YES, Olympion is in full swing at Immanuel, and while Monday was the most pandemonious experience I have ever overseen, yesterday went SO smoothly! I spent a good deal of the afternoon yesterday walking around our neighborhood, talking to neighbors and inviting kids to VBS. Christy King lent me Alexis and some IcePops so I could even better attract kids, and we had a great time. Lex is quite the trooper, let me tell you! Please pray for the children at VBS!! The children from our neighborhood- as I type, I see their precious, eternal faces- weigh heavy on me. Their lives bear very little imprint of the Kindness of God, it seems to outside eyes. Please pray that this week would sow seeds of Saving Grace in their hearts, and that they would even this week See and Believe. Every morning I wake up with them on my heart, and at night I go to sleep praying for them and asking the Lord how we might continue to minister to them after VBS, how to best reach them now, and asking the Lord to show Saving Kindness to them. The children of our own church are also of course heavy on my heart, though perhaps a little less urgently: their parents WILL preach the Gospel to them, and already have countless times. VBS is certainly a wonderful crucible for them, and we pray that the Lord is pleased to turn the light bulbs in the the still-pagan minds which are so faithfully catechised.
We've also MOVED IN UPSTAIRS!!! Ryan's half of our wonderful family came up over July 4th weekend, and served us non-stop!! Thanks to my them (plus a lot of Lyle, a little bit of John LeToto, and the muscle masses of JC & Charlie), we now have a working doorbell, a comfortable cane-back rocker safe for sitting, a porch swing, 3 full sized bookshelves, a clean chimney, internet access in a new location, furniture upstairs, and artwork hung on our walls!!! Have I mentioned that we have a working living room, bedroom & guestroom? Our house has expanded three-fold! The "reading room" upstairs is still "under construction," and my project today and yesterday is making some order out of the remaining chaos in our former-bedroom-one-day-dining-room-now-library. It's so fun to watch the shelves fill up with familiar books! Opening my long-boxed books has been like greeting so many returning friends. It's also satisfying to my big-picture brain to get Ryan's & my books successfully integrated, organized in one central location (or at least all the books of one topic together), by topic, and alphabetized by author's last name. AND our garden is bearing fruit. Lots of grape tomatos reddenin' up, and the cucumber and pumpkin flowering promisingly! So far the herbs and plants we brought back from G'ville (Mom & the Whaley's gardens) have survived and are anxiously awaiting re-planting.
Ryan & I have enjoyed being together again after the longest separation of our marriage (Sun-Fri), and are finding each passing month of marriage sweeter than the past. Seriously! I can honestly say that I have never been happier in my life. Praise the Lord!
So... VBS & ordering our home... that's the Big Two this week.
Last week's main event was my college roommate's wedding! Christina DeCiantis ("Trin" to me and most of our buddies) and Jonas Davison became Mr. & Mrs. Jonas M. Davison in the eyes of the State of SC and God Himself in a very musical, very green ceremony last Saturday (July 12th). I had the honor of being a bridesmaid, and also putting together her guest book. This was a wonderful privelege because I got to look through all sorts of fun pictures of the bridal party from all through Christina & Jonas' relationship (hehe and some really cute baby pictures, too!). Looking at college pictures brought back thousands of nearly-forgotten memories. I laughed all over again at our antics as roommates, and remembered the deep waters God brought us through. There were times when we both thought we'd lost each other, times when we nearly lost our footing, and the other one steadied us in tears and prayed truth (incarnational water and the Word). I remembered just how much I love Christina Dawn, and for some reason felt I would miss her terribly... when the truth is that I've already missed her-- I left her last August, and now that we're both married, we're far MORE likely to see more of each other. (she has far less attractive reasons to visit Jonas on weekends, for instance). 
I spent time with dear friends, was encouraged by the Lord's Hand at work in some of them, and concerned by the halting growth of others, and was once again brought to praise God for His faithfulness and goodness. More and pictures to come, but now I need to get to work. So many letters to write! :)
Full of life with a full life,
--Christina Szrama
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