Honey, Nothin' Lasts Forever

"Honey, nothin' lasts forever."            

   -Big Mama, Fox and the Hound

     As of yesterday afternoon, I completed my 12th and final week of camp.  They were very stretching weeks, but filled with answered prayers and precious memories.  And precious pictures!
As I believe I have mentioned that I am planning on my senior art show to be based of camp, and that wish/dream has not changed.  I got permission to go through camp photos.  Again, Andy Ott has a big job on his hands! Kaleena did as well last year.
I've heard the argument from some that taking so many pictures at events or in life just takes away from living the moment itself, but I don't quite agree.  Some people become so focused on having pictures that they don't go out and have the fun experiences that make them photos.  I think there is a real difference between a picture and a photo.  A picture is just that, a picture of something, such as a rock or a sketch of a block.  A photo is a capture of a memory, like the expression after a face gets smacked with whipped cream. Or when 3 precious children are waving good-bye as you drive away.  And these photo memories are completely different.  They're capturing that moment so that later on you can look back and see how happy, or how fulfilling that moment was in your life.  I took, officially, 1,372 photos at camp this summer, and I LOVE them so very much.  I did not obsess over the taking of the photos.  I waited for those moments where life just made me go 'awe!' or laugh my head off, and dived for my camera! That's how I'm choosing my art show photos as well.  I wait for those photos that just made me stop, and I have this feeling of deep love in my heart of the experience or of the person.  I've got about 12 photos I've pulled out of the thousands I have from the past 3 summers, but some of those might also be removed.  But I know what is going to be my main painting.  It's going to be a big, wing-span size.  It's the silliest photo, and most people will look at it and just be confused, but it is just the best!

This is a photo of Autumn, Alison, me, and Katie, and it is tied as my favorite photo with the one of me and Philippine in Paris. It just shows our personalities so perfectly, and with the Village Creek sign in the background, it is the absolutely perfect centerpiece for my show. These are my very best friends, and without Village Creek I would have never gotten to meet three of the women that have changed my life so very much.  That may sound mushy to some, but it is also very very true.  This was the last weekend the three of us were together, and right now all four of us have it as our cover photo on Facebook.   We love each other.  

In other news, Pray! Shirt Fridays is hopefully going to be a nationwide thing! I made Beth Bender as a friend my first summer at camp, and her mother has heard much about me.  She was at camp with some kids from her youth, and she saw me and Katie's Pray! shirts, and she got this idea of turning it into a big movement across America and the world. She's taken off on the idea, and now has started a non-profit company to sell them and I've already bought my second Pray! shirt.  I'm so proud to be one of the catalysts of the movement and so is Katie.  God really turned our 'for fun' idea into something bigger than we could have ever imagined!  Her site is http://encouragement-ink.com/ 

Half of the people in this photo left after this, Junior 3.  And it changed the last weeks so much that they were unrecognizable from what it had been.   It was extremely sad, and Katie and Alison cried so much.  I managed not to cry the day they left, but the next couple days were hard, with no one to stop by my craft room to tell me about the silly things their campers were doing or to tell me about how they had done some sort of ridiculous thing.  Bri Turner showed up at camp though, and that helped me more than anything.  Bri is an amazing Christ-filled person that amazes me every time she speaks.  She's spoken into my life in so many occasions without even knowing it that I feel that God has her chosen as His instrument here in more ways than most people. She even helped me write up my resume, and gave me job advice for the next year!  It was amazing getting to spend those few days with her, and I look forward to getting to talk to her more the next year and to hear more of her theories on life and people.  She should write a book, I swear! That was the week of Hard Rock Family Camp, I believe, and I also got to meet a mother that just had a fascinating life story.  She was a step-mom, and I got to meet her step-daughter there at camp as well.  She would stand at my window and talk for an hour at a time about her family and how being a step-mom was going and about opinions on Disney and on Harry Potter and on camp and so many things! Family camps are great in that way. While I don't prefer being a family assistant, I do enjoy hearing about their families and getting to play with their kids.  Three through five will always be my favorite age group! 

Then we had this final week, which was Family 4.  God answered the prayers for more staff, and we had just enough to cover our needs.  It was so hard, and I wanted to go home so badly.  I felt I had been there too long and I wanted to be with my family, but I also knew they needed me.  But then when I was told I could go just a few hours earlier than I had planned, I almost decided to stay, just because I couldn't imagine not staying for the King's Feast, which I dislike, or staying to watch the Staff Comedy, which I've seen loads of times.  It's like I couldn't imagine it not continuing on for forever and ever.  It was supposed to be unending.  Yesterday was one of the saddest days I can remember.  I can also never remember feeling so loved in my entire life.  I got to have a one-on-one chat with Camie, which I felt was long overdue.  I'm one of those people that can look at someone and think of how they're feeling or what they're dealing with and be completely understanding.  I've found out over the summer that not many can do that.  But despite Camie being one of the busiest people at camp, I could not pass up the opportunity for her to speak into my life, and I feel that she did just that.  I feel better about what I'm going into this next year, and I was reminded of many things that I knew once, but had forgotten were so very important.  Camie is such a blessing to the world, and I will always hold her extremely high as a role model.  After our talk I had an Instruction Hour of crafts, and my helper, a volunteer mother that was WONDERFUL, had cleaned off all my counters and I had a green crate from home waiting for it's contents to be replenished. I walked around the room I have always considered as mine and got all of my art supplies and packed it all up, and all the crafts I had fiddled with.  It was so weird.  I felt like I was a newly graduated high schooler leaving for college for the first time.  Leaving everything dear and familiar for the unknown.  To this hour I keep remembering things I had forgotten to tell Sue about pottery or to tell Camie we needed more puffy paint and porcelain markers.  I had made sure to tell Toby, Sam, and Danny, the 'camp kids', that I was leaving, and Toby couldn't quite understand that two weeks was not the same as two months.  While I was running around finding my stuff, however, Patrick, Daniel, Elizabeth, and Anne TIED my van to a RAILROAD TIE, and wrote "Don't Go!" and "Stay with us!" all over my dusty windows! Then Patrick had parked the camp gator behind my van as well! I went to turn something into the third office, and Luke Schipper and Dave laughed at my predicament, and suggested that next time they should take the tractor and lift my van up on bricks or even on the roof! They were all so ridiculous! Sam, Danny, and Toby overheard, and had to come see the van tied up.  I untied one, and then Danny was determined to tie it back up again.  Then Elizabeth and Anne convinced the boys that if they filled up my van with enough big rocks it would weigh it down enough to make me stay! I can't believe I didn't cry.  Toby was saying "Wait! Wait!" and throwing more and more rocks into my window!! They all waved as I backed up and Toby even did the little heart symbol with his hands.  I just managed to get a picture of it.

I drove up to the lake to say goodbye to a few more people, and I just couldn't get past how loved I felt! Andrew Vik told me how well I did this summer and said that if I ever needed anything to let him know. Rachel said she'd like to come up to Sioux Falls and take me out to lunch when she's visiting a friend.  Gwen was trying not to cry.  I felt as I should be crying, but I wasn't. I didn't cry the whole way home.  Late last night though, there was just a brief misunderstanding that made me snap.  My family couldn't understand why I was bawling so hard and for so long! It was absolutely heartbreaking. I realized that the most beautiful season of my life was forever over.  I can't remember ever having a better summer, or a more fulfilling one.  It was so very beautiful, and never again will that group of people ever be 100% back together.  I've seen two other summer staffs before, and did not feel near the amount of sadness of their ending.  This summer was so special, and I know a great number that agree with me.  It was so much more special to me after the friend-less school year I endured. I cried so very hard, and when I went out to my van for my pillow and blankets, the "Don't Go!" on my window stood out in the street light, and made me cry even harder, if that was possible.  

