Summer Adventures!

  
Well, here's a little update on my summer.  I got home from college on May 11, and had a few weeks to rest and unpack.  The last weekend in May, I went to a filmmaking workshop offered by Advent Film Group.  The first night, I got lost in Leesburg and couldn't find my way to the CiCi's where the whole group would be having dinner together.  I was pretty upset, because I figured it was the best (and easiest) way to meet people since the breaks during the day were so short, and I was having a hard time getting past my shyness.  Anyway, God had a plan it in, because it opened the door to having dinner with Mr. Escobar and his family and all the interns the following night.  I spent about four hours at the Escobar home and had a great time!

Less than two weeks later, I celebrated my birthday, and then my family left for ten days of vacation at the lake.  I got chiggers the first day, so I was rather miserable the rest of the time, but I still had fun reading, playing games, taking pictures, and watching movies with my family.  We also went out in the canoe and got to see eagles and otters (neither of which I was able to get pictures of, unfortunately), as well as other wildlife.

Two days after I got back from vacation, I left to serve at Bethel Bible Camp as a counselor for a week.  I'd never been to Bethel before, but I knew the family who runs it and one of my closest friends was also going to be a counselor that week.  I had a wonderful week and made lots of new friends.  The only problem was that I couldn't sleep all week!  It was very strange.  I've never had a prolonged case of insomnia before.  The exhaustion made me feel sick every day, so I would lay in bed all morning and feel better by the afternoon.  It was rough, but God still blessed me through my time there and I was sad to leave at the end of the week.

I had a week at home before I headed to Aletheia Springs Christian Education Center to help in the kitchen during girls' week.  That week went much better and I was able to sleep and not get sick at all (for the first time in my four years at Aletheia!).  Still, after what happened at Bethel, I had already suggested that the people at both Bethel and Aletheia find a substitute for me for the two weeks I was supposed to help at the end of July (which they did).

Meanwhile, I was invited to come to North Carolina to help with the pickup filming for Advent Film Group's latest feature film, "Hero," during the last week of July.  Suddenly I had a bright idea!  Maybe God had allowed me to suffer insomnia and sickness my week at Bethel so they would find a substitute for me for the last week in July when I was supposed to come back, which made me available to go help with the filming!  Yet another example of how God works in mysterious ways to bring His will to pass!

So after Aletheia, I was home for two weeks, then went to NC with my brother Daniel to help with a feature film.  We just got back a few days ago.  It was an amazing week!  Very difficult (I think I averaged about 4 hours of sleep a night, and the heat was really rough out on the baseball field all week), but it was a very good experience.  The cast and crew were great to to work with, and I enjoyed developing many new friendships.

I think the craziest experience came on Sunday.  Daniel and I drove three hours round-trip to Raleigh-Durham to pick up a crew member from the airport.  Later that afternoon, we were asked to go back to pick up an important cast member.  We drove 1.5 hours out there, then waited at Cracker Barrel for 2 hours because his flight was delayed, then went to the airport to get him and figured out that he was in the wrong airport.  He had flown into Wilmington, which was 2 hours south of us.  We doubted they would ask us to drive down and get him since that would put us on the road all night, so we started back home.  Half an hour later, we were asked to drive down and bring him back if we were up to it.  So we drove 2.5 hours down, picked up him at midnight, and drove 3.5 hours back up to Winston-Salem, arriving about 4:00 am.  So I got to sleep at 6:00 am and slept for about three hours.  I couldn't sleep any longer so I went to the set for half a day.  As I figured, we were on the road about 13 hours on Sunday.  It was crazy!  But we were glad to help.  :-)

Now I'm home for less than a week, then I'm driving to PA for my college roommate's wedding.  A week after that, another friend gets married, and then in September, I'm heading out again to help with Advent's next feature film.  I'm so excited!  It will be a longer shoot (likely 3 months), but I've heard that right now the plan is to have 5 day weeks, which will be great.

So...there you have it.  It sure has been a busy summer!  But it is amazing how God has worked through seemingly negative situations to weave His beautiful plan for my life.  I am still amazed that He has provided these two wonderful filmmaking opportunities for me so quickly.  I guess I fully expected to have to sit around a year or two after college like a lot of people do, waiting for an opportunity to come along, but God dumped these things right in my lap before three months have passed!  His love and provision for me is overwhelming. I'm so glad that my future is in His hands.  :-)