Reminiscing Summer 2008

At the beginning of summer I prayed, "God, since it's my golden year, can you let something incredible happen this summer?" And here's what God did...

TENNESEE
Of course, our family road trip around Tennessee was AMAZING! We saw a historic recording studio, the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, majestic mountains, a river of rapids (see photo on the left!), caves, gnomes, and enough Elvis to last a lifetime.

BEST FRIENDS
Grace and I have a lot of memories from the summer...don't we? ;) From the incident at the mall, to Six Flags, to sleepovers--who knew what God had in store for us when we first walked through the doors of CATS? Only He could have orchestrated this friendship.

GUITAR
This summer, "Hotel Aquarium" by Falling Up, "The Unwinding Cable Car" by Anberlin, and (roughly) "Innocent" by Stellar Kart were the first songs I learned on the guitar! Now, I've started taking guitar lessons so I can learn those songs the right way...and finally be able to play like Joseph Milligan from Anberlin!

FAVORITE BOOK
Besides learning the guitar, I also read a total of 11 books this summer! My favorite book is definitely House by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker. I can't wait for the movie coming out this fall! If you decide to read this, I'm warning you--make time to read this book. You won't be able to put it down 'til they escape the house...that is, if they do! Mwahahahaha....

FAVORITE MOVIE
Surprised? Sorry, everyone! It was a tough choice between The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and The Incredible Hulk, but when it comes to superheroes, I'm all superheroes (I haven't seen The Dark Knight, by the way). So, The Incredible Hulk wins my vote for favorite movie of the summer. That doesn't mean I don't like Ben Barnes though...;)

FAVORITE ALBUM
My favorite album that came out this summer was 'Til We See the Shore by new indie band, Seabird. Jesusfreakhideout.com allowed us to listen to the entire album for free. When it got off the site, I went to iTunes and got my favorite songs. Not only did this album have good music, but from listening, I learned some new piano stuff. Thanks, Aaron!

BIRTHDAY
Well, it was my golden year and I had the greatest birthday party ever! The gals and I watched Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D then headed to Alley Cats for bowling, laser tag, and other games.

BORED

One of the beautiful things about summer is something called boredom. So, on a day when I had nothing else to do, I decided that it's about time Fluffy and Princess tied the knot. Thus, the two were married on Saturday, July 26. I sat at the electric piano, changed it to organ, and improv-ed "Here Comes the Bride." Afterwards, they had a homeynoon in Corpus Christi.

CORPUS CHRISTI

I also had a great time at the Asian Pastors' Retreat, visiting the beach and making new friends. Shout out to Justin!

LIBERATE (LEELAND!)
Of course, one of my biggest highlights of the summer was going to Liberate Conference--God definitely used this conference to change my life! And, of course...LEELAND!!! (If you don't know the story, read my blog "Get Liberated" below!) I even got a picture of Leeland setting up before the concert...who gets a pic of Leeland setting up before the concert??? But I deleted it...

SKILLET

Finally, summer has to end off with a bang; and what better BANG than Skillet live?! I had a blast with my best friend at Six Flags, watching Skillet and David Crowder*Band.

It's sad to say...summer is over, but I'd have to say that, so far, this summer has been the greatest summer of my life!