really strive to be like Christ. We fail continuously and everyday but it's wonderful to know that we are trying.

7. The roof over my head. It may not be much, but it's sweet, cozy and home.

8. The clothes on my back. I don't have many and lately, it's by choice. Freedom right there.

9. The food in my belly. We are never in want or in need. He blesses us each day with our daily bread.

10. The car we drive. We only have one and sometimes we could use another but we have what we need.

11. My hubby's job. We are blessed with a job he loves, people he really enjoys working with, and being able to work from home. Not to mention, I don't have to work because of it which brings me to...

12. Being able to stay at home with my girl. And not having to miss a single moment with her.

13. Our stinky dog and snooty cat. Hubby loves the dog, the cat loves me. We all win. I think.

14. A warm comfy bed to curl up in at night. It may not be as big as we'd like but it holds us both (and the cat) and all is well.

15. Art. I love it. It feeds my soul and makes me happy.

16. Snow. I know, I know. People will think I'm crazy for this one, but I love it and I can't help it.

17. Sleep. It renews me, energizes me, and there is nothing like waking up to the sound of rain, the sun shining on your face, or to a fresh blanket of snow.

18. Photography. Yes I know this is considered art, but there is something separately special about it. Snapping photos and never knowing if you really got a good one until you get the chance to look them over. Then you're surprised at how many good ones you really ended up with.

19. Age. With age, usually comes wisdom. That is if you're willing to learn.

20. Stories. Stories bring up memories and vice versa. There's nothing like talking about some old memories that capture you and drag you into the story.

21. My grandparents farm. Although I was heartbroken when they moved from their last house, I have grown to love the farm. It has acreage of grass that waves in the setting sun, wondrous smells, and some of my favorite people. It's a place that warms to heart and feels like I've come home.

22. Dancing. Such freedom in dancing.

23. Music. Sometimes you just don't know how to express yourself until you've heard just the right song. It can bring you to tears, make you laugh, bring you to your knees, and make you stop and think.

24. Laughter. There is just nothing like laughing until you cry. Or cackle.

25. Last, but certainly not least, my Jesus. I'm thankful that he loves me and I don't have any years without his love and support. I'm thankful he's always held me in his arms whether I wanted him to or not. I'm thankful for my faith and hope in Him.

Shoes!

I love shoes.

They rock my world.

No matter what size clothes I wear, how I'm feeling that day, whatever- Shoes always fit and they always make me feel good. And they make me happy.

On Saturday, we went shoe shopping for Bryan. We had done so a few days before but Bryan was undecided after a couple of stores (Kohl's and Famous Footwear) as well as we needed to return home to our kiddo before my sister had to leave for work. So, we went back out... with our kiddo. We hit almost every shoe store in the mall and ended up returning back to the sister store of Famous Footwear where we found him some shoes.

He ended up getting a pair of running shoes, pumas, look nothing like he would ever buy on his own. But, if you knew how he dressed himself before we started dating and now, well, let's just say I've had an influence on him. A good one, mind you, but one nonetheless.

I was also on the hunt for some new sneakers. Mine had given up. I think I've walked and exercised and loved them to death over the last three years. They've been good to me. But it was time for some new ones to love to death.

So, in every store that Bryan looked, I looked for myself after finding him every option to possibly try on that I thought he would like. I had no luck either. I had a couple considerations but then finally found some shoes that were the girl version of the pair he finally chosen. However, they had a purple stripe but were a shade of gray that Bryan thought looked dirty. So I didn't get them.

Hey, he asked for my opinion and took it, so I did the same.

I was bummed, but, whatevs. I'd find something. So after buying him some new shoes, we headed home so A could nap.

I headed back out on my own back to Kohl's where I found some shoes I thought I'd give another shot. They were "eh" and I wasn't in love, but I bought them and took them home. Turned out I really didn't like them. They were cute but they were tight and leather.

I didn't want to have to worry about breaking a pair of shoes in. Especially not after Bryan kept gushing about his new shoes that felt like slippers and were a perfect fit from the get go. Jealous!

