Making Memories

I had a great Memorial Day Weekend camping with my family. I was a little scattered driving back for Graduation, staying the night, then working Saturday morning. I also came back into town to drop Timmy off. Ultimate Frisbee was great, and the Thunderstorm really was exciting. I got sunburned the first day so my personal toaster oven inside my jacket kept me warm. I had a hard time sleeping because of the sunburn on my shoulders and last night the aloe Mom put on made my skin stick to my bed sheets. We had some great times and I'm looking forward to this summer, my last few months in the States for a while.

John

Gone Camping

I'm going camping today. The weather has cooled down and it's been raining lightly, which is good to keep the allergens down while we are camping. I hauled a ton (literally) of brick yesterday out of a house from a chimney we demolished. An equal amount was hauled out the day before by Mr. Dutton and Brandon. Working early, staying up late, that hows things go for me around here.

John

Milepost 18

My graduation has come and gone, passing without the significance of the whole situation being realized. From the rehearsal on Friday night until after the ceremony the following afternoon it was as if the setting was somewhat etheral. I seemed to pass through the whole day like driving through a small town on a long road trip. It is a milepost of great significance though. Even though it is over now, looking back I realized how much fun it really was and how the Lord supported my through it all, giving me peace. Oh how the Lord has blessed me, blessed be the name of the Lord. I'm a graduate now.

John

Tonight is the Night

Tonight I have a Graduation practice for the ceremony tomorrow. I don't work at all this weekend, it's nice that I don't have to run off and work while my grandparents are in town. I tried to fly my kite yesterday but the breezes were not constant enough. I will have to try again.

John

Here and There

Finally, after a few bumps in the road and little pressure here and there, my presentation is done. And what a blessing it has turned out to be. God's mercy and peace were evident Sunday night while Kevin and I both got up and spoke in front of the church. Now with that behind me all I have to do in the near future is: prepare for the mission trip coming up in June, memorize my speech for Graduation, get the house ready for a hundred people to come to my open house, and go camping. Looks like my plate is still pretty full.

John

Self Celebration

I finally got a chance, this evening, to get my senior portraits taken. In a way senior portraits are just a celebration of the person having their picture taken. A time be thankful, to look back and ahead. I certainly had a good time this evening. We went downtown to a couple different places. I was a really relaxed time with friends; oh the laughs that we had. I barely got a glimpse of some of the pictures, but I'm excited about the little that I did see.

I got a great insight from reading The Shadow of the Almighty today. All the dreams that we could dream for our life small and cheap compared the will of God for our lives. Everything, every moment, every act that directs us, is planned by God and he can do nothing regular. Every one of them is a miracle. If we are living for God's will we will be a part of those miracles and they will be manifest in our lives.

So many missionaries, intent on doing something, forget that His main work is to make something of them, not just to do a work by their stiff and bungling fingers. ~Jim Elliot

John

Post Script

Wow wow wow! What an amazing trip. I had the time of my life; and what a great group to have it with. We did so much, and in doing so much we also did so little. Everything from horseback riding, a jet boat trip, rock climbing bare foot, and soccer on the beach. We played board games and billiards, watched a couple of movies and ran and walked up and down the beach. We went out to dinner and ice cream, we also made some masterpieces of our own. I had some awesome times of personal devotion on the beach, as well as being able to be a blessing through song to the small congregation of believers there in Coquille. The sun set proclaimed the glory of God and all the skies declared it so, singing their silent praises to their maker. We didn't have a single day of bad weather, despite a little cold temperature one day, and I even managed to get a little sun burned. I'm an amateur when it comes to pranks but that didn't stop me from trying to harass our sponsors. We even ended up flinging bananas and shrimp around one night when things began to come loose. I took ton of pictures, I think my camera was finally glad to be put to good use. On the way back, we stopped at the Woodburn outlet mall and I ended up buying something in almost every store I went into. All in all, it was a perfect trip.

John