Church Camp

(1- Matt and me. 2- The Ambassador Girls and me. 3- Dad and me after the shaving cream fight. 4- The Tongue Tamer Models for the Newspaper Fashion Show. 5- DRAGON HUNTERS! Need I say more? 5- My nine-year-old boyfriend, Logan, for the week. Such a pimp. )

This was my eleventh year attending Mountaineer Christian Youth Camp. (Crazy, right?) This year was very different than any other year. First off, there were only around ten campers that were older than fourteen years of age. There were only six girls in the senior room. Kind of depressing really. But it was fun. My usual 'posse' wasn't there. The only ones in that 'posse' were Erika and Rachel. So, I made a new posse with Erika, Jessica, Abbi, Matt, London, Pat, and then Rachel when she came Wednesday. They were amazing. I was able to lead silly songs at Campfire with Erik, Matt, Abbi, and Ambassadors. It was really great. I was also a team captain with Slater. Little Slater, that I saw in diapers. It made me feel very old. We studied James this week. I had fun reading it. Ha. Class was interesting... Angel, Angel, You are an Angel.. Oh gosh, let's try to get that out of my head for the sake of all mankind. Anyway, our team names came from James. So, my team was the Tongue Tamers. Amazing, I know. We won the Banner Contest. Unfortunately, I was sleeping after spilling out my guts. But I was there in spirit. Everything else we either got first or last, and then in the newspaper fashion show, we received third. It was because of Rachel and my wits. We're good. In the end we didn't place at all. At the final ceremony I received the Senior Girl Sportsmanship Award, the something about the bible class student something or other, and was on the Senior Girl's All-Star Team. And yes, my father is the director, but no, he did not vote on these things. Haha. Anyway, that's camp.

I'll update sometime about.. well things.

The brother gets back next Friday! Yay!

Much Love

Steve Irwin, Mission Trip, Church, Grammy, Etc.

Where to even begin?

This morning, Friday, July 13, 2007, my beloved hamster Steve Irwin was found dead in his cage. It's a sad loss for the Spivy family. He was a good hamster. Anyway, I thought you all should know why I'll be sad the next few minutes.... OK, I'm good now.
Mission Trip was fun. I really enjoyed myself and was able to get to know some of the younger teens in the youth group a little better. Micah and I were in charge of Crafts. I was kind of petrified about it actually because, well, I am not a creative person whatsoever. But everything worked out well. The kids had a wonderful time. The first day we had twelve kids, the second eighteen, and Thursday we had twenty-four kids. It was really awesome. Today we had a water day. We had a slide, a slippin' slide, water balloons, and so on. I fell in love with a little girl named Ella. I helped her cut lines for the water slides and such. It was funny. I spoiled her to say the least, because I haven't been able to do that with a child since Honduras. So, some of the guys starting using a slingshot type deal for the water balloons. Well, Ella and I were watching them and all of the sudden I see one flying towards us. So at the last second I stuck my hand in front of her face, and amazingly it splashed in my hand. I got a welt, so I was very happy it was me who got hit instead of her head. It scared me! The teens also made dinner for the Prime Timers at church and then played games and such with them. They are amazing people. I love them a lot. And Garrett, Sam and I also had fun picking on Dana one evening. Good times, good times.

Our first devo Adam asked something to the extent of "If you were looking for another church, what would be the main thing you'd be looking for?" Some mentioned worship on Sunday morning, others about how important it is to be apart of a community that you can lean on. Almost everything mentioned I agreed with, but none of them fully struck a chord with me. I am looking for a church that has a community of believers that I can love and lean on. But the thing that I'm looking for now is a community of believers that aren't afraid to get out there and share God's message with the world. Is that not what we were called to do? "Why do we, the church, minister to ourselves instead of ministering to the lonely, hurting, and lost?" (Karen's blog) I read that the other day and I've thought about it a lot since then. Why is that? I want to be apart of the community that will go past the four walls of our "sacred" church building and and share The Gospel. And to live The Gospel so everyone can see it. There are few, if any, churches yet that are willing to do that. I want to see that happen in my lifetime. I think it will and I'm so looking forward to see what can happen from it. (Sam wrote something along the lines of this on her blog. It was really great, so check it out.)

My Grammy is in the hospital again. She went back almost a week ago after falling and not being able to get up, barely being able to talk, dizziness, and so on and so forth. They finally figured out she has an infection, so hopefully she'll be back home soon. Mom went down Monday to be with her, and is coming home tomorrow. It's hard for me to know my Grandma's in this condition. It really is. When I was visiting her last week, she told me she was so sorry for being sick pretty much all my life. And she was sorry that she wasn't the best grandma because she was sick. Really? What to say to that? I just told her she was the best grandmother ever, which is nothing short of the truth. I just hate the fact she thinks she's been an awful grandmother because she was sick. I don't think she could've helped she was diagnosed with cancer and has problems ever since. So, I'm just saying all of this to ask for you prayers. I want my Grammy to be home again.

Church Camp starts Sunday. I'm really looking forward to it. After that, I'll be home for a week or two, and then hopefully in Fairmont for a few days. I miss those people!

Much Love

PS-- I want comments! I haven't gotten one in a long time! What's up with that?

The Four Boys

Monday evening, four boys from Casa De Esperanza ran away. Luby, Brian, Rudy, and Fitto. Luby told the others they could make easy money in El Salvador, so they decided they'd go there. Well, the staff went looking for them and finally found them on the side of the road, and it would've taken them twenty minutes to get to that point. So, they were in trouble, of course. If you want to read about the whole adventure, go look on Sam's blog.

Well, the boys have run away again tonight. No one has found them yet, and everyone there and many here are worried as well. Please keep Luby, Brian, Rudy, and Fitto in your prayers. Pray that those looking will find the boys, or that the boys will come back on their own.

Much Love

(Work Camp pictures below)

Edit-- The boys were found. Jen went into town to look for them and came back to Casa with them. Please pray for Jen and all those working at Casa as to what to do about the boys.

Work Camp Pictures

Before
























After










Aqua "TEN" Hunger Force






Madison, Matt, Hannah, and I sporting off the newest fashion.






Brittany, Carrie, Lia, Kylee, and me

Good Ole' Kentucky

Kentucky has been great. Mom and I arrived at the hospital at one and I was there until nine. Then, my cousin Amanda, her husband Anthony, and the kids Lexi and Alan stopped by. I went with Amanda and the kids to WalMart and then to Grammy's for the evening with them. Saturday, everyone went every which way and I babysat Lexi for the day. She's the most hyper kid I've ever met. I had a lot of fun. Grammy came home that evening which was awesome. Monday, I finally got out of the house and went shopping with mom. After that, I came back and sat in the gazebo here and chatted with people I haven't gotten to talk to lately. It was really relaxing, which was very nice. In the evenings, Grammy, mom and I went out and ate. That was the first time Grammy had been out since she had gotten home. So that was good. Today, the three of us went to a town nearby and ate and shopped. Grammy asked me if I liked my name, Anna Carolyn, because her name is Carolyn. I told her of course. She told me there was no one else she'd like to carry on her name. Seriously, that made this girl's day. My Grammy is one amazing woman and there is no one else I'd like to be named after. She's one special woman.

We're leaving tomorrow to go home. I'm going to watch the fireworks with some people to celebrate the fourth. That'll be fun. Thursday, I'm going to Columbus with Melissa to pick up Sam. I'm pumped to see that girl! Pray for her safety, please.

Much Love

Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
Matthew 6:34