I kept thinking how I liked the girly version of Bryan's shoes. Then I remembered that I did try on another pair at the first FFW that were white with pink. So today I returned my leathery, harder-than-crap, didn't-want-to-have-to-break-them-in shoes and went back to the first FFW. I found those white with pink pumas and I bought them. I think they're just great. However, they run a bit small, but that's all right. They had my "extra" size.

So, here, I thought I would share a few of my favorite shoes:

On the left are my new shoes!! On the right are not my "just loved to death" sneakers but these are my beloved Adidas that I've had since about 8th grade. That's right folks, 12 years. But they are still so comfy, don't smell, look a little warn, yes, but, they're my go-to shoes.

Thank you, my Adidas.

My favorite high heels. Fav Or Rite. Love. On the left are my sequined gold shoes. I debated a bit when I was trying them on because I didn't know if I'd have anything to go with them. Turns out they go with a lot. And I love them. I do have to take special care of them, though, so the sequins don't get ruined.

In the middle are my beloved black shoes. They are pinstripe, sophisticated, and gorgeous dahling.

And on the right are my brown pin-ups as I like to call them. Or my 1940's inspired, because of the way the fabric covers the entire shoe. I've had all three shoes for more than three years. Love, love, love my shoes.

And lastly, my biker boots. These make me feel tough, rough and like I could go jump out on my bike (as though I had one {someday!}) and go for a ride. These are my don't-mess-with-me boots. My sweetie got them for me last year for my birthday and I still think they're awesome.

So, to recap: I don't choose my shoes lightly, I love them til there is no more loving to give them without a hole through their sole, and I'll wear them forever.

Have I mentioned I love flip-flops too?

My exciting Saturday (of last week)

Last Saturday was excellent.

First, I got to go to Book Club for the first time ever. It was very cool. Not only did I get to sit around with a bunch of lovely, godly women, but I got to talk with them about a very cool book. We read (before hand) and discussed Friendship for Grownups by Lisa Welchel.

This book touched my heart and helped me to realize the areas I needed to grow in to develop loving friendships. She had wonderful first hand, personal experience that I was able to relate to. And those ladies know how to talk! In a good way too! They were wonderful to listen to, and stated 95% of my own thoughts. I loved being able to sit back and soak in such wonderfulness these ladies radiated.

Then we ate salad.

It was yummy. We had a salad bar which everyone brought a topping and a dressing then created their own from everything that was brought. It was so good. I'm going to try to recreate it a bit this week because it was just that good.

Then:

My aunt Kimmy, organizer and simplifier extraordinaire, had come up to visit us on Friday night, along with my grama and my sister Sarah. I had invited Kimmy to come and do a Simplicity Seminar for the ladies in my church. Unfortunately, if was a very busy Saturday so not a lot of people were able to show up.

However- It was still most excellent. Kimmy has thee most awesome ideas of simplifying your life. Not to mention organizing as well as saving money in the process.

She gave us many ideas for each room and things within that room. She also talked a lot about purging anything you don't love or need. Insert FlyLady into my life once again. Not that she ever left, I think we just needed a reintroduction.

The ladies that came seem to be so blessed from what Kimmy had to say. They asked questions, gave thoughts, and discussed things to help get themselves clutter free. It was awesome.

I seem to always take something away from her whenever she comes up or I get to see her on one of our family visits. I love her.

She is like my big sister. Yeah, we're 16 years apart but in my family, my aunt Kimmy and her hubby are my close family. People don't seem to understand just how close we are, and truthfully, I never really understood just how they couldn't understand. That is until I met Bryan and got close to his family.

In their family, it's Parents and Siblings. No aunts and uncles. Not really even grandparents. Makes me sad for them. It's like I have a really, really big family. And I love it. And so very grateful for it.

Tomorrow I'll post some pictures, but let me tell you, I've cleared out my closet, given away unloved things that I've been holding onto because they were given to us as wedding presents, and pitched and tossed like a pro.

I only buy exactly what I need knowing just right where I'm going to put it. I am getting clutter free. So this entire week I have done all my FlyLady each and every day. I even bought a mop to replace my swiffer mop and did a full blown job on the kitchen and the bathroom.

