Amazing Friends

I know I talk about this a lot, about how I have the most amazing friends in the world. I just I cant get over it. I mean these people mean the world to me. I've never been really good at making and keeping close friends but these people I love and never ever want to leave me. I mean they have made the biggest impact in my life and I don't want to imagine my life without them. What got me thinking about this was that Phillip Phillips song thats popular right now, Home.

"Hold on, to me as we go as we roll down this unfamiliar road."
I mean we are all going down this "unfamiliar" road we call life, and it means the world to me to know that I have these friends that I can hold onto and lean on while going through all this, while going through life. I know that I have people that I can trust with everything, friends that I can lean on when things get rough. I mean we are all going through it, we might as well hold onto each other and go through it together.

"The trouble it might drag you down If you get lost, you can always be found"
I think that's what friends are supposed to be there to do, to find you when you're lost. I know for a fact that my friends HAVE and WILL do that whenever I need it (which seems to be a lot actually). I mean friends are always there for each other, and will be there when you're lost, they'll find you and bring you back.

"Just know you’re not alone Cause I’m going to make this place your home"
In my friendships we really aren't alone. We might feel like it at some points, but we aren't and we never will be. We stand by each other through all of it whether it be anger, sadness, or anything else, we are always there for each other. We often check up on each other to see how things are going. We aren't alone, and we make sure we know this.

I've been blessed with amazing people, that I know are always here for me, and I hope to God they know that I'm always here for them.

2 Year Goal

Right now I am trying to get into shape for a few reasons let me give you an idea of why I would do this crazy thing. This list is in order of least important (#1) to most important (#3).

1. Because I'm lazy and unhealthy and its good for me.
2. I want to go to the Olympics. Qualify at least. (Good goal for me right? Makes me laugh every time.)
3. So I can ride my bike 340 miles from my home town to Laguna Niguel, CA McKayla Maroney's home town.

This sounds crazy right?! Well, it is. But its one of my goals in life to me her. Its one of my crazy goals in life and to reach a crazy goal you have to do something crazy. I mean this isn't unreasonably crazy right? Maybe the meeting her part is kind of crazy but the bike ride isn't. Right? Please tell me I'm right? Plus I just want to meet her. Its not like I'm those creepy guys who want to marry her. I just want to meet her, have a conversation with her, take a picture, thank her for being an inspiration and maybe have a glass of water and a meal with her. Thats not an unreasonable request right?! I mean I'll have rode my bike 340 freaking miles in the freaking heat! Come on thats the least she can do for me!

To meet the crazy goal of meeting McKayla Maroney I have to do something crazy such as ride my bike 340 miles.

So McKayla Maroney watch out because in 2 years I'll be riding my bike down to Laguna Niguel to meet you.

**I'll keep you all updated throughout the training**

Olympic Obsession

You remember how I told you I LOVED the Olympics? Yeah? Well I still love them and every year the love  continues to grow and grow, and every year I find a new Olympian that I love. 2008 was Shawn Johnson, now this year, 2012 is, you guessed it, another gymnast. Its McKayla Maroney! Woo yeah! Pro vaulter, great at everything else, gold and silver medalist, has her own meme, and from interviews is just down right hilarious!

Now its not just her I like, I like all of them, heck I just like the sport of gymnastics in general. Every year though I pick a gymnast that I stand behind and hope for them to go to the Olympics in the next 4 years and right now that one is McKayla. (actually I'd love for most of them to go).

I don't do gymnastics and I thank god that I don't because I could never do any of that stuff. Mad props to all you gymnasts out there! But any way the goal of the Olympics is to "Inspire a generation." every year they do that. Every Olympic year they do that, and the team that does that for me is always the gymnastics team.

Thats all I wanted to say. I just wanted the world to know how much I love gymnastics, McKayla Maroney, and all the other amazing girls on the team. Thank you for once again inspiring a generation.

"Its not just like a puppy you want for Christmas...its the Olympics." -McKayla Maroney

Camp Camp Camp!!!