Even though this season is over, I'm still looking to make the next one as one that God still has control.  He may have in mind a good season, or it may be a not so good one, but it just matters that I let Him hold the reins.  Things are really looking up for me at Sioux Falls, and I'm looking forward to a year of road trips and adventures with camp staff and with new friends I plan to make.  This is also the end of this blog.  It may be revamped next summer, or I may even update on camp when I return for 4 State, but it is still the end.  Don't worry, if you still would like to know what I'm up to, I have another blog that I started in January that I keep about my life, and about my hopeful journey to the Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, CA.  It's at http://forgivenlu.blogspot.com/

I want to leave you with the words of my favorite camp song:

My God is so BIG

 so strong and so mighty

there's nothing my God cannot do

FOR YOU!

Stay Forever!

It seems like every summer there's a staff competition to see who's name Toby Treptau can remember.  I would like to say that I believe I have been successful! I went down to breakfast, and Toby met me on the way there and asked if I was going to be in the craft room.  I told him that I would, and he proceeded to tell me that I have to be in the craft room and that I can never leave! It completely made my day!! While he was eating I asked him if I had to stay in the craft room or if I could go other places, and he said that I just have to stay at camp forever! I'd love to, Toby!

So, back at camp for another 2 and a half-ish weeks.  We have Junior Camp 3 this week, and then I think the next week is a family camp, and then after that is Family Camp 4.  The sad part is watching all the staff leave.  My friend Bethany left and several others that I'm going to miss!  This is also the last week of my two best friends (that are here) Alison and Katie Strupp.  The next two weeks are going to be so sad without them!!

This week I'm on bathroom duty in the morning, then craft room all afternoon, and dinner dishes.  It's quite similar to the last week I worked, but I may have more time to have a quiet time and fill out some school paperwork.  And blog!

Prayer Requests:

* That the staff of the next couple weeks, new and old, are reminded that camp is for the campers, and we are to serve rather than ignore rules.

* Staff that are going through rough times here, whether it be school or family stuff.

* Val has her wisdom teeth out this week.  Pray for healing and peace.

* Mom got sick over vacation.  Please pray that she would heal quickly.  I know she has so much to get ready for the next school year.

* We need staff for the next couple of weeks yet.  Please pray for people to come, and for those people to be ready to serve.  If you yourself can even spare half a week it would be welcome!

My God is so BIG!

Hello friends! How's life?

Grace Family Camp last week was an absolute blast!! There was tension between staff, but as far as campers go, it was really great.  To give you an idea, this is how busy I was.

8:30- be at breakfast (love this!)
9:00- work with Nursery
10:30- Staff Meeting
11:00- Crafts
12:30- Lunch
1:30- Crafts
2:30- Free Time Crafts
5:30- Supper
Dishes til... 8 or 9
Then a race to put of my math homework or taking care of the pottery or even night assignment!

It was crazy, but I like being busy.  I'm excited to go back and have the ability to actually have a quiet time.  My math homework and test, plus my final on Friday, took up all of my spare time.


This last weekend I got to let loose and have some fun.  Katie talked Luke into asking the head of the horse area if we could take a few horses up to Look Out Point.  It's on top of a bluff surrounding camp, and while I wasn't exactly pumped, it turned out to be a blast.  Luke is one of the funniest people I've ever met! We goofed off and talked for almost 2 hours! After that Alison, Katie, Autumn and I went to The Skinny Dip for our traditional cheese ball stop.  We got to chat and take pictures.  It was much needed best friends time.  I love those girls so much!! Those three are my best friends in the whole world (+Philippine) and I can never express how much they mean to me!

Autumn, Alison, me, and Katie

*The US just won the gold in gymnastics!!!

The next day, Sunday, at 6 in the morning me and my family left for vacation!! We are currently in Wyoming in an absolutely beautiful cabin.  We have a rented van that's a 2012 and has a DVD player, and this fantastic cabin, and the combination makes me feel like a rich person! No joke!! It took two days to get here, and our first night me and Val ended up getting our own room at the hotel because they screwed up what month we had booked it for for the price of one room.  SCORE!! I went right to sleep.  After staying up til 12:30 for night assignment, 12-ish for a math test, and then 1am finishing packing, you are going to be VERY tired!

Yesterday we reached our cabin, and when you see this picture you're going to understand my love of it.

Look at that mountain view!! The mountain you partially see on the right is Mount Teton, and we've been seeing it up close all day today.  We took a ski lift this morning and took a trai along a cliff face.  I posed in the Lion King pose on a rock face that looked like Pride Rock, and the entire time I'm walking around I'm singing the camp song, "My God is so big, so strong and so mighty.  There's nothing my God can not do!"  You can't look at mountains and valleys and not see God's artistic hand at work.  They're incredible!! The Teton mountains are the youngest mountains in the Rockys at 9000 years old.  It's so SO SO SO SO cool to 'live' in a valley where I can wake up and the first sight I see is the mountain out my window.  MY GOD IS SO BIG!!! We are touring Yellowstone tomorrow, and then Thursday we're going horseback riding and white river rafting.  Crazy fun!! Me and Val are having the most fun just telling Dad to pull over on random roads and let us take pictures.  I wadded into a mountain stream and it was absolutely FREEZING! We are having such a great time.  But I miss camp and I think my family is going to get sick of me talking about it!  I got two more weeks of camp as soon as I get back from vacation, and then I have yet to talk to my family about staying for Family 4.  It shouldn't be a problem.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll let you know if we spot a bear!!
  Cause we're going on a bear hunt!!!!!!!

Have I Told You Lately...?

I bet my mom can figure out the rest of that sentence.  I sing that song to her all the time, and I sing it to the girl staff when they need to be cheered up.  Or to be silly! I don't even know who sings it!

It's been a while, so a quick synopsis on what's happened the previous week.  I had a week off offered to me, and I felt I should take it before the crazy part of the summer took hold! I had a few days off for my follow-up ear appointment in Iowa City, and then I took the opportunity to also go to the chiropractor and the eye doctor.  I needed a new prescription for my contacts to be replaced, and carrying a 9 year old on your shoulders while he's carrying your back pack is not a good idea at all! The ear appointment went well by the way.  I took a picture of what they pulled out of my ear, and it was roughly the size of a AAA battery, but skinnier.  NASTY.  But I should be good for 6-months to a year.  Yay! I also saw my sister show her rabbits at the Franklin County Fair.  She got reserve champion, a blue, and the showmanship trophy.  I was pretty proud!  We also went to the demolition derby at the Hardin County Fair.  It is extremely sketchy.  Franklin is much better.  I told some kids off for throwing rocks at each other like I would at camp, and they looked pretty freaked out.  It cracked me up :D.  We cleaned out Dad's garage, went on our pontoon boat, made a massive Craft Room donation collection, and I got stung by a wasp! Very eventful week.

So this week is Grace Family camp and I came back to some great surprises.  These come mainly in the  form of Katie Riley.  Katie Riley is a organizational genius, and I think she was meant to be in the craft room.  Seriously, it is ridiculous how she has managed to fix more placement problems in one day than I have in three years of working in that crazy room!! In all honestly, I'm partially ashamed of myself, seeing what she can do compared to what I have done, but she's just gifted in that area.  She still asks me if things are alright in how she's doing them, so I still got my facilitator authority. :) It takes someone who lives and breathes in there to know if something will work or not, so I'm happy that that's me.  I at least know how to run it the best.  Maybe that's why I'm an Art Ed major.  My best friend Katie Strupp worked in the craft room last week, and she left me a whole written out sheet with what happened every day in the craft room, and each day ended with "No mice." The funny thing is, I think yesterday, the lady we have for the pottery asked me for a 5 gallon bucket, and I knew exactly where one was.  My dad had told me to put peanut butter at the bottom of that size of a bucket to catch mice, cause they wouldn't be able to scramble back out.  I hadn't caught one in the 3 weeks I had done it, so I just grabbed the bucket and was going to take out the peanut butter packets, until I looked and saw the dead mouse.  It reached!! It had been there several days!!  You can bet I teased Katie Jean Strupp about that surprise!! My mom also gave me, on my return to camp, a turning organizer that you would see in card stores.  She had had it for her leveled books and she no longer needed it, so she handed it over.  It has been an instant success, and it's always a treat to see Camie and Andrew come in and say "Hey! When did we get this? It's great!" My mom just has the best ideas!

