Chosen Vessels

When I was a kid, you know 4-12, I imagined that being a teenager would be so. much. fun. I don't really know what I expected it to be like, other than absolutely epic.  But ya know? It's not what I expected.  I don't know how I thought teens spent their days, but now I realize that what we really do is school (given), talk to friends (nothing new), have arguments with siblings (see previous notes), and have pointless conversations.  It's not new.  And yet  everything  is new and different. Nothing is the same.  I'm different, you're different, we're all different. We're stuck somewhere between kids and adults. Too old for toys, too young for marriage.  Old enough to date, depending on your parents' rules anyway, which is pretty darn frightening when you think about it. Old enough to have jobs and drive cars and take on responsibility. But too young to vote or move out or go to college.  It's kind of awkward, t

At the beginning of the summer – upon realizing that this summer would be my last before adulthood – I titled a draft post 'best summer yet'.  Call me crazy if you like, but it's like I just knew this summer was going to be amazing. Don't get me wrong – every summer is special. There's something special in every day if you know where to look for it.  But this was different. In late May to early June, I had this unexplainable feeling that there was going to be things happen between my junior and senior year to forever mark this summer in my memory.  And there was. A whole multitude of happenings and irreplaceable memories. It wasn't all fun and happiness. I laughed and I cried, tears of joy and tears of hurt.  God has been good to me in my seventeen years. I've never experienced terrible hardship. No one in my immediate family or I have been faced with a serious illness.  With my dad being a pastor, we've left two churches over th

After the unanimous decision was reached that part one was indeed not too lengthy or too much of a photodump, may I present part two. xD If you missed part one, be sure to  check it out here! Wednesday... Yahoo! We'd reached the middle of the week without anyone a) falling off the roof, b) passing out from heat stroke, or c) dying from an over-abundance of laughter.  Being the middle of the week, Wednesday is 'half day' or 'free day', meaning we only work until lunch and then get to do something fun with our youth groups. That morning, we began work on the back side of the house we were roofing. One-third of the roof (maybe a little more) was ripped up and re-shingled by lunch. With time to spare. And the old shingles were removed in about an hour. Did I mention we won best crew award? (Ha, kidding. But that should have totally been a thing.)  Remember the trucks-stuck-in-the-mud dilemma I mentioned in part one? Yeah, well, the conclu

~ Description   Beautiful and winsome, Betsy Zook never questioned her family's rigid expectations, nor those of devoted Hans, but then she never had to. Not until the night when she's taken captive in a surprise Indian raid. During her captivity, Betsy faces brutality and hardship, but also unexpected kindness. She draws strength from native Caleb, who encourages her to find God in all circumstances. She finds herself torn between her pious upbringing and the intense new feelings this compelling man awakens within her.   Handsome and complex, Hans is greatly anguished by Betsy's captivity and turns to Tessa Bauer for comfort. Eagerly, Tessa responds, overlooking troubling signs of Hans's hunger for revenge. When Betsy is finally restored to the Amish, have things gone too far between Hans and Tessa?  Inspired by true events, this deeply layered novel gives a glimpse into the tumultuous days of prerevolutionary Pennsylvania through the eyes o

Well, folks, it's finally happening. I've got the pictures uploaded and the stories typed. Here's the first part of my long ramble about my trip, now over a month since. It's random and probably longer than y'all wanted. Maybe no one's even reading this. But here it is, just in case. ;) Saturday... Saturday starting off by me getting up around 4:40 AM (before my alarm went off, of course...). We met up with the group (5 from our church + 2 others) and set out on our journey by 6:00.  And...we sorta kinda arrived at the school where we would be staying before the set check-in time. *cough* We wasted as much time as we could in Chick-Fil-A and still got there 30 minutes early. :P (We were told that the 'prize' for being the first there was cleaning the bathrooms...thankfully that was a joke.)  Everyone was really nice though, and let us go on in and drop our stuff in our rooms. Me, my Mom, and the two other gals with our gro