I love summer. I really do. I’m not sure if it’s being a summer baby that makes you more apt to loving the summer, but it’s my favorite season by far. Even in Texas, with all its crazy heat, I LOVE summer. This summer has really been great, I’ve just come off of two church camps in two weeks. Yep. I did the whole camp circuit: student and kid’s camp. At this point you might be asking, “Is she a crazy person?”. The answer is, “yes, I thought we’re long past establishing that”.

Seriously though, I loved my two weeks of camp. I started out my camp experiences at 4am with my buddy Stacy and 12 of our favorite middle school and high school girls in a 15 passenger van. We made our way to Glorieta, New Mexico for Student Life Camp. It was an amazing week (my hubby was there too) and I loved connecting with both the students and adults on the trip. I even learned the art of “enoing”, which is lying in a hammock and chilling with your friends…or something like that.  The best part of student camp was the last night, seeing our kids get vulnerable with one another over what God had taught them through the week. I like to call that the “night of feelings” because with a mix of being tired and the Holy Spirit things get emotional, but also super cool. Between the 70 degree temps, God moving in our students and eating my meals without taking care of small children, the week was definitely better than I expected.

We arrived home late Monday evening and I had just a few days to prepare for my next camp adventure. This time we headed to the scenic Lakeview Retreat Center in Waxahachie, Texas. Okay, so it wasn’t exactly scenic and to be honest, I didn’t have high expectations since student camp was SO much fun. Yet, God knew I needed to be there. I connected with our kiddos, laughed a lot and saw them starting to understand God’s Word. I also recognized the desire in my heart to be a leader to these kids, to be their children’s minister and really continue to work on a ministry that helps them grow and strengthen their faith in Christ. I had some great one-on-one’s with kids and saw how much they needed someone in their life they could trust beyond their mom and dad. Again, another great week in the books. I’m pretty sure I could go to camp all summer long. I miss my girls and my husband when I’m gone, but I love the time with my church community. Plus, the powerful worship each night is an added bonus 😉 I’m already planning to head to camp next year and am praying that those relationships built at camp will continue to flourish this year. I’m looking forward to getting back into a normal routine, but I’m so grateful for the fun I had with our students and kids this summer!

Thanks for letting me share,