Now, if you know me, cleaning the bathroom gives me the heebie jeebies. Hair, bodily fluids, soap scum.. I shudder. But I did it. I, me, did it. And now they both look so very nice.

My kitchen still has a bit to go because of the repainting but it's almost there. I just need to take care of the breakfast nook, sand, paint, and clear off and clean, then I'm done. Huzzah.

The Start of a Catch-up

Being with an internet connection is beyond frustrating. Not only was the connection on our phone slow because we had to be on 3G but Bryan had to work out at the church.

So it was just me and the kiddo.

That's not easy when I'm used to occasional help from the works-from-home hubby. I really enjoy a "vacation" to the store for some alone time while A naps. Bryan can still work without the distraction of a 2 year old, thanks to the convenient baby confiner of a crib. And I can run errands without having to map out the quickest route before the inevitable meltdown.

I am very blessed. And very thankful.

I did feel bad for Bryan, though, he enjoys being at home and so it was frustrating for him. Finally, they were able to fix it by Wednesday. Something had chewed through the wires and water got in. Simple as that.

So, we're back up and running. And I can finally edit my photos. Hopefully by tomorrow.

Bryan will be leaving again on Sunday, again for NC, again for a week. We're not excited but you gotta do what your boss tells ya to do. And, so, it's a good experience, builds up his resume, blah blah blah ;)

So now I will leave you with my top 10 favorites:

1. My favorite book is This Present Darkness

2. My favorite dessert is hot oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with a scoop of vanilla

3. My favorite flower is peonies

4. My favorite season is late Autumn/early Winter

5. My favorite hobby is photography

6. My favorite colors are blue, green, blue green... and white.

7. My favorite number is 7

8. My favorite verse in the Bible is Hebrews 11:1

9. My favorite animal is the polar bear

10. My favorite place to be is at The Farm

A quick nothin-to-do-with-nothin

I'm really disappointed that four days into November, our stupid internet connection with Mediacom went out and I had to miss blogging for the past week.

Stinkin' Mediacom.

But it's back up and running so here I am.

So, to get back into the groove, I have four memories of each of the four places that Bryan and I have lived in since we've been married, and I thought I'd share it with y'all.

1. Crazy memory: Our very first apartment. First floor and it was tiny, clean, and perfect. We had a half kitchen with a half stove. No dining room, one small bedroom, little bathroom, cozy living room. It was a straight shot through, from the front door to the back of our bedroom. Like a giant rectangle.

We never had to worry about our neighbors, everyone was quiet. The most we got was a dog across the street that would bark at our kitten whenever she would sit in the large front window.

Well one night, in the middle of the night, I woke slightly thinking I heard someone knocking at the front door. I kind of woke Bryan but we didn't hear anything so we went back to sleep. I'm sure seconds later we woke to someone banging on our bedroom window. I mean banging on our window. Right next to us. Scared us half to death.

It turned out to be a police man. He knocked on our front door but we didn't answer so he came around to the back and knocked our bedroom window. As it turns out, he was at the wrong apartment anyway. If I remember correctly, it wasn't anything serious anyway. But still.

2. Freaky memory: Our second apartment. This time we were on the third floor. Thankfully. Because New Years 2005 we had gone to bed early, 10:30-11ish.

Probably around 2 or 3 in the morning Bryan and I woke to the sound of gun shots and screaching tires. Bryan called 911 but he wasn't the first. Turned out someone had tried to run over another guy. When that didn't work they fired their guns.

No one died, which I think is a miracle. We could even see the tire marks that ran up into the grass. Nuts-o.

3. Annoying memory: Our first rental house. Two morning straight at about 3 or 4 in the morning, Bryan and I would be awaken to the sound of a car alarm going off.

I couldn't stand it. I couldn't go back to sleep until it went back off. Bryan can sleep through anything. The house could fall down around him and he still wouldn't wake until he was ready.

We called the cops after an hour the first morning. How could no one else wake to that??

