Last Day Home

Goodness! Hard to believe it's already my last day at home before I'll travel back to the mountains of West Virginia for my sophomore year at Appalachian Bible College. I have treasured the extra time to spend with my family, while definitely anticipating returning to campus with excitement!

The past several weeks have been filled with much of what I wrote about in my last post-- scrapbooking, running, cooking & baking, playing games, and more fun stuff! Some of my latest kitchen adventures included: oatmeal peanut-butter chocolate chip scones, pretzel bites, mini strawberry shortcakes, M&M cookies, and more. Needless to say, we've all gained about a hundred pounds! One of my favorite recipes is one for bruschetta in a Southern Living cookbook we have. Mom and I made it the other day using fresh tomatoes grown in our own backyard! Mix those with some red onions,fresh basil, kalamata olives, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Then toast slices of a baguette brushed with a little olive oil, put it all together, and bon appetit! Quite tasty :)

I love the time to simply sit back with a cup of tea and read while I'm home on break. Whether it's outside on a swing, curled up in bed, or relaxing on the couch, that is certainly one of my favorite pastimes! 

Mom and I have also had some nice times to spend together. Last week we took a trip to the Norfolk Botanical Garden one morning and traipsed around. The beautiful rose garden was our favorite part! And this afternoon we're headed out to Williamsburg for teatime at Christiana Campbell's Tavern. Combining our mutual enjoyment of lovely Williamsburg and tea, I know it will be a wonderful treat.

Then, after all of this terrific time at home, I'll make the six hour trip back to school tomorrow. It's shaping up to be a busy semester: 19 credit hours, Student Council, helping out with Homecoming and Missions Conference, as well as an afternoon job...and of course, I'm hoping to squeeze in some fun too! But I'm looking forward to getting busy again and am very excited to see old friends and to make new ones.

It has been a fantastic summer between my time traveling with the Gospel Heralds and my time here at home. Now off I go, ready for another adventure in the form of sophomore year at ABC!

~Hannah Grace

An abrupt ending and what to do next...

Last Friday, on July 26, the Gospel Heralds tour abruptly came to an end. Both of our wonderful sopranos unfortunately became sick and upon a doctor's recommendation needed at least a week of vocal rest. With only 2 weeks of travel remaining, it was decided that the best plan would be to cancel the rest of the concerts and head home.

It was a difficult day as we drove the 17 hours from Wisconsin back to ABC in West Virginia. On the one hand, we all enjoyed normal "van life"-- joking, snacking, watching movies, etc. But it was hard knowing that we were spending our last hours together. We made it back to campus at 4 in the morning on Saturday, caught a few hours of sleep, went to a debrief meeting, and unloaded the trailer. Then it was time to say goodbye. Three of the members of our team will not be coming back to school in the fall, making it especially hard to separate from them. We sang one last song together, cried, prayed, hugged...and said goodbye. I packed up and made the drive home to Virginia with my dad that afternoon.

As hard as the unexpected ending came, it has been a huge blessing to have some extra time at home. I am enjoying cooking, scrapbooking, running, playing ping pong, reading, and generally just hanging out with the family.

Here are the chronicles of my latest cooking/baking adventures!

On Monday evening I wanted to have something yummy for the boys when they got home from their Boy Scouts meeting. Pulling together ingredients found in the pantry and using the inspiration of several Pinterest recipes, the result was a batch of experimental Caramel Pretzel Brownies! The chocolate and caramel were gooey, with just a little salty crunch from the pretzels. Yum.

This morning (after watching Julie & Julia yesterday with Mom), I was motivated to keep trying new things. So I made my first couple of omelets! Mine had delicious sauteed orange peppers and red onions in it. I also made one for Noah using Muenster cheese.

Noah's breakfast in bed :-) Omelet, toast, and fresh blueberries with a little whipped cream.

My next adventure was to make dinner tonight. After searching through endless online recipes, I finally settled on Pioneer Woman's chicken tenders, along with plenty of dipping sauces, steamed broccoli, and fresh cantaloupe & cucumbers. The cantaloupe came from a lovely little produce stand down the street and the cucumbers were from our own garden! 

So, I have been adjusting well to being back home. With a little less than a month left before school, I intend to make the most of every minute being here! Even though a lot of difficult things happened this summer and I can't quite straighten some of them out in my mind yet, it is so good to know that God was in control of every circumstance and situation. I'm resting gratefully in the knowledge that He has every detail planned! 

