Imagine a week...

in this place

with these teammates

hanging out with precious faces like this

and these

and theirs

playing lots of soccer

and lots of "soccer-tennis"

all while remembering this message

Jehová es mi pastor; nada me faltará. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want. Psalm 23 is La Senda's current focus, and, in many ways, the Scripture passage of my summer. We've become numb to the words because they're over-used and often quoted, but there's a reason this chapter became so popular in the first place. It's full of beauty and truth and promise. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever...

The only words better than these are those of the kids' benediction that they say, in echo form, at the end of each night's devotion message.

¡Cristo vive!

A su nombre - ¡gloria!

A su gloria - ¡victoria!

A su victoria - ¡Amén!

Christ lives! To his name, glory! To his glory, victory! To his victory, Amen!

Truth, spoken by 18 children nightly. Children who cause me to laugh more in one week than the other 51 weeks of the year combined. Children who have been abused, neglected, orphaned, but rescued. Children who have stolen my heart.

I cannot give them all that they need, but our Heavenly Father can. They can overcome anything, and we can overcome anything, because Christ lives. He is glorious, he is victorious, and he is our Good Shepherd. If I have to leave the people and the place that - like so many other places, has become a home to me - leaving in that knowledge and hope is the greatest way. Cristo vive, and that is enough. Amén.

Caneel Bay

St. John.. It is such a wonderful place. It's hard to believe I was there one month ago. As cliche as it sounds, it really feels like just yesterday when I was kayaking the beautiful bay waters of Caneel, hiking the six mile Reef Bay Trail to see ancient petroglyphs at the base of a waterfall, and enjoying "Island Time" with my family as we celebrated birthdays and life's blessings around the dinner table. I wish words could describe my experience fully, as well as the treasured scenes I tried to capture with my point-and-shoot... but maybe with both my words and pictures you can piece together a visual of your own.

["Do these glasses make me look Royal?"-Amanda]

[Enjoying the ferry ride over to St. John]

[Grandfather, or as we like to call him, Goggy (or Gogs), at Nannie's birthday dinner]

[On the way to snorkel where we saw....

...starfish...

...TONS of them!]

[Donald Schnell Studio- a treasure chest]

[Pit stop on the way to see the petroglyphs]

[A very proud moment...before slipping off the extremely slippery rock]

[The sunset from my grandparents roof]

[View from my bed]

[ :) ]

Home.

I can't believe it is July 25.

I have been home for 2 weeks and I feel as though I never left. I feel as though I dreamed a huge dream and now I am slowly waking up. I know it's time to wake up but I miss the dream. It wasn't perfect and it was painful at its core but it was so beautiful and I want to see it again. My biggest fear is that I will forget it.

This is what I keep telling myself: "If God was faithful to get me to Romania and to sanctify me and use me...He will be faithful to continue using me and molding me into the image of his Son wherever I go."

It's painful to be made into the image of Christ. We cannot experience the resurrection power until we experience death. The thing is we have to die every day and some days it hurts more than others. I have been so convicted this summer but I have also been given so much hope. What a beautiful combination. Death and Resurrection/Conviction and Hope. One cannot exist without the other and I would even say that they propel each other. I can't rejoice in the resurrection until I know how ugly death is. In the same way I can't have hope until I am convicted of my complete inability to hope in myself.

Y'all are the means by which the Lord is showing his faithfulness to me. And I miss you each individually more than you know.

I cannot wait to hear y'all talk more in depth about your summer adventures or summer thoughts..your summer dreams or simply your summer that "was".

You all are my happy thought and this next year is going to be one for the books. I won't say the "S" word but we are getting old...but not too old for adventures or dreams or sleeping in real piles. I don't think any of us will grow out of that.

Get ready to smile for lots of pictures, eat a bunch of muffins, and watch God paint a beautiful picture that is our friendships.

does it get much better than this?

Lakes are amazing. Mountains are amazing. Oceans are amazing. Put all of them together, and you get Maine. Seeing the water with mountains as a backdrop is absolutely spectacular, and, once you truly stop and think about it, is a fairly rare combination throughout much of our world. I have been so fortunate to spend the last 3 weeks here.

[daytime]

[nighttime]

[kayak = LOVE of my life]

[Portland]

[spectacular rocky ocean coastline]

[Camden]

[helping raise the sails on Schooner Appledore on the Penobscot Bay]

The transition back to "normal" life is always slightly difficult after all of this. For example, I must finally come to terms with the fact that a diet consisting primarily of blueberry pie, granola bars, roasted marshmallows, and frozen Twix is not going to truly sustain me. Also, I have to start wearing real clothes instead of nothing but my bathing suit all day every day. I have to swap my bare feet for real shoes and take an actual shower instead of just a dip in the lake...

