Still Growing

I was searching for something in my old emails when I came across a chat conversation I had the day before I turned 17. I was painfully reminded of how absolutely ridiculous I was in high school, even in my Senior year. In fact, you probably wouldn't believe me if I told you what I was like back then. Sometimes I look back on the way I used to be, and I wonder how on earth anyone was able to put up with me, much less like me.

That was a little less than five years ago. It makes me wonder where I'll be five years from now and what I'll be like. In some ways, I almost hope that I can look back and think the same thing-- how on earth could I have been so ridiculous. Because then I can see in a tangible way that God's not done with me yet, and He's still helping me to grow. Praise God He's not done with me yet, foolish girl that I am.

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Edit: Perhaps I should add something for clarification. I guess I might have sounded a little harsh on myself. It's not that I don't like who I am or who I was. I am quite happy to be me. It's just that when I look back on my past I realize how far I've come, and I hope that in the future I can look back again and see that my distance has more than doubled.

Cherokee

Alright, so this is rather late, but I realized that I haven't posted pictures in a while. Besides, I haven't had the motivation to actually blog about Camp Cherokee, so I figured that a few pictures would be good enough for now. Haha, although, Andrew might be upset with me since I still never blogged about our hikes last summer...

In any case, I'm posting a few pictures from one of my days off this summer. I have some other pictures, but it's not likely that they'll be posted before I leave. And I'm still trying to collect some pictures.

So, these are pictures of our hike to Mt. Colden, which was really exciting for me! Last summer, I did 4 of the high peaks in the Adirondacks: Algonquin, Iroquois, Esther, and Whiteface. I remember standing on the top of Algonquin (second highest peak) and I spotted a mountain that looked amazing. There were these three sheets of rock face coming down the side of it, and they looked sort of like large rock rivers flowing down the side. I asked Andrew which peak it was, and said that was one that I definitely wanted to do. It was Mt. Colden. So when Andrew told me that they were going to do it this summer, I really wanted to go.

Left to Right: Andrew, Shama, Me, Emily (poor Andrew, he always gets stuck with all girls)

Us again


Avalanche Lake


Shama climbing on the rocks


At the top. Note to self: get some shorter friends so I don't look quite as short.

There were some more pictures with prettier views, but I think Emily has those...

Before It's Too Late

Turn your gaze from the moon,
For her beams are bewitching.

Don’t stand beneath the stars,
And watch them sparkle,
Or they might light a gleam in your eyes.

The charms of the night
Are beguiling,
But enchantment never lasts.

So set down your glass,
Don’t drink in the night,

For when you wake,
The spell will be broken.

Sermon

Some of you know that I preached a sermon at North River church. Some of you probably didn't know that. In any case, I'm finally getting around to posting something about it.

My sermon was recorded, and I had hoped to get a copy of it to share so that you could hear me preach the sermon rather than read it. Unfortunately, the sermon is slightly stuck on the computer it was recorded to. The computer won't recognize flash drives and won't burn things to a CD. For now, I have given up trying to get an audio copy.

The alternative: post my sermon notes online. If you really care to read my sermon, you may do so here. I will warn you of two things:
1) It is long (this should be a given by now)
2) It is unedited

It's probably better this way; I don't think that public speaking is one of my spiritual gifts.

Oreo Logic

We have Oreos on our counter. Here's a conversation I just had with my mother:

"Oreos are good for you," I said in jest.

"Of course they are," she replied. "Because 75% of it is vowels, and there are less vowels in the alphabet, and less is more."

"Oh. I was just thinking that Oreos make you happy, and being happy is good for you."

I think I definitely got my logical reasoning skills from my mother.