Our CIY trip.

I forgot to mention we'd be out of town last week for CIY w/ our teens! The high schoolers of our church go to a "Christ in Youth" event every summer, and the last 3 years we've been lucky enough to join them! It's truly a week of transformation for all who attend and although we hardly slept, we've also never felt so refreshed.

The days really do kind of run together, but each day had a little bit of everything (worship, sports, small group time, staying up late, etc.)! Most nights I didn't get in bed before 4am, and between 3 of the days, I only got about 7 hours of total sleep...but spending time with these students makes it SO worth it! Some highlights of our week include...

-FIREWORKS! We were there over the 4th of July, and were able to leave campus to find a local firework show. Guys, we didn't expect much from the small town of Marion, IN, but let me tell you what! They KILLED IT! I've never been so close to fireworks in my life! It was definitely a highlight of our trip.

-Volleyball (everyday)! One of our two volleyball teams made it 3rd in the finals of the tournament...there were probably 25+ teams, so we were happy)

-Breakout! We had one day of extended rec time! So we went to "Breakout" (aka those escape room places); sadly our team made it out a few seconds after the timer, but the other team broke out w/ plenty of time to spare!!

-Staying up until 5AM with my girls talking about anything and everything was amazing. Getting to tell them more about my story and hearing what they are going through brought us all so much closer.

-The Worship! We were lucky to land another great band this year that knocked every worship session out of the park!

-Kahlan's baptism! This was obviously the highlight of the trip. This is why we do what we do. Funny story, Kahlan actually wasn't even supposed to come. We had one student have to back out of the trip last minute, so a friend invited her. Well, little did she know this week would change her life. She accepted Jesus into her heart and asked to be baptized her last night at camp!

I could go on and on about how incredible our week was, but I think you get the point. If any of you saw our instagram stories, thank you for the prayers! We felt them all week. Somehow I always felt rested, with usually only 2 hours of sleep. God is so good. I'm so thankful we were able to take this trip again!

Happy Tuesday!