i apologize

this entry has no images of a decorated home

tips for shopping

or holiday recipes

its not even my post on Hope

{coming monday}

i leave in a few hours to head out

with dozens of leaders

& over 400 middleschoolers

(which incidentally is only a portion of the of those that show up every sunday morning & wednesday evenings at our church)

to go camp

thats right

i'm headed to camp

& i'll be honest

i've prayed all week that the Lord will get me fired up about this

or better yet,

send me a 24 hour stomach virus

that would not only drop 5lbs off me

but would render me helpless

as a camp chaperone

sorry...true confessions

i'm a former night owl turned

total morning girl

& i need my warm comfy cozy all white shabby chic downcomforter bed

not a sleeping bag

(we are in cabins...did you think i meant camping....like tent camping?)

besides the fact that high's tomorrow will only reach 41

that's minus the windchill &

the predicted snow

(insert, non camping southern girl here)

are you getting the picture?

each night the events are scheduled to midnight

good lord

that's only a few hours

before my internal alarm is going to go off

i'm feeling very ill prepared for this level of fun!

but i'm here to tell ya

i woke up today

& really feel like the lord has given me joy about this weekend

i'm excited

i'm driving myself,

savannah & her bff

( i drew the line...no bus riding with said 400 middleschoolers)

honestly

spending time with them is one of the things i'm completely excited about

you see

the vision our youth pastor has

is on wednesday nights

over 1,000 kids show up for the most awesome night of the week

there's loud music

& crazy skits

our youth pastor teaches them each week how God uses folks in the bible

former prostitutes, murders , adulterers

the list goes on

& how He redeems them & uses them for GREAT things

we break into small groups

& the highschoolers teach the middle schoolers

they prepare all week for this time

i am priveledged to be the adult leader for the group savannah leads

i am blown away proud of her

& how she loves on these girls,
teaches the word &
lives an example they can follow

blown away proud

as i thought about what i might prefer to be doing this

first weekend in December

i felt a shift in my heart

is this weekend convenient for me?

not at all

but if i get the chance to love on even just one child

whose home life maybe isn't so great

who hasn't seen the love of God lived out in their world

then perhaps

what better time that the first weekend in December

to teach them about Jesus

& how he loves them

& that's always convenient!