Defeat?

For those of you who don't know, I've been (slowly) working through this Paul study with Beth Moore.  I took a break from it to do a study with the counseling staff this summer, but I was so happy to return to it (not that the other was bad by any means).  Day 37 really hit me where I needed it—which I think tends to happen when you're working with the God of the Universe!
It was all about failure, revealing how frustrated Paul was after dealing with the Athenians in Acts 17.  For people who were so intellectual and seemed so open to new ideas, these people were incredibly closed to the Gospel!  While a few men and women were saved, their faith does not seem to be very strong, and Paul never mentions a church being built there—and this was after one of the best salvation messages ever preached!  And yet Paul left in frustration.
The next place Paul traveled to was to Corinth.  Unlike when he went elsewhere, Paul had a new sense of defeat; a sense of frustration and failure.  And yet, the Corinthians responded well, because Paul was humbled anew, and was able to allow God to work through his inability.  It says that Paul came to them "with weakness and fear, and with much trembling" (1 Corth 2:2), and God used him even more.

It brings to mind this past summer.  Stacy and I had to teach our own lessons, and this is something I was more uncomfortable with than I would like to admit.  I was intimidated.  I have no teaching experience—other than leading a few Bible studies and counseling the year before—and those I directed towards the individuals, and on what topic I felt they needed to cover.  This was entirely different for me.  I had a set topic.  I had a wide age-group.  I had very little self-confidence.
It's hard to try and be a "teacher" when your co-worker actually is a teacher—and a great one at that!  But it was great to see God use those times.  While I had a few lessons that "flopped", my inadequacy revealed my dependence on God, and He was able to lead me towards lesson plans that I would not have considered within my topic before hand.  He revealed new ways to send a message and opened oppertunities during individual times with the campers.

Everytime I said: "I can't, I'm not good enough"
"He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness'." (2 Corth 12:9)


Who knows if anything stuck?  If they will even remember me?
I sure don't.  But I do know that God can use those times when I feel most inadequate to do great things.

Missing Them Already...

Some pictures I never had a chance to upload.  I have a feeling that this will be happening a few times within the next few days—there are just so many good times, and so little patience when it comes to posting, haha!  But for tonight, some photos and forgotten quotes.

We painted on the sidewalk outside Home Base with some home-made side walk paint, and yesterday we took pictures under some of the "costumes" that we made.  The picture of Lindsay (above) was my personal favorite—ADC campers are so funny!

Some more humor over the past few weeks—this group was only with us for a few days, but we sure had fun!  The last day they were here called for some extra silliness.  So we stuffed some of our pillows up our shirts and ran around the room for a while :) 

Joe brought this AWESOME towel and Alec enjoyed some attention in front of the camera and gave us a few laughs!

Jack was with us the last two days—and he drew this picture for me :)  It's of a train and a tree.  Oh yes, he is also showing off his favorite face and the ring he got out of the "Pinana".

QUOTES:

Her DID?!? —Tyler

You should have quit while you were still early. —Adam

I'm donna till you! —Tyler

I hav' da black... bu' ith's pur'ple... —Tyler (I have the black... but it's purple...)

Tamanna! —Joe (Banana)

How do ou tike my new cocks? —Tyler (how do you like my new socks?)

They just don't make shovels like they used to... —Jack (super serious and quite sad about the lack of quality found in sand toys!)

Photo Frenzy x2

Something that has been popular off and on over the past few weeks is minnow catching.  Some attempts are more suscessful than others—below is Jackson's take on the sport.

 He did not catch a thing, but he sure had fun with it!

Our theme this week is "celebration", and we had 2 pinatas today :)  Or as Tyler called them "Pananas" (pronounced like 'banana' with a 'p'), and that is what they have been called ever since he first said it this morning.  Pinatas just might always be 'pananas' to me from now on—Mexican or not ;)

We went for a speed-boat ride on Monday!  Tyler was super excited and kept talking about the "peed boot" even after we had left it :)  Dave, the director, took us on the ride and that was just great.  Where else will you have the director of the entire camp take some time out to spin kids around on a boat?  And they loved every minute!

