Yesterday I had the pleasure of going to Geauga Lake with my family. This park has a huge water park attached to it. Grace, Joe and I quickly changed into our swimsuits when we saw the huge water slides! As we grabbed a tube to race each other down the slides, I noticed something. I had to be the only 17 year old girl in a one piece suit there. As I was drying off from the amazing water experience a verse came to mind. Song of Solomon 6:2 says "Like a lily among thorns, so is my darling among the maidens". As children of the King, we are to live set apart. Leslie Ludy and her husband Eric run a ministry that encourages girls (guys as well) to live as the lily (set apart). I heard an interview with Leslie on the radio recently. Her words were so encouraging to me. She explained that God knows the hardships of living set apart. In the verse in Song of Solomon he calls us "his darling".Because we live set apart we can be "darling" for Christ! What an awesome privilege! :) Back to my bathing suit experience...... As I looked around and saw that I looked different than everyone else, I realized the amazing opportunity I have!! As children of the King, we are born to stick out. When others see our actions, they are curious as to why we don't " blend in with the thorns". Our choice of actions demonstrate Christ. My choice of bathing suit is a demonstration of Christ. I want to be HIS lily so that I may spread HIS good news. I never thought that a trip to the water park could teach me such a valuable lesson. For that, I will be forever grateful to the gardener, who daily is shaping me into a lily for Him.

Well, my summer has been just delightful. It's fun to be home so often, since I don't get that privilege during the school picture. On Monday, it was time for IOG. For those of you who don't know IOG stands for Inside Out Girls. It's the senior girls Bible study that I help lead. We meet every other Monday night and talk about/do something different each time. This week we were at the Uveges house where we talked about modesty and ate ice cream sundaes. IOG has become one of the highlights of my week. It's awesome to see us (girls) growing closer to each other as we learn about Christ. It warms my heart how close we have become. 2 years ago, we never would have done something outside of youth group. Through the grace of God being used in Pastor Billy, we have united. I am so excited for the sr. high trip to West Virgina next week. We are taking a school bus...just like OB!! yay! OH!! Another cool thing God has done! I was really bummed that we couldn't go to BNYC this year, I won't be able to see a lot of my OB friends. But, what a way that God provides! One of my good friends from Maryland and almost all of the ohio OBers are coming to my house on August 13th. Chris and some possible others are going to stay at my house on the way to Grace College!! Woo Hoo!!

The crew in the van. I am so thankful for the way Christ has brought us together!

I love Sarabeth! She is getting married in less than a month! I am so excited for her!

Leah is like my second sister!

Lenae was impressed with the purple squares sprinkles that I found.

Everybody loved their ice cream sundaes!