Love in LoCo

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog about God being with us through trials, stemming from a video I’d watched with the huddle at Potomac Falls.  The video was of Mike Donehey, the lead singer or Tenth Avenue North, talking about the inspiration for their new song, “I have This Hope.”  I had no idea at the time that in just a few wee ks I would be clinging to this song and the passage of scripture on which it is based, Isaiah 43:1-4 , for comfort myself. On Friday, June 16 at 5:24pm, I received a phone call that I will never forget.  On the other end was Anna, who was in the high school small group I led for four years.   Anna, whose family had become like my second family here in Loudoun.   Anna, the oldest of four, was telling me I needed to come over because her younger brother was dead.  .  Sam Gustavus’s smile could light up an entire room.  He was so full of life, always on the move, and always making people laugh.  Anyone who has been to my house knows my main living area has va

Where do I even begin?!?    As my Instagram and Facebook posts have shown, this past weekend was our Virginia Leadership Camp down at Watermarks Camp in Scottsville, VA.    As a huddle leader coordinator, I went down early with a few other staff members to greet and train our 19 huddle leaders.    These are college students, most of whom are athletes on their campuses, who willingly gave up their weekends to spend 3 days pouring into middle and high school athletes.    These college kids were rock stars from the start!    There’s a lot of information, spiritual and technical, that goes into pulling off a camp like this, and they all completely blew me away!   The students began arriving late Friday afternoon from parent drop-offs to buses filled to capacity and our huddle leaders stayed enthusiastic from the time the campers arrived on Friday until they left Sunday afternoon.  As a result, the campers had an amazing time from information sessions to program to competitions and fre