It has been a hot minute since I have posted. If you get tired of reading people’s Facebook posts about their summer adventures, then go ahead and stop reading because today’s blog post is basically a life update on my summer and why I haven’t been posting much lately. As many of y'all know, Link Year ended in the beginning of May. It was a super hard transition from Branson to Dallas, but I knew I would be back with everyone at camp in a few weeks prior to graduation. Well, camp came around and I spent a total of two weeks up there because God had called me to something different. It wasn’t an easy transition, because I thought I would be spending my summer with my link people at camp, but realized He had something different planned. So I packed back up and came back home to Dallas. The month of June was a confusing one, because I didn’t really know where I fit in back home.
If we are being honest, during this month I was convinced this summer was going to be the worst one I would experience. But God (enough said, right??) turned it around to be the best summer I have had! Soon after, the month of July came around, one of the most hectic months. I had a vacation planned with my dear friend, Lexi and her family this month that would take two weeks of the summer, but I had no idea I would have been traveling the whole entire month. Elaine and I had the brilliant idea to spontaneously drive up to Fayetteville to surprise our friend Jack for his birthday. We packed up at about five pm that evening and drove until night to see him. The weekend was such a blast and filled with mini Link reunions with everyone up in Fayetteville for college stuff! After that, Elaine and I parted ways as I headed to Branson and she went back home to Texas. My vacation with Lexi was in about a week, so I decided instead of driving home for a week and then having to come back up, I would just go early and hang out with friends still living there. I got to see everyone from linkies, to friends from staff training at camp, and even old mentors of mine. It felt like I had never left Branson in the first place!
After a refreshing week in Branson, it was time to embark on our theme park road trip. Before we go on, I need to explain something. I love theme parks, but I am not the biggest fan of roller coasters. I will ride a few, but not very big ones. On the other hand, Lexi and her family LOVE roller coasters. They will ride any and every one they see. Okay, now we can continue. I am going to spare you the details, but let me tell you, this trip was one of the funnest I have been on. We went to Six Flags in Saint Louis, Missouri , Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana, (yes that is the name of the town, I promise) and Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. I went on every roller coaster they did except for two, and I ended up loving rides by the end of the trip! The road trip ended at their lake house where we spent a day out on the boat getting tan lines and sunburns.
The trip with the Simmon’s family ended July 16 and I had to hurry back home because I had a flight on the 18th to Denver, Colorado. I drove all day on the 17th, and spent less than 12 hours at home before I was gone again, but it was worth it. For my birthday, I asked for a trip to Colorado to see another good friend of mine, Thayne. She attended Link Year with me and was one of my closest friends this year. I wanted to see her before she moved up to California for school, and sure enough, I was blessed to be able to! I spent the week with her and her sweet family in a little town near Denver. We did everything from hiking around Red Rocks Amphitheater, to watching movies with her siblings. The week was nice and relaxing and the weather was incredible. It was hard to say goodbye to my sweet friend, but a blessing to know that I will always have her by my side, no matter how far away we are from each other.
I have been home for about a week now, and don’t plan on going very far for the rest of summer. I have been super blessed to be able to travel this much, but am ready to have some relaxing time with family back in the great state of Texas (aka God’s country as Seth Higgins puts it). I don’t move back up to Branson until early September. I am super ready for the next year helping out with Link Year, but I am going to cherish this next month I have here to relax and grow. Sorry if this post wasn’t exactly what everyone was hoping for, but I just wanted to catch everyone up on my life! Stay tuned for photos from the month of July. Thank you, and I hope everyone is enjoying there last month of summer!