We also had a chance to take the kids to the zip line 2 weeks ago and again this week! THEY LOVED IT! haha, but for all the talk and begging that they did before the zip line, I was surprised how SILENT they were on the way down!  And most of them had little petrified smiles on their faces (if they even showed that much emotion).  Even I screamed the first few times down!
But after all that fun, we had to have a group shot—and their true colors came out again. There is no such thing as a 'normal' photo with these kids :)

More photos later—too tired to edit now...

Trends and Loose Ends

Wow, only 2 more days of ADC left... I can't believe it.

But, at the same time, I'm ready to be done for a while!  I love camp, and I have loved working ADC, but it's time for a break.  It's too lonely out here when everyone else is gone...

But something that came to my attention this morning is the movement in trends.  I'm sure it's like this at a typical school, but I'm not around that so much and was caught by surprise.  The beginning trend was coloring.  We had coloring pages and everyone—I mean EVERYONE—did a coloring page each day.  That trend soon moved to playing cards, and I have played more rounds of "Go Fish", "Garbage" and "Slap" than I ever care to play again!  But they eventually moved past that and Pokemon cards made an appearance.  Waa??

Yeah, that was strange.  Something that was popular when I was in elementary is now the popular topic of conversation and play for my campers.  Strange. (photo above is of some sort of battle / trade involving the cards)
While Pokemon hasn't truly died, it too has been pushed to the side, and fort building has taken it's place.  There are numerous forts built every day—and they are starting to bring blankets and beg to use our towels to make bigger and better forts!  It's nice that they can entertain themselves (as we begin to feel burnt out), and some of the designs they come up with are pretty creative!
Below is a picture of Noah in his fort from today as well as the large fort that some of the other kids built today.

But we're very much reaching the end.  I can already feel myself turn over and begin to think of school.  A mixed feeling of dread and excitement.  I'm not looking forward to being super busy again (of course, I've been busy all summer, so a break will be very welcome!), and I'm not too thrilled to be returning without some of my dearest friends.  After a lonlier summer, the thought of being lonely at school has me crippled.  I know I have plenty of friends in Arborshire, but something's still missing.

Wow.  Last 2 days.

Birthday Wishes

My birthday was this week—I turned the "big" 2-1.

It was a very different birthday for me this year—I spent it away from home for the first time, and I found that super weird!  I love camp, and the people I work with / the campers, but it was still really strange!  It didn't feel like my birthday, even though Tyler was yelling "It's Twina's birf-daa" all through lunch, I was sung too, I even got a cake(!) and my Email was so full of well wishes that I was overwhelmed!  But in so many ways, it was a normal camp day—I was usually taken a little by surprise when someone would say "happy birthday" to me! lol  But it was really great, and I felt super loved :)  Mom came out to camp and took me to dinner, which was awesome.  We had a chance to talk just the two of us, and I think I really needed that.

I think my favorite 'gift' was getting to spend the weekend with Todd and my family!  I know, it sounds so "cliche" when I say that was the best gift—but it really was!  I was so upset when I thought I would have to miss out on that because I was so sick, but thankfully I was feeling just fine by Friday and I got to go!  And it was absolutely wonderful!  Just to get away from camp and enjoy the company of my favorite people (and eat lots of fudge of course! lol)

Exactly what I wanted for my birthday.

What You Missed

This past week I was...

Saying "Good Bye"
This past week was the last week with the other counselors.  What a bummer!  The last over night camp where I would join the counselors and all of their children for games and wagon rides and bonfires.  The last week with my summer friends and roommates, the last week living in my cabin.  The final time down the slip'n'slide for the year, and the last epic game of Water Rush.  The last week of summer before Todd returns to the world of the grown-ups that I am still desperately fighting to avoid... at least until next week...
But that's alright, all good stages must come to an end—and I had every intention of making the most of my last moments with everyone.