The second morning someone ele called them. It turned out that the car alarm was broken and would just go off. But it only did those two times. At four o'clock in the morning.

4. Happy memory: Our first home. We moved in when I was 6 months pregnant. 3 months later I gave birth to a sweet baby girl. Then for many, many months I would be woken up several times during the night.

But each time I was rewarded with a sweet baby, I could lovingly hold in my arms as she nursed. I love, love, loved it. I still love the memories. I'm still bummed that those moments are now only memories but I love the new moments we share each day.

She wears her tutu, does the hula, and shakes her cute little tush. She gets in the dogs kennel, makes me look, and laughs and laughs and laughs. She says "pease" and "daent you", "bess you" when someone sneezes, "sooze me", and "ya yoo" in response to our own I love you's.

I'll have to do a better catch-up soon but that's all for now. Have a great night!

Stinkin' stinkin-stinkin.

I'm back! Stupid internet connection. I'll post tomorrow. Tonight I will be finishing up my Bible study.

Have a great night :)

And to finish 'er off.

First, let me state for the record so that I may bring this up to my daughter when she's older and hold it over her head, we called her twice on Saturday. Once in the afternoon which she responded with a "Hi Dadda!" and a "No Momma". We think she was telling her grandma that I wasn't there and didn't realize I was on the phone.

The second time was later on toward dinner time. We though we'd call to see how trick-or-treating went for her. It went well, however she didn't want to wear a costume, so she went as a stubborn little girl. And when it came time to talk to us for the second time in one day, we both got rejected. Yes. She said no to wanting to talk to us.

I am, however, really glad she had such a good time. I actually didn't even remember to think about her until midnight on Friday night. And the rest of the weekend, I was okay. It was nice to get away and have some free time. Bryan and I are definitely willing and excited to let her leave for the weekend or even just an over nighter here and there.

Only took 2 years.

So!, Friday. No, Sunday. Which day is it again?

Sunday morning was our day to "sleep in". I put quotation marks around it because that's just what it wasn't, however, it was still nice so really I'm not complaining. Just pretending like I am.

All girls, not just my cabin, woke to the lovely sound of banging pots and pans. The boys thought it would be a good idea to bring a wooden spoon and a pot down to our cabins and so lovingly bang on them to graciously give us a wake up call.

..yeah..

I wasn't startled or anything, it was just like a really terrible alarm clock. The boys even thought it would be a good idea to come back around for a second time since they saw no movement coming from any of the cabins. This time they put the pots directly onto the windows and banged as loud as they could.

I still barely moved. As well as the other girls.

I ended up laying there for another 30 seconds to a year and a half, couldn't really tell just how long, but I got up and woke the rest of the girls up. It's hard being a den mom because I don't want to be a bad guy as well when waking up a bunch of girls. But they were sweet as could be and got up when I told them to.

Good girls.

Breakfast consisted of NO bacon, thank you Brian, and it was tasty.

Worship wasn't too bad, but we were all so tired and my hubby picked such upbeat songs it was hard to get into it but we did the best we could with the little energy we had. The first song pathetically lacked energy but we picked it up by the second and more on the third.

Bryan's and my voice was so shot we were glad it was the last set of music for the weekend.

I don't think I've sung anything since. Yeesh.

I'm actually surprised we hadn't lost our voiced. Impressed actually. And I'm proud of our little worship team. A bass, guitar and two singers. One kid actually jumped on the beat box for a few songs to give it a little depth. Which was nice. Note: Drummer next year, please :)

We ended with our very own Pastor Keith riding in on his motorcycle to bring home the message of A Rebel With A Cause. He did an alright job. It was just okay. Not bad.. Eh.

He seemed to tie it all in together and the kids still listened; even though he was the fourth speaker of the weekend, it was early morning, and they were all super tired- they listened. That means something.

And it was so cool because we had 2 guys who were popular in HS, were going to go somewhere with sports, had everything, then God took it away so they'd make Him first in their lives. Then we had the other two guys who were geeky in HS, no one liked, picked on, and wanted it to be over when God stepped in showing them He would happily carry everything and be everything in their lives.

