God is doing some amazing things in my life this summer and I just wanted to take a moment to share with you all.  Working at the Edge and having so many other responsibilities has been a really challenge due to the fact that I am always busy with something.  However, I enjoy rising to the challenge and being held responsible for so much.  I like being put in a leadership position because it helps hold me accountable in my walk with God.  Here are some things that I've been doing this summer...

I am a certified facilitator at the Edge so I help people climb the high elements and lead them through team building low elements.  There are eight of us total.  Zanne and Sarah (the two girls pictured with me) are the only two other girls on our Edge staff.

These are the boys we work with minus JP (aka Papa...he is the one who is married with a little baby.)  They are a lot of fun to work with.  I'm glad they're all here.

When we don't have groups at the Edge, we sometimes help the housekeeping girls fold sheets, do linen changes, or help with big turn day.  This is Kara and this is her second summer here.  We have a fun chicken noodle soup song that we like to sing while we're folding sheets.  We either sing that or the Blubber song.

If housekeeping doesn't need help, we get sent to do odd jobs like pulling weeds for four hours.  The good thing about this is we end up having really good talks while we're pulling out those unwanted weeds.

We had an interesting surprise birthday party for Brad.  He turned twenty-three and his guests (us) were dead for some reason.  It was a very serious party to say the least.  Pictured are Levi, John, Sarah, me, and Ray Ray.

This is JP and Hannah at the party.  They at least seem to be unhung.  Aren't they cute???

That pretty much sums up my summer as of right now.  I hope to write again later.

I would just like to take a minute to say just how awesome God really is.  I have learned so much in the past month and I'm so excited about what God is doing in my life.  It's been a very challenging time for me but God has been so good through all of it.

One of the things that God has been teaching me is not to carry the burdens of my friends.  This is something that I have always struggled with in the past because friends are so important to me that is natural for me to want carry their pain and struggles for them.  I've been talking to my boss/friend Andy and he mentioned something to me that really got me thinking.  It was something I already knew but hadn't really accepted.  He reminded me that I wasn't meant to carry the burdens that my friends were meant to carry.  Those burdens were theirs to turn over to God and not mine.  When he said this I was finally at a point of accepting it and I can't tell you what a relief it was to finally be free of those burdens I have falsely put upon myself.

In other areas, God is also showing me that love is a self-sacrifice.  I am learning that I do not love people at the level I claim and think I do.  It's hard to love at a self- sacrifice level because we are all selfish by nature, but yet Jesus loved everyone he came in contact with with that kind of selfless love, and I am training (not just trying, but training) to love like he did.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that with everyone.  God is great and I am so glad that I am learning so much from the challenges he is placing in my life.

Currently Watching I Love Lucy - The Complete Sixth Season see related

So I have realized that I don't really get on here much and whereas I don't know exactly how many people read these anymore, I'm used to talking to myself so this probably won't be any different.   Anyway, college life is going alright; actually it's going pretty well.  My roommate/best friend will be getting married this summer which means I will be without a roommate.  I am happy for her though, and all I can say is it's about time.

God has been teaching me a lot lately about friendships and how to be a good friend.  He's also teaching me how to serve others.  It's been a very humbling experience and I'm pretty excited to see how God's going to use what He's teaching me in my life.

I've decided the Kati and I are Lucy and Ethel.  I'm Lucy and she's, well you get the idea.  I don't know if everyone knows this or not but I Love Lucy.  It's true.

This past weekend I went on a road trip with a couple friends to the Kansas City area.  That was pretty fun.  It felt nice to get away from the dorm life for awhile.  Being in a the Central bubble can be comforting but at the same time it's wonderful to get away from it for awhile.

Spring break is coming up so it will be nice to be away from school work.  Things are a little stressful back home so I'm not sure how long I'll be home for break but it will be nice to at least be back home for a little while.

Anyway, to anyone who still does read these message, I hope things are going well with you and I will try to keep this more up to date than I have in the past.

Currently Watching The O.C. - The Complete First Season see related

Instructions: use the picture you like best from the first (no clicking around for 44 pages) page of the search results on google image, and then answer the following questions:

1. city/state you grew up in (no quotation marks)

This was after the May 2004 tornado

2. the town where you currently reside

This is a picture at Moberly's 24 Raceway