Sick
If only my good attitude had prevailed.... instead I experienced fatigue, a sore throat and a serious case of the chills that soon revealed it's true identity.  By Tuesday morning I was feeling pretty bad and by that evening it was clear that something was incredibly wrong.  I was finally convinced that it was not a small cold that would just leave after an extra nap, and went to visit the nurses.  Anne and Sherry looked me over and I was quarantined.  Fever of 102* and tonsils the size of my fists meant that I was to spend my evening in the clinic.  I had strep.
Awesome.
Well, I wasn't about to spend my hours of confinement alone in the cabin! 1-800-Mommy, and I was soon on my way home—feeling worse than ever.  The people of the clinic were EXTREMELY mean, but they have me some meds and I accepted my fate as I shivered off to bed.

Dying
Wednesday morning.  I had been on the antibiotic for a while, so I should be getting better, right?  Nope.  I was so fatigued that it was hard to sit up in bed—in fact, I didn't leave until close to 1:00.  I felt a little better and cried all through "Soul Surfer".  And then it got really bad.  After a super short nap I woke up feeling worse than I had before, and this continued for the rest of the night.  Sending down a ball of broken glass each time I swallowed produced tears and frustration while I started to feel dizzy and an upset stomach soon followed.
After emptying what little was residing in my stomach, the fever finally broke and I was able to fall back to sleep—convinced that I should have gone back to the clinic, and determined to visit my own doctor in the morning.

Travling
Turns out I didn't have strep.  I didn't have Mono either.
I had some crazy virus that was out to end my life!  Only it didn't.  It did take me out of Adventure Day Camp for the rest of the week (Wed – Fri), but I was still able to go to Mackinac with my mom's side of the family for the weekend! yay!  And Todd was able to come too—yay again!
So we drove all the way to Mackinac on Friday—right after Todd moved out of Somerset—and let me tell you, that car's seats were not designed well.  My bottom was quite sore after the drive!
But it was a wonderful weekend—so good to be with my family and Todd.  Dad wasn't able to make it because he has a final coming up, so that was upsetting, but I can sympathize with the need to study (and his grades aren't allowed to be lower than mine, so he has a lot to live up to! :P hehe)

Wet
Saturday morning!  We wake up, excited with anticipation of the fun ahead on the Island!  And then we look outside.  It was raining.  Supa' hard.
But something like that won't keep my family down!  We spent some time together at the shops, at the pool, and even got some board games for the evening.  We still had a blast and were able to enjoy each other despite the rain.  The rain did end up stopping later in the evening so we had a chance to go outside a little—but the next day on the Island was also tons of fun :)

Back
Now I'm back at camp for my last week.  I can't believe in a week ADC '11 will be all memories.  I've moved out of the cabin and am now living on the other side of the campground—which is super weird! I've never really been over here, because even when I camp with my family, we're just outside where the cabins are, so that's where I'm most comfortable.
It's a little lonelier now (okay, a lot) without the other counselors.  And there isn't much to do in the evenings.  It's weird, but at the moment, not all bad.  I'm enjoying some rest after a busy day.

Giggles and Bunny Ears

Silliness.
It's kinda what we eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Oh, and snack too :)  Thus, we have some silly face pictures to share (notice that Hope always puts the bunny-ears on her own head *giggle*)

We've had some extra hard laughs this week because Tyler is back! yay—we missed him and Brandon a whole lot, I'm so glad they are back (it's going to be a hard school year without them...).  But with some added lisps and bluntness comes some fantastic new quotes!

"I have a fever of 204." —Brandon (said oh-so matter-o-factly)


"If I were a chicken, I would have hached from one of these..." —Devin (holding the 'mistake' egg that was super tiny)

"Whe'... da tign?" —Tyler in his sleep (where's the sign?)

"U twack me up!" —Tyler (and that cracked us up!)

"Jared laughs like a girl indian!" —Hope (waaa?)

And our favorite for the week (thus far)
"Dat tittin tinks.  It' dot prayed by a kunk!!" —by the ever famous: TYLER! (Translation= That kitten stinks.  It got sprayed by a skunk)

Beach Party Safety

Our task last night? To throw a beach party.
Our tools? A single hula-hoop and an oar.
What to do... what to do?

First things first: test out the equipment!

And prep for strange situations... whatever they may be...

