Change is in the air

Joy has a face. Session one went; session two brought all new people. I put a hole in the wall. And my hair is highlighted pink. Definitely about the color of the side of my blog, maybe a little brighter. So much has changed and life is busy.
For the die-hard readers (who are probably almost dead because of a certain lack of blogging), I want to apologize. I have no good excuse. With grace, I will try to do better.
I have discovered my own strength since I've been here. And while I wish that it had something to do with my spiritual strength, it doesn't. The other night (ok, it was about three weeks ago,) there was the huge spider the size of my hand crawling on the wall above Corinne's bed by the ceiling. Since it was nearly 3:30 in the a.m. (as my friend Meghan types) we were tired enough to contain our screams. The boys were not over, so the cleanup was left to me because Corinne is scared of spiders. So I grabbed the broom and jabbed at it as fast I as I could because I know that not only are these things fast, but they jump and there is no way that said spider will be jumping on me. The end of the broom and the wall fought to occupy the same space, but in the end, the wall lost. And now, thanks to my underestimated strength, there is a hole in the wall the size of my head. Needless to say, Corinne and I have shared my queen bed since. And all were amazed. We tried to patch it with two pieces of taped cardstock and packing tape, but in examining the area last night, we are going to have to rethink our repair efforts.
The store is running fine. We made the transition to session two, so all of the program, assign team, summer staff, and work crew are different. It's been hard to not compare them, but every attempt to compare is an opportunity to choose not to. That requires discipline. I'm learning. And right now, I'm supposed to be working.

Click on the attemptablog link at right to meet my new Joy.

I have some time!

In the words of Coach K (program characters from a few years ago): Wow! Oh wow! What an unbelievable week this has been. Today we start week 2, and I have barely recovered from week 1. Not only is Southwind a Wyldlife camp (Young Life for middle schoolers), but the first two weeks are urban camp! It's a totally different culture from what I'm used to in Hays, but I most assuredly enjoyed every moment of it. I'm really excited about making this week even better, now that I have some idea of what I'm doing! Working in the store is a lot of fun, except when one of the head leaders comes in and informs you that the next event the campers have to be at is in five minutes and you have a line of nearly 15 customers and one register. That was not so great, but this job is a blessing nonetheless.

Yesterday I didn't go to church with the group because I have issues with entertainment Christianity (which makes the fact that I lead YL very ironic). Anyhow, I have been praying and asking for the Church to rise up here at Southwind and that we could be real and honest with each other in developing community. After all, we are reading Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. A couple other girls stayed home too, and we ended up talking and have heart to heart church while everyone was gone. It was incredible to be a part of the trust, love, faith, realness that was shared between the three of us. It was encouraging to know that there are other people here who can't do religion but love Jesus also. I'm excited for what God is going to do in pulling this group of interns together. Please pray for the unity of the brethen and the willingness to cut deep to the heart of the matter. I miss that kind of walking back home, but am excited to pray it into fruition here!

Much Love.

P.S. Keep Leslie in your prayers as the ob-gyn at the hospital told her she was faking the whole thing and sent her home with a prescription for pain killers. It was not a pleasant situation at all. (Let's just say that because of Leslie's ordeal, apparently his contract will not be renewed.) She is still in a lot of pain from the cysts on her ovaries and it affects everything she does.