Explore. Dream. Discover.: Fun In The Sun-One Final Summer Hoorah!

I know no one reads this, but I like posting anyways! This past week I was pretty much in the sun the entire time. I went to the beach with my family (see Previous Post!) Sunday through Thursday night and had a blast!! It was so fun to have all of us there together and spend time together. I loved every second of it! Then Friday morning I got a lot of chores and housework done before the rest of the family arrived home and went to a wedding reception (Congrats Scott and Kathleen!!). The next morning I ran some errands, hopped in the car, and went to Lake Norman with some friends. We ended up taking a boat ride and joining the YSA for their dinner, Liz and Jennifer tried water skiing, Megan got stitches in her foot, and went back to the house for a nice evening.
The next morning, we went out on the Lake around 10:30 a.m. Most of us put on sunscreen around then and didn't re-apply till 2:30. Bad decision!! We attempted knee boarding, which turned into belly boarding, and had such a blast! Kevin was the only one to actually knee board and almost died doing it. Then we just chilled in the lake in our life vests (Mine was a child's and made me look like a princess as it was pink and purple and teal and Liz had the beautiful fishing vest...) and took turns on the Jet Ski! The time was wrapped up with more knee boarding, watching a little of the Olympics, delicious dinner and snacks, and one final boat ride. I'm pretty sure all of us are in pain today with our skin as red as ever! Sitting down makes me feel like I'm on fire and don't even get me started on how bad a bra strap feels.
We got home pretty late last night, but this morning I still wanted to go to The Center this morning. This post is going to get off topic now, but it's just a little something I thought about today. Sometimes you just wake up and you don't feel close with the Lord. But you just really want to be close to Him. And sometimes it's really hard to get there. But there are certain places and certain things that will bring you closer no matter what. For me, it's going to the Center for New North Carolinians and seeing the kids and helping out. I don't play a big part there. I really don't play a part at all. Summer camp ended last week and I'm not an intern so I don't really have a place, but I still go over and help out when I can. I just love being there. Today I helped an intern sort books they had into keep and give away and throw away piles since the center is moving locations in a few weeks. We then set all the give away books on the picnic tables and had the kids come pick out a few books each to take home. I ended up reading "Junie B. Jones and the Stinky Smelly Bus" to a first grader named Grotti. She is so cute and wouldn't let me stop reading the book! I ended up reading 8 of the 11 chapters to her before I needed to go, but wished I could have finished the book with her. Our deal was she had to read a sentence a page for me to read the rest of the page to her. It was tough work for her, but she did it! Being with those kids and helping out over there just feels so good. When I came home, I really did feel closer to Christ. I have a picture on my desk and it's my favorite one of Christ, where He is in Africa and is holding a little African Boy. It's called "The Worth of a Soul". It was such a reminder to me today that even though I don't make a huge difference when I go to the center, maybe I made a little difference in Grotti's life today by reading with her. And that's what it's all about-the little differences in peoples lives each day. I love it.