This year, I have enjoyed a wonderful summer full of growing experiences, academic progress, deep-rooted healing, fun adventures with friends, and a new appreciation for the life God has given me. This year has been so full of experiences that even though it feels like time has flown, I also can't believe that it has only been eight months. My heart is full of gratitude over this transformative season of my life.
I attended a homeschool graduation and watched two chapters of my life collide as I celebrated with both a childhood and a current close friend. That weekend was extraordinarily special. I am so proud of the girls' accomplishments and grateful for all that they mean to me.
Another special event was watching The Sound of Music outdoors with some friends. We sat behind a couple I knew from my previous church: the two of them both had an immense impact on me spiritually, and it was really encouraging to see them again and talk for a while.
The movie was loud enough for people to sing along without disturbing anyone. I was getting over a cold, but belted out every word anyway.
Sometimes we get fascinating donations at the library. I predicted this one's publication year before looking at the copyright date (1973), and was just one year off.
One meaningful aspect of my summer was volunteering with a refugee ministry in my city. The kids read aloud to volunteers to earn points towards swimming at a local Christian camp. Since I love books and am an aspiring librarian, it was a perfect fit for me, and I hope to volunteer more during the school year. I don't have any pictures from the reading experiences, but I do have this snapshot from the classroom environment. No kid knows what #2 is anymore!
I had a terrific time at my church's Fourth of July party. This tea looks ready to audition to be a shepherd in a Christmas pageant.
Family friends who moved to Alabama years ago come back each year to visit friends in the area. I greatly enjoyed our day with them. I played lots of games with Elise and my little sister, and dramatically read aloud old journal entries from our former visits together. I also read other funny stories I came across, and here, I have included photographic evidence that she was genuinely entertained and not just humoring me. She said that I could totally publish what I write in my journals, and I was immensely flattered.
Then next day, I got to see a wedding, and then I went to the beach with Sophie. It was a full weekend, but I enjoyed every bit of it, and took this picture outside the church where I saw a girl I've known almost my whole life get married. It is amazing to reach this stage of life where so many peers are having weddings. The power went off in the church partway through this one, and that was a unique experience, but the venue had good windows and we all made it through. It's not the kind of thing little girls dream of, but it does make a good story!
This summer, I participated in a book study with some other college kids. This was a hugely meaningful experience for me. I learned a lot, grew in appreciation for biblical community, and was amazed by the ways that God worked in our weeks together. The first two pictures are from the evening we prayer-walked in town by the church.
On our last week together, we had a social time. When I took this picture of my friend Levi and his girlfriend, Caley, he said, "Oh, that's going in a slideshow someday." At the end, when we spontaneously desired a night walk outside the nearby art museum, Levi insisted that he had to go home and sleep, because he had work early the next day. Sophie asked, "What's the difference between five or seven hours of sleep?" He answered, "Me wrapped around a guardrail." When they tried to persuade him to accompany us, I said, "Levi, if you think you're going to fall asleep behind the wheel, you need to go home... I want that picture I took of you guys to be in a wedding slideshow, not one for your funeral!"
Other exciting events this summer include visiting with my Ohio friends and going to Michigan with my dad for a family reunion. I will post about both of those experiences next week.
"Friendship
is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather
it is one of those things that give value to survival." - C.S. Lewis
No comments:
Post a Comment