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this weekend was crazy!

Friday:

I slept in (most of the interns hiked Mt. Beardstadt which is a fourteener...I figured I would probably die...so I didn't go) then prepared for the Cardboard Campout. I picked up 6 boxes (2/person) from the Subway at Walmart, some ductape, and some sharpies...we (Amy, Kristen, Erin, Stephanie, Josh, and I) headed to Thorton, CO to the middle of nowhere....which has a chuch...Northern Hills Christian Church...they were expected 150 to show up for the campout but only 30 came....

It was amazing. Steph, Erin, and I were the three interns that decided to stay for the night and actually sleep on and in cardboard...Mike Garza (a case manager with the STAR program) gave his powerful testimony...he lived on the streets for a number of years in both California and Denver...he panhandled, was an alcoholic that started detoxing with a BAC of 0.2 (0.4 will kill you), he ended up getting stabbed in front of the DRML which eventually led to him graduating the New Life Program then transfering and graduating from the STAR Program...going to college....getting married....and working at the Crossing...amazing the power of Christ!

so....didn't really sleep well that night...but that was kinda the point...got up around 530am for breakfast and a debrief of the night for those that participated...

Saturday:

ran Kids Club...only 5 kids...sad times...but I was exhausted so that was okay...

took a nap then went to Heavenfest. 12,000+ people were at the same church as the Cardboard Campout....70+ artists events...it was intense....but it was amazing too! helped answer questions about volunteering and interning at the DRM booth...pretty cool...

Saw Jeremy Camp in concert. Sweet.

Decided that the next day I would be spontaneous with two other girls (Jeanna and Heather)...

Sunday:

left the Crossing at 5am for a 6 hour drive to South Dakota to see some Presidents carved into a mountain. We went to Mount Rushmore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was amazing! We drove through Wyoming and some of SD to get there. Let me tell you that Wyoming is it's own kind of beauty...with nothing around for miles and miles and miles except trains. and it really is the place where the "deer and the antelope play" and "the skies are not cloudy all day..." we also saw buffalo!!! and a fox but he was in Denver on the on-ramp to I-70...hahaha. South Dakota has the black hills which are gorgeous....and of course, George, Thomas, Teddy, and Abraham (Lincoln that is)...amazing!

got back last night around 9:30 and went to bed! that was amazing too....sleep was so good!

3 more full days here and then I head back to the south (where sweet tea is all a person really needs) on friday....

I'm really starting to feel the drain and strain of this last stretch...but I know that before I know it I'll want to be back here....so I'll just make the most of it all....