Life, as of late.

I've decided I love the sun, the summer, the heat, the water, the buzz of cicadas, and all things to do with a southern summer. I can't get enough outdoors this summer! It all started with kayaking the Weeki Wachee and then Pawley's Island, then on to a week of working with middle schoolers cleaning a yard and then going to Carowinds (where I road The Intimidator. . . eek) and then this past weekend was spent in the sun on Edisto Island!! And goodness, it was great. 

But before that I got the opportunity to help out with the In-City Mission for Middle Schoolers at my church! And, news flash: Catharine, LIKES middle schoolers! These kids were fabulous! I mean, how many middle schoolers do you know that would take 4 days out of their summer to clean up a person's yard  jungle?? They were sweet and loving and had some funny things to say. On Friday we took a group of 56 middle- and high-schoolers to Carowinds and that was a blast as well (although a wee bit hot)! My favorite comment of the week was from one of my sweet girls and it went something like this: "Boys are just bodies with heads filled with air!" I didn't quite know how to respond, so I settled for, "Some of them may seem that way but most of them are pretty great." 

The challenge for me was having spiritual conversations with these kids. I so wanted them to like me and I came in after the other leaders so I never was really introduced to most of them and I didn't know how much the kids would tolerate as far as questions went. So, I think I probably said too little. The worse that could've happened would have been for them to brush me off. So, I pray that I get another opportunity with these kids, and in the meantime, I'm praying for them. Some of them are going through things no kid should ever have to face and they are still brilliantly optimistic, loving, and caring. They convicted me and I want to get to know them better and invest further into their lives!!

Oh, I never posted the rest of the manatee pics, so here you go (to see previous pics of Weeki Wachee click here):

Baby manatee

Me petting him!!!!!