So I Skipped Town for the First UT Football Game...

I love holiday weekends. I love the mountains. I love staring at the stars. And I love to be with friends and family. I got to experience all of this the past few days for the small price of missing the first UT football game and the Boomsday festivities which are, apparently, Knoxville's claim to fame. This came at the end of a very busy, but rewarding week in which I was able to meet with a lot of girls and saw a girl come to Christ!!! Woo-hoo! It was awesome, and I'll defintely write in more detail on my next post about her, as well as some of the other experiences/observations/ponderings that I've had in sharing the gospel over the past few weeks, but tonight I just feel like reflecting on and rejoicing in my weekend.
I got to spend a weekend with people who I know and love and already have years of life history built up amongst. I spent a whole day doing nothing but reading, cooking, and having girl time. I played ultimate frisbee and introduced several people to the apparently addictive game of Corn Hole. We had an oyster roast. It. Was. Fabulous. The lovely Rachel Buckner bought Reese's cups just so that I could have them on my s'mores, and it was sooo good. I got to ride my bike down the Virginia Creeper Trail twice, with the smell of Appalachain summers on the wind and the sun shining through the trees. I got to sit around a campfire talking and laughing and marvelling at our incredible Creator. The nights were so clear that we could see the Milky Way stretch all the way across the sky.

"You should see the stars tonight
How they shimmer shine so bright
Against the black they look so white
Coming down from such a height
To reach me now, reach me now.

You should see the moon in flight
Cutting 'cross the misty night
Softly dancing in sunshine
Reflections of this light
Reach me now, You reach me now..."

This is the song that has been playing in my mind ever since I came back from Virginia. It is true that the creation speaks of the glory of the Lord. He is so evident in it all, and I am so looking forward to autumn....beauty upon beauty.