~Hannah Grace 

What we do on our day off...

We're back on the road!

This past week has been spent at the annual Baptist Mid-Missions conference in Elyria, Ohio. It was a blessing for us as a team to get to interact with the teens throughout the week, organizing activities and just talking with them about their experiences on various mission fields with their parents. We also enjoyed singing in the morning and evening sessions each day.

Today is a wonderful day of relaxation! We slept in, ate lunch at Chipotle (my favorite!), and right now we're hanging out in a Barnes & Noble-- enjoying comfy chairs, free wifi and the smell of Starbucks. This evening we're going to someone's house for an authentic Indian dinner and after that our sponsor for the week is taking us to the Melting Pot for dessert! So, we are definitely being spoiled. 

Tomorrow we'll be driving to Chicago for our Sunday morning concert. I have never been there, so I'm super excited! Then we'll be in Westchester, Illinois for our evening concert and I have no idea where we're headed after that. I pretty much just hop in the van and go wherever it takes me! 

~Hannah Grace 

Halfway There!

As we approach the midway point of the summer, I finally seem to have found time to sit down and write an update.

The past five weeks have been a blur. From church to church, concert to concert, host home to host home, and now after spending a week as a counselor for the National IFCA Youth Convention on campus here at ABC, dates, names, and faces all run together in my mind. But there have been several highlights...





Early on in our travels we were able to spend a day in Harper's Ferry, WV. It was a beautiful day to tour the historic buildings and surrounding area, and we also enjoyed some delicious ice cream!











Traveling in the van is always...exciting. Actually, we spend most of the time eating and sleeping! I have also tried to take advantage of the time to work on some memorization in Ephesians. And sometimes we enjoy watching a movie using Isaiah's super cool five-way headphone splitter!






Moving into our second week, we were able to visit Atlantic City, a first-time experience for everyone. It was nice to spend some time on the beach and Tom even swam around for a while (in his khakis)!

During the same week we made a trip to Philadelphia. We were able to see the Liberty Bell, as well as explore some other historic sites. This picture was taken in front of Independence Hall. And we enjoyed authentic Philly cheesesteaks! 

Also, this past week was a lot of fun, as we did something a bit different. The IFCA held their National Youth Convention at ABC this year, so we were able to be counselors for groups of teens. I loved getting to know my eight girls and hope to be able to keep up with them. It was fun following them around like some kind of parent to watch their different competitions and events, from Bible quizzing to dramas to music.






As the teens were finishing up yesterday, the team decided to take a hiking trip. Being surrounded by the beautiful mountains of West Virginia, there are plenty of great places to hike.







But even more exciting than the hiking, was the white-water rafting trip that we took today. I had never been rafting, so I was pretty nervous to head into some Class 5 rapids, but I couldn't have had more fun! Our guide had plenty of experience and did a great job helping us all to enjoy the trip. I can't wait to go again!

In the midst of these fun trips, most of our time really is spent on the concerts. We typically arrive at a church in the early afternoon, set up, sound check, eat dinner, do a concert, and then spend the night in a host home from the church. And after performing nearly twenty concerts, I haven't yet tired of the songs! God has worked in amazing ways to show me new perspectives on the words of each song throughout these concerts. One of my favorite lines right now is from a song called "My Lips Will Praise You". It goes, "I am Your own/ and I will worship You alone/ I am Your own/ I am Your child." It has been such a comforting and humbling reminder to me, even as the team has faced some real trials in the past week or two.

I have certainly grown to love each member of this team. Having gone through some very unexpected difficulties, it has been wonderful to grow closer to everyone and to clearly see reasons that God placed each person within this group.

Well, that seems to be a pretty thorough update for now, folks! Thanks for sticking it out if you've read this far. And please pray as we head back out on the road for the next five weeks, traveling to states in the midwest- Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois, and more!

~Hannah Grace





                                                                                 




             

         

On the Road with the Gospel Heralds

One out of ten weeks down! Last week was training week for the Gospel Heralds. After arriving on campus Saturday evening, I enjoyed a relaxing Sunday visiting my church near school and resting up for the week. Then, starting at 8:30 on Monday morning, we began training. It was much more exhausting than I expected! From 8:30 every morning until 10 o'clock each night, we all practiced singing, handbells, different standing formations, dramatic Scripture readings, and more. While it was tiring, I still had a blast hanging out with the team and getting to spend time with different people one-on-one. Below is a picture of us all!