And of course, we can't just assume that the prizes will be good—we have to take them out for a test drive.  For safety purposes.  And after testing out the equipment, we decided that it was safe for the kids to participate in the games and win some prizes.

It's all for the kids :)

Heat

You know it's hot when...

- You walk outside and your sunglasses (or camera lens!!!) fogs up due to the change in temperature
- The lake water is no longer refreshing
- The ice cream starts melting before you get it out of the freezer. (yes, I ate an ice cream sandwich w/ plate and fork yesterday)
- Socks and shoes are so uncomfortable that even the most decided flip-flop haters are wearing them
- Nobody complains about how cold the water in the fire-hose is
- Everyone would rather put up with itchy bug bites than put pants on in the evening
- The sand is so hot, a camper cries because they can't make it to the beach and we have to pull out the sprinkler
- The windows to "Home Base" are fogged up (the room that ADC starts/ends in)
- You're online during your morning prep-time in order to find a game to play that won't kill all of the kids because of heat exhaustion
- The wet hayride doesn't sound too bad anymore... even to the counselors!
- You wear 2 or 3 shirts a day because of all the sweating

But I'd rather it be hot than cold!

Under Attack

I am being hunted.

There is a deerfly that lies in wait for me outside.  As soon as I set foot outside the cabin door, I hear his wings beginning to warm up, and I grow uneasy.  By the time I'm outside the screen door on the porch, he's in full action.  I am constantly dodging barrel roll attacks and nose dives from the offending fly—though that is only the warm up.
I practically expect small explosives to be going off around me as I ward off these attacks with my wash cloth, though he seems to have skipped to biting.  Sometimes I even find him waiting for me outside of the Anex, where we hold the day camp.  Usually then I am largely defenseless as I speed-walk back to the cabin.

So rude.

Humbled

Oh these kids, always keeping me humble!  Brandon is famous for being quite frank and letting us know how well we look, or how well we do not look, but yesterday after church I was informed of my previous inabilities in the area of polish.
The conversation went something like this:

Girl: "You look familiar"
Me: "Do you recognize me from VBS last week?  I handed out your snack every day"
Girl: "Oh... that was you?"
Me: *nod*
Girl: "Oh, you look a lot better now!"
Me: *eyes wide, shaky smile*
Girl: "It's a good thing you put on make-up"
Me: *mouth open*
Girl: "... and deodorant"

Thank you little girl.  I'll have you know that I was usually more freshly showered, and deodorant-ed when you saw me in the morning for VBS than I was yesterday morning, but it was still good for a laugh ;)  And what can you do after something like that but laugh and share with others how embarrassing your life is?  So that's what I'm doing :)

Apparently the square-cut T-shirts aren't a good look for me?  Oh well, it's a good thing I'm not here to impress anyone!

Notes From Jack

Dear Jared & Katrina,


If you don't want me in Adventure Day Camp anymore that's fine, but if you do, tell me.  What? You changed your mind? Ugh! I'm gonna kick you out of camp and take you to jail.


Love, Jack

Jared and I got this note from the character above.  Life is definitely never boring around here! Haha, and this one had us laughing for quite a while, and it still tickles a little as I read it again.

Love you too Jack :)

"I Tan Heer You"

Here are some of the more recent quotes from the delightful (though sometimes tiring) world of Adventure Day Camp:

"My sister puts the arm–pit–stuff on" —small girl in the VBS program

"I tan heer you" —Tyler (Heather and I were changing in the girl's changing room that is right next to the boy's.  We were talking about something funny that Tyler did earlier and he sternly informed us that he could "heer" what we were saying)

"If you see a crocodile, ask him what his name is and then do this: 'woo-woo-woo', and we'll be right over" —Jack  (on the hunt for Nile the Crocodile)

"You know, some guys get tossed into the lake for that" —Jack  (just moments after Todd told another kid that "campers have been thrown into the lake for less than that".  Way to go Superman)

"What are those dots on your face? (acne) Trina has those too!  What are those, Trina?" —Brandon

"Twina and Tacy" —Tyler ("Trina and Stacy")

Doubtless, more quotes will soon be appearing among my other musings.  Also being advertised is a picture of me and Superman, courtesy of Mommy (though, right after I got out of the lake might not have been the best timing... lol)

