Arkansas 2018

Our annual Arkansas trip is always something I look forward to in July. Richard and I took a group of 30 youth and adults to help lead a camp at Stoneridge Baptist Camp.  It’s always fun and rewarding to watch the youth be stretched and challenged by having to prepare and then teach the Word to those younger than themselves. Year after year they never cease to amaze me in how they love and serve the children in Arkansas.

This year was the first year I led a group. My group was the Blue Crew and consisted of 8th-12th graders. I had a blast teaching and challenging them in Bible study times, playing with them out on the Rec field and worshiping with them during the night time services.

Here we all are! Campers, workers, sponsors...all full from having spent a week intentionally pursuing Jesus!

After all the campers left we cleaned and loaded equipment and then rested! After a nice swim and a nap we headed to a Cave City for their Watermelon Festival. It was such a cute town and a great way to end a busy week.

Sweet Summertime

I love the lake! Some people are just “lake people”, you know?!? I am definitely one of those people! My sister settled down with a job in Glen Rose and has been living in my grandparents old lake house and with her down there it has revived our lake living days! The days are slow and quiet and spent floating or fishing and just thinking...those are lake days and those are the best! We went down for three days and we soaked up every second of it! On the way into town I stopped by my grandparents grave to show the boys. I tried to explain to them about a legacy...all because they had a dream to live on the lake my parents have enjoyed it and raised us to enjoy it and now I’m raising them to enjoy it! The house is still full of their things and I made coffee and drank from the same cup grandma used to drink from when we would sit on the porch together. I can imagine they are looking down pleased that we are all still enjoying and loving the property they too loved so dearly!

WMcKenna loves it, too!

 
Richard had the jet ski tuned up and we enjoyed some time out on the open lake playing with that! He was the taxi service for several hours!

 

We all did quite a bit of fishing at all different times of the day. Richard’s friend James and my dad came in on Friday morning and they all fished the lake by boat. Later that night, we fished again from the dock and on Saturday Sonja came and we fished some more. We caught mostly catfish, a few drums and the big catch was a soft shell turtle that took Sonja and all three little boys to get on the dock. He got the hook caught in his foot so once they unhooked him they let him go back into the lake.

 

This little guy took Kelby’s pole right of the dock and into the water. Luckily it was shallow enough that we could see the tip of it and Kelby went in after it!

   

  

  


































We finished our time in Granbury on the square at Babe’s...delicious as always!

Others

The year is halfway over and I’m still going strong with my 2018 word Others. I have my list that I go to daily and it keeps me focused on who I am lifting up in prayer. I have enjoyed so much about this word this year.  As I focus on the person of the day I have found that I am very quick to identify His voice. It has really caused me to listen more and only pray what I hear. The first of my list consisted of those closest to me and in most cases I knew what that person needed prayer for, but as the days click by, we’re on day 190 now, the people on the list are more of acquaintances so I’m having to really seek Him to find out what I should pray. Sometimes I get a word, sometimes it’s an overall feeling, sometimes it’s just a verse in my daily reading that stands out, but as the day goes on I pray into whatever it is He gives me. On multiple occasions I hear to reach out to the person, so I do and it’s always spot on, for that exact day. What a faith builder for them and for me!  So much so that I don’t even hesitate anymore, even if makes no sense to me, I know it will mean something to them, so I’ll share it.

I have also learned that I don’t need to know someone’s situation to pray effectively for them. At the beginning of the year I would hear something and feel the need to contact that person and ask some questions so I could figure out what is going on before I prayed...in reality that’s just being nosy. I have become content with hearing something and praying and not asking for more details from the person or from the Lord. It’s not my business. I am only called to pray for them.

Lastly, I think I have really enjoyed connecting with people. In most cases the people don’t even know I’m praying for them, but in some weird way I feel more connected to them. I’ve prayed for friends and family and friends’ kids and friends’ family and acquaintances, but when I come in contact with a person I’ve prayed for I feel so much empathy. We are all going through things, whether we admit it or not, and we could all use a little more prayer to help us through the storms.  So if you need prayer, feel free to leave your name and I’d be honored to pray for you. 

A blovel...wait, a what?

A novel in blog form... a blovel! 

If you are looking for a little light summer reading I have the perfect thing for you! My friend has written a novel and published it in blog form. It’s called Janet’s Quest by Connie Jane.

About the Author:

Connie is from a quiet countryside tucked away in the Hill Country. She has always wanted to write a novel and after much hard work has completed it and is publishing it scene by scene on the blog.  Click HERE to follow along this summer as we read about how Janet’s Quest unfolds.