Look At Me! I'm Actually Updating my Blog! Be Proud.

So! I had just finished writing this post when I clicked the "undo" button out of sheer stupidity and the entire thing was deleted. Erased. Completely. Like that. Vamoosh! That was a really funny one, you devil in my computer! NOT! Or was it God, testing me? *sigh* Either way, I will just say a quick prayer of thanksgiving for this opportunity to practice my patience, take a deep breath, and rewrite this darned thing with a smile on my face. Maybe it will even be better this time. Ahem. Here goes.
It's been a little over one month since my last post. Why? No, I have not lost my internet connection. No, mutant caterpillars dressed up as Elmo did not come to abduct me in an attempt at making a clone of me for my superior writing abilities and strikingly good looks. And no, I did not even suddenly get a life. It's because I'm a lazy butt. That's why. 
My original thought of summer: "Summertime? More time to write lots of blog posts about my amazing adventures with all of my friends and actually be more productive! Praise be to God!"
Reality: "Summer? Write blog posts? Are you kidding? It's too hot, I'm too tired, I'm too lazy, there are too many things to do but put off for later, and the word productive has lost its meaning to me. Besides, I don't have any friends. No. Praise be to God. Grrr..." 
Just kidding. I did have adventures this summer. Then why haven't I been writing? *cough* Let's just blame those mutant caterpillars. 
My family went to Greer, AZ as a family vacation earlier this summer. It was pretty fantastic. The cabin itself made the six hour drive worthwhile. For one thing, it didn't have toys thrown across the floor like our house always does. My brothers took care of that pretty quickly, of course. But it was nice when we first walked in. And there was a TV! With a whole channel more than the one we have at home! (Okay, 0 + 1 = 1, but still. We were entertained.) Yeah, there were those things like mountain biking, canoeing, looking at the pretty color they call "green" (a luxury which none of us Arizonans had seen in a long while), and enjoying the 75 degree weather. But the best part by far was this guy who worked in the store. He had just arrived from Turkey the day before we'd got there and his accent was purely adorable. Not to mention the fact that he was a spitting (Turkish) image of this guy. Yeah, I had fun. :)
Kateri has gone to work at Camp Tatiyee, a camp for people with disabilities. I think this amazing. She came home for a week a little while ago and she had so many great stories from her summer so far. My dad was a counselor at this camp back in '86, and he still talks about his experiences there. Kateri talks about making differences in many of these kids' lives, and them doing the same for her. It all sounds so beautiful. Just from hearing her talk about it, I can totally feel Christ working through her, the campers, and all of the other counselors at this camp. I want that. I really look forward for the time for me to work there comes. 
While Kateri is gone, I told her that I would update my blog often so that she wouldn't miss out on anything going on here in Tucson. That didn't work out, but we've discussed this already. (Curses to you and your families, mutant caterpillars.) Kateri being gone means I get my own room for the very first time in my life. True, it's only been for a couple of months, but I am enjoying the glory of a room to myself every minute of the day. She doesn't like to admit it, but she is a very messy person. When she makes a mess, there are papers everywhere, things are left out, clothes are all over the floor, and it is all very time consuming to clean up. When I make a mess, however, the room still looks pretty. Sure, it's a messy pretty, but it's easy to clean up. (I can guarantee that I will be getting a strongly worded facebook message, text message, email, hand-written letter, and/or smoke signal from her after she finishes reading this.) 
I just got back from one of my favorite weekends of the year: Steubenville West. Well, "favorite" is kind of a loose term right now. I mean, I LOVE Steubie so much and it's something I anticipate for 362 days of the year. But since I've been so sick lately, it was really hard to look forward to this year. Last year, I spent most of the weekend sick at home. I had passed out right after breakfast on Saturday morning, and ended up missing nearly the entire conference. (The fact that I passed out in front of Jason Evert, the most amazing chastity speaker in the universe, and he actually remembered me helped a little. But not much.) I was determined to not have a repeat of that. In the weeks prior to Steubenville weekend, I spent much of my time worried for how it was going to turn out and praying for strength. 
I ended up just going for the sessions during the day, coming back home in hopes to get more sleep than I would have if I slept in the dorms, and then going back the next day to participate in the conference. Long story short, I woke up sick both mornings (which is pretty typical, but that is another story for another day) and I missed out on the morning session on Saturday and then all of Sunday. Not to mention the fact that my tummy was in utter agony in the time in between. It was a hard weekend. 
BUT I got to be a part of far more than I had last year, and for that, I am immensely grateful. My goal for the weekend was to be able to partake in Saturday night Adoration. That is always the most beautiful Adoration of the year, at least for me. The music, the incense, the 2000 other teens surrounding me, worshiping God with so much intensity and love... it's purely beautiful. Anyways, I did get to be a part of the entire Adoration and it was even more beautiful than I had been dreaming about. My prayer for the weekend was always: "Please, sweet Jesus, don't let me miss even a moment of Adoration." And guess what? The very minute He left the room, I passed out. Always makes for a cool story: 
I was kneeling, completely wrapped up in His amazing love, ignoring the fact that my knees were killing me and my head was starting to spin. I didn't want to leave my position, but I forced my head up in an attempt at getting the dizziness away. I kind of caught the eye of my friend, Joey, who was praying in the seat in front of me, but I wasn't really aware of what was going on. I started to feel myself going down, but then I felt him put his hand on my shoulder, which caused me to wake up a bit. The last thing I remember was seeing poor Joey's eyes widen as I started to fall full force to the ground. One of my biggest fears is getting hurt from falling as I faint. I've heard way too many horror stories about that. But God is with me. He told Joey to turn around, Joey obeyed and saw me me just in time to catch me as I fell. Sometimes I need God to remind me that He's here with me. He always does because He always is. 
I had gotten so sick, I was afraid that Steubenville wasn't going to be able to happen, but it did. Things didn't go quite as well as I had hoped, but they went far better than I had expected. God's will was done and that in itself is more than perfect. 
Praise the Lord, hallelujah! :)