NEW ADDITIONS! (7/15/2011)

"Can you go blow your nose please?" (—Me after Isaac breathed in really hard and revealed his runny nose)
"No.  I'm taking it in!" —Isaac

"Thwisby" —Tyler (Frisbee)

"Are you ready to go play bowling?" —Stacy (we hang out with little kids too much... or maybe with Tyler too much ;) )

Napping Again

*Insert sigh of relief*


Back to a somewhat normal summer routine for us!  We still have VBS in the morning, which makes our day both easier and harder.  I did not know that was possible before now, but let me tell you: it is!  Stacy and I are still running around trying to help everything run smoothly during the VBS itself, and now we have our own kids to keep a second eye on.  But it's still good, just mixed around some—swim time is in the afternoon instead of the morning, for example.

We only have 4 kids right now.  It's so strange!  1 left during lunch because she had plans with her mom, and just after lunch 2 more left because Bre has a case of pink eye (prayer welcome on this!), so her mom came and took both her and her brother home.  Never a dull moment!  But I'm glad to be back with my kids again—to be in our little room (sorta), and to be headed towards something closer to what we have been doing.  It was nice to have a break and to be with the other staff members more, but I do like what I am doing now.

A definite plus side to the 'normal' routine is that nap time is back! Yay-yay-yay!  So now I have some time set aside for me to start posting again :)  Here are some pictures from the Family Fun Fair on Saturday.  It was a blast and all of the kids really seemed to enjoy themselves.

And of course I had to snag one of Superman and Red Brother (even if it is a bad picture technically / artistically speaking)  Sometimes I worry about how well they get along... last Wednesday my fears were realized when Superman helped my family soak me with a handy squirt gun.
Multiple times.
*sigh* I guess I should be used to it by now ;)

I think it's time for MY nap now, hopefully another post tomorrow!

Family Camping

Family camp is here!  Which is why I have had absolutely NO time to post anything, but there will be more soon :)
ADC starts again tomorrow, so this post is going to be extremely short so that I may go to bed at a semi-decent hour tonight.  I'm ready to see my kids again, but I'm also very ready for a break.  Like, I'm REALLY ready for a break!  Whipped out from the past few days of constant activity—but my routine will be back soon!  Yay!  Things are still a little mixed up because the room that we usually use for ADC is currently being used for a nursery / craft room for the VBS.  Talk about confusing!  Now we have to jump between hoops and try a different routine until Wednesday.  (Oh, and did I mention that Family Camp is Wednesday-to-Wednesday this year?  Well, it is, and it's kind of throwing everything off.)

I love family camp.  I really do! And I love the fact that I have been able to be with the other staff for a while, but I am stretched much thinner this time around.  NO time to check Email or do any planning or do anything other than run from one activity to the next.  This is my official apology to those whom I have neglected—I love you, I'm just too crazy right now!  Hopefully this weekend <3

The picture is from the Family Fun Fair that we have every year!  This time it was in the middle of the week and we had some of the youth pastors get into a dunk tank!  So funny—especially when Kevin started reading the newspaper as his youth group tried to hit the target and knock him in.  It was priceless fun!  I've missed him, so seeing him and his wife Melanie again added some extra fun to the week.

I've also had more time to spend with the dashing Superman, which always adds some fun to my life—thankfully my bosses are wonderful, and scheduled us to work some of the same activities together this week.  Yay!

Buddy Check!

You might not be aware of this, but buddy checks during swim time are serious things around here.
You can only be 'buddies' if you are best friends, and a refusal to be someone's buddy is the highest insult you can produce!
Here are two of my favorite 'buddies'!  Tyler and Brandon are buddies each day, though they ask to be buddies each morning.  Sometimes, it doesn't go over as well as you would think.  Earlier this week, Brandon came to me in pathetic little tears to tell me that he didn't have a buddy, and that Tyler didn't want to talk to him.
Broke my heart!
Of course by the time 10 o'clock rolled around, the two were buddies again as though nothing had happened!  Too cute :)
As buddies, they have to grab the other's hand and hold it in the air in an "A" shape until we finish counting the groups.  We do this to make sure that we have all of the kids and none of them have drowned. (true story) Here's their buddy-stance for Thursday.  Slightly modified during an extra long buddy-check period.

