Back from Camp

I got back from Summer camp on Sunday. Our youth group spent 4 days camping at Donner Lake. We had a great time. Four students accepted Christ as their savior. I had such a blast hanging out with the staff and students. We went rock climbing and boating and swam in the lake etc. Camps and retreats are what keep me going in youth ministry. There's just something about spending several days with students away from their normal life that gets them to stop and think. This was our 4th summer camp with Westside and I think it was the best. This was also my last summer camp with Westside Church because we are going to be attending Carmichael Bible Church starting in 2 weeks. This week is my last youth group and our last sunday.
I cannot express how sad I am to see our time at Westside end. God has used our time their to teach me things I may not have otherwise learned. God used Westside to expand my world vision, to more deeply understand worship, to see what it means to follow and support our leaders, to follow each step God sets before us without needing to see the whole path, to serve our community, that church isn't about me, to grow more in love with God's word...etc. I could go on and on. I am honored to be a part of their family and to have served alongside of them.

Some things God's been showing me.

If you haven't heard, our shirts are in! We have small through XXLarge. So if you've been waiting to get your shirt until we got some more, the time has come! :) We have now had 101 shirts ordered. That's all the actual adoption updates I have.

But let me tell you a little bit about what I've been thinking about and what God is teaching me. A couple of weeks ago I went boating with my family. I was riding on the boat, zooming across Folsom Lake, holding my niece against my chest as she somehow managed to fall asleep, watching my nephew laugh and giggle in complete glee as he held his hand in the spray of the water with my mom. I sat there and soaked it all in and felt like the richest person in the world.

Through this whole adoption process God has really been opening my eyes up to how much I have and how ungrateful I have been. Not only do I have a roof over my head, a closet full of clothes and excess food in my cupboards, I have 2 cars a cell phone, a computer a laptop etc. And yet I complain and ask for more. Sometimes I think I am entitled to these things. As long as Im not being excessive. But who says buying my 10th pair of jeans isn't excessive?

My pastor gave this silly illustration at church a few months ago and it really stuck with me. What if I decided that I really liked toothbrushes. And I had 100 toothbrushes. And I made toothbrush necklaces, and used toothpaste for makeup and wore dental floss as a bracelet and in my hair. And toothbrush earrings. That would be silly right? Why, because toothbrushes and floss are for taking care of your teeth. Not for adorning ourself and hoarding.

Yet that's what we do with the things God provides us. I collect more and hoard. And use my money and my things to make myself look better and more comfortable and more and more and MORE. When does it stop? Do I have the right to have exact pair of shoes for every occasion when people all over the world and even in my own town dont have any? I try to convince myself that God overlooks these things because I live in America and that's just how everyone lives. But deep in my heart, I know that's not true. Paul says in Phillippians that he has learned the secret of being content in plenty and in want. I want to learn that secret. I want to truely honor the Lord with my money and things He has given me. I don't know how this looks. But I know it doesn't look like how I have been living. Just because it's hard to define what's okay and where the line is doesn't mean I am excused from trying. And I can start by seeking Him...

So this isn't intended to put anyone else down. For He has also been showing me that it doesn't matter what other people are doing. He wants ME to look to Him. I dont want to be like Peter when Jesus told him how he would live and Peter said, Well what about John? So anyways, these are just some of the things God has been showing me lately.

Our 8th Anniversary

Today is our 8th Anniversary. It's hard to believe we've been married that long. When we got married we thought we'd wait 4 or 5 years to have kids. Interessting how things don't go how we plan sometimes! But I do hope that next year at this time we will be holding our beautiful african daughter.
It has been an amazing 8 years. If I could go back in time, I'd marry Sam all over again. He is truely my other half. Nobody makes me happy the way he does. Sometimes I just look at him and think, how did I get so lucky? I loved him so much when we got married, and yet it pales in comparison to how much I love him now.
Happy Anniversary Sam.