So, which ever category those kids fell into, there was someone who could relate and spoke on it. So cool.

We ended it off by cleaning up the camp, saying our good-byes and 'see ya next year's, and driving home.

It was a very cool weekend.

When Bryan and I got back to the church we got to stop and talk to our friend Sheila about the weekend. She was so bummed on not being able to go this year that we were excited to talk about it with her and fill her in on the juicy details, fun stuff, and awesome ridiculousness of it all.

After we dropped the last two teens off at home, we headed home ourselves. Thinking we'd get a few hours just to rest, unwind, watch some Dr. Who.. Grandpa dropped off our A. She was super excited to see us, as we were her, we were just too anxious to see 8 o'clock roll around so we could go to bed.

Yes, 8.

We didn't end up going trick-or-treating. We didn't have anyone to go with and our A isn't all that into it just yet so it would have been more trouble than it was worth. So we stayed home, had Papa Murphy's pizza, and ate a lot of chocolate. Don't judge. It was Halloween.

At 6:30 our friends the Pitts' stopped by and we got to see their kiddos cute costumes. A Crockeye..er.. I mean a Hawkeye cheerleader, Iron Man (I think), and Dorothy with a real Toto. He was my favorite.

Thankfully A didn't take a nap so she was ready by 8 to go to bed. Bryan and I went soon there after and fell asleep about 9, 9:30. And everyone slept in until 8:40ish the next day. And all was well.

My Rad Saturday at camp Wannahockaloogie

Saturday morning came way too quickly. I love mornings but I'm not a great morning person unless I have to be. And in this case I did have to be.

I was up at 5:40am to be at the lodge at 6:30 to get breakfast ready. However, there were more girls than there was for things to do, so most of the girls just sat around for the longest time. They rest of the girls did have to do clean up, but I'm sure they wished they could have slept in if they had known that. I do understand that.

Having to lead a group of teenagers in worship early in the morning is not an easy task. Still asleep myself, we had to do what we could to get ourselves going. And if that meant shaking our butts and acting goofy, well, then I was all for it.

The first speaker was Pastor Chris. He did an awesome job. I took notes. I figure that even when the message is directed at the kiddos, that doesn't mean us adults can't take something away from it. And I sure did. Good job Chris.

We had free time, which for me meant watching everyone else play dodgeball. There was no way I was getting involved when the game consisted of volleyballs rather than your typical dodgeball. I saw way too many people get hit in the head. Nu-huh, no way, no how. So I sat out and talked with Mr. Tim.

Lunch and the next speaker followed. Pastor Nate. We only heard the second half, because Bryan and I went out to call our kiddo and see how she was doing. She was great. Really great. So great in fact, she didn't even want to talk with us. Ha! Goober.

Afterwards was the second free time. A group of 15 went to walk the nature trails around the camp that led to caves. It was cool. I have realized that I am so not 16 anymore, but for a 26 year old, I should not be as out of shape as I am. I will have to work on that.

After the first bout, about half the kids headed back to camp, the rest of us went off to find the Mystery Cave. It was worth it. It looked like not much of anything but it fit all 8 of us into it. So cool. I did crack my shin on a rock and I now have a very nice bruise to show for it.

We all even climbed into a tree and got our picture taking. This is when I really realized I'm not 16 and fearless anymore. My shoes weren't as "grippy" as they should have been. But it was fun.

That was the second bout and four split off from us heading back. The last of us finished the full trail off and went to see the labyrinth and the tree houses. Very, very cool but my legs were so dead at this point. I really just wanted to be back at the camp.

From start to finish, approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes of hiking. And not just a flat trail, but over rocks, up and down hills, a bit of rock climbing as well as tree. I was beat.

We had about an hour before dinner and I really just wanted to lay down and rest. I knew that if I did, however, I would not be waking back up before dawn the next day.

So, I got myself out of my cozy flannel sleeping bag, put my bunny slippers on and went on back to the lodge to mingle. Sorta. I sat and let everyone come to me. That's my kind of mingling.

