Going Home...

Well, dear faithful readers, the time has come to head home. I'm sure any of you who know Lisa already have realized that she has returned home for the remainder of the summer. I sure was sad to see her go, but I know that it was what she needed to do.

Well, a lot has happened since I last wrote on this blog, and I apologize for that; however, things have been incredibly busy! Let me back-track a little...We had our graduation almost three weeks ago, celebrating the accomplishments of our students! What a wonderful time of rejoicing and sharing in what God had done in our lives and in the lives of our campers! Here are a couple of highlights:

Our Contemporary Worship Majors

Intermediate Band

Brass Ensemble to Accompany Most Outstanding Soloist

Heart O' Hills Chorus Singing "Revelation 19" and "Ave Verum Corpus"
(Sorry, I ran out of disk space before the performance was over!)

TMI (Territorial Music Institute) just recently ended this past Sunday, and what a week it was! We had 248 musicians from across the Southern Territory of the Salvation Army gather for a week at camp to learn to play music together, all for the glory of God! I had the opportunity to take part in this week as a delegate, and, musically, it was a very challenging but motivating week! Some more highlights:

Opening Night @ TMI

Our TMI theme: "Heartfire"

Some crazy delegates I ran into! ;)

The awesomely-wonderful Southern Territorial Band!

If you look very closely, you can see Andy on tuba!

Elizabeth and Bobby goin' at it in the ring! :p

Sorry that I couldn't get some sound clips in, but once I figure out how to edit those clips for sound, I'll throw them in! :)

I am now at the Barrington's home in Oklahoma City, spending some time with Andy & Connie and their kids before I fly out Thursday morning for home. It is a bittersweet ending, and I can hardly believe that eight weeks have passed as quickly as they did. I am most certainly going to miss this place that I have called my home for the summer. I have made friendships here that I know are lasting, and I have developed a love for Camp Heart O' Hills, and for the amazing things that happen there over the summer. What an honor and pleasure it is to be a part of a team devoted to providing a safe and nurturing place for kids to come and learn about music and about God.

Three Barrington "siblings" I got to pal around with this summer! :)

The Wallace's - a family who quickly "adopted" me this summer!

It has been an incredible summer, and I know I can speak for Lisa when I say that, this has been one summer that neither of us will EVER forget!

Well, the clock is ticking away into the wee hours, so I suppose I better sign off!

Peace out,
Chels