News

Hi blog that I havent written in for a while! Okay so last time I shared about getting my grandma's Bible. Well it must have been Grandma Bible week because my aunt came to visit and brought my other Grama's Bible!!! And there is writing everywhere in the Bible. It looks like she wrote a date for every day that she read a certain passage...at least that's what I'm guessing. Some of i doesn't make any sense, so I'll have to ask her. But I am loving this!

I broke my foot last weekend. I fractured my 5th metatarsal and tore a ligament. My ankle and foot are nasty purple, blue, yellow, and green colors. I'm in this awful walking cast, but I made it a little better by having all the kids and staff and camp sign it and decorate it. Today I bought another pen to let more kids sign it on Monday.

Today my dad came to church and I was really excited that he was there. He seemed very excited afterwards and said that the message was so much like his AA program. He said that every time he listens to Pastor Bruce he hears a lot of AA in the messages. I told him that's good, and maybe he should keep coming back (AA phrase!!) So we'll see!

Grandma

The other night I was searching for a book on one of our extremely packed bookshelves. For some reason I was drawn to this worn down Bible. When I opened it, the front page read "For our daughter Naomi. Happy 21st Birthday. Love, Mom and Dad." It was my grandma's Bible! I never met my grandma because she died a month before I was born from some type of horrible cancer, but everyone tells me stories of how much fun she was and how our personalities are so alike and that we'd be such close friends. I wish I could have met her. Inside the Bible I found a handwritten list of verses, and I could tell that it was her handwriting (almost like my mom's!) and a few of the verses towards the end of the list were my grandpa's handwriting (He died when I was 12). So I started reading through the verses to see what she was praying about and what God was saying to her. Every verse is about healing, trusting Jesus, having faith, receiving a new body, and living for Christ. So she must have been studying those a ton while she was dying, which must have meant her faith was pretty incredible because I'd write those out and call upon Jesus hardcore if I was in her place. Some of the verses written in my grandpa's handwriting were ones about the way to heaven and about faith, which makes me wonder if he was saved and if he is in heaven now. So much of this I never saw in him and I don't talk to my mom too often about, but it was so cool to find the list and the Bible. It kind of gives me a glimpse at who my grandma was and it's like she is speaking to me now!

That Awkward Stage

I hated PE every single year of school because I was not talented in athletics. I wasn't good at any sport. I always finished near last when we ran the mile. The awkward stage that most junior high kids go through, and that many of my kids are stuck in now, felt like an eternity for me. So today I could relate to one girl who took three times as long as the rest of the kids to climb the Spider. Granted, she did it in a minute and 28 seconds, which is faster than I can do. But as the rest of the kids climbed to the top to hang out, she stayed down on the third level. I climbed up to sit with her. She immediately said how she felt terrible about being last and how she isn't good at anything. That sure sounded familiar. I told her my story, and said everyone has something that they are incredible at and some things that we just aren't as good at. We need to embrace our talents and laugh off our weaknesses. Those aren't important. She's in an awkward stage, and I hope she will embrace who she is and not who she wishes she could be. Pray for Mikayla.