Yes, they were dancing.

Yes, they provided their own music!

Shortly after, Brandon begged to be buried in the sand—which we did, maybe 3 times?  That was good for a few more laughs, he's so giggly that it was super hard to burry him!

It was a fun morning at the beach—despite the fact that Ashley found a sandy little hand print on the bottom of my shorts... that was embarrassing, but that's as high as most of them can reach...  :/ Hopefully we'll find another solution soon!

Zip Line!

Guess who got to ride the ZIP LINE!!!
*points to self*
This girl.
(Evan too, but it wasn't his first time...)

Yes, I finally got a chance to ride the zip line—and I also got some training on how to put people on the contraption.  Safely, of course.

It was a lot of fun—there was screaming and such from my side, and I wasn't uber excited by the height when I first got up there, but it was a blast!

No pictures of my actual ride—I wasn't about to bring my camera with me (and it probably wouldn't have been allowed), but I'll be adding some pics I took of the (senior teen) campers going down soon.

Yay zip line!


 .

Smile. I Dare You.

It’s just been one of those days.

There are tons of people at the campground—which is fine, really, it’s only a sneak peak into what Family Camp will be shortly—but the level of rude that people can reach has surprised me today.

Maybe I’m more sensitive to it today?  I don’t know.  But I was struck by how impatient everyone was in the bathroom this morning—so short tempered and offended that the paper-towel dispenser that they were banging on had quit working, so angry that they had forgotten their soap, and appalled at the sight of a handicap shower.

You might not have known this, but people who are physically handicapped don’t shower.  Yeah, it was news to me too.  Needless to day, it wasn't too much fun getting ready this morning... especially in my staff shirt.

It didn’t stop there.  At 9:00 and we only had about 9 kids.  Awesome!  A super manageable size, but we can still do a lot of fun things!  And then 9:45 rolled around, and in the middle of our morning routine, 6 kids walked in.  Oh, and I forgot to mention: drop off time ends at 9.  Coming in 45 minutes late, and ‘mom’ was not too thrilled with me.  Apparently we charge too much?   Sorry, I don't set the prices...?

Ugh, but despite that, it's been a pretty fun day. The campers are great and not to blame for their crazy parents or the strange visitors in the bathroom.  It's super hot outside, (FINALLY!) and some fun activities at the horse ranch planned for this afternoon.  Should be great :)

Go-Go-Go!

So, yesterday we had 18 kids.
Yes. 18.
Remember when we were worried that we would get any campers? Well, that feeling has long since passed.  Today we have 22 kids, most are around the ages of 6 and 8.
It's been a blast, but it can completely wear us out.  On top of that, I'm still recovering from the cold I had this past weekend—which has left a cough and a runny nose to keep me company :(  Hopefully I'll have pictures to post soon!

I'm taking pictures for the senior teen campers this week too, so I've been plenty busy in the evenings!  I want to be involved in the over night camps, but that leaves little rest time for me after a full day with the day campers.  And most of my quiet time is spent trying to sort through the pictures and edit those that I do have... which I have been behind in lately... oops!  But it's worth it—I've also had a chance to see some of my girls from last year! And that was super exciting :]

But now I'm tired. Hopefully more later, but with only a few minutes left in quiet time, I need some rest!

Adventure Day Camp—Week 2

Look at these silly boys!  We had a blast with them (though still dealing with some bad attitude issues from the little man in the hat...).  But we love the hay rides!  Hopefully we'll have more kids on the next one though, because without the weight to hold it down, this one became VERY bumpy!

 And how can you not fall in love with this face?  Isn't he darling? :)  Unfortunately he got sick yesterday and had to go home early.  And I'm blaming him for my current state.

More time at the beach this week! They made some epic sand castles—the one above had the largest 'moat' of them all!  It was pretty intense, and she was very proud :)

 And my lovely co-workers :)  I love getting to spend time with them every day.

Tag games!