Even though on one hand I'm ready beyond ready for fall to make its appearance, on the other hand I'm not quite ready to let summer go...  it's like a beautiful chapter in a book that I hate to see come to a close even though I'm dying to read what's about to happen next.  So in honor of looking ahead to what God has next in store for me and my life, here are a few of the highlights to close out the chapter from my summer of 2009.

Arts Smarts Camp – One of the highlights of my summer in the realm of children’s ministry is helping out with Arts Smarts Camp.  Over 700 preschool thru elementary students invade our church building for one week to learn & do everything arts related.  I helped out with the 1^st & 2^nd grade division this year.  We talked about creation, made animal masks, wrote a short story together, learned about instruments & music, made our own embroidery-hoop drum, and dived into the cooking world as we made a fabulous dirt dessert treat.  The week’s focus was on giving Everything to God – and that we did!

Baptisms – The awesome thing about summer is the way God touches hearts through the various camps and retreats.  I had the privilege of helping baptize one of my 5^th grade girls Taylor up at Camp Illiana.  Later on this summer I had the privilege to baptize another sweet 5^th grade Sontown regular named Hannah and her mom, Jenny.

Children’s Camp 2009 – This year’s camp theme was Vertical Revolution and it was all about prayer.  This was also the first year in having Pastor Brant as our dean for the week and it was at his urging that we presented the Vertical Revolution to our 4^th thru 6^th grade campers and connection we have with God through various times and forms prayer.

Drive-In Movies – Going to the drive-in is the official kick-off to my summer, as I have gone Memorial Day weekend for the past 3 summers in a row.  This year’s double feature was Night at the Museum 2 and Monsters vs. Aliens.  I am such a kid at heart!

Evansville Construction – Summer 2009 would not be complete without mentioning all the road construction projects that have gone on here in Evansville as well as in Newburgh.  Probably the most frustrating project happened on Lincoln Ave which is the road right in front of my apartment complex.  My half mile drive to the church that would take me all of 2 minutes (I can see Crossroads from my dining room window) was suddenly detoured around town because of construction and would take me 10 minutes (sometimes longer) to get to the church every day.  Thank goodness the Lincoln Ave project is finished!

Flying Home – My first time flying home for a vacation since living in Evansville happened this summer due to my overly packed summer schedule.  I must admit it was a lot of fun being up in a plane again.  I also loved how God calmed my worries about not being able to navigate around with enough time on the way home to Cedar Rapids when He made my gates at my connection point in Chicago right across the way from each other.  I literally stepped out of my arrival gate and was staring at my departure gate right in front of me.

German Chocolate Cookies – I know this is a little late for summer reminiscing, but I found this recipe in my September issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine and I must include this find in my post.  These cookies are amazing – probably my new favorite cookies to make and share with friends!

Hikes – I’ve been to quite a few parks this summer and have enjoyed God’s beautiful creation while going on walks and hikes.  (Check out the July 4^th & Fireworks entry below to find out about who’s been keeping me company on all these walks and hikes!)

Ice-Cream – No doubt about it summer would not be summer without including ice-cream in the mix!  I’ll take a double scoop of vanilla ice-cream with hot fudge sauce, please!

July 4^th & Fireworks – I can remember back several summers ago when I had to spend the 4^th of July all by myself.  My family was out of town on vacation, my older brother who remained in town was working that night, and I was stuck at home by myself with no friends to hang-out with.  Even though I went to watch the fireworks in downtown Cedar Rapids, I took a book with me to read so I wouldn’t feel so lonely.  Talk about depressing!  Well, this summer I had the most splendid rainy 4^th of July that prompted a long awaited DTR talk and the start of a dating relationship with an awesome guy named Rock Powell. Our first official date together – dinner and then watching the fireworks in downtown Evansville by the river!

King David & The Fruit of the Spirit – Summer fun also invaded our children’s ministry programming on the weekends as we did a summer study over the Fruit of the Spirit and the life of King David.  The lesson series was entitled, Berry Blast Theme Park and had us excited each week as God took us on the ride of our lives!

