sunrise.

i'll have to add pictures later, or you can look at my pictures on facebook if you know me in real life, but the sunrise yesterday was gorgeous. me and 6 other students went to clingman's dome yesterday and watched the sunrise. beautiful. definitely worth the 445am wake up. it was probably the best sunrise i remember seeing. the hike up was good, challenging because of the incline but still not deathly and it was pretty short, only .5 miles... the way you could see all the mountains for miles, with their smoke. and the different colors everything was. you could see the different layers of the atmosphere and everything. it was perfect and clear where we were. you had the different shades of blue-purple in the mountains, the lighter whitish color of the smoke/mist in their creases. the purple, pink, orange, yellow, and blue of the sky. the bright red of the sun as it rose. turning the sky slowly to all light blue, slowly turning into a yellow-white sun. beautiful. plus i was up there with amazing people. no better way to start the day. it's crazy that it happens everyday and no one ever thinks about it or is curious enough to lose the sleep to see it. there's absolutely no way i could see that and not know, overwhelmingly permeatingy know, that there is a God, a divine Creator. wow.

after the sunrise, i came back and napped. then went out on a lunch date with kat and one of the internationals, koffee who is from jamaca. good stuff. then walgreens trip for another memory card for my camera. then getting ready for mid-project banquet. then mid-project banquet, consisting of lots of picture taking, food, a short message, small group leader recognition (we gave rachel a sweet card, an airbrushed tshirt, and raw green beans ;) ), leadership (barry, susan and kristin) recognition, student superlatives (i'm the one most likely to own her own flower shop one day!), slideshow, and good chit chat. there was rumor of a dance party afterward but it never came to fruition because we were all pretty tired. i layed in the king with a few other girls and flipped channels and talked. good times.

today i got to sleep in then went and explored the gatlinburg trail in the national park that runs by the river. further cemented my love of nature. good music + nature + God time = wonderful. :) had some good chit chat with God as i walked and explored the river and chilled on a rock in the river. came back, showered, and ate. then had my final dship time with rachel. it was sad, but good. no crying (yet... wait til thur when it's really the end!). chatted, went to mcdonalds for ice cream (and a diet coke for her), chatted more on the rockers. i really feel like we became great friends this summer. not just a staff-student discipleship thing, but actual friends. i love how we can have fun and go crazy and have dance parties together, but also get down to business and have really great conversations and sharing times. i'm gonna miss her. i'm glad/excited she's in my region too and gonna be at catalytic campuses, so i'll def get to see her again! :) yay! now, to be semi-productive until dinner then cru then who knows :)