I really wish I could write all that has been happening, but that will have to wait for another night.  Me and several of the other staff that I have talked to aren't sleeping well.  Weird dreams too.  I had sorted stamps for several hours on Monday, and then I ended up dreaming of Batman stamps the next night. Weird.  I also need to dedicate more time to my Math class.  It took me 6 hours yesterday to finish my math homework and to take my test twice.  I had to improve my score.  My final is on Friday, and I don't know if I'll even be able to remember anything! Good thing I took some notes! 

The biggest disappointment of my week though is going to be this weekend.  My family is leaving for our family vacation to Yellowstone at 5 Sunday morning, so I have to get home and pack.  But they're going to have "Open Mic Night" at camp at 9.  And then I have a 3 hour drive home.  This hits hard for me personally because at camp, when they find you have a talent, you are instantly put in that category forever.  My camp talent is anything art related.  Very few know that I'm also a vocal music minor, and was a music major until this January.  I'd like to show people what I can do, and why my voice teacher says I have one of the best voices at my college. Dreams die hard, but I still may be able to work something out with my family.  They understand where I'm coming from.  At least at camp they could care less what I'm wearing! My old church wouldn't let me on the worship team because they didn't like my clothes.  Explain that one to Jesus! 

After the next week as a family vacation, I have two more weeks of fun in the sun.  I might give them a couple extra days, but I can't do another week.  If you want something to do during Labor Day weekend, feel free to bring your family to volunteer.  I would love to be here if I could!  It's only a weekend, and it's a great way to start of the coming school year or the fall by dedicating a couple of days to serving Jesus.  School starts the 5th of September, and I need to get ready, personally.  Plus I have a janitorial job up at school that they'll be wanting me back for, and finding another job when I get there.  Oh the joys of college living! 

"Have I told you lately that I love you?

Have I told you there's nothing else above you?

You fill my heart with gladness

Take away all my sadness

Ease my troubles that's what you do!"

Heart of Worship

This has been a great great week.  I've probably said it before, but it has.  I have felt God move more in this last week than any other week.  I could see God moving in the senior high kids' lives, but not my own.  This week has both brought me to terms with things, and has opened doors and sights that I never seen before.

I began this summer in hopes that I could get better spiritually.  I was so lost after the lonely school year that I thought going to camp and hearing the Word on a day to day basis would fix me of my problem, like I was one of my dad's tractors.  Obviously that wasn't the case.  I came to lots of conclusions over the past couple weeks, and these last two weeks have been rock shakers.  This last night I realized how wrong my whole reason for coming to camp was.  I was not coming to this camp to lead others to Christ and to serve His people.  I was coming here for me.  I needed to be fixed.  I needed to know how not to fall into the trap I know was waiting for me back in Sioux Falls.  Everything I seemed to do was for me, somehow, someway.  I heard in a message last week that you can hear many fabulous speakers that rock your life, but if you don't apply any of it, it means nothing. That's what I'd been doing.  I was trying to fix me, but I wasn't putting into practice what could help me.  You can buy paint to paint a house, but it doesn't change it's color til you actually apply the paint.  I can buy the books, but until I apply the words to my life, they mean nothing.  I started yesterday on a promise to myself and to God that the rest of the summer was going to be different.  I was going to have a servants heart, and I was going to make the changes I knew I had to made, but 'didn't have the time' or I was scared.  I can't even tell you how chapel that evening brought me to that conclusion, because it wasn't even that related!  But God can move in anything.  I also feel called to stay here a bit longer than planned.  But of course that's a family discussion, despite being 21.  I love my family too much to do something against their wishes.  God does call you to obey your parents, ya know!

Tonight was also an amazing message.  I have lots of points that Micah made both for myself, and others I know written out to show when I come home.  I had always felt out of touch in my campus's prayer group and in the surrounding churches.  I didn't fit, and they didn't try all that hard to fit me in.  So I didn't go.  But God told me very clearly tonight using Micah's message that I need to go.  We all have the Spirit in us, so we are all united.  It doesn't matter if your personalities are different.  I instantly thought of how I never felt welcome there and then Micah said that sometimes you have to initiate.  Ha! Dad's right! He's been telling me that all year!!  Micah encouraged everyone to call up those people, whether it be your pastor, youth pastor, or friend, and have that community that God created us to have.

On a more newsy note, Bryce showed up here at camp today, and I was completely unprepared! I looked up and I was saying hey and greeting him before I even realized who it was! Talk about VCBC hospitality! I'm also attempting to finish up some math homework for tomorrow as well tonight.  Test tomorrow! Yay Math!! (Please catch the sarcasm in that!)  I'm also trying to finish a painting before Philippine's birthday, and another one for Sue of her first dog, and to start one of Andi and Toby that will be just PRECIOUS! What can I say? I like being busy!

You wanna hear a funny God story from today?  So I'm living in the bottom portion of Tom and Camie's house this week, and I set my alarm for 7:30 this morning so I could shower.  I wake up, walk out to use the internet and check the weather, to realize it was 8:37! WHAT?! We're supposed to be at breakfast! I go back to the room and McKayla was still sleeping too! We race to change clothes and run down to camp.  I had grabbed my make-up bag to bring down for when I'd have time for such things.  We had Guy/Girl talks today, which I spoke a little at that.  It was a good talk for everyone.  After this, one of my friends was upset, and we were sitting together in the craft room.  Now, I've been missing my amazing camera since July 4th, and I was freaking out that I would not have it upon my return home.  Return to story.  This friend was really upset, and I lean down to give her a hug.  I look down, and sticking out of the side pocket of this make-up bag is my camera!!!! Goodness I flipped!! So me and McKayla came to the realization that we were late for breakfast so I could find my camera!! God is funny.  And He cares about silly things too, not just the big stuff.

Now I am a little past in cabins I believe, so I'll be ending this.  Feel free to ask me questions on other aspects of camp! I'd be happy to answer them!

Fifty-Two

Family 1 went by in a heat induced blur.  It was a fun week, and I met some fantastic families, and got to see ones that I had the privilege of working with two years ago.  Despite a small case of homesickness last week, I'm doing well.  All traces of the cold/allergy bug I had are gone, and I'm fit as a fiddle!

This weekend I decided that I needed a day to myself to examine my life and figure out how to make sure my next year away from camp was not going to turn out like the last one.  Last year I drew myself away from God because of a deep loneliness, and I'm determined to make sure that doesn't happen again.  So I decided to climb to Pulpit for the first time in my three summers here at VCBC.  Anyone who's worked here before is always shocked when I say that.  Pulpit is like a rite of passage here, in a way.  It's something that nearly everyone has done, and it gave me a huge sense of accomplishment to finally say I'd been there.  It wasn't too hard of a climb really, and I was surprised.  Katie and Alison thought I'd have to pace myself after working in the craft room all summer, but I could handle it.  Silly friends!  It was a great walk, and me and God had great conversation.  Figured out some things.  Or at least came to conclusions that nearly all came to "wait for God's timing."  I also got to eat at the Skinny Dip (a small restaurant like Gus and Docs in Ackley)  with Katie, Alison, and Luke.  Luke is one of the funniest people you will ever meet.  He's one of the horse wranglers and he is just so entertaining.  We laughed a lot.  

