rain.

so the past 2 days it has been raining..most of us complain, me included. i've been more aware of my thoughts lately and so after complaining to myself about the rain, i started thinking about it. so many of us call rainy days yucky, blah, down, gross, or bad weather, but without rain we wouldn't have life. we sing that silly song for the rain to come back another day, but when are we really ready for the rain to come back another day?? pretty much never..we are spoiled by the sunshine. the rain is what makes the sunshine days so beautiful. it makes me think and compare it to trials in our lives.. without the trials how could we appretiate the life God has given us. we have to go through the fire to become pure and we have to go through the pain to feel His love and healing power. and just like the rain is a reason to be grateful, so are the trials. they open are eyes to the beautiful life God is giving us... and so when i thought about it, i questioned my complaints and realized that i should be grateful for these days. these days are the precurser for the days that bring us so much joy. and with that said, rainy days can bring us joy knowing that the next day will be bright and beautiful. so go play in the rain and enjoy it :)

finding joy,

beth

preparing for a new season.

so 2 weekends ago was the end of our 5 weeks of winter meltdown. this was our rescheduled winter meltdown from the one that was canceled back in feb. it was kind of weird having it when it was so warm outside, but it was certainly a positive for running outdoor activities. i even got to wear shorts and a tank top to run our field games and the zip line. it was middle school weekend, so the kids had a harder time focusing, but it was a great weekend nonetheless. on sunday of that weekend i got to meet my mom, her boyfriend scott, stephen, and sean in the inner harbor of baltimore to spend some quality time in the warm weather :) i am glad to have been able to spend time with my mommy. i love seeing her and it's no fun being away from her, but that's why we have phones :) we had a wonderful day of shopping and eating outside. then stephen, sean, and i went to watch our friend, Matt, play arena football in baltimore. we met his wife suzanne, who works at the cove as well, and got to eat dinner with them afterwords. just a wonderful day of connecting and building on relationships.

with the ending of winter meltdown season starts the spring session of our internship. we will now be planning for summer camp, our intern trip, and gearing up for the spring session of our outdoor education program.

last week really consisted of a whole bunch of cleaning. i mean a whole bunch. haha fort roller (where i will be for the summer) had to be cleaned for the open house, which was last weekend. the cabins hadn't been touched for 6 months.. i will let you use your imagination as to how much dirt was in those cabins and is now in my nose and lungs. haha. the cleaning was finished, so the lady interns and barb (our registrar at rvr) went on a trip to ocean city, md to recruit summer campers. it was a YFC conference with bands pillar and hawk nelson. it was super fun to get to go down to the beach and work with just girls :) kind of a little getaway even though it was for work. :) we ate some pretty good food, had some good conversations, and a lot of laughing.. us girls are good at that. we woke up pretty early and headed back to the ranch for the open house. the open house went really well and i was in charge of leading tours for fort roller. it was nice to work with large groups of people and get a sneak peak of what summer will be like.

now, i am sitting in my room at sandy cove at the beginning of my Easter break. i am so thankful we get breaks as interns. it is such a blessing to be able to spend time with the people we love, but are far away from. i've been thinking about my future and my life after the internship come august and i have many different plans i could take and many different doors i could go through and be happy doing, but i have realized in the past few years that all i really want to do is serve the Lord. it isn't about finding a place you love or about being somewhere that feels like home. i have found that home and doing what i love is serving the Lord no matter where i am. those 2 things fall into the same category of my desire to serve Him in whatever job i take. i don't know where i will be and i am not worried. i can say without a doubt that if i am following His leading and following the peace He has put in my life that i will be happy and doing what i want to do. i have tons of things i want to do in this life, but the one thing that will satisfy me and does satisfy me, is following Him and serving Him wherever i end up. nothing compares to His peace and so i will run hard after that and follow that peace because there is no greater feeling than knowing you are right where He wants you to be. and i don't mean where as in a place, but where as in where you are in following His path and not a path of location, but a path of serving and loving and following hard after Him in any place and in any job. so i lay it down. i trust You Lord for guidance. i trust my life and future is in Your hands. guide and lead me in these next steps of my life.

surrendering it all,

beth.

the past 10 days.

