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]"
 

Dear WFR,

     I know I didn't have the chance to say goodbye to all of you before I left but I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for allowing me to come out the last couple years and every time welcoming me with open arms and becoming a real family to me. That place is home to me and where my whole story starts. Before you even knew me ya'll watched me accept Christ into my heart and start to become the girl that God wants me to be. Thanks to another great friend of yours I was able to start and continue an amazing relationship with that place and all of you, past and present :) You guys have seen me in my all time high and my unbearable brokenness and all in all leading to victory. I am so blessed and thankful to have been considered part of the family out there and to have been able to help and serve in literally almost every position I could! (I counted the other day and I think ODC is the only thing I can't check off my list... lol although I did kinda help dig a ditch at work week for a little bit with the Khulman girls haha)
     The work and life experience is something that I will never forget from my time at WFR and there is NO WAY I could forget any of you! I mean c'mon, this is Younglife after all, it's not like it's gonna be forever! It kinda feels like that though. Man I'm sure going to miss you guys, I love how Craig always referred to me as "Off-Property Staff," and just the love that I felt every time I came out knowing I was going to get to see some of the best people in my life. I am serious when I say that you guys have become part of my family. You guys have helped me through a lot and without knowing taught me so much. Some of you I have known for the last couple years and don't know what I would do without you and some of you I only met this year but am so blessed to call you guys my family and friends.
     I am excited for this next phase in my life and I know that a lot of you guys helped me get to where I am now.  I'm so excited for Sharptop and everything that is coming ahead and shoot!! I'm pumped for you guys!! You have an awesome group of interns on your hands and a whole new camp coming in! Words cannot express how excited I am about not only Creekside but the great things coming in at Canyon as well. I expect to get updates btw haha. Alright well I think you guys get the picture, although it hasn't really set in yet that I'm not coming back out there in 2 weeks but sadly, but great at same time, it's true. So.... Everyone, i love you and thanks for every thing :) I promise to keep you updated :)

Love,
♥ ,

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 ♥ ,

You're Gonna Miss This

      So I figured out that while waiting for the bus my iPod gets internet! From where, I have no idea where it's coming from but it's great!!! Anyway Corvallis is beautiful today! And warm too!!! I am about to go on an adventure with my friend Neil. We met freshman year at the University of Oregon and have stayed really good friends even after I moved to Corvallis. I'm excited, our adventures are always amazing. Our freshman year we were able to get into the steam tunnels under the campus and the city. Who knows what we are doing today. I will miss him though, I'm moving and he's going into the peace corps, so I will miss him. Along with everyone else.

   It is getting a little bittersweet now that more and more prices are getting put together. I was talking to a friend in dance class today and we realized that we are only going to have about two more chances to really swing together. He was my "original" dance partner and who I've been able to learn a number of tricks with. We both have been able to branch off and teach the rest of our friends, invite new people to Eagles (or Bushwackers depending on the mood!) and learn new things but we definatley have our own style and it's always fun to go back to that every once in a while .
     Then there is my roommates, it's been an interesting year for sure but I love all three of them. Me and Hannah have become especially close, and honestly if you would have asked me about a year or so ago, I would have thought you were crazy. Same with my friend Thomas, for one reason or another I really didn't like either one of them when we lived in the Courtyard together but now they are probably the two people I spend the most time with. It took a while too. I think that is what I am worried about the most. I have no problem making friends, I'm not shy what so ever. But I love intimate relationships and that closeness and it took me a couple years to find that but I love that and I thrive on that. I know I'll have those connections when I leave here but I also know that it's going to take a little while. I'm ok with that though and I think my internship is really going to help that. I am really excited for the people that I am going to meet this summer!
  
      But it doesn't stop their either, there are 4 of my girl friends I've just started to really get to know this year and I love them all so much! Sometimes I am a tad jealous because they all live together but that doesn't really matter. We have become a dancing machine the 4 of us, and we are all involved in younglife so I've been able to lead with one of them and have many Washington Family Ranch adventures with the other two and one of our other guy friends as well. Just thinking about all the connections and traditions we've developed. Like trips to the Ranch and Monday night pool at McMenamins happy hour and country line dancing! I feel like everything started to really fall into place this year and now I'm gonna have to start all over again. The traditions, the inside jokes, even the comfortability level you have with someone takes such a long time to develop. Case and point, one of my absolute best friends right now, I use to hate his guts about 2 years ago. Now I spend almost too much time with him but love every minute. My friends really are great. From family dinners to dancing, I know that they've got my back and love me as I love them!

   We had a Younglife team meeting tonight and even then I realized this whole other family that has been created in Corvallis! They are going to do such great things, I am so excited to for what this area is going to accomplish as they let God work in them and through them to love on some of the best high school kids I know! We really are a family and tonight was so evident in that.
     I think also to the friends that I have back home in Washington, from high school and such and I am grateful that I've been able to keep in touch with them over the last couple years. It's been a little challenging at times but I do know that the ones that have stayed in my life will stay there forever.
  
  I will never forget my friends here and the traditions we put in place but I am excited to develop new ones and see this adventure God has for me! Thanks to todays technology (and yes I will bring my Facebook back when I move) as well I know I'll be able to keep in touch with all of them. I mean just look at my zip/swing crew from summer staff this summer.

All 9 of us are spread out over 5 states and they are one of the closest group of friends I have right now. I truly believe that the people that are going to be in your life are going to stay there forever. One of them is the reason this whole moving thing came about. Another is like a sister and is coming to see me in a couple weeks!! Another is the goofiest kid I have ever met but is so intentional about keeping a relationship with you and wanting to know what's going on in your life that he will drive across 3 states just to pick you up. All of them are so great and we've loved staying in each others life. It's been about 7 months since we were able to spend that month with each other and it's about now that things start to fade out and people loose touch but I would say they are the 8 people I talk to the most! Not to mention other connections I made on summer staff as well.

 I didn't even know I applied and it was the greatest month of my life!

      God doesn't place anyone or anything without intention. I had one major piece of the puzzle fall into place today. God [IS] Faithful! One more real piece left!
  
 Can't wait to see where this goes.

"Friends come and go but a true friend sticks to you like family"

 {Prov 18:24, The Message}

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this
~Trace Adkins




Til the next new day ♥ ,