Louisville, Kentucky – Besides going home briefly in June, I also got to hang out with my family (My parents, Aaron, Joanna, and Becca) in the fun city of Louisville for a few days in August.  School had just kicked off so we missed a lot of the touristy things to do, but we definitely made the most of our explorations together in downtown Louisville.  I certainly had a lot of fun taking loads of pictures of the various buildings and architecture.  Besides wandering around downtown, we also had a great time riding go-karts together on a 2 mile track and going mini-golfing.

Missouri – One very important road trip that I took this summer was to Missouri… more specifically to Rolla to hang out with Rock for a weekend and also to Iberia to meet Rock’s family.  Both were amazing.  I certainly can’t wait to do them all over again, hopefully sometime soon!

Narnia – I started this late summer/early fall to re-read through the Chronicles of Narnia.  Still amazing, even the second time around.  Right now I’m in the middle of “A Horse and His Boy.”

Only with the Hirsches – Yes, only with Chris & Lisa Hirsch on Memorial Day hanging out with a bunch of friends will you experience the craziness of a cookout & playing volleyball in the rain.  I can’t remember a time when I laughed so hard with this amazing group of friends!

Praying in Color – Earlier this year I was introduced to a creative way of praying called praying in color.  It’s all about doodling and drawing out your prayers through pictures and words and silent petitions from your heart.  During our camp week at Illiana, I introduced this concept of praying in color to over 200 4^th thru 6^th grade campers as well as numerous adult leaders.  For many, it has been a breakthrough way to communicate with our Creator God.

Quiet Times – Other fun quiet times and connections with my Lord happened at many various times and locations… by the river on my lunch breaks, at the airport while I was waiting on my flights, in coffee shops, while taking walks by the lake, underneath the stars, as I drove in my car… I wouldn’t trade any of those moments.  Although sometimes I wish I had added even more to the collection!
Reflections – (You might want to skip down to Tampa and read its entry first…)  Tampa Reflections 2009 was an amazing time for me because I got to hear a lot of stories about what happened during that week that I didn’t personally get to experience.  Hearing Alex’s hilarious story about how Bill is like the Incredible Hulk when he works or Jordan’s unforgettable story about semi-overcoming her fear of heights and spiders during the demo project, stories about the people we came into contact with down in Tampa and the way we were able to spread the hope of Christ to a hurting community… Tampa Reflections 2009 was a joy to my soul.  I can’t wait to do it again!

Summer Swims – Crossroad’s Children’s ministry has an ongoing tradition of hosting pool parties for our elementary students during the summer months.  We choose one grade at a time and invite them over to one of our super awesome sponsor’s backyard pool, complete with a diving board and waterslide.  What could be more fun than an afternoon of diving for quarters, having cannon ball contests, playing Marco Polo, tossing and flipping students, and seeing how many pool noodles are needed to make the perfect rafting contraption?

Tampa – I went to Tampa, Florida, with the high school mission trip in late July/beginning of August.  It was my first time ever to Florida and my first time acting as a sponsor for a mission trip.  I was a little nervous going into it, but I definitely had a lot of fun!  This past spring I helped out with the HS Choir, Tribute, and I was glad to see them do such a fantastic job with their musical performances in the park.  Our 75 going strong group also completed some demolition & building projects, packed over 1500 backpacks with school supplies, loaded hundreds of boxes with food and delivered them door to door in downtown Tampa, participated in a Sports & Arts Camp, as well as a backyard VBS.  We worked hard, grew as a group together and grew closer to Jesus, and never even made it to the beach… but what an amazing week it was nonetheless!

Up & Coming – The up and coming changes that I knew about this summer were some of the changes we hoped to implement (and already have, now) in Sontown, our children’s worship services that happen on the weekends.  The biggest change has been creating two different Sontown services going on simultaneously – one for the 1^st & 2^nd grade age group and one for the 3^rd thru 5^th grade age group.  With that change came a shift in my responsibilities.  I am now the 1^st & 2^nd grade division Leader & Coordinator.  It is now my responsibility to recruit, train, & shepherd volunteers that work specifically with this age group, create our small group curriculum for this age group, as well as develop the large group teaching materials for this age group.  I also have been in charge of theme ideas, main points, memory verses, logos, stage sets & design… pretty much I love creating the whole package and making all the details work together.  But nothing is more important to me than having God’s Word of Truth reach the hearts of our elementary students and have them be forever changed by His grace and love!