Now this week is Young Teen 2, and it started off to a funky start.  We had mysterious issues with the sound equipment, and worship was a bust.  The kids were very distracted from this, so the next morning Camie sent a team to pray over the outdoor chapel for protection over that time, and for open hearts.  Thank goodness that morning chapel went well.  For evening chapel I got to be on an evening worship team for the first time since 2010.  I was so excited I was shaking! It went wonderfully, and it was fun to have Jeremiah in charge and learning camp songs.  He did a descant on Mighty to Save and it was so amazing!

You might wonder why the title of this blog is 52. Katie Strupp, who I get all my best ideas from, showed me this deck of cards she has hooked together to write, week to week, what she's thankful for.  Fifty Two weeks in a year, 52 cards in a deck.  It's been really great to find that I have so much to be thankful for at the end of the day.  I'd encourage anyone to do it too! I haven't decided what I'm thankful for today, but last night was singing for the worship team :).

As for prayer requests, I have a couple.  First off, I found out about some inappropriate gossip today, and prayers for the staff, to stay on the straight and narrow, would be appreciated.  This is the time of the summer where we all get drained and when you're drained you don't think as clearly.  Second, prayers for the campers this week.   For a speaker we have Micah Labovitch, and he is such a fantastic speaker.  He understands this age so well! But the best speakers in the world are no match to a stone heart.  Pray for open hearts and open minds.  Third, we are still in desperate need of rain.  Camp is not supposed to look this brown in July.  That's for September.  Or October. Not July.

I'll be home next week for a week of relaxation and a check up on the ear.  Looking forward to some time with my family!! 

Orphan

Family Camp 1!!

I don't have a family this week, so I am officially an orphan for the week.  A camp orphan, specifically. I'm happy with that though.  It gives me so much more time in the craft room, and I need that time.  I'm fairly close to having it set up in a good way for the rest of the summer, and then it's just to basic organizing of all the random donated stuff.  A bunch of the boy staff are joking that they're going to apply for the craft room facilitator position next year and knock me from my post.  I would be scared that the room would explode if they were in there! They all mean it in good humor, but I'd like to see them try :D
                   

I made these little caddy's from bottle carriers for the craft room, and I just finished making a yellow one this afternoon.  They work so well for bringing kids everything they could possibly need.  As well as my craft room duties, I'm in a 4-5 year old chapel group.  While the parents are listening to a pastor, we have little lessons with the kids.  Last night we just went over the rules of camp, and of course, 4-5 year olds do not listen to that.  Little Toby Treptau started the kids in jumping on top of me.  Six of them just attacked me! I love little kids!! They are the best groups!! This week we also have a set of triplets, and they are so precious.  They like to try to push the big hanging swings, and two of them have already cut their lips when they've hit their faces on the wood.  We get them ice cubes, and then they're instantly quiet.  Smart kids!

Prayers for rain would be much appreciated.   Camp is having problems keeping water in the lake and with feeding the horses with the pasture grass.  They may have to use the hay set aside for winter, and that's not good.  Also prayers for staff health would be appreciated as well.  I'm better and doing great, but a lot of others are not.  

"That's Good! No, That's Bad"

When I was a kid, one of my favorite stories my mom would read me was called "That's Good! No, that's Bad" by Margery Cuyler.  It tells the story of a kid who traveled through a jungle after getting captured by animals at the zoo.  The story goes on to how somethings look bad, then are good.  Some look good, but then they are bad.  I'm going to explain my last week in the same way, somewhat.  I thought it would make things sound less like complaining if it was evened out with a lot of good.

That's Good!
       This week is Junior Camp! Your senior high campers are gone!
No, that's bad.
        The campers this week were so much more needy than Junior Camp 1.  They were adorable and so cute, but on a funny note, I have never seen so many boys cry in one week! I have personally gotten a lot less sleep this week than last, all because of asthma problems and getting a bad cold halfway through the week.

That's bad.
       I had math homework due Thursday and a test on Friday.
No, that's Good!
      Thanks to Luke Mosiman, I got my homework figured out, and then I went to take my test, and I found out it was movied to Sunday! I'll do it tonight when I get back from ice skating.

That's bad.
       I've been sick this week with a bad cold combined with allergies and asthma.  It hasn't been fun, and I was living in a room with mice.
No, there's some good.
      I really had fun before I got sick catching the mice.  By the end of the week we caught 5 of the little critters, two at the foot of my bed.  Isn't that lovely?  But the room we were living in usually didn't have naive high school girls in there that left food everywhere.  Plus a summer camp is always going to have some sort of mice problem.  It's a given.  The picture is of the first little guy we caught.  I then got this Mickey Mouse Band-Aid in memory of the two mice we caught on the same trap.  This just goes to show that girls can handle anything! Plus I actually slept in a different room half-way through the week... ok, maybe we can't handle quite everything....
Katie also decides tot ell me today that she has Day-Quill! Well you can bet I got a hold of that real quick! I'm already feeling better and I'm super excited this evening to go ice skating with a great crew of staff!!

That's Bad.
       It's hard to take care of things like getting your hair cut when you work at camp all summer.
No, that's Good!
       We have this new staff member named Jana who is a licensed stylist that gave me a trip yesterday, and has a whole list of staff that want their hair cut.  Of course, if I was going to completely do something new, I'd wait for the great Janie Strickler, but for a quick trim in the entry way of the lodge, Jana does an amazing job.  Especially with my super special craft room scissors.

That's Bad.
      Someone just looked in the craft room and asked if they could organize it and clean it. It has several maintenance problems that need attention as well.
No, that's GREAT!

      This person is Alison's mom, and she revolutionized the craft room for the summer though some very well chosen donations.  When she asked to organize, I told her that despite it's chaotic look, I do have a plan and many things do have a place. She was so very nice about it and later stopped in and just straightened everything up.  She also asked me what the craft room needed.  Now, if you've ever been a person to buy art supplies, you would know that craft room supplies cost a pretty penny.  There's a lot that we have to make due with in the craft room because of it.  Also it takes time away from campers and others when you have to make trips to Wal-Mart.  I've always understood it.  I got so excited when I was asked what I needed, so I gave her a list of about 8 items.  I asked for a pencil sharpener, cause the only one we had was in a storage closet.  I asked for embroidery floss, puffy paint, mouse traps, and metal rings to make little books.  Now, I'm sitting in the craft room with my list of things to do and no idea how to do it all when Alison comes walking in with bags and bags of blessings from Mrs. Koch.  I got a hand crank pencil sharpener AND a mechanical sharpener!! I got 6 or 7 of about 25 shades of embroidery floss.  I got a mass of metal rings, a whole punch, and 3 sets of 15 of small puffy paints, plus a set of pen puffy paints.  She got me more than a dozen mouse traps and 2 rat traps! The best thing of all I think is a new pair of scissors.  I had just bought about 3 the previous weekend for the craft room, but they had already been dulled from Senior High camp.  I got LEGIT scissors.  They have a spring in them and everything.  I told her I would give her a hug every time I saw her, and I could never thank her enough for what she's given me.  We needed those things so badly.  I was going to cry with happiness, no joke.  I wrote "Donated by" on the pencil sharpeners so that everyone will know how much of a blessing they are.  Also, on Friday, Luke Shipper came by the craft room and fixed all the things I wrote maintenance request forms for the first week of camp!! I got the light cover put back on my light fixture, I got my drippy faucet fixed, AND.... wait for it... I GOT MY DOOR FIXED AND A LOCK!!!!!!!!! That is my biggest battle in the craft room over the summer.  People think that they have all access to everything in the craft room, and that is just not the case.  The lock isn't a legit lock with a key and all, but those who think they can just wander right in there will be stopped.  Secrets, secrets!!

