Summer in the life of Lori: Part 1

To sum up the first half of my summer wouldn’t fit in a hundred books.

The past year has been about me taking life one day at a time and though for most of the world that’s not an option—we’re so focused on the future and “what’s next” the world won’t let us close our eyes to tomorrow long enough to live in today. At the same time, tomorrow may never come so living today is of utmost importance.

I don’t often like living “one day at a time.” I want answers when people ask me what the future looks like. But the only real answer I have is “I have no idea.” And really that’s the only honest answer any of us have. In America this spring, it was hard not having answers about my future or even my summer for all the people asking. But looking back, it doesn’t matter. I don’t need the answers; I need to live by faith and not by sight. I need to trust that He who wrote every day of my life before I was even born will lead me as I trust in him. And if I’d seen the future before I got to it, I may have turned and run from it. Because life isn’t always easy and I don’t always want to deal with the things that come up on this road I’m walking. And yet, I press on.

I’m pretty sure every summer turns into “the hardest summer yet.” And I’m already ready to say that about this one and it’s still coming at me full force. When will you sleep, when will you rest? My mom and close friends keep asking. When He provides it. I trust Him to know when I need it; I trust Him to be my strength when I shouldn’t have any. Today He has given me a day of rest. A day at home between camps to spend with Him and to be alone. The first in a long time. But I wouldn’t trade a day of what has been until now. And when I get on the train tonight, I don’t know what will be waiting for me tomorrow or for how long but I’ll continue to take it one day at a time; one step and then the next.

All that to say, that I can’t tell you what tomorrow holds, but I would love to share what’s been going on before that…

My summer began with the arrival of a friend and ex-summer staffer, Allison Jackson. She and I toured both Kiev and Poltava and then headed to Lugansk where she is summer staffing this year. I had intended to just drop her off and come back to Poltava, but Allison and the Dukes encouraged me to stay. And being that I knew several people coming for the first camp, I decided to stick around.

Camp Friendship is awesome :o) The kids are great, the Ukrainian staff worked really hard and the American team was well prepared and everyone had a lot of fun. The village of Novapavlaka where the camp is located is beautiful. I loved getting to hang out with the kids and they were all really encouraging about my Russian skills :o) I mostly worked in the camp store which was a really good fit for me—I got to use my administrative skills as well as interact with just about everyone at the camp on a daily basis. My favorite were the kids who would just come in to hang out and talk to me while I was there :o)

Sadly, two days before the end of camp 1 at camp friendship, I got on a train headed to Poltava where I had agreed to help Radooga. Radooga Poltava camp was also awesome. It was really good for me to spend a whole week—day in and day out—with the kids from the orphanage here. It helped to build and solidify relationships that had begun from my visits to the orphanage in Poltava. Oksana Magdych and I spent the week with the 12 and 13 year olds and they are amazing. Each one of them is so talented and beautiful. When the week ended and camp was over it was really hard to leave. I just kept thinking about how many people have come into the lives of these kids and after some time passes they’ve left. Oksana and I talked with them a lot about friendship—about needing each other and about Christ being the best friend and God always ready to listen. A huge part of me wanted to just throw the rest of the summer out the window and stay at Camp Mayak with them. I’m glad I get to come back in the fall and be with them again.

Today I am home. I paid my bills and checked my emails and now I’m packing again. Summer Part 2 begins tonight at 11:30 when my train leaves for Lugansk. I’m excited to get back there and see what God has for tomorrow and tomorrow and the day after that. I’m rested and ready for the next step—even if I can’t see where it’s leading, I know who’s hand I’m holding and I’m certain that He won’t let go :o)