Ground Zero July 2004
May We Never Forget!
Monday, September 11, 2006
Sunday, September 10, 2006
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Friday, September 01, 2006
A Summer in Review
May:
Summer had just begun and I was not sure where it was going to lead. I longed to be one of the chosen few, a counselor at Ridge Haven, but alas God had different plans. My summer was to be filled with Steven, LYM, and time to reflect on a year at UGA.
My mother came to visit Augusta from Albequerque, NM for Steven's Senior Prom. I could tell she was really happy to see me all dolled up from head to toe and with a guy who really loved me. It was good to have her around again and to be able to just sit and talk with one of my best friends ever.
Anna was home from school. It was tough to balance life with her and Steven. Trying to figure out who to spend my time with and when. However, she would learn to hardship if this situation for herself later on in the summer. The struggle to seek balance between the forces of boyfriend and bestfriend. My so called hardships were nothing compared to the strom about to rage in Anna's family. Her Grandpa Wooten had been sick for a number of years and on dialysis. He took a turn for the worse and ended up passing right before Anna was to leave for Ridge Haven. It was hard to see her hurt, but amazing to see her faith in the Lord. My troubles were nothing to be compared.
Memorial Day weekend was so relaxing. Hanging out at the lake with the usual crowd from Westminster. Eating home made ice cream at night and munchin' one some low country boil in the afternoon. Goods times swimming around in the muddy water and nursing scorched skin.
June:
Laying sod in the 90 degree heat does not sound like much of away to start the summer huh? Well for a good profit it was. Steven and I, the ever lucrative and productive couple were are, layed sod for a man from the church. It was hard and HOT but a good time for Steven and I to get to know each other in working conditions. I proved to him that I know what I am doing most of the time. 8)
The next week it was time to pack up and start the adventure that was June. I headed up to Cherokee, NC to do mission work for the week with Westminster PCA. We had a group of about 25 inculding three families. We worked at two local Elderly Community Centers (Tsali Manor and Snow Bird) in the morning building card boxes with the people and learning about them spiritually. In general just being there to love on them and make them feel loved and cared for while sharing the word of God. In the afternoon the whole group worked at Tasli Care, a nursing home on the reservation. Here we painted a fence, lawn ornaments, and pressure washed, re-painted the building. It was my third time goint to the Cherokee Reservation and I feel that God keeps calling me back teaching me new things each and every time. This year I learned that it is okay and good to be vulnerable to any and everyone beucase you show your true heart not just the clean, procelain facade. Loving people is dirty work beucase you have to become involved in all thier sins. I guess I learned that I have to make it a point to be in someones life and continue to support them in their walk with Christ. One amazing night I asked all the high school girls if they would like to have meeting and talk about anything and everything that was on their minds. We did, everyone was apprehensive at first, but God was good and allowed them to share the struggles with one another and even problems within the group. This taught me that I can lead people and I should not continually rely on others but step up as a woman of God to lead other girls. One more thing as the week ended I wondered Why Cherokee? There are elderly people everywhere who need to be loved on and houses to be rebuilt and painted, why is this the place we go to do such things. It made me think Cherokee and the short term mission field in general prepares us for the mission at hand, home. At home everyone knows my sins and my struggles but yet it is the hardest place to be open and ready to share such things. I lied one more and then ill move on. I really bonded with Mrs. Gojda, the mother and wife of one of the families on the trip. I see her as such a woman of God, becuase she has the courage to admit her sins and struggles, seeing the amazing work God has done in her life. I admire her so much and strive to be at least half the woman she has become. In general the Cherokee Mission Trip showed me my brokeness in new ways that I would have never thought it could.
At 8:15 am the day after I got back from Cherokee Steven, my brother Billy, and I left from ATL airport to meet my parents in Denver, CO. We were going to go hiking for a week in Rock Mountain National Park (RMN) with my parents. The Lloyd family hikes are commonly referred to as Death Marches beucase we never know if we are going to make it. The week started off great everyone in good spirits hiking with no problem. Each day we would average about 7 to 8 miles and gain about 2000 feet of elevation. This was a strech going from 7 miles above sea level to 12,000 feet at one point. We made a two day backcountry trip to Lost Lake in the Western part of the park. The first day we hiked 7.2 straight miles to Lost Falls, fly fished the stream and them slept the night. The next morning we had to wake up really early and run up the 2.2 miles to the summit in order to claim a campsite that was not covered in snow. It turns out Lost Lake is truely a lost cause beucase the whole lake did not have a single fish. So we passed the time by swatting mosquitos on each other and each freeze-dried meals. The in hindsight was awsome. I mean not many of my friends can say that they have read Hemmingway sitting on a boulder, overlooking a glaicer lake, surrouned by breath taking mountains. Like me mom says, "these trips are like child birth, you forget the pain until you are in it again!"
