Uplift at Harding

Last week Ryan and I had the privilege of taking 4 girls from our youth group at church to Harding's summer camp Uplift. It was an amazing experience and we made many unforgettable memories! We attend a smaller country church and due to our size we don't have a youth minister so Ryan was recently appointed youth deacon and we have very much enjoyed getting to know the young people better and providing opportunities for them to grow! They all just love Ryan and he's great with them! Of course, Ryan and I, being Harding alum, love going back and being on campus but I think the girls fell and love with campus too and had so much fun they are already talking about going back next year! Now on to the marathon of pics!

Our girls...Casey, Brandi, Mary Grace, and Ashlyn Being silly : )

Our first night on campus we enjoyed an Acapella concert! Baby was lovin' some Acapella and the loud music...I've never felt it move more at one time than during the concert!

Another group shot...

and another one


Singing on the front step of the Benson

Ashley got to come down twice to see us while we were there! As always, it was great to see him and Kinsey just ate him up! (It's ashame you can't tell they are kin!)

The parents of a family we worship with at Stroudsville live in Searcy and invited us over for supper Tuesday night. It was delicious and we all enjoyed a break from the cafeteria food!

Every morning we would always start off by singing silly songs to get the kids awake...here they are "Singing in the Rain"Kinsey fit right in and tried her best to do all the motions....including sticking her tongue out while singing!
Such a big girl!

Ryan was asked to be a God time teacher and had 3 small groups that he met with each day to talk about certain Bible stories and discuss the things they were learning over the week.

This was his 7th - 8th grade group.

The 9th - 10th grade group...I think he enjoyed them the most!

Playing a game they taught him...

Mom was able to go out with us and help with Kinsey which was a HUGE blessing! I learned really quickly that a pregnant woman has no business trying to keep up with a bunch of teenagers and going to bed at midnight every night so I know there's no way I could have kept up with Kinsey without having mom there! They stayed at Terri's and we got to see them during the day which worked out really well. I told her next year she definitely has to go since we'll have 2 kids in tow! Thanks mom, you're the best!

Kinsey and Nana on a HU swing

Reading books in the library!

Cooling off in the fountain!

Family pic!

Terri, Allison and me...it was so good to catch up with these special gals!

The last night was by far the highlight of our trip! After the evening worship service Brandi and Mary Grace told us they were thinking about being re-baptized and Ashlyn told us she was ready to be baptized! Accepting Jesus Christ as Lord of your life and putting Him on in baptism is such an important step and decision for anyone so Ryan talked to each of them, they talked to their parents and each of them decided it was the right decision for them. So Ryan had the privilege of baptizing 3 of the girls at Harding. It was such an amazing experience...there is a baptistry in the fountain in front of the Benson and over 600 fellow Christians sang and rejoiced with us! I am so proud of each of these girls and know they will do great things for God's kingdom!

Ryan baptizing Brandi...

Ashlyn...

and Mary Grace

Mary Grace and Jennifer, her mom and our other chaperon

Ryan and the girls...all smiles : ) There's no better feeling than knowing you are saved!
By the last night Jennifer and I were getting used to staying up late even if we were a little delirious!

As you can tell we had a very emotional week and I think we, as adults, got just as much if not more out of camp than the kids did! It was so nice to be able to spend 4 full days totally focused on our awesome God. We are so easily distracted in our day to day lives that too often we don't make time for Him like we should so a break from the daily grind was much needed for me!

On our way home from dropping the girls off at the church building, Kasey's mom called to let me know that Kasey wanted to be baptized too she just wanted to wait until she got home. So later that evening a small group of us met back up at the church and Ryan got to baptize Kasey too!

The girls rejoicing with Kasey afterwards!