Life With the Norman's: August 2012

A few weeks ago, I was able to travel with out youth group to Camp Willow Run in North Carolina as their camp nurse.

I was told before I left that I was going as just a precaution, and mostly to give out medications if needed, but otherwise, they didn't suspect that I would really be needed as a nurse. I don't think I'll ever believe that if I'm told again. One of the lessons I learned was that if a nurse is there, a nurse will be needed. The kids(and counselors) kept me very busy in the 3 days that we were there.

Nonetheless, it was some of the best 3 days of my summer. We have an exceptional group of teens at our church. I enjoyed, so much, getting a chance to get to know some of them. I was very impressed with how they led worship, prayed for each other, included everyone, and all around, seemed to be on fire for the Lord.

The three days we were there were filled with tons of fun stuff for everyone to do. There was canoeing, a high ropes course, archery, volleyball, soccar, a lake to swim in and the red shark...although i was not a fan of the red shark because that was what kept me pretty busy on Thur afternoon. We also had group devotions every morning, morning and evening worship(which I loved), camp olympic games every morning, and all ending with the big skit night, which I got to be a judge for. The skits were very imaginative and creative! I laughed most of the night while watching them.

All in all, it was a wonderful few days! I hope I get to join them again next year.

Here's a few of the pictures from the week.

Ok, this is gonna be a long blog post with tons of pictures, so bear with me. I just fell in love with this place, so it's hard not to just talk and talk and talk about it :)

About 2 weeks ago, I had the blessing to travel with a wonderful team to Rancho 3M in Guadelupe, Mexico. It was by far, one of the best weeks of my life. As we pulled up to the ranch around 9ish at night, the kids were so excited to see us that they started running towards our vans, and as soon as the doors opened and we could get out, they were jumping into our arms, taking our hands and leading us to the playground, and entering our hearts in a way that none of us could have imagined. I was completely overwhelmed (in a good way) at how excited the kids were and how quickly they attached themselves to us.

Throughout the next week, our team was able to serve the ranch in several projects. I was on the painting team, where I had the privilege to help paint almost an entire house for one of the staff families in preparation for their new baby who will hopefully be here very soon :) We were able to get 5 raised beds planted in their orchard with vegetables and complete with a compost heap. One of my favorite ladies, and best friends, Alicia, was able to serve by cutting the girls hair while several other girls on the team spent time curling and styling the girls' hair and painting their nails. We had a team install ceiling fans in the school, and fix swamp coolers. And we were able to do crafts and projects with the kids every day.

Night time was my favorite, when all the projects were finished and dinner was done, we were just able to spend time with the children playing tether ball, swinging on the swings, running around, playing various sports, playing cards( and getting very badly beaten in these card games) and just generally loving on the kids. Night time was also the time when our pastor, Eric, did a class with the older kids. The topic was on dating, and why, when you're so young and like each other, it's still God's plan to wait until your married. A few of us were able to share our stories of how God has worked in our lives in this area with the older kids during these classes.

Sunday was probably my favorite day. We went to the Sovereign Grace church in Juarez, Mexico with all the kids. I was able to ride the bus with the kids which was so much fun, listening to their music and singing and dancing with them. The church was wonderful, in my opinion a little taste of what Heaven will be like, different nationalities, coming together as one to worship God with all we have. Eric preached a wonderful message on Holiness that I was very thankful to hear. Then after church, we took the kids to Carl Jrs.(Hardees) and ate lunch and played with the kids in the play place for hours. Again, it was so much fun to get to spend that time with the kids. On the bus ride home, they all crashed. A sweet little girl slept in my arms the entire bus ride home. It was a perfect day.

This ranch touched my heart in a way that I definitely didn't expect. I loved getting to spend time with the kids. God showed me while I was there, that there is much more to live for than the weak American Dream that so many people are striving for. It's something I've been thinking a lot about lately, but this trip solidfied the fact that I don't want that to be all I live for. God has put us here for much more than to work and earn money for ourselves and our own enjoyment. I'm thankful for that realization. My prayer is that I will continue to be convicted of this long after the high from the trip ends. I'm also praying that God will lead me back to the ranch, hopefully next year and for years to come.

Here's a few of my favorite pictures from the week :)

This game is much harder than it looks and the kids are pretty good. I lost every time I tried to play

Nate had fun demonstrating the correct way to burn our trash.

This cute kid jumped in my arms the first night and told me he loved me. He stole my heart right away :)

I enjoyed so much getting to know these 2 girls more, it was a privilge to ge tto work with them.

We taught the kids how to do Chinese jump rope, they loved it and played it for the whole week.

These girls made pies and pizzas to sell to us

This cute kid beat me in tether ball about 20 times in a row and just laughed at me the whole time, it was so much fun to play with him!

My dear friend, Alicia, serving the girls by cutting all their hair and making them feel like princesses for a day

The kids loved being spun around and around on this tire swing. It made all of us adults sick every time we got on it, I have no idea how they weren't sick, they woudl just laugh and scream in delight.