Finally, I made it back to the Casa in NA, SC woot woot and slept for a whole day!
July:
Things began to slow down quiet a bit in July. I was able to hang with the Lakemont Crew at little bit more. I was hard though beucase I am not in on all the things they are I felt kind of like an outside when I was around them this summer. I was not trying to play the whole hay I am the cool college kid role. I just did not know where they wanted me or if they even did. I guess I can see how I've grown up some over my year away at UGA which is also kind of sad beucase I am losing my youth AHHHHHHHH! Anyways I just had hoped for more but I think I am just out of place.
We took an awsome trip to Six Flags over Georgia with some of the kids in the youth group and their friends. It was wierd to be the second oldest person there. But O MAN the GOLIATH is awsome, literally my most favorite coasters ever. It was just so smooth on the track, fast, and soooooo HIGH! the trip went well except for the whole locking the keys in the thing, but hay it's in the past right. . .?
One unexpected and challenging event happended this month. Some issues happened between Ridge Haven Camp and Westminster and one girl was left behind who was signed up for camp that week. So somehow I mustered up the courage to face my fears of seeing the job I wanted first hand and not being able to have it. I ended up gong to RH to take Ceclia Price to camp and worked in the kitchen for a week. Im not going to lie it was soooo incredibly hard to stand behind the counter and watch my bestfriend do the job I wanted so badly. But God was soo good to me, I needed t confront what I had suppressed deep within. RH was good but hard in general.
The Summer was one that changed my views on how I am and how I should be in light of what God has graced me with. Now here I go back to Athens, and UGA let the good times roll. . . GOOOOOOOOOOOO DAWGS! Sic Em' Woof Woof Woof!
Summer had just begun and I was not sure where it was going to lead. I longed to be one of the chosen few, a counselor at Ridge Haven, but alas God had different plans. My summer was to be filled with Steven, LYM, and time to reflect on a year at UGA.
My mother came to visit Augusta from Albequerque, NM for Steven's Senior Prom. I could tell she was really happy to see me all dolled up from head to toe and with a guy who really loved me. It was good to have her around again and to be able to just sit and talk with one of my best friends ever.
Anna was home from school. It was tough to balance life with her and Steven. Trying to figure out who to spend my time with and when. However, she would learn to hardship if this situation for herself later on in the summer. The struggle to seek balance between the forces of boyfriend and bestfriend. My so called hardships were nothing compared to the strom about to rage in Anna's family. Her Grandpa Wooten had been sick for a number of years and on dialysis. He took a turn for the worse and ended up passing right before Anna was to leave for Ridge Haven. It was hard to see her hurt, but amazing to see her faith in the Lord. My troubles were nothing to be compared.
Memorial Day weekend was so relaxing. Hanging out at the lake with the usual crowd from Westminster. Eating home made ice cream at night and munchin' one some low country boil in the afternoon. Goods times swimming around in the muddy water and nursing scorched skin.
