Summer Summer Summertime...

It has been a crazy-busy here in the Arp household ever since June arrived. Who said youth ministry wasn't busy up here in the North? Boy were we wrong. First, I (crystal) went to Reno to visit Jamie, then Andrew went to Orlando (for Gen. Assembly). Last week we had our Annual Mission Project for our jr.highers (7th-8th grade). Its called ReThink: Flint. This year we let them design their own project and it was in a word...amazing. They decided to adopt a park here in Flint and renovate it. We loved this idea because as you can imagine with the economy and all and people in Flint just struggling to keep their jobs renovating parks isnt a priority of the city. So the students picked a park that hadn't been renovated in 15 YEARS. We will try to upload some before and after pics just so you can see how amazing this project was. It was exciting to see God start to change this city through these kids. We wanted to bring a little joy to this sad city and this week did not disappoint. What was sad when we got there looked like a ray of sunshine when we left! I can't wait until next year when we renovate another park it was hard work but WELL worth it. So that was last week. This week we have "off" even though its hardly been restful because of all the appointments we've had to squeeze in during our one week at home. Next week its off to camp. First its jr. high (7th-8th grade) camp then the next week is pre-teen (5th-6th grade camp). Yes you read that right 2 wks of camp in a row ( with Jonas and the dogs in tow...what are we thinking?). The next week is our 7th Anniversary and VBS week. Then we are off for another week in which we have already scheduled more appointments so that we can finish our adoption homestudy. The week after that we are heading to Mackinac (pronounced Mac-in-naw) Island( I AM SO EXCITED!!!) with Derek and Ketly (our youth pastors) and the Fridlines (a family/friends from our group). Then its off to Chatt-town (for 2wks for me and Jonas and 1 week for Andrew) for my 10 year (that cant be right can it?) reunion and Sarah (and John's) Wedding (I am so looking forward to going home). So all in all we are busy and if that weren't enough to keep us on our toes we are right in the middle of our adoption process. It is a crazy, busy, exciting, and blessed time for us. We are on-the-go but we do live in Michigan so we have to get our wiggles out before the dreaded winter sets in:)