i mean really? 10 days? they went by so fast! haha well i meant to write earlier because there has been so much to write about! :) what a fun past week. ok here goes,

so last week the interns worked monday (our day off) so that we could get wed. off and head up to philly for another chic-fil-a opening. there were 20 of us either from the ranch or associated with the ranch in some way. needless to say there were over 100 people there so we had to do the drawing and we all got it! guess what, i was number 100 again!! for the 2nd time in a row i waited for 99 names to be called to hear mine called! it was so awesome, but so nerve wrecking! ugh, but yay! so that was a fun night and morning when i got my 52 free meals! i love chic fil a and their food! :)

friday evening hannah, taco, ryan, sarah, and i went to the baltimore blast soccer game to recruit some campers and get the name of the ranch out in the city. it was a youth group event sponsored by shine fm and liberty university. so there was a soccer game and then a hawk nelson concert. so when the concert started hannah and i were up front rocking out :) it was a fun evening! dess and bill were hosting the retreat so they weren't able to go. saturday we just cleaned 3 cabins up at fort roller.. they were filthy and it was pouring down rain so it was chilly and wet. we pretty much cleaned all day.

sunday i was able to go to church again for the 2nd time in a row! woohoo.. i have been going to a church called Mountain Christian Church in joppa, md. ;) i love the church. it's huge like i mean huge! i never really enjoyed big churches because i felt like it was hard to make a family. i realized you have to plug yourself in and join small groups and other groups to meet more people. i don't have the time for it, but i now see how it works. i love the preaching. i was pretty spoiled back in lynchburg because my pastor there preached expositionally (not a word) so i was being fed the word and lots of it every sunday. mountain church pastors normally do topical preaching which is great too, but a lot of times pastors lack the word. not at mountain.. i am fed the word while relating it to certain topics so i am very grateful for that.. this sunday i went to a class they offer for people interested in knowing more about mountain and becoming members if that is what people would want to do. i am interested in joining if i stay in the area. so it was an informative class and a nice way to meet people who go there as well as the pastor. :) that evening some of the girls from the ranch met me for shopping, dinner, and grocery time. i love buying groceries.. i eat so much healthier and we went to trader joe's which provides the healthiness :) haha

this monday was our day off and very enjoyable and relaxing for me :) i have been running a lot lately with this amazingly nice weather.. 70 today so i will be out right after work getting a nice run in :) thank you Lord for this weather! with this gorgeous weather means no more snowboarding :( we were going to try to go this coming monday but the slopes are already closed for the season! gotta wait til next year!

tuesday, matt took us on a surprise trip to the inner harbor of baltimore. it was a "thank you for all your hard work" trip. we walked around downtown, shopped, and saw the catholic church. it was so nice to get away. i am learning to love cities.. they fascinate me :)

today, my goal is to plan some of our intern trip, find a cheap Easter dress, and go for a run :)

go enjoy this day!

in Him,

beth.

a taste of spring..

loving this warmer weather.. i am sure it's not here to stay so i'll soak it in while it lasts.. it was a good weekend.. our first winter retreat since winter meltdown was here. worked the zip line and high ropes saturday. pretty nice day, but still snow on the ground.. it made everything so much more difficult, but i didn't mind because i felt like i was getting a work out :) sarah's birthday was friday and her sister came up and surprised her. we had a good weekend with her. we celebrated her birthday thursday night and ate some delicious goodies, all which i am running off now. haha.. saw a couple movies this weekend.. valentine's day and alice and wonderland. i could take or leave the first movie, but alice in wonderland was surprisingly good :) had a wondeful day yesterday out with some special people. :) today the interns and i decided where we will be spending our intern camping trip in may! for the first 3 nights we will be spending it camping on assateague island in maryland! the last night and day we will be at great falls, va-dc area! i am pretty excited.. it will be a blast.. especially spending it with such fun people! can't wait.

it's been so nice out these past few days.. so nice i got to wear a dress and a jean jacket yesterday :) spring is so beautiful when it finally comes around, but for me it comes with such an odd feeling. it's not a bad feeling, just weird.. i love it though.. watching everything come back to life. like a new beginning. it makes me think about each new day the Lord gives me. lately i have been realizing more and more negative things about myself.. sometimes i wonder if it is even possible to live a strong christian life.. i fail multiple times daily and i see each time i fail now. i guess on a positive note it's great to finally see those failures so i can work on being the person i want to be for the Lord. sometimes it's overwhelming trying to do everything right. i think it's impossible, but then i am reminded that each day is a new day. each day is a gift from the Lord. a gift that i want to try to give back each day. a new day for me to work on who i am and grow closer to Him. it's not easy knowing how short you fall and i feel that stronger than ever. that also means that i am feeling how much grace the Lord gives. boy, i don't deserve it, but He gives it and oh how i am so grateful He does and doesn't give up on me.

