I dunno if you can see this well...but here are 5/6 girls! :)

Better late than never...

My wonderful, amazing camp!!

First of all, I know I suck (to put it bluntly). I am SO sorry that I am just now posting a blog. I have no excuse. We are are all busy so that is not a good one. Jesus is breaking me of my inability to sit down at a computer for more than a few minutes to "creep" on Facebook; but, it's a slow process. So pray for me. haha just kidding...sort of.

Anyways, where to start?! I remember meeting with a mentor of mine the day before my last exam before summer and one of the things that she prayed over me was "Jesus, I just pray that you would rock Rachel's summer." And as funny/cliche as that sounds, He totally has.

Upon coming home for the summer, I wasn't really sure all that I would be doing. I knew that I would be taking my last semester of Spanish (thank you, Jesus, I'm finished!) and that I would possibly be interning at my church at home (Lake Pointe). But I still wasn't quite sure what that was going to look like. So needless to say, coming home was something that I was looking forward to as far as a "break" from school and time with the family and seeing old friends, but I was a little disappointed because I didn't think I was going to be doing anything "big" like going to Sky Ranch or Pine Cove or a mission trip to China like so many of my friends were going to be doing. But, boy did God show me that He can prune branches from me and do a work in me right from my home town of Rockwall, TX.

My second week of summer, I met with the Director of Community Missions from my home church, and by the end of the meeting, Enid, my boss, put me in charge of a new "project" they were going to be doing with Lake Rockwall Estates. Lake Rockwall Estates is a poor community in Rockwall that is heavily populated with mainly Hispanics. And the "project" I would be heading up was called "Bridge to College". So... I worked with 6 Hispanic girls-teaching them how to apply for college, scholarships, informing them on SAT/ACT/FAFSA but also doing a Bible Study with them called "The Freshman 15" and basically teaching them ''life skills" as Enid calls it. So, naturally, I got all excited(intense) about it-planning out the program, what I would do with the girls, when we would meet, etc., etc. And a lot of what I "planned" worked and went great!... And others still "worked" but didn't look how I envisioned it would. But as a Pastor told me three quarters of the way through the program's completion was, "Rachel, stop envisioning. It's never going to look how we envisioned it would." Wow, was he right! I went in to meet and "help" these girls full force, and God totally broke me of my tendency to plan and perfect and produced lifelong relationships with 6 lower income, first generation Hispanic girls that just needed someone to cast a vision for them of a future. And with God's grace and mercy, He chose me. But chose to teach me flexibility. I went in to "teach" these girls, but I said good-bye to them last Thursday with them having taught me. It can be real easy to plan our lives, our goals, or our "projects" that someone places us in charge of...But at least for me, so many times I can miss out on the people and the Holy Spirit. Because at the end of this summer, my plan didn't matter but His did. So that was the big learning experience of the summer. But, it was also so much fun!

It's been fun seeing some friends from college during the summer. Some of you know Anne Freer and Marissa Smith who are in Ignite. Anne was able to come up for about a 24 hour window on some weekends for her breaks from Sky Ranch, and I got to go visit her in Houston last weekend. I visited Marissa a couple of weeks ago in Amarillo, and she got to go on a family vacation with my family and me in Sea Side, Florida. My brother got to come down from Minnesota, which was a HUGE blessing. We haven't had all four of our family members together in quite awhile so that was really fun! There's no place that I can relax more or "Be still and know that He is God" than the beach. Man, Jesus was creative when He created the ocean. I mean, for realz! :)

Anywho...besides having a week of screw-ups last week with denting Marissa's car and trying to flush paper towels down the toilet (I know, dumb!) which led to an expensive carpet cleaning bill (my parents are ready for me to go back to school due to the expensive week), my summer has been pretty smooth...:)

Even though, I have been "Blog MIA", it doesn't mean I have been "Prayer MIA", I promise. I've been praying/thinking about you guys all summer!! I can't wait to see you very soon!!

Much much love!

Rachel :)

Greetings from Graham

Hey Camp Birthday,

Right now it's about 2 weeks from camp, get pumped!

This summer has been an interesting one for me to say the least. I have been working for my grandfather at his ranch in Graham, Texas. For those of you who don't know, which I'm guessing is most of you, Graham is about 100 Miles west of Dallas, basically the beginning of West Texas. My g-dad has about 100 cattle and around 200 acres of land, and I pretty much do whatever handiwork needs to be done.

Another major part of my job involves driving my grandfather to visit other property he owns around the area and taking him to doctor appointments. He's 86 and isn't the best driver in the world. We go to a combination of Granbury, Fort Worth, Burleson, Benbrook, and Dallas almost every week. Each of those cities is at least 80 miles from the ranch in Graham, so I've clocked in a respectable amount of driving to say the least! So essentially, I'm like Charlie in the movie Scent of a Woman (sketchy title, I know), and my grandfather is like Al Pacino's character, except for the whole blind thing. Sorry for those of you who didn't get that movie reference, I had to try.

My grandfather has been struggling with a sore on his leg that won't heal as well as nerve pain due to lack of blood flow reaching the wound. He's had 2 surgeries this summer to clean out arteries in his leg to help improve blood flow, and fortunately after the second surgery he's doing significantly better although the pain and sore haven't completely gone away.

So that's been my summer in a nutshell: cows and small towns. Graham during the week and at home in Dallas on the weekends.

I'm looking forward to seeing the best camp ever in 2 weeks, Birthday represent!

-Andrew

Summer Skype!

Ok, so I don't know how many of you have had the thrilling opportunity to skype with Thomas, but I did last night and let's just say it was an experience! I was able to capture a few of the great moments and wanted to share them with you guys...