I'm going to have to end this blog here tonight, because our trip to the ice skating rink is going to begin soon.  Hopefully I'll tell more later!!

But Always Flexible!

Hello hello!

It's been a long couple of days, but I have a million reasons for not writing anything.  Senior High ended with a bang, and I can answer any messages sent my way about it if you'd like to know more about how it went, but for now I don't have the time or energy to write about anything but relevant information.  I have 15 minutes at the moment to say as much as I possibly can.  Hopefully after my math test tomorrow I can write more.

So far this week I have 3-4 separate jobs that I am trying to take care of this week.  I am craft room facilitator, which is what it says on my contract, and that involves keeping the craft room functional and to take care of all crafts.  It's a full time job in itself.  Junior campers are not known for their responsibility, and having 20 in the space of one hour is hard to keep track of. I have also been taking care of the kiln and clay this week, though you can possibly wrap that up with the facilitator job.  The clay has to be set on fans to make sure it reaches the bone-dry stage, and then fired in the kiln at 3 different levels, hours apart.  I almost forgot to change it up to medium during supper and ran over to the building to make sure I did it.  A new job that I've had since Tuesday is the job of Media.  I've been taking pictures for the camp website for the last couple of days, and it gives me a lot more respect for the camera man, Andy Ott.  It's not the easiest job to walk around to all of the camp areas and try to get good photos.  Wacky Water Wednesday was REALLY hot, and to take pictures at that all day long in the 90 + degree heat, it's not exactly the life of luxury.  I got a bit of a tan though, and almost 400 pictures.  I'm hoping to get some of those photos for my artwork, cause there were some great ones.  Sue's camera is SO great :D! My 4th job is mouse catcher extraordinare! My traps, which were a gift from God, truly, have caught 5 mice in the last 3 days, 4 in my living quarters, 2 at the foot of my bed.  It's been a long week.  

Something great happened for the craft room at the beginning of the week, and I want to tell all about it, but at the moment I need to go to bed.  The staff is all coming down with all sorts of sickness, myself included, so major prayer would be helpful.

Contract: Craft Room Facilitator... but always flexible! (Oh memories from Summer 2010...)

Sister, Sister

     Just want to say how excited I am to have my sister here at camp!! She's having a great week :D

Who Can Stand Against?

This has been a crazy last 24 hours to say the least.  It had very extreme highs and some pretty low lows. But God overcomes in the end.

To start the craziness, I had one of my campers come up to me to say that I had another camper in the room crying and saying she wanted to go home.  Oh shoot.  Homesick Junior campers I can handle, but senior high? I get very fed up with homesickness.  Believe it or not, I love being at home.  Despite spending my last three summers here and my school being in a different state, there is nothing better than being with my family in Ackley, Iowa.  I hate missing my sister showing her rabbits at the fair, and helping in my mom's classroom.  I'd love to help my dad with the painting at his new addition on the shop, but I'm called to other places at the moment.  To miss your family after a couple of days to the point of hysterical tears really grates on me.  But I prayed for patience, because I know I'm about to have a challenge on my hands.  This camper really has come so far from the girl she was the year before.  She was a big problem for her counselor last summer,  and I didn't have a single problem with her until yesterday, which I think is truly amazing.  Me and my camper sat and talked for more than an hour, and all my words I know were God's, cause I can't possibly have come up with the words that came out of my mouth. We talked so much and I learned a lot more about her.  Her father is refusing to talk to her until she's 21, so I don't think they've met.  It makes me appreciate my dad all the more, even if he doesn't teach me how to stop the sled before pushing it down the hill! (Love you Dad!) She has several sisters, one being her twin.  She LOVES her mom, and from all the stories that my camper tells, she's doing her best.  I also got alerted of a camper that has brought contraband items to camp.  I've reported it and I'm so glad we have such a good staff that knows how to handle these things.  I think people think that kids that come to camp are all Christians who already know enough.  That is rarely the case.  We get every type of person imaginable.

At chapel, the speaker shared the gospel message in a beautiful, meaningful way.  And it was beginning to storm.  The spiritual world knew what was happening.  He asked those who would like to accept Christ as their Savior to stand, and to have Him be the center of their life.  Not just to keep them from hell, but to always strive for His purpose.  And as these kids stood, a huge torrent of rain lashed against the building.  Satan was not happy.  The speaker then asked for those who had things to confess, and to bring to Jesus once again to stand on their chairs, and though not as profound as that first lashing of rain, you could sense a tremor in the storm.  Several campers who we know and love stood up on their chairs, and I was so proud.  Hopefully the people of our churches can hold them to their new promises.  It was beautiful, and my previously homesick camper accepted Christ! A few of my other girls recommited their lives, and one wanted to talk with me a bit.  So we headed out under the awning of the AC and chatted.  She was sick of being one person at camp and another at school.  She was suicidal this April and was just so overcome that she could not stop crying.  Meanwhile, it is still POURING outside.  I brought up the rain and how Satan wasn't too happy with us.  I presented an idea that through the school year we be accountable to each other; that we don't fall from our promises to do better in our walk with Him.  As we're making this promise, another huge gust, mostly icy wind, blows under the awning.  I say, hey, let's run out from under the awning and yell BRING IT ON SATAN! And so we do!! It was such a freeing experience!! We were drenched by the time we make it to our cabin and my other girls just stare at us in shock.  Yeah. It's raining outside, did you know? :D

There is so much more I need to tell you all, but it will have to wait.  The rest of the night was extremely entertaining, but I only have a minute left of my time off.  Please pray for my off and on homesick camper.  This morning was a bit of a disaster, and I'm running out of patience.  Please pray for the campers and the staff, for most of us, mainly staff, are just exhausted.  But lives are being changed.  Love is sacrifice, and that's what we're doing for these campers.  It's greater than anything I could ever do this summer.

Your love will always be enough

It's senior high this week, and it's one of the most challenging weeks we have here during the summer. It's also one of my favorites.  I always feel like senior high is the place where staff and camper alike all learn something that can greatly impact their life.  I would encourage all high school age kids to come and be impacted.

I have 6 girls in my cabin, and things are going really well.  I have 2 former staff, and they are great.  I have one that was a MASSIVE challenge to her counselor last summer.  She had to be given her own counselor it was so challenging.  But I am extremely pleased to say that I have had no problems with her what so ever.  I want to thank my mom for the new shoes for my birthday, cause that freed me up to give my camper one of my pairs.  I think I might just tell her to keep them at the end of the week.  I don't really need them.  But yeah, it's going well with my campers.  The girl still needs prayer though.  They all do.  I was taken aback our first chapel thinking of all the different situations these campers have come from.  You have ones that don't want to be reached. You have campers that came for a friend and that friend is going to ruin their week.  There are campers that came to find a boyfriend or girlfriend and nothing seems to stop them from reaching their goal.  Often we find campers with much deeper problems and addictions that must be addressed.  It's such a wide variety.

On a lighter note, my birthday was yesterday.  It was absolutely incredible.  Best birthday I have ever had, hands down.  My parents came up on Sunday to drop of my sister and Keela, and we did presents and my mom brought TONS of food.  And Mom, the staff is in love with you.  The puppy chow is almost gone and everyone wants me to say thank you.  I decided to get up at 6 in the morning for a quiet time. It's not every morning you turn 21 ya know!