Hey guys, guess what this week was! That's right it was SUMMER CAMP! Woop-de-woop! I love camp, and its such a blessing to be able to go up, and make friends, but more importantly hang out with and grow closer to God. So let me just give you an overview of what we did each day because really that's not even the best part.

Sunday: We got to camp, ate dinner, hung out, went to chapel, cabin time ext.

Monday: Monday we split into our groups and had some team competitions which were a lot of fun.

Tuesday: Tuesday was pond day! We all went down to lower pond did some more team games, and had a ton of fun with that.

Wednesday: Wednesday was water day! It was also a fun time. We got to play with water balloons, play in the pool, just fun activities like that.

Thursday: Thursday was one of my favorite days. Thursday was MUD DAY!!! We all walked down to the mud pit and played volley ball, tug of war, and other games like that.

Now I'm going to get to the more important things like what I learned and the chapel time, things like that.

So every morning after breakfast we got up and did morning worship at the fire circle and after that we did a thing called Solo Time where we would split off and be by ourselves, read verses, reflect, pray, all that amazing stuff. Then in the evening we would go to chapel, do our worship, have a sermon, and go off to cabin time to reflect with your cabin mates about what we learned.

The theme for camp this summer was "Corner Stone." Our speaker Jay (Who I've heard speak for 2 years, and whos band played this winter and summer) talked about how God needs to be our corner stone, he talked about how if God wasn't our corner stone, the foundation on which we build our lives, then things will come crashing down. God needs to be the center of our life if he is going to be the corner stone.

We also talked about how each persons relationship with Christ is extremely and beautifully unique, but we also talked about how community is so needed. We are not meant to be alone. "Thinking the only team you're on is your own, that's a LIE." -Jay Kim. We learned that yes, our lives and relationships with God are so amazingly unique but that when all our uniqueness comes together we can become something awe inspiring.

Finally we talked about if Christ really is our corner stone we should be able to jump off this "ledge" to take these leaps that God is calling us to because with him we can do it, and even if we have fear about it, that fear will turn into an amazing exhilaration.

We also did a special thing called "Extinct." It was about things that we should be extinct in the world but are not (IE: Human Trafficking, hate, things like that). I and a few others went to the one on hate, and most of the others went to the one on human trafficking. This experience touched us so much more that I expected. In the seminar on hate we heard one of our main camp leaders stories about his friend who he always picked on. The one on human trafficking REALLY got to a lot of my friends and touched them so deeply. All of this got to all of us.

After the seminar my church went to this spot to look at the stars and reflect on this. Man did things get amazingly emotional. I say amazingly because what happened that Wednesday night was something that has never really happened with all of us before. We opened up to each other fully and completely. We had community and fellowship, and God worked through us in so many amazing ways that night.

Overall the week was not only amazingly fun but it was such a growing experience. We not only grew closer as a group but closer to God both individually and as a group. My hope is that all of us accept Jason's Challenge that now that we are back home we will NOT go back to our old ways but instead continue to hold each other accountable and grow closer and closer to God. I'm ready to C-O-M-Commit to not only each other but to God.

A Little More About Me

I just realized I have never really told you a lot about me, my personality, who I am, what I like, ext. I'll give you a little more info about who I am.

• I have problems with people. People and I have a bit of a love/hate relationship  
• I have a lot of secret obsessions, but I also have a lot of open obsessions. 
•  I'm a lot more emotional than I like to admit 
• My favorite color is green, but NOT lime green 
• I don't open up to people very often 
• I've been through a lot and I still go through a lot I just don't show it  
• I like to deal with things by myself. Its very rare for me to ask for help 
• I'm cocky but also extremely self conscious
• I don't have any special skills 
• I LOVE snicker doodles 
• I love kittens and puppies 
• I think Mac 'N Cheese can be eaten all day every day 
• Knock off brand can be just as good or better than name brand 
• I hate talking to people in person, I would much rather write a letter 
• I have the most amazing friends in the world and I never will be able to let them know how important they are
• I have strong opinions and I will let you know about them
• There is a lot more to me than you would think. You might think you know me but chances are you don't