So basically it was a Thomas Magbee dance party. Like I said, quite the experience! Anyway, I'm sure you all want to go skype with him now! Hope everyone is doing well! See you all very soon : )

-Lainey

I'm out of Veracruz!

Hey!

I have been back from my sailing trip for a couple of weeks now. Veracruz was pretty cool to explore!

We saw the lagoon, waterfall, ugly monkeys, etc. Pretty interesting! But I was really ready to set sail! So we finally left on Tuesday.

Because of Hurrican Alex the sea was really rough! We had 17 foot waves! We were being tossed around like we were in a washing machine! The waves were so big I wasn't really given the opportunity to learn much about sailing... they only let me drive once and I learned all the ropes but was never really asked to do anything so I was kind of bored, despite the raging seas. I did a lot of reading. The very first night, I was sleeping in my bed and a flying fish jumped through the hatch right above me and landed right in my lap! I was so freaked out! It was shocking for both of us! lol.

The third day of the sail was just a terrible day. I decided to take a quick shower, because I thought I should shower at least once that week... lol. So I go below deck (I usually avoid going under because that's how you get seasick, because there is a lot of movement down there) but I decided to risk it. I got in the shower and immedietely started feeling pretty awful, so I hurried to get done. I was finally cleanish and as soon as I got out, a wave of salt water soaked me! I angrily dryed off and opened the bathroom door. Then the boat heeled over and my wet feet caused me to slide across the boat and slam into the oven! ouch! I then put on my raincoat, very peeved, and go to the top. I'm sitting there... not feeling very good... and then I threw up all over myself!! It was just terribleeeee!

I was looking pretty rough by the end of the trip... but on good days there was beautiful weather. I would soak up the sun and listen to Bruce Springsteen and all would be well. I'm very glad to be back now! I've decided the trip wasn't fun... but it was an adventure! One thing that helped get me through some of the miserable moments was this cool verse that I read in Psalm.

Its Psalm 42:7-8: "Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts; all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life."

Now I'm just working, really looking forward to Ignite! Can't wait to see y'all!

p.s. Check out my awesome video of my birthday party! lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtqW2q2mAuQ

Less Than a Month!!

Good morning, Camp Birthday!

Ignite is less than a month away and I am so dang excited!

It's been so fun reading about the summer adventures of everyone! It's definitely the next best thing to actually getting to see you!

So my summer has been pretty great so far. It really hasn't been to eventful, but just really nice to be home in Llano! I babysit during the week for a family that I just love! Twin boys, 4 years old, and their big sister, who is 6. Needless to say, we have a lot of fun!

The weekend of the 4th I went out to Ft. Davis (west Texas) with my family to spend a few days. Both of my brothers are living out there for a few months so it was much fun dropping in to visit them! Don't know if any of you have heard of the famous Marfa Lights in Marfa, Texas... but if you haven't, you should google them. They are AMAZING! (ps. note the mustache of the brother on the left -- this was a recent development. not sure how i feel about it!)

We went out to the viewing center for the lights one afternoon to goof around. My brothers are always a riot... so this was more fun than I could have asked for!

Other than that, not too much has been going on. Being home with a set schedule (of early mornings!) during the week has really helped me in the area of self-discipline, which has in turn been HUGE in helping me become more disciplined in my spiritual life. Last semester I felt pretty inconsistent in the time I spent in the word and in prayer, so it has been really nice being able to focus hard on that these past few months and begin to see just how much having consistent time with Jesus really impacts every other aspect of my life!

I am so ready to see everyone and really just cannot wait for Ignite! Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the last few weeks of summer! See you all very soon!

-Lainey

Oh my goodness I love Camp Birthday and am beyond excited that I get to see yall in 28 days! :)

My summer has been absolutely insane, between traveling back and forth between Austin and Houston for graduations/weddings and traveling in and out of the country, I don't even know where I live anymore!!

My brother graduated from high school at the beginning of the summer and will be attending a&m in the fall...don't worry my family already has a "house divided" flag out front. I'm excited for him to start the next chapter in his life.

I traveled to Mexico with a group of friends and stayed at an all-inclusive resort on the Riviera Maya. It was...FANTASTIC. I highly recommend going if ever the opportunity arises. It was a great and relaxing way to end the school year/begin the summer.

Soon after returning from my adventures in Mexico, I went to go work at my summer externship. I worked at Camp Champions as a nursing student for 3 weeks. It was a great experience. Lots of ear infections, splinters, sore throats and homesick kids. I learned a lot and am so glad God provided me with the opportunity to go work at this camp.

After playing nurse for a couple weeks, I came home for 2 days to get ready for my trip to Egypt. Yes, Egypt...?!?! I went with a group from stone to work with a missionary/doctor in Cairo, Egypt. It was an amazing experience and I'm still trying to process everything God showed me while there. God really revealed to me his power and love while I was there. I heard incredible stories from Muslims who had converted to Christianity. The persecution they faced was unbelievable and made me realize how blessed I am to live in America and freely follow Christ. Our group attended underground churches to encourage the believers there. It was an eye opening experience and I am so grateful that I was able to experience Christianity in a place where it is not accepted.

After being back for 2 days, I'm still trying to figure out what time it is and soak up as much of America as possible (aka eat as much as I can :) ). I miss yall and am absolutely stoked to spend an ENTIRE WEEK with yall :) I hope that Gods presence has been evident in your lives this summer. I love each and every one of you and am praying for you.

If you are in Austin, call me and we will hit up Sno Beach...no questions asked :)

-Courtney