Washington D.C.

So, the final big chunk of my summer was spent in Washington D.C. The Wednesday after coming home from teen camp, we all piled in the car and headed to Washington for the first time!


It was great! We went up the Washington Monument... did you know that there are stones from each of the states that were built into the Monument? They are sooo neat... but we didn't get to see all of them - I think the tour guide person said there were over 100 or something like that.


We also went to the Library of Congress, although we didn't get to see the actual library, which only certain people are aloud in, but we saw lots of really neat things. Something about really old documents and books really excites me.


We went to the Supreme Court... but we didn't get to see the court in sesion as the annual cleaning or something or other was going on in the court room. But there was a film about the building, and I think there was one about how the Court works.


In the Capital Building, we went into the dome, which was realy neat. We saw the statues that each state gave. One was Hellen Keller as a child which was really awesome.

It was also really neat to see Mount Vernon, George Washington's home. We went expecting to only be there for five hours or so... but ended up being there the whole day! We took a tour of the house, a National Treasure tour - which got us into the cellar =D - and even took a ride on the Potomac.

On Saturday, we went to the "Restoring Honor" Rally. It was awesome! There were awards given out for faith, hope, and charity... though I can't remember the people who received them. Sorry :). Glen Beck, Sarah Palin, and Alvada King (Martin Luther King's niece, I think) spoke. The rally was all about turning Americans back to a conciousness of a God to whom we are all accountable, and restoring the U.S. back to its former glory and values.



In Christ Alone,

Teen Camp

The next major part of my summer was teen camp. We got home from horse camp late Friday night - or should I say very early Saturday morning? Anyways, after coming home we slept, then unpacked, washed things, and then Jess and I packed again. Sunday we went to church, then when we got home, we double checked everything we packed to make sure we didn't forget anything. Yeah, it was really hectic :)

On Monday, we left. Now, this campsite was different than the one we'd went to last year. When we arrived, to our great delight, we found that the girl's cabins were about a mile walk from the tabernacle, mess hale, and game/sports areas. (I'm just kidding though - it wasn't a mile walk, though it definitely felt like it!).

The theme for teen camp was "That all the earth may know," which was taken from 1 Samuel 17:46. The whole week, we heard preaching from 1 Samuel 17. I think my Bible ended up being creased to that chapter :).

Camp opened up with a challenge, and then the teens went off for a few moments of prayer, which was an awesome way to start camp.

The main speaker this year was Evang. Dwight Smith. He was a phenomenal speaker! He spoke about... well... many things :). On Thursday night (Thursday night is family night... the teens' families come out if they can) he preached on "A Tiny Lunch that Fed a Great Big Bunch." It was about giving all you have, although it may be very small, to God. It was an awesome message.

So, (I know, I'm making this short :)) all in all, teen camp was great! When we left, Bro. Smith handed out sheets to help memorize verses... I've been using it a lot.



In Christ Alone,