It was a great day though.  I had several hours before breakfast, and my best friend Katie Strupp comes in with a Birthday Princess pin for me to wear throughout the day with 6 Disney princesses on it.  She also gave me a Disney Princess card, washcloth (odd), and bracelet.  She's been hinting at everything for weeks and it's been driving me nuts!!! I go to breakfast and everyone who knows me, and some who don't wish me Happy Birthday.  Alison has me come over to her cabin, and she gave me a Disney bubble wand and an Avengers card.  She also gave me a really cute pray bracelet as well.  My friends know me so well.  I told several people that I've gotten more Disney Princess stuff on my 21st birthday than on my 6th.  People just know me better now :D. I had kinda spent the entire day shooting people with my water gun my momma gave me, so heading into the water game we played in the evening, I knew I was kinda getting what was coming to me.  But Andrew Vik calls me up and says for my birthday I need to have my 7 Dippy Dips.  If you don't know what this means, it refers to the man in the Bible who was told to dip in the river 7 times to get rid of his leprosy.  For me it was just a way to celebrate apparently.  So they have me climb into a oil barrel filled with water, as high as the bottom of my rib cage, and have me dip 7 times.  THAT WATER WAS FREEZING!! But I have seriously never had a better birthday.  A few of my campers have made cards and they were all wonderful.  I also had a small God moment that evening that just made it all that more perfect.  Alas, my time off is almost to a close.  In my next blog I'd like to tell you of the sessions we've been having.  They are so great, and they're something special senior high campers get to do.  Keep the prayers coming.  There are several atheists here at camp hearing the Word unadulterated by the world.  Prayers made a world of difference.

I seriously love my friends. Message for Mom: Did you find Vals' water bottle? Facebook or e-mail me if you did, because I found one and we're not sure if it's hers. LOVE YOU!

Junior Camp 1 Quotes

Camper 1: Justin Bieber? All of his songs are about girls so I don't like him.

Camper 2: Justin Bieber must take medicine to make his voice so low

Camper 1: You don't have to eat it if you don't want to.
Camper 2: It's a cookie, I'm going to eat it!

Camper 3: That was Amazing Grace? You forgot the 'my chains are gone' part!

Camper 3: I like this counselor! She sings a lot

Pastor Joel: Who wrote Amazing Grace?
Not My Camper: Lady Gaga?

Camper 4: These boys asked me to play Titanic and...
Me: What's Titanic?
Camper 4: It's when the boys come and save you because you fell off  the boat.

Not My Camper 2: I saw this same story on Veggie Tales!

Not My Camper 3: I'm thankful for the pastor because now I can say the new testament backwards.  I can't even do it forwards!

Not My Camper 4: I learned a new word.  It doesn't really mean anything.
Camie: What is it?
Not My Camper 4: YOLO

I love campers :D

Beautiful, Beautiful

Tonight is one of those nights that you just want to sit out and reflect, or have deep talks.  Those seem to be the most beautiful of nights.

I just got done sharing my testimony with about 5 of my camp friends.  I have a Junior Camp testimony that I share quite a lot, but I also have a complete testimony that I only share if it's relevant to the situation.  These girls are some that I'm closest too, and it's great to be comfortable with people enough to share why you are the way you are.  I'm already thinking of next summer and how horrible it would be to not be with these girls.  Many friendships say they'll last forever, but I honestly know that these friendships will.  I know Katie Strupp will be one of my bridesmaids.  Most likely Autumn and Alison too.  Bethany is becoming one of my close friends too, and I bet by the end of the summer that she'll be on that list too.  You can't understand these friendships until you see how well we know each other.  I LOVE these girls so much.  

Lights out is coming up soon so I need to leave, but things are really going well still. I get to go on a kayak trip tomorrow on the Mississippi and I can't wait!! And hopefully a trail ride as well.

Alison, me, and Katie :D

Integers and Oddities

These past couple of days have been so weird.  And I have plenty of reasons for the title of my blog.  

When we last left off, I was heading back down for lunch, and I had a great time that afternoon with archery.  I talked this camper into having a competition with me.  If I won, he had to go get me a pop from the canteen (using my money of course).  If he won, I would buy him something.  I wasn't allowed to leave the archery area, as it was my shift, and so that was my best bet to get some caffeine for the afternoon.  I won by 5 points :D.  Yay me!! The poor kid was NOT happy, and he would not follow through on his word, so Daniel told him he'd be pulled from the real archery competition if he didn't follow through on his promise.  Daniel told me that the kid, who he had known for a couple of years, was just mad that a girl beat him. :D  That night at chapel we had a little celebration time for the kids that had accepted Christ.  I had 5 of my 8 stand up! They hadn't even talked to me at all, and I know several of them had already accepted Christ away from camp just months before.  I think they were a little confused, but it was great to see them proclaim their faith in front of the camp anyway.  They're precious kids.  Saturday morning was a sad thing, cause I did not want them to leave at all.  I hope I get to see them again.  Last week I think will be my favorite week of the summer.  Though an even better one would be pretty awesome as well! :D

This weekend Katie, Alison, and I went to Prairie Du Chien (spelling) and picked up a few things for the craft room.  Our green paint smelled like rotting peas, so we DEFINITELY needed new.  We ate at the Skinny Dip, which for any Ackley people, is kinda like a drive up Gus and Docs.  It was amazing! We then watched Monty Python, which was supposed to be amazing but I was bored through the entire thing.  But something hilarious happened during this time.  I was sewing a dress for myself while the movie was playing, and Alison looks up and says there was a mouse in the ceiling light! I thought she was trying to pull my leg, then Katie sees it too! So I stare at the light above my head and then I SEE IT!! These little pink paws are just chilin' on the plastic covering of the light!! Start yelling my head off and it scurries away.  I go tearing out of the lodge yelling for Camie.  She tells me to catch it alive so I can feed it to the python!! I love camp! 

Now, you have read about me having a college class, but nothing about how it's going.  I honestly had no idea until Sunday.  I have two sites that my information is on, and none of them said anything about homework or tests or even anything math related.  One of the sites said I needed something updated.  So I had someone look at it, and they tried to tell me I needed a 30 dollar update.  I was not happy.  Then I'm sitting with my computer, and Nathan R comes over and asks me how I am, and I ask if he knows anything about Macs.  He then proceeds to tell me I need to download Google Chrome.  I let him, because I'm desperate, and then BOOM! I have all this extra stuff on my websites!! I have 50 questions to finish that night and a test the next day.  First question: write an integer between two decibel numbers.  WHAT IS AN INTEGER?! I finally figured it out and finished the homework.  The first 5 questions and the textbook freaked me out until I realized I did this all before in high school.  I even ended up getting 100% on the test in 11 minutes the next day!! My next test is on my birthday.  Hopefully it will be that easy too!

This week we have the camp rented out to a church group. It's very different from other camps, but it leaves perfect amounts of time to finish projects all over camp, from weed wacking to painting projects.   I've been in the craft room, obviously, and we're getting a lot of things done and had a lot of new crafts made.  I made this just today.  

It's with a VHS case!! We have a bunch and I'm so excited!! I'm going to add a strap!  I need to go out to my cabin, but I will update on more of the projects later on.  I love my craft room!

It's Friday, Friday... The Very First Friday

Wackey Water Wednesday was a blast.  If you were at all concerned about my ear, don't be.  I used a, ear plug and didn't allow a single person to dump water on my head.  Splashing was a go, though.  Logan would have been sad if he wasn't able to splash me a little :D.  The drops are working really well, so I don't think I'll need that surgery.  It was a really good time, and I got to take two of my girls on one-on-ones in the canoes.  One-on-ones are when we can give our camper private time to talk to us about thier questions and to see where they are in their walk.  The two I talked to are from divorced parents (they're sisters), and they'll be split up.  It was incredibly sad listening to them talk about it.  Even more so for the youngest, because I don't think she's quite old enough to understand.  The girls got to choose where they were going though, so at least they have a choice. They are very fun and sweet and I'll be sad to see them go.

