Life Update

Hey all! It has been a crazy summer, filled with challenges and adventure....as we head into the glorious month of August, I can finally take a step back......and breathe!

Maybe these should all have been separate posts, but regardless here's a wrap up of the last month or so:

I surprised the family back in Virginia by showing up for the fourth of July. I spent 3 full, jam packed days enjoying the new family golf cart, watching fireworks, visiting with a few friends, and checking off a long list of things to do and see.  I made it out to the berry farm for ice cream, to Sheetz for a late night snack (made to order!), to the state park to see the Civil War Mobile, and beautiful time spent with family.

Back from Virginia, and it was deep into the trenches of planning and implementing for our Praise Park Fair!!! A few months ago, I posted pictures from Praise Park, the land Saint Joseph has opened as a community park.  It looks vastly different from the days of complete and endless dirt! I spent the day in the amphitheater where we ran our sound equipment off of THREE generators!  In addition to a couple of our praise teams playing, another local worship team joined in on the fun as well as my dear friends of elle/The Remnant. And I was even brave enough (gasp) to play a few of my originals.  The only damper on the day was a quick thunderstorm that blew in, causing us to shut down and cover up for a few minutes before we could start up again.

And Praise Park Fair was so much more than just the music. We had food vendors, sports activities, and a tent full of artisans and local community organizations.  Final estimates put us at around 750 attendees! I cannot think of another time when I've helped with something so big and intricately planned.


This summer has brought deeper and new friendships.  I once heard a wise man remark, "to become old friends, you have to be friends for a long time."  Maybe I had unrealistic expectations of what it meant to really settle in a place.  Since college, I moved and wandered with the expectation that each new place was "temporary".  While I don't know that I can call the midwest my forever home, it's also not a quick step to fling me in another direction.  I'm starting to improve on my quick response to the question, "How do you like Indiana?" Indiana and I aren't old friends yet.... we are still in the discovery stage.....

It's still really hard to be so far from family, but I'm excited for what fall will bring.  There has been this continual theme of "goals" (which the current olympic craze does not help!), where are we headed, what are we shooting for.  It has caused a stirring in my soul, of how to step into this place of leadership I find myself, and how to expand the gifts I'm uncovering and exploring... stay tuned, there is way more to come.