Nutshell

Hello, everybody! It's Jenna Lyn, remember me? It's been so long! I must begin this post with a most sincere apology- to all of you who so faithfully read my blog- for neglecting you all for such a long time! I have so much to tell you! Sit back and relax as I recap the last two weeks of my busy, busy, busy, life!

As for the GOP Convention.....
I hope you ALL watched it! It was simply AMAZING! Both sides of this election are going for gold, and they sure are doing a great job! It's such an intense race! But I must say, Giuliani’s speech then followed by Sarah Palin's speech was the highlight of the whole Republican convention. What a wonderful choice of VP by McCain! Oh, my goodness, I WISH I COULD VOTE!

As for the Youth Group Canoe trip....
The canoe trip was pretty good, but I don't think it was necessarily the best day for my family and the mission kids that rode with us in the van. But when we were out on the water, my soul could not help but be in a peaceful rest. Witnessing God's beauty first hand like that is simply breathtaking. But all in all, it was a pretty crazy stressful day. It seemed like everything that could have gone wrong- did go wrong. But one little BLESSING (or love note!) from God was on the ride home from the canoe trip. Karis was driving all of the mission kids straight home to the HQ building instead of staying with the other youth group vehicles and going all the way back to the church. Our van was full of seven, tired, stressed-out, teenagers. What happens next? Yup, you guessed it. We had a tire blow out. Ugh! But don't worry, because that was also the blessing part of our day as well, remember? The reason why it was a blessing was because I had seen my daddy change a tire once before, so I knew how to do everything! It was very dangerous though; there was no place in sight to get our van on level ground, and if that's not scary enough the ground was also kind of sloshy from the excessive rain fall. But, through it all, the Lord protected us, and we were able to successfully change the tire all by ourselves! Right as we took the jack out from under the van a road ranger dude stopped by with his truck and gave us some strange soapy stuff to wash off our hands and arms, perfect timing! So I'm pretty sure we were all proud of ourselves- and it had made a lovely memory.

As for the following day- the Labor Day Picnic!
The picnic was nice, but the highlight of the day was in the morning when I bought a new guitar! Yay! It's lovely and sounds beautiful! Now Tyler and I each have a guitar to play on, so that we can play together.

As for all the CHANGE this year...
Ugh. There is too much of it! The Caley's left us, and now Cha-Chi is moving as well! There is a LOT of changes this year. Being home, instead of going to school- that's a big change in itself. Teaching- believe it or not, that's a huge change! The kids and I are all still trying to get the hang of things. But I'm also still trying to get the hang of doing my own school work. Not to mention being slightly stressed about my future. There are a lot of questions that have yet to be answered. I would like to go to NTBI where Shane is going. If I finish my eleven credits this year, I only need eight more to graduate. Should I finish up those last eight credits my junior year and then work through my senior year saving money, then go to Waukesha? After those two years should I come back to Florida to get my teaching degree? Should I split my remaining credits and dual-enroll my last two years of high school, then go to Bible school, then come back for my last three years of college? Should I just go ahead and graduate early, do two years of SCC, two years of UCF and then go on to Wisconsin? Ugh. Too many questions, too many pressures. Also, I'm kind of the only kid in the B family that has the opportunity to actually go to a good college, so that is a little pressure on me as well. Anyway, none of this pressure or stresses is coming from any one else, it's just kind of all in my head. But hey, you could pray for me anyway! =)

As for ministries this year...
That's a problem. I feel completely disconnected from church this year. I've been working in Children's church since I was in fifth grade- and after doing it for such a long time it's just become like a part of me. I love it- playing crazy games, leading the songs with fun motions, leading small groups... I've been doing all of this since fifth grade! And I was ready and excited for it to start back up again this school year. But, I felt like that wasn't where God wanted me this year, so I backed out. Same thing with Awana- been helping out since I myself got out of the club- but this year, I didn't feel like that was where I was supposed to be. Now I am left with no ministries at church. Hmmm... But now that everything has started this year I am already feeling overwhelmed- with teaching, my own school work, and all the CHANGES- and very grateful that I didn't sign up for some of my usual church ministries. God's doing something BIG in my life this year- I just haven't figured out where it is all headed. =)

So, there you go, Jenna’s life in a nutshell! Thanks for taking the time to read such a lengthy post; have a lovely evening!