Growing up, Getting Married, Thanking Jesus.: 2011!

Hey blog friend peeps,

Life is crazy, ain't it?

So much going on. So many good things! So many busy feeling things....but mostly all good things.

Since we spoke last, we have gone to Passion 2011 with 7 amazing high school seniors, my sweet baby sister, and BJ's two AUsome brothers. We stayed at Mom and Dad's and it was a blast. Mom was the best hostess ever as always. All the kids loved Mom, Dad, Camilla, Payton and Austin!

If you have never been to/heard of Passion, it is a Christian conference for 18-25 year olds. Since we are still in that age group (barely), it is kind of funny that we were actually leaders, but we had such a great time. There were TWENTY TWO THOUSAND students there from every state but North Dakota and a tonnnn of different countries!! It is really hard to explain why Passion is such a powerful few days. Camilla put it really well when I was eating lunch with her recently. She said "there just wasn't much fluff." So true. Everything about it is real and good and raw. Sure the stage is big, the music is loud, and everything is on a large scale because of the crazy amount of people, but Passion is just all about carrying the name of Jesus to the whole world.

There were sevvveral opportunities to give financially and prayerfully to the Kingdom. They set of this huge room that is called the "Go Center" and ..... ok..... goodness this is hard to explain...it is on such a large scale and it so amazing....but I'll try....basically they have set up all these exhibits where you can see the way some people really live.....sex trafficking...poverty...no clean water...no medical necessities....etc. Our group got together and purchased some livestock for a family in poverty. They will be able to live off those animals for a long time! You can start businesses through livestock, feed your family, and so much more. We really learned a lot about the world and a lot about the character of God.

The verse that Passion was built around is Isaiah 26:8, "Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your Truth, Your name and Your renown are the desire of our souls."

Can I get an Amen?

There was so much great music. So many great speakers. Francis Chan, Beth Moore, John Piper, Louie Giglio, David Platt, David Crowder, Charlie Hall, Chris Tomlin, Christy Nockels, Kristian Stanfill, Matt Redman, and moooree!! It was wonderful and if you ever have a chance to go, you SHOULD because God will teach you so much!

God was so good to us at Passion, as He is every day. He has really blessed us through our high school senior group and I am so glad we were able to go.

Here is most of our group:

BJ was taking this picture while standing on a seat in front of us on a verrryyyy steep incline. But how cute are these people?

Oh yeah the Auburn Tigers are now the NATIONAL CHAMPIONS. Wow. Really? Our team? OUR AUBURN TIGERS???? #1 ... not figuratively but literally!!! Yes, folks. It is true. It has happened. We have arrived, and we don't plan on leaving any time soon :)