IfYouGiveAMindensenABlog

Where has the time gone?!
This a time of many transitions for me. For those of you who didn't know, I'm currently back at school. I'm a sophomore at Trinity Christian College, studying Business.

The summer ended in a flurry of activities, and I ended my time at Lake Ellen road tripping back to IL with a fellow-coworker of mine (Grant). We followed two other co-workers (Katie and Corrinne) the long way home. Taking the route down through the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. I've never been across the Mackinac Bridge, or seen most of Northern-lower MI/most of the UP before thrn. It was an AMAZING trip. We took it in 3 days. It only takes 6hrs through WI, but I wanted to take the scenic route/make a few stops :)
Our (Grant and I's. Katie and Corrinne diverged from us about an hour before we got there) first night was spent at Cran-Hill Ranch, and we stayed with the Wickes. I hadn't seen the whole family in a little over 1/2 a year. It was nice seeing them again, and catching up. We had fun talking about our different summers, and our new camp experiences. One of the things I love most about Christian Camping is the unity or 'oneness' of purpose (sound familiar Britta **smile**)in the area of Christian Camping. It's exciting to hear how God is working in other places outside of the place you're at. God is SO GOOD, and has been doing some AMAZING things in Christian camps in Michigan, in the US, and around the world (yes, there are Christian camps around the world!).
We left from there for Bair Lake (my 'home-camp' so to speak), and stopped off in Grand Rapids for a quick visit with my brother and NEW sister-in-law (Nate and Tiffany HAMILTON!) at their new apartment. (I♥them!) I'm glad they were home and available. It was a quick stop, and we hadn't planned ahead to stop, so I'm glad they were around :)
So, no trip down 131 from GR is complete without introducing a newbie to B&G, the BEST discount store EVER. I purchased a white Australian, animal theme bandana there... ^^
Anywho, we arrived at Bair Lake in the late afternoon of our 2nd day, and I was able to stop and say 'hi' to a lot of the staff that was around. I was also able to quick swing out and grab STEPHANIE S who was still close by (school hadn't started yet). Unfortunately, my previous roommates/fellow lady-members of the Outfitter program, were not at camp when I was there. They were both with there families at 'home-home'. We had a nice stay none-the-less, and Stephen and I got to talk face-to-face for the first time in a about two months... I'll get back to him once I wrap-up the trip ;) Grant and I finished our trip the next day at my house, where we promptly switched cars in order to take my mom to the train station (long story), and then made it back to my house in time to meet his parents who had just arrived to pick him up (He's from 'southern' IL (technically CENTRAL), but we all know that anything south of Cook county in 'southern' IL right???) ^^ All in all, it was a GREAT trip. You should check out my Facebook for pictures... It was an even more AMAZING summer! God blessed and led in SO many ways! Praise Him!

Okay, back to Stephen. Stephen is one of my best friends, he was also one of my fellow Outfitters, and it has been awesome watching God build our friendship. Honestly, I tell people, we don't have a 'cute' story, but it's one in which God has been able to show Himself mighty. Just being co-workers made us have to work through some things, and learn to respect each-other on some level. We certainly have had our rough times (haven't we??? **smile**), but through it all, I've gained a great friend. I know that he's likely to read this so, I won't put anything in here that I haven't told him already...He's really been there for me, and has been a BIG encouragement to me over the last year. I'm very glad we're friends, and we plan to stay that way. So, yes, if you haven't picked up on it yet, Stephen and I are officially dating, but in all honesty, things don't seem all that much different. Which, I realize could be taken rather 'scandalously', but really all I mean is that we're FRIENDS, first and for most. We now just have a more specified purpose/goal in mind. He knows this, but I could see myself marrying him someday...for now though, we're just taking it one day at a time with God. He still has 1 more year in Outfitters (potentially 2-ish more years of school after), and I still have 3 years of school (as of right now). He lives in MI, and I live in IL... but it's been really good. God has been really good to us. May HE be glorified!

God is GOOD!♥