We had the medieval festival/carnival after that, and that was really fun.  We had the picture booth I had painted last week, a dunk tank, pretzels, food booths, face painting, sword fights (with paper swords), and a whole lot more.  The Junior campers were just exhausted however, and it really came out during the carnival.  Because of this, the campers went to bed almost a whole hour early.  It was wonderfull!  If you were wondering, this is what a basic daily schedule for this week looks like:

6:00 am Lindsay's Rise and Shine
7:00 Campers Rise and Shine
7:45 Flag Raising
8:00 Breakfast
8:45 Pit to Palace (cleaning the rooms.  My cabin has won twice!)
9:15 Chapel and T.A.G Time (Time Alone with God)
10:30 Rotation 1 (me: photography)
11:20 Rotation 2 (Hour off)
12:30 Lunch (my counselor meeting)
1:15 Flat on Back Time (NAP TIME!) (Doesn't always happen sadly)
1:45 Free Time
3:20 Instruction Hour 1 (Crafts)
4:20 Instruction Hour 2 (Crafts)

And then the evenings are always something different. We have supper, and a game.  This year we've started memorizing bible passages, and my campers are good! So proud.  Tonight we have Skit Night, where the staff has prepared a little show for the campers.  It should be a lot of fun!!

Time to head down to lunch! Hope you're all having a great day!
Lindsay

Campfires and Photographs

Oh Wow! I can't believe it's only Wednesday! I feel like I've lived an entire year in these last four days.  After posting yesterday's blog post, I had a fantastic Dumb Lindsay moment times 2, and I have to tell you about it.  I will remember it all summer!

So, I was putting my things away to join my kids for lunch, and I saw a spider. If it was a Daddy Longlegs I would have just left it, but it was a dark black one and I wanted it to die.  So I looked around and couldn't find anything to kill it with.  My shoes were by the door so that wasn't an option.  I spied a 24 box of crayons, and so I chucked thi sbox down on the spider.  Instead of killing the spider, the box of crayons exploded ALL OVER the staff lounge! I'm just great like that.  I picked them all up and hurried down to the dinning hall to tell Katie Strupp and Alison Koch, cause I aways tell them when I do something silly.  As I'm explaining this story to Katie, I swing my arms around my head to emphasize the word 'everything,' and I smack my arm right into a campers plate of meatballs and pasta.  Got everywhere.  Oh my goodness.  I laughed about it for hours after.  Andrew even commented on my apparent happiness at our counselor meeting right after.  Gosh I'm good...

Anyways, campfire was good.  Decently good.  Got the fire started with 2 matches! I have a lot more I want to say, but not enough time so I'll tell more of Cabin 200 tomorrow!

A little Tim Tebow action there!

Turn Around, Turn Around

Wow! Yesterday sure turned around in a hurry! Me and the girls had a great time together after lunch during free time.  We decided that we were going to go creek stomping (a creek walk). .  Just a tip, always make sure your campers go to the bathroom before such trips.  It completely slipped my mind, and once we were in the water, 6 of my 8 girls said they needed to go.  The poor guy counselor in charge of creek stomping was so mortified! His face was priceless, and I still feel the urge to laugh here the next day every time I see him.  But we had a lot of fun splashing each other and chasing tadpoles.  The counselor even caught a really big crawdad, and the girls were facinated, but still didn't want to touch it!

I'm in charge, sort of, with the two craft instruction hours that follow the free time.  Logan and his friend Wilson are in that, and we had fun too.  A friend of Camie's is in the craft room with me, and she is a genius.  We have a ton of old t-shirts from past summers, and I now know how to make bags, headbands, vests, and hanging vests all? from t-shirts!! I'm so excited! No more 7 dollar headbands from Wal-Mart for me! Just give me a t-shirt sleeve! She promised to show me more amazing stuff throughout the week.  

I don't have a lot of time left of my hour off.  I spent part of it setting up my college class I'm taking though June and July through Ellsworth.  It shouldn't be too bad, though a few people have already told me I'm crazy for doing it.  Camp outs are tonight, and my cabin will be paired with one other for the meal.  I hope I get to light the fire! I find it extremely entertaining.  Once I even had a one match fire, and I speak of that with much pride!  

My homesick camper had another small episode last night, and I had another join her a while later.  As soon as they wake up they're all fine and dandy and ready to have fun, but the nights is when the tears start flowing.  At least I know my girls come from loving families.  Prayers would be extremely welcome, since the incidents almost always overlap the half hour I get to have devotions with them, and those are very important.  

It's been a great turn around from the first night, and thank you for the prayers!

Lindsay

Bethany and I

We're ready to greet our new campers!!

I'm Alive Awake Alert Enthusiastic. WOO!

This week we have the Junior Campers. At least, that's what I have.  We're also having Young Teen Camp at the same time, but separated.  It's made for quite an interesting challenge, but it seems to be going well so far, even though the staff is already exhausted!

For my cabin, I have 8 lovely girls, all from the same town.  The majority of them are relatives in some way as well.  I've got ages from 9-12 in that mix.  Makes the cabin dynamic very interesting.  Prayers are much needed, as always, but I have a few specifics in this cabin.  Last night I had a very VERY upset camper.  She was very homesick, and it was completely random too.  We were sitting there going through our Happy Camper Conduct (a contract we have the kids sign to say they'll follow camp rules), and then she suddenly sounds like she's hyperventilating. Thanks to some of my friends on the staff, we got her calmed down and she is perfectly fine this morning.  But my ladies would NOT go to sleep last night.  Our 9:30 lights out turned out to be more along the lines of 11:30 still talking.  Two of my girls claim they were up at 2 still.  I hope this all means that they'll sleep tonight!  The funny thing is is that when I got up at 6 for my own private devotions, they wanted to be awake too! So if what a few of these girls say is true, some only got 4 hours of sleep.  That also means that I need to be concious of that when the girls say that they don't feel well, or if they start to nod off in the middle of the afternoon.  Hopefully I'm not nodding off with them!  One of my girls also has a phobia of thunderstorms, so prayers for good weather would be welcome as well.

On a more funny note, Miss Katie Strupp decides this morning that I need to practice leaping into her arms for our skit.  So I do.  Then she half drops me on purpose and lets me swing upside down!! I do that with litte little little kids! Not someone who's 20 years old! Our media man also got it all on tape too! That better be on the staff video!

The title of this blog is an early morning cheer that we sometimes do, and me and Katie lead it for Flag Raising this morning.  I just hope you caught the sarcastic tone of it right now :D

First Weekend Off... Now What?

Hello! This is going to be just a quick update.  I mostly spent the day painting with several other people.  Here are a few pictures.  I was a really fun day, and I got the best compliment I've ever gotten from Andi. She said I reminded her of Camie, and that is just the biggest compliment I've ever gotten.  I admire Camie and everything she does very much.  There are a million painting projects to finish before our time off tomorrow.  Wish us luck and please pray for a good weekend for our staff! And for a good amount of sleep; we're exhausted!  First weekends are always when we learn how to sleep before a week of campers.  Good Night!

Meaningful

When I talk about camp with people, it is almost always with a huge, dimple showing smile on my face.  But one time, when I mentioned how unbelievable a camp experience can be, I was completely shut down.  This person, who I love and think is amazing, will never consider working at a camp, because a sister of hers is a counselor.  The girl says that her sister is just so consumed by thoughts of this camp and never wanting to leave, that that's the last thing she wants.  She wants to have a life, essentially.  I think she's dearly missing out.

