The Fish Tank

It has taken me quite some time to figure out what to write as my final post about the summer.

I am now sitting here in my living room in Angola, IN thinking "Wow.... what just happened?" West Virginia almost feels like a dream because I came home and things were pretty much exactly like I left them. I feel like I have just endured a summer of stretching and life changing and I come back wondering "Now what?"

Fortunately, my family has been here and I have been able to just love time to catch up with them. It is great to know that home is always home, no matter what. In the time that I have been home, I realize that SO MUCH has gone on. After living in a routine, following Youth Works schedule to a T... I'm sometimes surprised at the variety that has been going on. :) Dinner doesn't ALWAYS start at 5:30.

Overall, my time home has been wonderful. I have needed the time to start processing all that God did over the summer. Now I know I'm not going to really ever see ALL that He did but at least I have had a little break before running right into my Junior year at Indiana Wesleyan University. This 3 week break is perfect.

Some of the things I am starting to take away from the summer have to deal with worry. This summer God basically obliterated my comfort zone. I was stretched and pushed beyond belief but I think that is the main reason why I can now say that I LOVED everything that happened. God was in charge, and I was forced to trust Him.

I was up in front of 70 people every week talking about God, and yeah... I was a little nervous. I felt unqualified. But I got to witness God transforming youth and pushing and stretching them. WOW! Not only that, but I was able to invest in a community and have a town I had never heard of be my "home" all summer long. The people there were incredible. Raw, and just open about who they were. I loved it.

Now that I am settled at home and once again driving "The White Pony" (For those of you that don't know... that's what we call our big white Astro van.) I have now become aware of how thankful I am that we can pray. My time in Lincoln County, WV is over for now. But the awesome thing is that I can still keep the whole area in my heart and pray that God's work wasn't just happening because Youth Works was there. He can still send people there and He can equip others in the community to just continue spreading His love. PTL.

There have been some funny things that have happened now that I have been home. :)

Mom recently had surgery on her knee and so now that I am home I have become QUITE the chauffeur. On Monday we had to go to Fort Wayne for her follow up appt. so of course... we did a little shopping before. :) Well as we got settled into the packed waiting room, it was obvious that they were a little behind. Mom said that she was the last appointment of the day so I knew we were in for the long hall.

Overall, the weather had been quite temperamental that day.... It'd be raining and then BOOM completely sunny. As we were sitting there, Mom looks down this long hallway outside and says to me, "Look out there! It just looks like it is POURING! Doesn't it look like that?"

So I looked and said, "Yeah, I guess it is."

Mom reiterates, "It is just POURING!"

Then I look again and say... "Mom. We're looking through a fish tank."

So in this crowded waiting room, my Mom and I just start laughing to the point of crying. Finally Mom gains enough composure to say, "Well maybe that's why it looks so wet."

As you can see, I seem to be adjusting well. Mom needs me. :)