VBS – Another official kick-off to my summer is VBS since it happens the first full week in June.  This summer’s theme was “Live It Out” and each day focused on a way that disciples live their lives out loud for Jesus.  I hate to brag on numbers, but when our VBS week rolls around there is practically a mega church present in preschool & elementary students alone… not to mention all the junior high, high school, and adult helpers!  We had a super fantastic week of VBS here at Crossroads and I can’t help but think about the super fantastic week of VBS that I was able to be a part of and bring down to Tampa (with quite a few helpers, of course!).  Honestly, it was the biggest growing experience for me during this whole summer.  It was amazing to see kids from rough neighborhoods excited about hearing the Word of God (some of the stories we shared they had never heard before!) and literally be transformed by its power during the week.  Those kids touched my heart and I will forever be changed.  I’m gonna take it in, L-L-L-Live it Out!

Wedding (Scott & Stasia) – So the whole purpose in my flying home this summer was to see my cousin and dear friend Scott get married to an amazing lady named Stasia.  The wedding was beautiful, their testimony together has been outstanding, spending time with my family was splendid, being a help in the wedding & reception was better than I imagined, and one of the highlights of the evening was the photo booth they had set up a the reception for crazy pictures and writing encouragement notes on scrapbook pages to the newly married couple.  May the Lord bless you, Scott & Stasia, as you continue to live your lives to give glory to Him!

eXtremely Incredible Friends – Uh-huh, there’s no doubt about it!  I have the most extremely incredible group of friends around!  Friends that invite me to the movies, friends to rent movies with, friends that kick back on beautiful days, friends that I can talk to at any time about any thing, friends that I go out to eat with for special occasions, friends that I can invite over for ice-cream and laughs, friends who are not afraid of being crazy and silly for the Lord, friends who support me and the ministry that I do each week, friends who will continue to be my friends for many years to come…  Yep, my friends are the best!

Yielding – If there is one thing that God has been teaching me this summer it has been about patience and yielding to His ultimate plans and purposes for my life.  It gets really hard when I think I have everything figured out for myself and my plans look soooo good!  But I know that what God has in store for me is worth waiting for.  So I will continue to yield and surrender to His ways and allow Him to be the Lord of my life.

Zoo – Since the July 4^th weekend was rainy & way too wet Rock & I held off on our zoo trip till his next visit to Evansville. We spent 4 hours or so at Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden.  Let’s see, we enjoyed looking at a variety of animals, holding hands, and being amazed by our awesome Creator God…  what an incredible time!

In junior high I had a lot of friends who always needed someone to talk to about their problems.  They all came to me.  And I figured if I was already good at listening and giving advice then I might as well get paid for it as well.

A couple years later, all the freshman in my high school were made to take some sort of quiz by our guidance counselors that tried to pinpoint areas of talents, interests, etc, and then make suggestions as to what career we should pursue.  My quiz came up with interior design & decorating.  At the time I had a weird sort of fixation with colors and patters and such… it made sense… that was what I was going to do with my life.

A few years later and a few years wiser I realized that God ha d already placed a calling on my life and He was inviting me to take part full-time vocational ministry.  I was up for anything to do with missions, music, or munchkins.  That’s where I’ve landed today and I know that He is still teaching me more and more about His plans for my life yet to come.

Some days I think when I grow up that being a nurse would be fun job… or a “soccer mom”… or getting the chance to be the voice for an animated Disney character…

Well yesterday for VBS we were told to dress up like what we wanted to be we grow up.  I didn’t really know what to do.  I mean, I already am living out my dream.  I’m working with children every single day and helping them know, love, and follow Jesus Christ.  There isn’t anything else I’d rather continue to do as I grow up!

In thinking about my outfit/costume, I decided I would remember back myself as a kindergartener and what it was that I wanted to be when I grew up all those years ago.  And that was a ballerina.  In kindergarten I wanted to grow up to be a ballerina.  So this is me, at 26, finally living out my when I grow up dream!