June:
Laying sod in the 90 degree heat does not sound like much of away to start the summer huh? Well for a good profit it was. Steven and I, the ever lucrative and productive couple were are, layed sod for a man from the church. It was hard and HOT but a good time for Steven and I to get to know each other in working conditions. I proved to him that I know what I am doing most of the time. 8)
The next week it was time to pack up and start the adventure that was June. I headed up to Cherokee, NC to do mission work for the week with Westminster PCA. We had a group of about 25 inculding three families. We worked at two local Elderly Community Centers (Tsali Manor and Snow Bird) in the morning building card boxes with the people and learning about them spiritually. In general just being there to love on them and make them feel loved and cared for while sharing the word of God. In the afternoon the whole group worked at Tasli Care, a nursing home on the reservation. Here we painted a fence, lawn ornaments, and pressure washed, re-painted the building. It was my third time goint to the Cherokee Reservation and I feel that God keeps calling me back teaching me new things each and every time. This year I learned that it is okay and good to be vulnerable to any and everyone beucase you show your true heart not just the clean, procelain facade. Loving people is dirty work beucase you have to become involved in all thier sins. I guess I learned that I have to make it a point to be in someones life and continue to support them in their walk with Christ. One amazing night I asked all the high school girls if they would like to have meeting and talk about anything and everything that was on their minds. We did, everyone was apprehensive at first, but God was good and allowed them to share the struggles with one another and even problems within the group. This taught me that I can lead people and I should not continually rely on others but step up as a woman of God to lead other girls. One more thing as the week ended I wondered Why Cherokee? There are elderly people everywhere who need to be loved on and houses to be rebuilt and painted, why is this the place we go to do such things. It made me think Cherokee and the short term mission field in general prepares us for the mission at hand, home. At home everyone knows my sins and my struggles but yet it is the hardest place to be open and ready to share such things. I lied one more and then ill move on. I really bonded with Mrs. Gojda, the mother and wife of one of the families on the trip. I see her as such a woman of God, becuase she has the courage to admit her sins and struggles, seeing the amazing work God has done in her life. I admire her so much and strive to be at least half the woman she has become. In general the Cherokee Mission Trip showed me my brokeness in new ways that I would have never thought it could.
At 8:15 am the day after I got back from Cherokee Steven, my brother Billy, and I left from ATL airport to meet my parents in Denver, CO. We were going to go hiking for a week in Rock Mountain National Park (RMN) with my parents. The Lloyd family hikes are commonly referred to as Death Marches beucase we never know if we are going to make it. The week started off great everyone in good spirits hiking with no problem. Each day we would average about 7 to 8 miles and gain about 2000 feet of elevation. This was a strech going from 7 miles above sea level to 12,000 feet at one point. We made a two day backcountry trip to Lost Lake in the Western part of the park. The first day we hiked 7.2 straight miles to Lost Falls, fly fished the stream and them slept the night. The next morning we had to wake up really early and run up the 2.2 miles to the summit in order to claim a campsite that was not covered in snow. It turns out Lost Lake is truely a lost cause beucase the whole lake did not have a single fish. So we passed the time by swatting mosquitos on each other and each freeze-dried meals. The in hindsight was awsome. I mean not many of my friends can say that they have read Hemmingway sitting on a boulder, overlooking a glaicer lake, surrouned by breath taking mountains. Like me mom says, "these trips are like child birth, you forget the pain until you are in it again!"
Finally, I made it back to the Casa in NA, SC woot woot and slept for a whole day!
July:
Things began to slow down quiet a bit in July. I was able to hang with the Lakemont Crew at little bit more. I was hard though beucase I am not in on all the things they are I felt kind of like an outside when I was around them this summer. I was not trying to play the whole hay I am the cool college kid role. I just did not know where they wanted me or if they even did. I guess I can see how I've grown up some over my year away at UGA which is also kind of sad beucase I am losing my youth AHHHHHHHH! Anyways I just had hoped for more but I think I am just out of place.
We took an awsome trip to Six Flags over Georgia with some of the kids in the youth group and their friends. It was wierd to be the second oldest person there. But O MAN the GOLIATH is awsome, literally my most favorite coasters ever. It was just so smooth on the track, fast, and soooooo HIGH! the trip went well except for the whole locking the keys in the thing, but hay it's in the past right. . .?
One unexpected and challenging event happended this month. Some issues happened between Ridge Haven Camp and Westminster and one girl was left behind who was signed up for camp that week. So somehow I mustered up the courage to face my fears of seeing the job I wanted first hand and not being able to have it. I ended up gong to RH to take Ceclia Price to camp and worked in the kitchen for a week. Im not going to lie it was soooo incredibly hard to stand behind the counter and watch my bestfriend do the job I wanted so badly. But God was soo good to me, I needed t confront what I had suppressed deep within. RH was good but hard in general.
The Summer was one that changed my views on how I am and how I should be in light of what God has graced me with. Now here I go back to Athens, and UGA let the good times roll. . . GOOOOOOOOOOOO DAWGS! Sic Em' Woof Woof Woof!
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