Left to right: Isaiah, Elisabeth, Ben, Leslee, Jordan, Loni, Tom, me, Justin

So, after that long week, we headed out on Saturday to officially begin our summer travels! First stop: Gospel Life Baptist Church in Keyser, WV. Our host homes that evening were lovely and our very first concert on Sunday morning went much better than expected! After a quick lunch and packing everything up, we moved on to Crosslife Bible Church in Westminister, MD for a Sunday evening concert. While we were eating dinner before the concert, a good friend walked in- it was a total surprise to me! And two other wonderful friends were able to come for the concert, so it was lots of fun to have some familiar faces in the crowd and to spend some time with them afterwards. 

Today, Monday, was our day off. We travled about an hour and a half to northern VA, did a little shopping, ate dinner at the Macaroni Grill, and ended up at a hotel where some of us went for a swim...and now I'm taking full advantage of the internet access to update! Tomorrow we'll be back on the road, heading to Shepherdstown, WV for an evening concert. I'm especially excited for next week when we'll be in the VA Beach area for several concerts, so I should get to see my family and hopefully some friends as well. 

Anyway, it's been a wonderful week and a couple days so far and I'm looking forward to the remaining nine weeks of travel and singing! 

~Hannah Grace 

Three Weeks of Summer

Finishing up a lovely three week break at home. In fact, it was so lovely that I simply haven't felt like taking any time to write a post! But my hope is to keep up the blog throughout this summer, so I figured I should get back to it now that my break is just about over. To catch you up on the break...

Week 1 was spent mostly in Mrs. Smith's second grade class at Portsmouth Christian School. It was my first official week of classroom observations for the Elementary Education major. I so enjoyed spending time with the fifteen students and doing little things to help- ranging from sharpening pencils to helping a student one-on-one with phonics, to giving a spelling test, and more. While I was tired going into the week right after a full semester of college, I came away with a refreshed view of my major and especially my love for that age group.

Weeks 2 and 3 were mostly spent being lazy! It has been so nice to sleep in, read whatever I want, do LOTS of cooking & baking, and spend time with the whole family. I also was super happy to see some good friends! Oh, and spending a night at the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg was a blast. I mean, it doesn't get much cooler than an indoor water park/hotel!

These weeks have been a blessing and I treasure each moment I was able to spend with my family before heading out for a summer of travel. Tomorrow I head back to school and, after a week of training, take off for many concerts with the Gospel Heralds. I'm so excited for the upcoming time spent with the team and all of the churches we will have the privilege of visiting. Hopefully I'll be able to post updates!

That's it for now- besides a few pictures from break below!

~Hannah Grace

Hanging with Andrew :) 

Plenty of time to read.  

Homemade pizza- yum! 

The 2nd grade classroom. 

Strong 'Til the End

Staying strong until the very end- that has been my theme lately as I finish up the final days in my first year of college. Having given my last speech, completed my final term paper, and accomplished all of my group projects and presentations for this semester, it has become all too easy to forget that finals are just a couple weeks away! I find my mind quickly straying from studying to the beautiful weather outside or the fun weekend opportunities. BUT I do intend to stay strong and am praying for God to give me focus and the ability to finish my freshman year well for His glory.

We have one remaining Magnify concert which will take place this coming Sunday morning. It will be my turn to share my testimony and I'm looking forward to tying it in with our theme of Heaven. Planning to share one of my favorite verses, 1 John 2:25, "And this is the promise that He has promised us-- eternal life." It is so good to have that knowledge and assurance of God's faithfulness to His Word. Here is a picture of Magnify from our concert at the Union Mission in Charleston:

Left to right: Carolyn, Zach, Loni, Justin, me, Josh, Lauren, Tim, Stacey

Dodgeball intramurals are also wrapping up. It's been so much fun to participate over the last few weeks, although there have been several terrifying moments! I appreciate the time that students as well as staff here take to provide us with many fun activities. The competition has been fierce-- playing Lord of the Rings and Narnia soundtracks throughout the games ensures that!

With the end of the semester comes the beginning of a very exciting and busy summer. After spending a couple weeks at home, it'll be straight back to campus on May 26 to begin training week for Gospel Heralds. And then we'll be on the road! Our official itinerary is posted here: http://www.abc.edu/gospel-heralds.php.

And now I'm off to keep studying for those finals! Christology, Fundamentals of Speech, Math for Elementary Teachers, Health, Foundations of Education, Congregational Hymn Playing II and English Composition II are all on the list. Yikes!

~Hannah Grace