5 cacti and a bonsai...together in any weather

I just had the best summer of my life. (I say this as I type from my balcony on Maui.) It's hard for me to look back and put into any kind of words what this summer has meant to me, but I am so thankful for it.

It's hard to believe that I almost didn't go back to Camp Sonshine this summer. Thank God his plans are better than mine. I went back wanting it to be different than last year, knowing it had to be if I was gonna let God do what he wanted. Last summer the one huge regret I had was that that day that I left those kids, I wasn't ready. I wanted just a few more days. I still had so much left to give and I didn't want to take it with me. I refused to have that feeling this year. If I was gonna do it I was gonna give it everything I had. Then I got this "job" as HC and I realized that I just needed to dive into camp. Not worry so much about making sure I still get all my free time with my friends or other homey things but just put my undivided self into camp. I did. God put amazing people into my life who I know I will be friends with forever. My "boss" was an amazing woman of God who challenged me everyday in a new way. She wasn't going to let me walk away from the summer not being a changed person and I am so thankful. Not to mention some of the amazing other staff I got to work with. My counselors were beyond amazing and so many of the other staff just brightened up my everydays.

The best part of my summer...by far...was seeing those kids that were mine last year. It's amazing how they grow up so fast in nine months. Namely one little girl, Lacey. This girl is amazing and it will be so hard for me not to go back and not get to see her. This little girl is just so full of joy and life and just hilarious. I am so beyond thankful that I was able to spend another summer with her.

It was so hard to leave this year. I took that as a sign...something went right and it was nothing but God. There's no way anything that happened this summer was my doing cause if I had enough time to go through the last 3 months with you it would be proof that I am not equipped enough to do what I just did without Him. It's obvious. Praise the Lord.

For the Love of Christ puts us into action... -2 Corinthians 5:14

Code Red

I never spent so much of a day dripping wet. The water was coming out of my shoes.

After an exhausting but THRILLING day at camp in the code red heat me and my counselors went for my second greatest adventure of the summer. We all headed out to Cheeburger Cheeburger where we ate til we could no more, Stacie wowed us with her math skills and after a "standing OOOOOOvation" we proved to the restaurant we work at camp.


After stuffing ourselves til we could eat no more we decided the night was not yet over. Stacie had us all follow her downs backroads followed by dirt roads to a lake that seemed to appear out of no where. I literally had no idea where we were.
I had no idea where the night would go from here. I thought maybe we would sit and talk but when we arrived and found 2 boats full of fisherman who asked us to hold the rope for them and let us pose with their fish I knew it would be a night of laughter.
Long story short, 5 of us wound up jumping in the lake and we all proved we deserve our job once again by entertaining 4 year old "Spiderman" for a good 30 minutes while his dad hooked up the boat to his truck. It not only made our night but I'm pretty sure it made his too. All in all it was by far one of the greatest nights of my summer/life. Certainly a "memory that will last a lifetime". I am so thankful for this summer and these girls have SO much to do with that.

Pick me up Love...everyday

In as few words as possible camp has consumed my life and I am completely OK with it. I have made great friends with some amazing people and not to mention being reunited from the children who stole my heart last year and meeting some new children who have quickly taken their own pieces of my heart.

Yesterday we said goodbye to many children. It was the end of the session and many were not coming back. It always hurts to see them leave and take my heart with them. This last session has been amazing. Not gonna lie but last year I had 3 favorites from the summer. One came back the very first day and will be here til the very last, another has not shown her face yet and I'm praying I will see her soon and the last showed up this last session. I have never been so happy as the day I saw him. I hear a scream of "RANDI!!" come from across the room and when I look up I see him smiling this huge smile staring at me and we both just ran to each other. I got the greatest hug EVER and I'll admit I may have shed a tear. This kid was probably my most difficult last year but we became such great friends through it all. I can't help but love him and all I want is to make sure that he and all these kids know how important to me they are but more importantly God. Some of these kids have such horrible lives and many do not receive love from anywhere else. What an AMAZING opportunity to be like Jesus to these children. They are so precious to him some of them have no idea.

Basically the sum of this post is once again the power of love, a love driven by nothing I have but all God. Seeing my kids from last year and hearing from them how much I and camp has meant to them and how much all the cards and things that we are forced to do for them mean to them (yes, they told me these things which I think is pretty awesome!) has just shown me how much love can change a life. There's is nothing I want more for these kids than to know they are loved more than they can know. They have stolen my heart and I am totally OK with it. :)

and from maybe the greatest adventure ever: