Why I Love Youth!

I love ADVANCE for so many reasons:

• allows me to be in a group of Christian peers


• allows me to a have a lifegroup leader who I can look up to


• allows me to meet some of my best friends of Charlotte


• allows me to further my relationship with my Heavenly Father


• allows me to get involved with serving out-of-state


• allows me to feel more connected in a very large church


• allows me to do fun things in the middle of the summer, like DAY TRIPS TO THE BEACH!

As soon as I returned from Raleigh for Alice In Wonderland, big plans awaited!! The following day I woke up really early to meet up at Ballantyne by 7am. We all gathered around the 2 15-passenger vans until everyone had arrived. My friends Abby and Emily were coming along as well, which made the day all the more fun. Pastor Matt drove one van with like 6 kids in it, and Mrs. Megan (my lifegroup leader) drove the van with myself and a few other girls as her passengers. There was plenty of "lounging" space and we took advantage of it by catching some beauty sleep on the way there. The wonderful smell of the salty air and the hot, gritty feeling of sand between our toes let us know we had arrived. Days like these are reminders of why we choose to live in NC! We spent the morning letting the waves roll over us; thankfully, the tides were gentle so chatting and laughing in the water passed the time. Afterwards, we dug a hole WITH OUR BARE HANDS in the sand to bury Emily in. We asked a little boy if we could borrow his shovel (that he currently wasn't using) but he refused. Children these days...haha! Once she was submerged in the sand, we carved the top of the sand to look like a mermaid. It was really neat because where the mermaid carving was, was NOT where her real body was. How funny it was to make her look longer and taller. The entire gang walked down the strip of stores and restaurants and ended up at Banana Cabana for lunch. Emily and I shared a Greek pizza, and then gave strange looks at the potty-situation. They had two toilets in one lil' bathroom. I mean how many ladies really go into a bathroom and just sit down (each on their own toilet) and chat or whatever. We found this arrangement quite humorous. Following lunch, we looked around a beach shop and then I went to join Mrs. Megan on the bench to wait for them to pay. Well, we sat there awhile and obviously were forgotten about. Finally, Mrs. Megan and I realized it has been far too long and walked back to the beach to find everyone already there. Geez, they didn't even look hard enough and just left without us. Oh well, they are forgiven. :) Cat naps on the beach and then more ocean time swept our day at the beach away far too quickly.

On the way home we sang along to fan favorite songs like Justin Bieber and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." The day wasn't complete until after our stop at ChickFilA for dinner and Banana Pudding Milkshakes!! They are my weakness! I love 'em so much.

What a fun day out with my favorite youth friends. The downfall: it only occurs once each summer!

*Had fun spending some babysitting money on new digi scrap papers and elements and found a really fun beach kit. Thanks to this lil' beach trip, I had a reason to use my new beach-themed materials. Yah! Click to zoom.

Alrighty! Summer is going by way too fast, so I am doing all I can to hit the breaks to the fast-approaching first day of school.

Enjoying another week of mission work in Ohio starting tomorrow! Be back in the blog world soon!