I could stay here forever, but I am ready for my next big adventures - a wedding in Mississippi and a week in Sumpango, Guatemala with my favorite kids in the world. Wish me luck; the rest of my summer schedule is absolute madness, especially after a relaxing escape to Maine. But I know it's going to be greater than I can even imagine.

Until next time.

maine: the way life should be

BRAKE FOR MOOSE. Hundreds of Collisions…It Could Save Your Life.

So read the giant yellow road signs scattered every few miles along the Maine/New Hampshire border. I personally find them quite comical, but they are definitely meant to be serious. Maybe I could take them more seriously if I actually saw a moose every now and then, but unfortunately I have yet to lay eyes on one. This year anyway.

I have been in Bethel, Maine in a cabin on a lake since July 2; time seems nonexistent up here. Usually I have no idea what day it is; I only have caught up with the date and time these past few days for 2 reasons. One, the premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part two, whose date has been ingrained in my mind since the premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part one. Two, Mollyockett Day, which happens to be today. (Mollyockett Day = Bethel’s annual holiday tribute to Princess Mollyockett, an Indian healer…kind of a long story…) A parade will begin in about an hour, followed by an arts and crafts fair on the Town Green, vendors, prizes, and my personal favorite – the Bethel Library’s old book sale. Hundreds of books for sale, all under $2. A small piece of heaven.

Truly though, Maine is a small piece of heaven; it is a blessing to be here. Everywhere I go, I am surrounded by the White Mountains. I wake up to a view of Songo Pond out my window and spend hours kayaking this very lake every day. Almost every night I grab a flashlight and sit on the dock and look at the stars, which, due to the remoteness of the cabin and the altitude, are brighter than I’ve seen anywhere in the world besides Canta, Peru high up in the Andes.

Being so immersed in nature is incredible, and spending time with family has been great. I’ll post pictures in several days; the cabin has no internet, of course, so I have to wait until someone takes me into downtown Bethel. But, for now, here’s my wish for you, taken from the harbor in Portland.

Until next time.

"Life is too short for traffic" Dan Bellack

During the month of June, I've driven slightly over 3,200 miles. If I continue driving at this same rate, in eight months the reading on my mileage gauge will have doubled from what it reads at this time. I've had my car for four years. Long story short, I've traveled a lot this summer. The following picture (snagged from Google Images) is a sight I've seen one too many times. My advice: allow an extra thirty minutes for every hour and a half you plan on traveling. It doesn't matter what state you're in. Believe me. It's easy to complain about slower speed limits and longer travel time, but in all honesty, I wouldn't have it any other way. Impromptu car rides have made for hundreds of precious memories. Whether it's singing loudly to Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" with my sisters or silently watching the sun set over a Mississippi corn field, driving has always been a source of joy and family time.

This summer especially, I've been surrounded by family. We've traveled together to Moss Point, Orange Beach, Oxford, Destin, and New Orleans. We have made these car rides to visit with extended family, to finalize last minute travel details, and to simply relax.

[Me, a couple of my sisters, and a cousin gearing up to go for a boat ride]

[Sittin' on the dock of the bay..]

[Streetcar in New Orleans]

Traveling isn't finished yet. In less than one week I will be snorkeling, hiking, and soaking up the sun in Caneel Bay, St. John, in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

[Photo courtesy of Caribbean Getaways]

And a few days after returning from Caneel, I will head to Perdido Key, Florida to enjoy the Gulf of Mexico

Updates will come later. But meanwhile,take time breathe. Life is too short for traffic.

Finding the Balance

The past seven months have been the busiest time of my life. I've made it through the first half of my presidency, studied for and took the LSAT, finished another semester of school, and taught swim lessons to lots of precious kids. I'm one of those people who love staying busy and always having something to work for or work on, but some days over the past seven months, I've longed to be far, far away. Out of calling reach. Out of cell phone reach. Out of email reach. And I finally got this wish.

My sister Becca and I went to Cancun for a week with our uncle and aunt. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful family and great friends who over the past few months have taught me more than ever the importance of finding the balance of work and play. Luckily, last week was all play. Here's a little review of our adventures in Mexico:


We went snorkeling and saw thousands of gorgeous fish.

We lived in a palace...Cancun Palace. Anything we wanted, we got it. Good service: the Palace does it right.

We swam with dolphins, and I conquered my fear of deep water. Yes, I know, I teach swim lessons and I'm afraid of deep water. I don't like swimming in water over 8 feet deep; the dolphin pools were 18 feet deep.

It was a great week filled with fun, lots of laughter, and no schedule. It truly was just what I had been longing for.