A little Thanksgiving update

I haven't been updating like I have wanted but I figure now is a good time. I have been off of work for 6 days now and it was absolutely amazing. I got to spend Thanksgiving with Jaymie!!! It was a lot of fun to show her around camp and put her to work for a few days. She was here for 8 days and it went by way to fast. We did a little sight seeing and even went and got massages. I figured I could spend the extra for it since I wasn't going to see her at Christmas.

We spent Wednesday night and Thanksgiving day with, my friend and former YL intern, Matt Benson's family. They were really laid back and we had a good time. Some of his family is living in Dallas Ga. so at leasat we weren't the only southerners there. I also got to Skype with my family for a half an hour or so that night and it was really good to "see" everyone. I didn't realize how much I miss home until I missed my first holiday. It's hard being so far away but I know it will be worth it in the long run. It's always worth it when you follow God.

So me and Jaymie did Guest Services on Saturday and House Keeping on Sunday and Monday. Monday we also got to have a staff Thanksgiving lunch here at camp and man was it good. I told Kevin we should do that once a month (I get tired of taco meat). Tuesday we basically piddled around because I like to sleep in. Poor Jaymie had to entertain herself every morning until I got up around lunch time. Through out the week I took her up to the mountain where we ski, ate dinner at the BarBQue place here, went up to Grand Lake, went to the Rocky Mountain National Forest (it was closed), ate dinner at a 6 lane bowling alley, took lots of pictures and basically just had a blast. It was so good to have her here. I can't wait until she comes to visit again... and anyone else for that matter.

So being that it's Thanksgiving time maybe I'll make a list of things i'm Thankful for.

• Serving a God who loves me unconditionally



• Having a loving girl friend who was willing to put up with me for a week instead of being with her family



• All the support I have from back home



• Technology so that I am able to see my family even though I can't be with them



• A fun group of believers to live and grow with here at camp



• The Dawgs beat Tech and our year wasnt' a complete wash



• The big care package from Granny with all that food in it

There are many more but I'll leave it at that. I love you all and miss you so much. Hope your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as mine was.

Steebo

More pics here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/ylsteebo/

and on Facebook too!

Month #1

Wow I have not blogged on here in almost 4 months. I will try to do better about updating this thing while I am out here and hopefully after I leave too. In case you don't know what I mean by 'out here", I will tell you. I was accepted into a year long intern program at a Young Life camp in the Colorado Rockies. This is a camp that is designed to introduce Jesus Christ in a real way to all of our visitors.

Well this first month of living at Crooked Creek Ranch in Fraser Colorado has been absolutely amazing. It's funny how time settles into your memory, it seems as though I have been out here for a long time but on the other hand I feel as though we just started. There is so much do be done around camp that you don't see or realize when you are here with your high school friends. We work hard and play hard. As far as work goes I have done a lot of housekeeping (I know I can see the shock on your faces), worked in the kitchen, I worked on the ground at the ropes course haha, lots of shoveling, we sodded an outdoor amphitheater and Guest Services. I also had my first taste of shoveling snow yesterday (Not as hard as Ga red clay but there is more of the snow and its colder). For this first month we have all kind of worked everywhere, just to get a feel for where everything in camp goes and how things run. Starting tomorrow we start our rotations for the next 3 months. I will be in guest services most of the weekends and we all do housekeeping on Sundays and Mondays. Guest Services is basically just what it sounds like, if the guest need something then it's my job to get it done. We do a lot of small maintenance things while we are working in guest services such as changing light bulbs, cleaning the coffee bars and setting things up that the different groups my needs like chairs and tables and things. I worked two weekend nights last week on GS and didn't get home until around 2 or 230 in the morning. Luckily on my first shifts nothing major happened. I got them some firewood, blankets, heaters and the hot tub breaker tripped, so things went smoothly. We will see how the next few months go on there.

I have met so many great people out here. My house mates are great! Each in their own way. I will tell you about them in a later blog. Just know that the staff here are some amazing and Godly people.

Yours prayers are greatly appreciated if you feel so inclined to do so. Here are a few specifics that you could be praying for.

-The house mates getting along. So far we are doing great but we have a long way to go.

-Our fundraising efforts. I know I am a good bit short of what is required to be raised and I don't know who else to send a fundraising letter to. I believe the other interns still have yet to meet there goals as well.

