Lonely Night in Georgia

[ok so not really...]

    Blogging and pandora, what could go wrong? Well currently on my pandora station is Marc Broussard's song "Lonely Night in Georgia," and while I don't want to admit it, is kind of how I feel right now but on another level. This is the chours of the song...

"It's a lonely night in Georgia
And everything I do reminds me of being with you
It's a lonely night, but I'll be alright
'Cause I'm comin' on home, comin' on home to you..."

     Let me start by saying that I absolutley LOVE SharpTop Cove! Please, please don't get me wrong. I mean, it's a Younglife camp... what's not to love? The last week has been amazing and the community out here is awesome and I am so blessed to be able to be with these people for the next couple months and I am extremely excited to meet the future interns that will be joining me in the next couple weeks! This place is gorgeous, the people are amazing and you can feel Jesus alive and well in every nook and on every hill (yes ... this place is very hilly).

Here are 10 things that in my first week at SharpTop that I love about this place [trust me, there are more than 10...in no order...]:
   1. Sweet Tea - yall I don't know how I survived the first 21 years of my life without it and right now STC has got the sweeeeetest tea in town
   2. Rocking Chairs - there is at least 4 on EVERY porch, real ones, not green plastic ones, real ones! how great is that?
   3. Tee 18 Par 5 - so I'm kind of talking about the frisbee golf course right now meaning the location of Tee 18. It's my favorite spot on camp right outside the Bear Den on the corner of the deck that looks right over toward the Wheelhouse [club room]. There's a rocking chair and a great place to people watch, over look camp, talk to God, read, do homework and look at the stars.
   4. South Fork - This is where the girl interns live. It's a strange little cabin in the woods that not a lot of people know where it is but it's a home and it's our home! Which leads me to my next point.....
   5. Octavia, Dani, LeeAnn and Erin - These beautiful women are the STC yearlong girl interns, my roommates and my friends :) They have been so great welcoming me into their home and making me feel at home. I have had some great conversations with each of them already and I am so excited to get to know them more, especially Erin! and I say that because I actually haven't met her yet! She is my actual roomate and she has been in across the ocean for her brothers wedding since before I got here! So excited to meet you Erin!
   6. Housekeeping 2 - Housekeeping 2 is a golf cart on property. This particular golf cart use to belong to maintenance and they removed the govenor from this particular cart which now allows it go significantly faster.
   7. The Office - yes this is my job and where I get to spend the majority of the next couple months but I already love it. I love our little home and the women I work with and I even love hearing random laugher from guest services around the corner. It's where everyone comes for everything.
   8. You'll never go hungry - right now, we have access to the best food all the time. Our kitchen staff is amazing. nuff said.
   9. Brothers - Joe, Luke, Mike, Patrick and Brandon are the guy yearlongs here. I am not just mentioning them because I mentioned the girls but because they are true brothers in Christ. They are always asking me how I'm doing, if I need a ride back from the Mill, or just how my day was and how I'm adjusting to life at SharpTop.
   10. Georgia Stars - on a clear night like tonight, nothing beats the view of the stars in the middle of Jasper, GA.


     That being said.... I am still 3,000 miles away from home. I've never been homesick before but I guess there is a first time for everything. I miss the Northwest. I miss the Ranch. I miss thursday night line dancing. I miss tuesday night college group. I miss the OSU campus. I miss coffee culture. I miss being 4 hours away from my mom. I miss my roommates who watch survivor with me. I miss 9th & Circle dates. I miss the smell of Juniper once you turn onto the camp road. I miss knowing where everything is on property. I miss Condo 14. I miss the rock pile. I miss hot chocolate at the Khulman house. I miss unorganized untraditional club in the MU. I miss Bushwackers. I miss Eagles. I miss having people who are just as excited about your 5th pair of cowboy boots. I miss having a dance partner. I miss the rain. I miss the ocean. I miss Corvallis Goodwill. I miss Fred Meyer! I miss a lot of things but I do love this place and I do love the south and I do love God and I have to trust Him that this is where He wants me for a while. So while I do love it, sometimes it does feel like
"a lonely night in Georgia
And everything I do reminds me of being [back home]
It's a lonely night, but I'll be alright
'Cause I'm comin' on home, comin' on home to you [Jesus]"
 

This is Me

    As the last couple things start to fall in line for my moving to the south and starting a new life I can't help but have a overwhelming peace about it knowing that "this is ME!" I couldn't be any more excited to drive across the country and find out what God's got planned for me there :)
     I got my acceptance packet for Sharptop Cove the other day and using email addresses of the other people it got sent to, myself and some of the other interns this summer were able to find each other on Facebook (yes I brought it back lol). I already feel like these people are my friends and I haven't even spoken one word to them (well physically). I know that without a doubt this is where I am suppose to be this summer. As much as I will miss being at the ranch I know that neath those Georgia woods is where I need to be!
     All of this originally started with a joke of commuting 2,000 miles to lead Younglife but wow does God have a way of working,.... it's becoming a reality, a really real reality and I couldn't feel more "at home" about this decision.
     I had my last Monday night pool with Shannon, Thomas and Jonathan... my last line dance with the Eagles crew....my last walk around the Oregon State campus... my last Yogurt Extreme... my last Beaver game at Reser stadium (in the fall)... this weekend will be the last time I'll be at the Washington Family Ranch for college work week... you know what is really cool about that thought? The week I became committed to the Lord was my first week at camp after my senior year of high school. It was the very first thing I ever did in Oregon at WFR and the speaker was a guy named Kent McDonald. The very last thing that I am doing in Oregon is college work week at WFR and the speaker this weekend is a guy names Kent McDonald. I haven't heard his name since that first week and I am stoked! He has no idea who I am but I will probably have to restrain myself from bull rushing him when I see him this weekend. Crazy huh? It's like God planned it or something ;)
     Well, I should get some rest but know that things are happening, God is moving and I know that without a doubt, this is me and this is where I need to be... and I'm not even there yet!

This is real 

This is me

I'm exactly where I'm suppose to be and now

Gonna let the light

Shine on me

Now I've found who I am 

There's no way to hold it in

No more hiding who I want to be

This is me!!!!

[DEMI LOVATO]

"Therefore my dear friends, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you will shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life..." [PHILIPPIANS 2:12-16]




Til the next new day ♥ ,