An update on life

           My poor blog has sat forsaken for the last ten weeks, while I have been having an amazing (though exhausting) time watching God at work in my and my family's lives.  I want to share a little bit of what God's done this summer:

As some of you know, I left home in early June to serve and grow in the Lord at Eagle Lake Camp (ELC) in Woodland, Colorado.  I was part of the Crew program, which meant that I grew for five weeks alongside other teens, learning more about Christ and working at the camp.  Instead of the usual five-week commitment, God had other things in mind, and I ended up being at ELC for ten weeks.  I did the Crew program two sessions instead of one, and had the opportunity to learn, grow, laugh, and serve double the time I had originally planned.  Halfway through my time at Eagle Lake, I found out that my dad had lost his job.  He found another in late July, and will soon be working for Compassion International in Colorado Springs.  We are in the midst of selling our house in Iowa and are starting to pack up for the move (an adventure with the small children running around everywhere!). 

Throughout the many transitions that have been taking place in my life lately (coming back to the "real world" after 2 ½ months of Christian camp, getting ready to relocate to a different part of the country, beginning to look at the monster piles of school work ahead of me this next year...), I've been able to find God in the middle of everything.  He has been the eye in the hurricane, the safe spot in the center of the storm.  I have been excited to see my faith deepening to new depths, and my hunger for Christ is growing every day. 

            Being at camp in Colorado, away from family and unable to contact them very often, was definitely challenging at times—especially while my dad was job hunting and my mom was trying to get the house ready to sell while pregnant.  I wanted to be there for them to help with my younger siblings, but God's presence in my life made it obvious that I was exactly where I needed to be.  As hard as it sometimes was (though not always—ELC is a wonderful place!), looking back, this summer has been both one of the best and one of the hardest ones yet—and I can't wait to see what God holds in store for me next!