Team overnighter

Hey guys!

I'm sorry that I'm terrible at posting, but its just been so crazy around here! Since last monday a whole lot has happened! Tuesday and Wednesday we went on our team overnighter to Chattanooga and then on Thursday we had an (almost) full day, except for my midday nap and read in my eno! But I'll post more details below! :)

Tuesday and Wednesday we went to Chattanooga for our team overnighter and we had such a great time! We first went to the Bluff View Art District and did our TAWGs at the cutest coffee shop ever! It was called Rembrandt's. They make their own coffee, along with breakfast, lunch and the best desserts ever! It was quite possibly my new favorite place on the face of the planet! Coffee, food, sweets and cute. That's my kind of place!
we stayed there until about 3 in the afternoon and then left to go get pedicures, which were completely fabulous as always! I got mine in painted in french tips and so did Jennifer and Jordan and Sammi got pink! Hooray for our pretty toes!
After pedicures, we went downtown to Northshore in Chattanooga, which is one of the coolest places ever. It has a lot of shops and places to eat, but it also has a park that follows down the tennessee river, which is on the back side of all the stores! We ate dinner at the Northshore Grille and then got ice cream at Clumpies Ice Cream Co. Yummm! We walked down through the park after. However, to get to Northshore, you have to walk over a drawbridge (which I have never been on before) and then to get back you walk on a pedestrian bridge (or vice versa). You go over the Tennessee River where they have a ton of river boats, which were cool as well! Obviously I just think this is the neatest place!
We spent the night on the other side of Chattanooga at the house of one of Sammi's friends. We watched movies and slept so great. We were so tired!
We woke up and ate breakfast there and then left to go to the Ocoee River Whitewater Center. This is where they had the 1996 Olympics and usually you can swim there during the weekdays because they don't let the water go from the dam. However, on this particular Wednesday they had let the water go right when we got there, so we just laid out on the bridge and read! (no complaints) We really wanted to see the water come down, but the dam was 3 miles away, so it didn't make it in time... sad. But it was still a really pretty view! We stayed there 'til about 2:30 and then had to head back to Pigeon Forge, back to summer life!

On Thursday we had a workshop on conflict resolution and relationship questions... those were both fun, needless to say! We spent the rest of the day joking about conflict resolution, but got some good conversations out of the relationship talk, both with girls and boys. After workshops we had bible study and we went over Romans 3:21-5:21... talk about some hardcore scripture! It just goes to show how much the Lord really cares for us and what He did not only counted for our sins, but for everyone's who came before us, and before him! That's crazy! So after my head hurt and was so full of info from bible study, I got an Apple Muffin from the Apple Barn (where we had bible study and also the yummiest place to eat in Pigeon Forge!) and then went and hung out in my eno, and napped and read The Help! it was very relaxing and then after at 8 p.m. we went evangelizing in Gatlinburg as we do every Thursday. We got to talk to a few people, all believers, which is a great way to be. However, I think at this point, we see it as more of a discouragement than an encouragement, but the Lord is glorified in whatever we do and his timing and exaltation is perfect!

Today we headed back to work, along with Saturday and Sunday. Its over 100 degrees here, and I don't think I have sweated as much as I did today since summer soccer workouts...! Yikes. No matter what happens though, we know that we glorify the Lord in what we do and thats what matters!
Also, today at work I passed the time by doing scripture memory -- its a great way to make use of the time that we don't end up doing a whole lot! I memorized 1 John 5:13 and 1 Peter 4:18.

Now you're all caught up to two weeks ago! Mom and Dad and Matt come tomorrow, along with Uncle Marc, Aunt Carol and Paul, woohoo!

I'll write more soon!
In Christ,
Rach