We heard Pastor Phil speak and then dinner. It was soo good. Really so good. This lasagna came back to bite us in the butt.

(more on that in a few)

Then it was Pastor Terry. I must say, all these pastors were wonderful speakers. They flowed together so nicely. Later we found out that they didn't coordinate their lessons. In fact, they didn't even talk about it before hand. It was most certainly a God thing.

He's kind of awesome that way.

Afterwards there was free time. The kids went and hung out while watching a movie. Bryan and I stayed back to talk to the cook Brian. Very cool guy. However, this is when we found out that he put bacon in the lasagna. BACON. Bacon, folks. And when I say it came back to bite us in the butt, I was being quite literal. I'll just end it at that, though, to spare you.

We talked until 10 when I excused myself for a much needed shower. It was sooooo good. Especially after that long hike. On a pretty warm day. When I wore a long shirt under a short sleeve shirt. You get the picture.

Devo's then bed. I hit the sack so hard, I was out before my head hit the pillow and I didn't move until morning. That's rare. I am a wiggle worm when I sleep. But not when I'm that tired.

Morning felt like it came too quickly. And the boys were rude.

Just sayin.

And we're off!

It's national blog month once again. I will do my best to blog each day and now I've been challenged to comment on each blog as well. I will sure do my darndest.

So, to begin, I'll start with this last weekend. It was a slow weekend. Very calm and relaxing. Lots of rest and quiet. That is, aside from spending it at camp with 80 Jr. and Sr. high schoolers.

Bomb diggity.

Yes, I did just say that.

First, I'd like to say, that is was the very first weekend, even a single overnighter for my hubby and myself to spend away from our 2 year old. Long over due, but I wasn't ready until now. And no one could make me before then. It took me a year to let anyone else hold her. Do you really think it'd be any less than two before I'd let her spend the night away from both her parents??

So, Friday afternoon Bryan's parents came and got A. She was beyond excited and couldn't care less that she was leaving us behind. Needless to say, she had a great time at grandma's and grandpa's house.

They left, then soon after we headed for the church to meet the teens. Six kids were able to go. 3 boys, 3 girls. Four sponsors. We were out numbered. But we tricked them into liking us and behaving themselves the entire weekend!

Bryan and I led worship, which meant I had to do actions and be lively and lead a bunch of teens who thought it to be uncool to move during worship. Heaven forbid they encourage a 26 year old and jump around like teenagers.

I eventually got them to. I tricked them, again, into thinking it was cool. Cause it is cool. Who doesn't want to wave their arms around, jump side to side, and point to your butt when you sing the word "end"?

I sure do.

I had the three girls with me for the nights since I was the only female sponsor for our church. But I sure didn't mind. They were such good kids. But we did have to share a cabin. It wasn't bad after the first night.

Strange sharing with a bunch of other people when you're one of the two leaders and you've never been there before and the other person has and she's older than you and probably knows better at what she's doing than you and you're only 26 years old!! But it was all good.

I led devo's for the weekend and the girls did pretty good to listen, pay attention and respond back to the questions I asked. The first night we talk about Philip and the Eunuch. I'm sure glad they didn't ask me what a eunuch was. I would have been able to explain it, I just didn't want to explain it to them. Awkward. Maybe not.

I even brought a bag of mini twix. I slipped into their hearts riding their love of chocolate. Then I made them all tell me a favorite something of theirs. I may have made that too broad of a topic. One girl responded with a, "My favorite is hot guys and men who smell really good." I should have stuck with favorite color or food. Maybe day of the week?

Anyway..

We ended going to bed at midnight which was the bedtime on the schedule. So I cozied up in my flannel sleeping bag topped with a second flannel sleeping bag with my flannel pillow. It was freezing outside of my sleeping bags but I was warm and cozy. I slept alright, only waking once or twice to roll over. I forgot how tiny bunks are so I was afraid I'd fall off. But I slept fairly well.

Then I had to wake at 5:40. AM. It wasn't pretty, but I did it.

Stay tuned for Saturday at Camp Wannhockaloogie...