This year, I had the honor of speaking to about 300 freshman and transfer students about the journey they are embarking on here at GC. Each year this group participates in a service project of some sort. This year they went off campus to float the Meramec River, cleaning up any trash left behind by weekend floaters and planting pecan trees along their way. I actually participated in this same river trip when I was a freshman at GC. After the float trip, students arrive at a very nice camp and then stay the night. It's an opportunity for them to be a bit outside of their comfort zone, meet other people and mingle with faculty and staff who attend the trip as well.
Traditionally, our campus chaplain delivers an address to them the following morning. This year, however, she had to bow out. After making the tough decision to remain on campus this year, she asked if I would deliver the address in her stead. Now, I have never talked to that many people at one time. I wanted so badly to say no, but I had recently been challenged by my boss to begin to emerge as more of a leader on campus this year. That's hard as the counselor, since so much of what I do is confidential and takes place behind closed doors...so while I was yelling at myself to say no, I heard God say, "but don't you want to be a leader? is this not an opportunity to do just that?" So, I chose to ignore myself and told her that I would do it.
Luckily, she was kind enough to share her notes from previous years with me so I didn't have to build the address from scratch. Phew! I was pretty nervous as I walked up to the podium, but I kept reminding myself that God had placed this opportunity in front of me and He would equip me with the confidence to get through it. And He did! It went well and I even had a couple students approach me afterwards and say as much. Dane told me I should have done worse because now they'll be asking me to speak at other events :) I don't know about that, but it was a great opportunity for me to be stretched outside of my comfort zone and trust in God's provision. I'm glad I did it.
Outside of that, nothing too exciting has been going on in our lives lately. Reed got to go to another Cardinal's game with Papa and Pat. He came back with new hat, a fred bird stuffed animal (this was the giveaway at the gate), and a new bat for his collection.
Lately, he's been bringing up Grandma Rhonda a lot. He draws pictures of and for her. He asks if we can go visit her in heaven. Then, he asks why we can't go visit her in heaven. I both love and hate this. I love that he is interested in knowing her, but I hate that he can't actually know her. I love that he asks about her, but I hate that he can't understand why he can't see her. I'm not sure if I'm responding to his questions correctly and it sucks that he just really can't understand right now. It's really tough. Most of the time I keep myself composed and don't really let it get to me. But sometimes, I have to fight back tears and begin to feel sorry for myself. After all, she should be here. He should know her. I shouldn't have to try to explain to a 2 year old why he can't go visit his grandma in heaven.
I do look forward to when he does understand and I am able to talk to him about her and what a wonderful woman she was.
Enough of that sad stuff...here are some pics:
We went to Springfield for the State Fair...Reed wanted to take a look at the bean field across the street from Grandpa's.
Grandpa's motorcycle.
Exploring the woods behind Grandpa's with dad.
Just being crazy.
Making a butterfly that he would later name "special"
I can't believe that September is just a few days away. September will bring us Dane's birthday as well as Aunt Darci's birthday and wedding!!! Reed's gonna make quite the handsome ring bearer. Fun stuff headed our way.
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