Lord, make me more like your Son. Holy Spirit, give me the strength to pick myself up and try again after those many times i fail.

beth.

what a past few days!

well, this week (so far) has been full of quite the adventures. :) we usually have sunday's and monday's off, but this week we had to work monday so we had sunday and tuesday off instead. every monday at the ranch their are program meetings.. that is why we worked that day. it is somewhat of our programming week at the ranch. so we sat in on our first programming meeting. it was nice to see how a meeting is run and what the meeting entailed. even though i am not participating in the meetings it is still very beneficial for me and my desire to be full-time in camp ministry. i am trying to absorb every experience i get! later that evening we played in our usual monday night volleyball pick-up league. with this weather keeping me locked up inside, going to volleyball is a very good thing to keep me from going crazy.

tuesday we had off, but i needed to earn a comp day so that i can go to italy in may! a little vacation i have been saving for. i figured i would be working on our summer program and a book report we have due on friday, but matt suggested i go recruiting for summer staff with the recruiting team at Messiah. being in an office all day or recruiting summer staff?? i think you know which wins. hahah it was nice to go to messiah.. i got to see an old co-worker who might be interested in working at the ranch :) she also might go on our vacation! a girl i met at the ccca conference was there as well. that's the 2nd recruiting trip we have been right beside each other! too fun. sandy cove was also there. the head of the HR department was there and so was the director of their summer camp in WV. he is a real cool guy and has tons of connections to camps in austrailia. so, i guess i will confess that i have been thinking about working at a camp(s) in austrailia for a few months next winter. it's exciting to know that it could possibly work out if the Lord wants it. after talking to Tim, i realized it is a real possibility! if it doesn't work out, no worries. it was fun to think about it :) it's nice to have a connection who could really be a huge help if i do go down under. so i will be praying and researching this little idea..

wednesday... sarah and i had the opportunity to go to downtown baltimore for a marketing meeting. i am very grateful for this opportunity and although i still have a lot to learn about marketing, i really enjoy it. i think i need to narrow down a field of camp ministry i want to work in, but i have a problem. i like them all! haha maybe i will just wait and see where the Lord leads in that area. it was vaguely a meeting on how we can bring more campers to RVR. too me very beneficial. i think the meeting was very successful.. a plan was devised and details were made. people were placed in charge of certain areas and all in all a good day. the plan can now go into action back at the ranch.

last night.. oh where to begin.. sarah, taco, dess, and i were going to meet some friends down in annapolis for an andy mckee concert. he is an acoustic guitarist. it was at a tavern so we had some dinner and then walked over to the concert. well, our friend who got all our tickets didn't see where it was a 21 and up show. bummer, cause dess isn't 21. they wouldn't even mark her hands to say she was under 21.. it was weird that rule was in place just for a concert.. we heard that annapolis has some pretty hard core laws about drinking and concerts and underage people.. so her and i ended up not going to the concert. since we were an hour and a half away from the ranch we couldn't just call someone to come get us. so we tried to sell our tickets and with no luck decided to walk the streets to find a coffee shop and sit for a bit. well we chose the wrong side of town to walk towards and saw some sketch places and people so we turned around asap. and went towards the other side of town. much better. since it was 8 and on a week night, not much was open. we ended up finding a little ice cream shop that said they had the best hot chocolate in town.. so we, being frozen, thought this place sounded good and looked safe.. we were right! haha we each got a little ice cream, which was homemade.. delicious. and we split a hot chocolate.. delicious! the place was real cute and real mom and pop shop like. a tradition they have started is allowing people to decorate spoons. they will be hanging them all over their walls soon. so dess and i colored our spoons and then left them there to be placed on the wall. he closed at 9:30 so we had to leave and go into the cold again. haha we ended up walking the levels of our parking deck for the next hour and 15 mins and just talked. it was great to get some exercise after that ice cream.. not gonna lie i was really happy.. there were 6 levels and we walked up and down and up and down the stairs.. on our way home i read my daily reading from my one year Bible out loud.. i felt like i was reading to my little kids.. :)

now, its thursday and the week has already been so eventful... we will see what the rest of the weekend holds.. like sarah's birthday tomorrow.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

joyful,
beth.

change of plans.

life is full of surprises. this being one of them. well, sorta. i had decided to be a counselor here at the ranch this summer. i did have an interest in another position, but it had already been taken. i voiced my interest in the position a little while back and again just recently. after some good honest conversations i was offered the position.. i have some things to work on before the summer to prepare myself. i am excited and nervous. i really wanted this position, expected not to get it, and now i have it. so nothing to complain about or be worried about right?? ugh, well that's the way it should be.. haha but i am doubting myself. i am sooooo excited to work this position, but at the same time i find myself thinking i may fail..this is where my trusting in the Lord comes in.. he brought me to this position i had desired so much, in the hardest way, but in the end the truth is that He knew i was going to be in this position. He is going to prepare me for this summer. no matter how much i doubt myself it can't stop the Lord from doing His work. so that means i shouldn't doubt myself because He is in control, right? RIGHT! well thanks for listening to this conversation to myself. that's how i roll.

full of hope,

beth.