Road Trip!

Wow, it has been AWHILE since I've been on here (sorry!). So much has happened!

Ok, talk about a wild ride, but of the... 10? 11? weeks I've been back, I've been gone for at least 8 of them. Being on the road has been fantastic (though not without it's "uh oh" moments lol), but I am so very glad to be back stationary on campus once more. Gosh, where all have I been? Let's see...Albuquerque...Atlanta....San Diego (that was a nightmare and a half).... Portland (very wet)..... Denver.... New York (more like New Jersey).....and back again, wow! Seriously have covered basically every corner of the US in the last several weeks!

Atlanta was a lot of fun, as it was my event my first year here (on the call team). It was neat to see how the church had been renovated since last we'd been in it, and to see some familiar faces among those attending. Definitely better the second time around! Albuquerque was a nice change from the then cold Texas rain. Nice and warm! Though I can't say my feet agreed with the burs littering the ground...but man! you should have SEEN the kid's room in the church! It literally looked like a city block from downtown Chicago or New York or something! Complete with real cars, a merry old English phone book, and trees that had video game consoles embedded into the bark. Way cool... San Diego was a different beast altogether. I love California, but there were a few people there I could have done without seeing, if you know what I mean. Lexi showed up, which was AWESOME!!! (Missed you girl! 1 more week!) Ha, we even got to go to the beach, which I will never ever ever get tired of :D Dang, after San Diego I had a week to recover before we scooted on up to NYC for the BattleCry (which was actually held in East Rutherford, NJ). We managed to sneak away for a few hours and see the big city across the bridge (best thing ever: Stewart- "Oh my gosh! It's broadway! Wait, why are there two? No, THREE!!!" We happily explained the difference between Broadway theater and Broadway performances. Still hilarious!) Ran into a guy I interviewed the year previous, who surprisingly remembered me. After getting back from New York, I had just enough time to shower and throw in a quick load of laundry before hopping onto yet ANOTHER bus heading for the west coast. Portland was lovely and rainy, and we actually saw a good bit of snow on the way there, which was funny cuz we were all in shorts and flip flops. I had a great chance to talk to some kids who were dealing with cutting, and it was awesome to see that not only my tattoo, but I had an impact on someone in a positive way. It was great! Luckily for me, my grand tour (mostly) ended with me being dropped off with family in Colorado. That's a WHOLE other story for another day, but needless to say: most relaxing and interesting vacation ever :) I miss you guys!

Why am I on the road so much? We host live youth events across the nation every year, and someone's gotta record em, right? That's my job. I do interviews and live event coverage at the events, so that families and churches back home can see what it is exactly their kids have been up to the past weekend (to check out some of our vids, go to www.youtube.com/user/ATFacquirethefire). It's a great opportunity to talk to people and see what's really going on with the kids that go to these events. Most of them really open up for a chance to be in front of the camera, especially when their youth leader's not around censoring everything, or intimidating them. Alot of them don't want their group to know what they're struggling with, because it makes them look "weak" somehow (which obviously isn't true).

*contented sigh* Now, time to rest and relax and prep for the summer events, aka, GE and XC. We're going to be flooded with campers and young missionaries here this summer, and guess who's going to talk to them...

~Char

PS. if anyone wants to send me some sunscreen (or tanning oil lol) that would MARVELOUS! Thanks guys :D