Hey Guys!!!

Can you believe that we will all be together again in about 3 weeks? Words cannot even express how excited I am. I keep trying to talk my parents into letting me move in earlier and earlier lol.

The rest of my summer has been pretty good. I had a wonderful time with my mom in New York. We got to see so much of the city like the Plaza, Central Park, China Town, and we even got to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. I know that both my mom and I will cherish those memories we made together forever. I also went to Ocean Isle Beach with my family and lots of family friends last week. We go there every year so each time I am there with all of those great people it just feels like I’m at a second home (Well third if you count UNC). My friend Morgan went with me and I think the most fun thing we did was go kayaking in the intercoastal waterway. We didn’t really know what we were doing and kept going in a zig zag instead of a straight line and when we came back in after two and a half hours we were so tired but we had so much fun.

I’ve still been working a lot at the hardware store, which has been really great because I just really enjoy working there. Unfortunately there are some legal and monetary issues that the store is experiencing right now. It’s actually a really big mess that I’m not even really supposed to talk about but I would greatly appreciate prayers from you guys for my boss and the store owners.

I also wanted to tell you guys that there is a good chance I will be having some major oral surgery on the 12^th right before we all move in. It’s a surgery that I have been waiting on for years now so I am excited about it. Hopefully I will be all healed up before I move in but if not you guys can totally laugh at me if I look and/or talk funny haha.

I am SO excited about the Summer Birthday Bash tomorrow, and if you are coming I can’t wait to see you there!

Hope you all enjoy the last bit of the summer!

BWisittimetomoveinyetL,

Nicole

Soon we'll get to live together :)

It's safe to say that I'm anticipating returning to Chapel Hill. This summer has just been full of... unexpected things.

I'm sure you all got my e-mail about my parents splitting up. That's been tough, but my parents are staying mature, and I'm happy about that. They are not constantly fighting or even picking fights with each other. They're just trying to move on and support my brother and me just as much as before. The amount of love coming from both of my parents has not changed :)

I also broke my arm in late May and had a cast on through June... so employment hasn't really been happening. BUT that was a blessing in disguise. You see, I have spent many an hour at home and I've been here to support my mom. I've also gotten plenty of rest and did some volunteering at my church. Most enjoyably, I remember Vacation Bible School and working with the kids there. Working with kids has its ups and downs, which camp counselor and friend of ours Ashley Beech can attest to, but it still makes me very happy. I miss seeing kids during the school year.

So the only real thing on my radar for the rest of this summer is visiting my extended family in Chicago next week. The last time I had a long visit with them was probably five years ago. It should be great. And then, it's time to move in!

Living in community with you guys will be amazing, I just know it! I'm really anticipating living with 9 other people that I love. Despite hard classes and whatever, this will be a really fun year.

BWaugust16thcantcomesoonenoughL,
Jared