All Alone?

When I saw this picture posted on FB it just broke my heart.

Somewhere in the US on September 28

I could not stop crying for this lone young man. Could you guess where he was? What he was doing? On September 28 probably very early in the morning?

Well, if you have a high schooller in the house, they may know. Ask them.

On Sept 28, it was See You At The Pole, where Christian teens gather annually at their local schools'  flagpole to pray for their school during the early morning before school starts. Started in 1990 as a grass roots movement of 10 students praying  at their school, it is now a global day of student prayer.

This young man pictured above was the only one standing at his school's flagpole praying for his fellow students, school and country. At first he was waiting for someone else to show up but after awhile when he figured out that no one else was going to join him, he prayed that his prayers alone would make a difference to Jesus. And it did. The picture went viral all over the country.

This young man touched my heart so deeply because he took his faith into his own hands and made it a message to the world that He loves Jesus and that our schools so desperately need God so he prayed. 

Last year, Emily joined other students from Youth Alive, a Christian club at her public high school to pray.

Last year, Hannah joined her junior high classmates to pray at the flagpole

And this year, Emily again joined her classmates as the sun was coming up, to pray for her school, teachers and country.

I am thankful that my girls have a spiritual community to be a part of at school.

Being a teenager is so different now as compared to when I was in high school. But one thing has not changed: being a teen is not easy. In fact, it may be one of the hardest times of your life. Balancing academics, extra curriculars, friends, peer pressure, social media, discovering your identity, and planning for a future in which you have no idea what you will be doing much less know what you want to do.

That's a lot for a someone to go through when they aren't even officially an 'adult' yet.

So for a teen to go to God through prayer to ask for help is H-U-G-E!

So was that lone young man all alone when he prayed that early morning on Sept 28?

Nope.

Jesus was with Him.

Hume

Emily's first time away from home for a whole week.. and went to High School Summer Camp!

Hume Lake in the background! So gorgeous!

Emily and 12 other members of her Youth Group at FCC went to Hume Lake Christian Camp during July 4th week.

The girls' cabin

She has never been away without one of her parents so this was a big independent step for my first born! And she had a great time!

Emily attached to Courtney

She enjoyed the recreation time, food and cabin time.

 The camp grounds look so beautiful!

Emily and Brandon, one of the counselors, braided Adrianne's hair!

She made a cool key ring during craft time.

The kids woke up so see the sun rise against Hume Lake at 6:00am!

The camp had a professional photographer and posted the following pictures on their website. Of course, I did not purchase any so that's why the Hume marks on the photos.

Crazy Campers!

Can you find Emily in this picture? I'll give the first person  a $10 Amazon card if you can find her! Show me proof that's it's her!

This was how many kids that were at camp that one week!

At church, the following Sunday, the kids went up on stage to share about their experiences and thank the congregation for supporting and praying for them!

Grace, Courtney and Danika shared on stage how God spoke to them.

Here is what Emily said to her supporters regarding her experience:

"I really appreciate your help in supporting me on my trip to Hume Lake Christian Camps. I had a great time bonding with friends and studying the word of God. I really enjoyed the worship and listening to the sermon during chapel. I also enjoyed times casually hanging out with some friends.

In a typical day, we’d wake up for breakfast and then head to chapel, which consisted of worship and a sermon. Organized recreation was afterwords, where we play engaging and competitive team games outside. After we eat lunch, there is 4-5 hours of free time. This is a time where we can do any activity of our choosing. Most of our time was spent at the volleyball deck to hang out and watch, or play cards. We had dinner, and then went to an evening chapel service. At night we had about an hour of time, there was usually a scheduled event we could attend.

The camp theme for this year was Bingo (farm themed). It was based on the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 16-19. When Elijah’s faith in God was tested, Bingo’s trust in his farmer was also tested. A short film about Bingo was shown, which relates to Elijah’s story. I learned about our love for God. I learned that God wants our genuine love for him."

The two gals below are not super close friends of Emily's even though they attend Youth Group together.  Funny thing is .. both attended one of Emily's birthday party over a decade ago.

Grace I. in 2016 at camp........2003 at Emily's 3rd year old birthday party (13 years later)

Grace F. in 2016 at camp.......... 2005 at Emily's "Princess Tea Party" 5th birthday (11 years later)

Bottom line.. you never know when you reconnect with some 'old' friends!

Another One Off to HS

My nephew, Joshua, graduated from 8th grade from King's Academy. He will continue at King's for high school.

Joshua with my family and my parents.

He is extremely smart. I found out he took Geometry in 8th grade and will be taking Algebra 2 Honors as a freshman. (In comparison, I took regular Algebra as a freshman and Geometry as  a sophomore). At the rate he's going he'll take Calculus as a junior.

Joshua is the 'quiet' one out of the three boys. Daniel is the loudest (and biggest) and of course Zachary is a mix of his two brothers.

I took Calculus as a freshman in college and failed miserably! Math was not my forte'.

Time is moving so quickly. Joshua is only 2 months older than Emily. Emily will be graduating 8th grade next June. (She is taking Algebra in 8th grade and Geometry in 9th.)

Joshua graduating from my Homeschool Preschool.

I taught him and Emily when they were 3 before they entered Kindergarten.

Emily and Joshua at 4 years old. Emily is currently taller than Joshua.

On a completely different subject, at my sister's house there are always lots of visitors. She always has 2-3 birds that nest around her house and hatch their eggs annually.

My bird expert says its a black phoebe.

This one had 4 eggs.

They hatched a few weeks later.

This one stayed in it's nest probably because it isn't ready to fly yet. It wasn't very pretty but what newborn baby is right?