I haven’t been around here in quite some time it seems. Today was my catch up day for so many things, including blogging…but something got in the way. :) Let’s get back to 100 Joys and I’ll fill ya’ll in.

Our Christmas Show is over…and it makes me so sad. But we reached thousands of people (20) and I’m so glad I was a part of it. I’ve been in this production since third grade (minus last year) and so that makes nine years of doing this. Every year except this year we have started rehearsing in September. It’s a huge chunk of time and dedication, but I love it. So much.

Which is why on Sunday, our last show, I began to tear up. See, it’s over for me. That was my last show. And until about an hour before the show, my mind was thinking, ‘This is the last show for this year. Make it your best yet.’

And then it hit me. This is MY last one. I won’t be here next year to sing and dance and act again. This thing that has become my ministry and so much of my life…it’s done for me. It’s over. Finished.

There’s no way to say whether or not I’ll be back after college to be part of this again. No way of knowing. But I do know this: I went out with a bang (21). I held nothing back, and smiled for the entire audience to see. My friends and family were there to watch, and I had a great time. The show was sold out (22). Sold out on my last show.

Love it. So happy about that.

And then there is this video: the camel video (23).

It makes me smile/laugh now…but when it happened? I was scared out of my mind.

Yes, that’s right. My church is The Camel Church. I was there watching as the camel fell in the pew. In fact, we (me and a bunch of angels) were about to walk down the same isle where the camel was, and do a (little) dance. So we were all in the foyer watching…

as the camel jumped

and Alex (the king) flew off

and the camel got stuck in the pew.

We had our hands to our mouths and we were all gasping and looking at each other…so scared that someone had been hurt.

The show was stopped, and we learned that everyone was totally fine.

People have asked why we have live animals in the show, and where our God was when that happened.

The thing is, we’ve had live animals in the show for years. Nothing has ever happened. This wasn’t our first time having a camel in the show, either. And this wasn’t Lula Belle’s first time in this role. We practiced with her multiple times, and nothing bad had ever happened. She’s a trained animal, which you know if you’ve done your research on the company we got her from.

And as for where God was? Clearly He was there protecting everyone. You tell me how it’s possible for a man to get flown off a camel into a crowd of people and wooden pews and be fine. Tell me how a camel can fall into people and get stuck in a pew, and the only injury be to one college student with a sore shoulder, and to the pew itself. I see no other option other than God showing up and protecting everyone. If you don’t agree, that’s fine. But know that no matter what you say, I believe God was there as the gasps went up and the camel fell.

This doesn’t sound joyful, I know. But the joy comes in saying that the camel story made news around the world. All over the U.S. it was on the news. Even in Austrailia it was on the news.

It’s not the fame I’m joyful about. It’s that SO many people came to the show because of the news stories (24). The camel wasn’t in any of the shows after that (for safety, although it’s not a dangerous camel at all. We all lose our balence at times.), but people still came. They saw a great show, and heard about how Jesus loves them. And hopefully they left wanting to do something to help children.

Now to explain what I said at the very beginning: “something got in the way.”

Sleep. Oh glorious sleep. I haven’t had a single day to sleep in since I can’t even remember when. But today? I slept 14 hours.

14 uninterrupted hours (25).

Bliss.

I basically slept the day away. It was going to be my day to catch up. My day to do a ton of school, catch up on reading blogs, and to finally put my pictures on the computer from New York.

But I slept.

I regret nothing.