There is nothing like returning to Village Creek.  It's an instant feeling of knowing you're home, and where you belong.  Oh, don't get me wrong, I love my family so very much, and I do like my school, but there's something here at camp that those places can't give me.  Being gone the last two days from camp, I didn't think anything of being gone.  I was coming right back, no big deal.  Plus I got a night in my own bed at home, which was WONDERFUL!  I could do that at school and get nothing but a question as to why I wasn't in class.  But I leave for only two days at camp, and when I return I have many many people come up to me with wide smiles and hugs.  They then carry on to tell me how much they missed me and several others asked me how my appointment went.  These people that are chosen here as staff are truely a bunch of remarkable people.  I've been at other camps.  Ones with much better facilities, several times the size of Village Creek, and more donors than they know what to do with, but here at Village Creek you feel like you matter.  I may have never had bugs get into my room at Hidden Acres Christian Camp.  I may have never seen mice where they didn't belong (I've also had mice in my high school locker, so it happens).  But I have also never been at a place that cares so deeply what is happening in your heart and in your head.  I've never made so many friends that I honestly knew were going to always be in my life.  The speakers here are always so well spoken, and they are never afraid to challenge you, or bring you to new understanding.  Even the most timid person here as a story to tell.

That brings me to tonight's talk.  If you've been here before, you have probably been blessed to know Debbi.  Debbi is the woman in charge of the kitchen, and I believe I've had the pleasure of getting to hear her speak twice.  At least with non-kitchen related topics.  And despite her claims of being a very reserved person, when she speaks she always has a profound impact with me.  I was greatly encouraged by her talk, and her way of explaining things in simple, personal terms makes everything stick.  Most of the information she said was taken from a conference she got to attend, but it wasn't really the information that meant a lot to me.  It was just the reminder of something I already know.  I am inadequate, but God is not.  Backtracking a little; when I arrived at camp, Camie let me know that I'm going to be counseling this next week.  I'm always completely willing to do anything they ask of me.  I'm here to serve, but that was (and is) not something I was (am) looking forward to.  Debbi reminded me that it's not me, but God that is going to make a difference in these children's lives.  I'm even doubly bummed that they are the Junior Campers, which for those of you that don't know, are 3rd grade through going into 6th grade.  This is a challenge I'm willing to take on full throttle.  Although I don't feel ready to counsel, I'm planning on taking the weekend to prepare myself for devotionals, and would appreciate the prayer from back home.  In the off-camp season, I often seem to slack off on what I swore I would keep up on, even attending church.  I have yet to find one in Sioux Falls that I truely enjoy attending, though I do listen to Steamboat Rock messages online.  It's really entertaining to hear stories from home online, and even more so when Pastor Harrison gets a laugh out of the congregation and you hear your dad's laugh quite clearly.  I love my dad!

The fun stuff about Junior Campers, is that they almost always love you.  You are an older person that is there specifically for them and it's amazing to them.  They're also young too, and things like vocabulary and other simple things can be challenging.  Even when they are naughty or they are just grating on your last nerve, they will suddenly do something mirroring God so perfectly that you want to just cry from the beauty of it.  That happened with my very first cabin of Junior campers, and I always hold it close to my heart.  They are usually very sweet, and I love holding them in my lap.  They are a great deal of fun, though I really don't know how the whole swimming deal is going to go with my ear.  That's something I'll have to talk over with leadership when I get the chance.  I pester them with questions all the time! Ha, at least I don't ask them if Firefly is coming back! (Inside joke, sorry)  It'll be a good time, and it's good to know that where I am weak, God is strong.

On a craft room note, seeing that I'm the facilitator and all that, it is going very well!! I'm going to MOP in there tomorrow! Or at least have somebody mop in there.  It has not been done in any of the starting into three summers I've been here, and I am so very excited about it.  We also made up some very fun crafts that I think they'll all enjoy.  I melted crayons into modge podge molds and it made fun crayons in  fun shapes :D.  It'll teach patience, cause it took a lot longer than I thought it would for my hair dryer to melt the crayons.  We also made fun page holders, pendants, tested all the puffy paint, scrubbed the counters and one drawer, swept the floor, cleaned the sinks, made a list of things we need,  made play swords, cut out a hole in an encyclopedia (sliced open my finger too, yay Band-Aids!), and much much more! I'm sure you didn't want to know absolutely everything we did this afternoon!

I am still anxiously awaiting Katie Strupp's return to camp.  She is my best friend, after Philippine Barnerias of course, and I love sharing things with her.  She's coming back from finishing up her UNI class on Saturday, and it can't come soon enough in my book.  I got to show her all my craft room improvements!!!

One thing I want to leave with you is a statistic that Debbi read to us I believe from the conference she attended.  1 out of 5 teens say that they do not have conversations with their parents lasting longer than 10 minutes in an entire month.  That's incredibly sad.  For a note of encouragement, please, ask your kids how their day was.  You may be surprised at everything you hear when the cell phone, laptop, iPad... all technology, is taken away and you're left to wonder at the depth of this human being that came from you from God.

God is Good? ALL THE TIME!!

Lindsay

In the Interim

It's been a couple days since an update, but I've had great reasons for that.  Monday was declaired a "no technology" day, and just yesterday and today I was down in Iowa City getting my ear checked out by the best of the best at the University of Iowa Hospital.

My ear has been giving me a lot of trouble since last August.  I got what I and several others thought was just swimmers ear, but it turned into so much more.  When I returned from camp after two weeks of using 4 painrelievers every...I don't quite remember... 4 hours? The pain in my ear just reached such intensive levels that I was screaming for hours.  I ended up calling my dad and had him drive me to a specialist in Mason City, where he then called it either a fungal infection or a bacterial infection.  He really pulled out quite a lot of nasty stuff out of there.  Upon arriving in Sioux Falls for school, I saw another specialist, and he pulled this great hunk, about the size of three garden peas and a white color, out of my ear, and I could hear well for the first time in weeks! You really don't understand the wonder of hearing until you've lost it and then gained it back.

To make a long story short, It has been bothering me off and on for almost a year now, and I'm quite sick of it.  I had a bad flare up in February that just sealed the deal to see a real specialist, hence today's appointment.  And it's now proven that I'm not crazy; there really is something wrong with it.  There is a mystery pocket/flap in my ear, most likely formed my my childhood ear surgery, that has collected wax and things that are unable to get out naturally.  Each time they get wet I end up getting another infection.  I'm on drops (I swear, they're the 6th one I've tried) and If that doesn't work, I may have to have surgery to just make that inside canal of my ear smoothed out again.  I pray that doesn't happen, but at least I can now prove that I was really, truely, having something wrong with my ear and not just complaining.

I'm getting up to return to camp in 6 hours, and more updates will come in.  We've gone over new camp technology rules, so I need to get permission from people to mention thier names and such like.  Yay being back to my craft room!!

Lindsay

Staff Training: Day 2

Wow.  I'm people exhausted! It's quite a change from watching Cinderella alone in your room to being with roughly 50-60 people all day long.  Here's quite a few of us smashed together on the hay rack.
More were in the dish room, like I said, and we're still waiting for a few more.  Well, mainly Jani, but she's very important! 

The day was pretty average for staff training.  We had rotations in the morning and Staff Jam in the afternoon.  Rotations is when you get taught about the rotations.  Rather obvious? But those rotations include craft room, trampoline, archery, frisbee golf, creative games, pony rides, and nature walk. I taught how the craftroom should be run, with new info from the one and only Camie.  This summer we'll be making cardboard castles!! I'm VERY excited for this one!!! How is that not cool!? We're also making these parachord bracelets.  They look pretty neat, I just don't know how to finish them yet.
Staff JAM is basically a huge collection of activities that you do as a group.  My team members are the Purple Turtles.  Not the most creative name ever, but my group wasn't as gung-ho for Staff JAM as most I have been in.

Fairly basic day.  We'll have church tomorrow, then the lake! Good thing it'll be hot!

Lindsay