-For our bible study times on Thursdays. That we may be open to what the spirit is leading us to and be willing to learn.

-For our coming months. Winter here is long and there is already a good bit of snow on the ground. Lots of us are southern folk who are not used to this kind of weather.

-That God would use us as His tools to reach as many people for the Kingdom as possible this year.

May the good Lord take a likin' to ya,

Steven "Steebo" Waters

Steebo723@bellsouth.net

Feel free to leave me comments on here or send me an email.

Here is a link so a picture page I am doing as well.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ylsteebo/

Hope your 4th was great!

I had a great 4th of July this year. I went to lunch with a friend. Then I came home and relaxed for a while. Then got together for a BBQ with a group of friends, some old and some new, and even had the luck to have a beautiful girl as a date.

I like to think of myself as a patriotic person. I love all the songs and festivities that go along with the 4th. Now I have never lived in another country, as a matter of fact I have never been to another country, but I do feel so Blessed to live in a country where I have freedoms.



Here is a song/video from Johnny Cash that I like to listen around this time of year. Remember our troops who couldn't be home to celebrate with their families. Freedom doesn't come free!

God's plan for my weekend

So it's 2 A.M. and I need to be sleeping but I felt like blogging a little. I haven't done this in a while but here goes...

I am sitting here down on the "Farm" in Twin City and I have had a great time this weekend as I always do when I come here. It started out when I drove down on Saturday afternoon to film a wedding for Melissa's family. This wedding was off the chain! It was in a small church down here that was packed, standing room only. After the wedding the Bride and Groom were chauffeured off in Papa Cowart's (Melissa's Dad) Chevy Bel Air. Then it was off to a beautiful reception at Beaver Creek Plantation. After much dancing and other reception activities the happy couple finally left at 11 P.M. and we got to head to the farm for some much needed rest.

Now if you don't know me I like to sleep in when I can, but not on the farm. I usually get up early, make myself a cup of coffee and enjoy the sunrise with the cows before coming in to sit with "Mama and Papa Cowart" for a while. But not this time, I was lazy and stayed in the bed until almost lunch time, despite having a busy day off piddling around to get started on. After my disappointment in missing morning sunrise, coffee and some bacon we went to lunch. Then it was off to visit one of the coolest women ever, Melissa's Grandmother. We stayed for about an hour and chatted and learned all sorts of things like "Shackin up is quite popular these days" Melissa's aunt goes "MaMa.." Grandma goes "shut up... Now listen, ya see nobody wants to shack up with me at my age because I might die on em'..." Oh we were rolling hahaha. Did I mention she is 95 and sassy as ever! After that is was back to Beaver Creek Plantation to pick up the Bel Air and get a tour of the place. Papa Cowart introduced me to one of the owners as his "other youngin". That was great because I do look at them as my "other family". Of course we played a little in the car on the way home, fish tailing on the dirt drive and laying a little rubber on the asphalt. I loved every minute of it! Back at the house we tracked down the newborn kittens, saw a calf just after it was born and then I spent a little bit with the horses while everyone rested. Mama Cowart came out after a while and we all headed across the road to go fishing. We fished for about an hour and I caught 6 "eatin" sized bass and around dark we headed back to the house cleaned and cooked our dinner. It was dern good if I do say so myself.

During and after dinner I sat around listening to Papa Cowart and Uncle Larry tell crazy stories about horses, "real cowboys", their youth and what not. Amidst all of the activities of the day I started thinking about how I got to this place at this moment. I thought about how if Jimmy my biological father had stayed around, if I would have gotten into Dirt bike racing as planned, if I had married Jessica, stayed in college or if i had not gone to watch my cousins' belt test randomly one day and joined the tae kwon do studio, if I had not taken Will Robinson up on the offer to check out Young Life after randomly running into him at Joshua Cup, I would not be sitting here right now or I might not be preparing to move to Crooked Creek Ranch in Colorado with Young Life. How crazy is it that a seemingly small decision in life can change it's course so drastically. Think about that, it's exciting and scary all at the same time. Then I got to thinking about a verse in the bible that says For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD... Jeremiah 29:11. I find comfort that our God has this thing all planned out. It is amazing that He has things mapped out and planned for us. Thank You for guiding those choices in our lives that set us on paths to our destiny.

So... Who I am going to break into houses with when I move away :'( ...