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.