About a month ago, I was convicted. On a long drive home I was talking to a friend about God calling people to different missions and how I wasn’t sure what my mission was to be. I mentioned something about helping children in poorer countries and he suggested that I sponsor a child. Having thought of this before, I immediately spouted out my pre-scripted response of how I am not financially able and how writing a check every month is ok for some, but I felt called to do more. Later on that day Karin sent a text about taking a trip to Disney. I was seriously considering going and trying to work out the numbers in my head to squeak by in affording it when I realized my hypocrisy. My excuses for not making a difference in a child’s life were just that: excuses.
So….Meet my precious sponsor child: Maicha Louis Simon!
Maicha is four years old and lives in Haiti. Her dad works for the church and her mom does whatever small jobs she can pick up. Other than that, I don’t know too much about her. But anyway, there she is, perfect as can be. 
Anyway, a few weeks ago I decided to take my camera while riding. Larry, my Arabian, was extra loco that day, so I wasn’t able to get too many good shots, but I feel like I was able to capture at least a taste of my heaven on earth.
Below: Cheyenne did not want to be left.
The best way to view the world: between a horses ears.
We saw two little deer.
Apparently, Larry knows traffic laws.
My labor day weekend was really nice. I was planning on taking a trip out to Taylor for the baptisms of Zach Sutter, Cole Sutter, Anna Lynne (can’t remember her last name) and Tinsley Tuley. Cole and Tinslee were on the Jamaica trip, and Zach has been living in Peoria and coming to Young Group stuff for quite a while now.
My traveling arrangements were all made: I would drive down with Emily Kieser on Saturday afternoon, and, since she was staying for an extended amount of time, ride home with David Sauder and Caleb Jones. Well, we enjoyed a lovely day hanging out with Annelies Hoerr from Phoenix at His Ranch on Saturday and all was going perfectly, until….I found out David was bailing on me. I’ll confess to having a small sense of panic at the thought of not having a ride home. I decided to go to testimonies and see who is here from Illinois. There was a huge group that came with Sarah Sceggel, but they were full. Otherwise the rest would not be driving through Peoria where my car was parked. Finally, I discovered that the Dreste’s were there and had room for one more! I learned my lesson: never count on David and Jones for anything…the punks.
Testimonies were beautiful as always. I especially loved Anna Lynne’s precious child-like faith. After we went to someone’s house for a snack and some fellowshipping. Anneliese, Emily, and I didn’t tarry there long, though, as we "had” to go to the 18 Wheeler, a truck stop restaurant that stays open all night. We got there around 11:45-12:00ish and the place was quiet with only one or two other groups. Anneliese was the only one to order anything: coffee. We quickly found out that the waitresses there had no inhibitions as far as interacting with their customers go. It wasn’t long before we were in on their co-worker pranks and playing as judges as they paraded in old uniforms they found in a closet. When we weren’t laughing with the waitresses, we had some pretty good girl talks. We didn’t leave that place until 1:30. Somehow getting into bed was not very exciting as we all knew we would be waking up in a few hours to do chores on the Ranch.
Sunday morning, chores were done, we were dressed early, so we decided to go back to our favorite truck stop for breakfast. With two hours to spend before church, we picked up our girl talk where we left off the night before, but this time prepared with Bibles.
Now, a miracle happened in church. The three of us sat up front and gasped and gave each other wide eyed looks as Randy Mogler stood before the church and preached on almost exactly what we were just talking about at the Wheeler!!! The sermon was a perfect follow up from our conversations earlier. I later asked Randy if he had been spying on us…he wasn’t.
The baptisms were very nice and the supper after was an excellent portrayal of the oldest and noblest AC traditions of serving good food.
On Monday, I looked forward to a quiet day to catch up on homework and do some cleaning which I finished by lunch. Knowing that the Sauder’s still had some guests, I headed over to the Lake. I was pleased to see David and Jones were having a lovely time playing halo. Pleased because I could give both of them the ear full they deserved for leaving me stranded in Taylor. I don’t think Jones will ever do it again, but David may need some more scolding.
Anyway, we all got together at the playground to play volleyball with Ben and Phil and Anna Sceggel. The games were ok at best. About half way through I got a text inviting me to a cookout that would be “legendary” in Roanoke. I didn’t feel like I would be missing out on much if I left volleyball early, so I got the directions and left for this legendary cookout.
As I neared the site to which my directions led, at first I was sure I was mistaken. There was literallly nothing there, only corn for miles on every side. I pulled over and checked the directions over and over and could not make sense of it. Finally, someone else pulled up from behind me and parked in a flat grassy spot in front of the corn. I followed his example, but was still puzzeled. “Is this right?” I asked, to which he shrugged and said he had no idea. As more cars came I felt a little better about our strange location, but was still puzzeled. Then out of no where two pick up trucks drive out from the grassy strip between two fields. We piled in and were driven right back into the corn. We drove quite a way down the grassy strip. It got a little treacherous at times, but soon came up to a widened area where a campfire, grill, and two other trucks met us. I laughed out loud at the scene. Count on Roanoke boys to pull something like this off. Here we were grilling hamburgers, target shooting bows and arrows, sharing stories around the fire, and having a grand ol’ time in the middle of a corn field!!!! You would never find Peoria young group doing this, I can tell you that. The stars that night were unforgettable, but, alas, it soon became chilly and the looming dread of the coming school and work days put the evening to an early end at around 10:00. There was still time for one last adventure, though. We had packed up and I was about to get in the back of a truck when Landon tells me that I’m driving. “Have you ever gone off roading before?” he asked. I told him no, and he decided this was the night to cross that off my bucket list. So, I drove the rickety old truck. It was actually a lot of fun despite not being able to see through the windshield and not being able to reach the peddle….
