So yesterday I was Kitch Girl, which means I had a lot more jobs then the other girls. First off, I got up at the crazy early hour of 6:30 so to be ready to head into the kitch (en) by 7 (I was actually gonna wait to roll outta bed till 6:50, but my body betrayed me and woke itself up at 6:25, and I decided to spare my roommates from being awakened by my alarm and just got up). In the kitch it was just me, Jessica (a new recruit who tagged along with me so she could see how to do Saturday morning set up. Saturday mornings are different from other days because it’s just a come when you come meal for the last day of camp) Aunt Suz (the head cook and most amazing and patient woman in the whole UP) and Tyler Nutt, my kitchen boy (that means that we both get the day off together).
After breakfast the other girls went with Aunt Ruthann to do some major end of the week house cleaning to prep for JV camp coming later that day, while I got to hang around the kitch and get stuff ready for lunch and cut lots of onions and tomatoes for the sandwhich bar. Believe it or not onions is one of my fav veggies to cut, I think it’s fun when the stinging of the eyes starts and trying to keep cutting onion after onion long after my eyes are burning and crying till I finally have to jump out of my stool and run into the big walk in cooler (rumor has it that standing in the cooler makes the stinging go away, sometimes it works for me). But this time, my eyes barely even stung…it was a shame. (for real though, I really do like cutting onions, I’m not joking! :-)
Around 11 I was banished from the kitch to go change into my bright green staff shirt and join Brittany and Elyse as we greeted the JV campers who were beginning to arrive. I had SO much fun doing that! Of the girls who were coming, I knew about 85% of them from Girls camp, and about 60% of them I knew really well due to having them in my cabin or on my team or in my class during sometime in Girls camp. I spent most of my time “greeting” by yelling names and running and hugging all those beautiful girls and catching up with them as we waited for the bus to arrive.
Finally, after too long of waiting, the cry “they’re hear!!” rang out from the baseball field and we all ran to meet the two busses holding the last of the JV campers (JV is boys and girls ages 13 to 15). My brother Nick was on one of the busses and he greeted me with a heartfelt “here” as he threw the box of things I’d asked to be sent up for me in my face. Haha, I missed him too (don’t worry, I grabbed him and gave him as proper a hug a 14 year old boy will accept from his older sister. :-)
After that came lunch and a lot of action and excitement. It’s so good to have an official camp up here finally!
Back in the kitch I spent a lot of time at the kitchen boy sink, where Tyler washed all the larger dishes used in the kitch and I dried and put away. All too soon it was time to start preparing for dinner. Me and Elyse made pudding cups…170 of them. They turned out pretty good despite Elyse not knowing how thick pudding should be and me exploding chocolate pudding all over the counter after my baggy popped.
After dinner and clean up, I had about 20 minutes before I had to report for T.P. (Trading Post, the place campers flock to and fill up on candy and ice cream). I spent my short free time soaking my feet and “reading” (though I discovered it’s hard to read with your eyes closed :-)
In Trading Post with me were Jenna and Aunt Sam helping to take orders, and Michael and Jeremy scooping the ice cream. Aunt Sam is the one in charge of keeping the T.P. stocked and running, and it’s so much fun when she joins us in there, she really helps to keep the mood light and fun even when everything is chaos. (fun fact: we have a notebook where we keep the staff tabs in the TP, and this year when listing out our names, rather then the normal “Ashley Padgett” Aunt Sam gave us all funny nick names by playing on our names, mine is Flashley Padgshly :-)
(p.s. Aunt Sam just walked in as I was typing and commented that we did a really great job cleaning up after TP, I told her it better be clean because we ended up spending an hour in there! lol, actually, we only spent about 5 minutes cleaning (more then enough time for that small space, then me and Jenna and Michael got to talking and we talked for a good long time…it was good :-)
THEN...for devos that night, we drew M&M’s to pick prayer partners (probably my number one FAVORITE devo that we do, we are randomly placed into groups of 2 or 3 and go off somewhere and just talk bout things we need prayer for and pray for one another). I drew a red M&M and was excited to find that Elyse drew the other. I was partnered with Elyse and Jenna last year one time, so it was good to be with her again. Also, Elyse was one of the girls I didn’t know quite as well as I knew the others, so I was so glad to be able to have some time to get to know her better.
We bundled up and grabbed a blanket and hurried to Randys Dock (the best spot for prayer partners) after a skunk scare (which turned out to just be our shadows in a bucket) we settled in and started talking. We talked about so much, I’m so glad I was partnered with her again, it was so good. We went out around 11:00 and were told we could have an hour, at 11:56 we decided we should finally start actually praying for each other. :-D Time goes so fast when God is working! After we prayed I still had to get back to the kitch and do Kitch Girl clean up, but I didn’t care that I was gonna be up so late, I could sleep in the next morning and I if there's one thing I’m learning this year it’s to put things like sleep and work aside when God is doing something more important…I can always catch a nap some other time.
Anyways, I raced through Kitch Girl duty, basically wiping everything down with disinfectant and straightening and washing the last of the dishes. Poor Tyler had to mop around me (something that he’d normally be able to do after I was done) and I had to scoot around the wet, but clean floor on towels and my bare feet. Tyler said that he was beginning to wonder if I was even coming in, but he understood after I told him I was out with his sister for the past hour :-)
I got done with Kitch Girl around 1:30 and I decided that I’d rather sleep in as long as possible the next morning, so I took a shower then rather than the morning. Then, off to sleep I went, with my alarm clock turned resolutely off!
MORNING! DAY OFF!
Wake up, girls chattering, preparing for Sunday Best, cries of “it’s cold!” and “have you seen my…?” I roll over and go back to sleep. Wake up again…it’s after breakfast, girls barging in the dorm grabbing Bibles for morning chapel, more chatter and giggling. I roll over again and continue to snooze. 11:00, Tyler wanted to leave by 11:30 so I should probably get up…roll over again for a final 15 minutes of sleep…get up, get pretty (you can always tell who’s the day off girl because she’s the only one who has time do her hair and make-up properly and wear nicer clothes :-)
At 11:30 Tyler was ready and I only needed to run to the kitch for a “breakfast” of cookies and milk and a piece of left over coffee cake I had to beg off of Thelma.
We didn’t do much today, we drove into Marquette (even with the use of a GPS we still managed to get a little lost). We made our stop at Wal-Mart (Tyler teased me for taking 10 minutes to pick out the right kind of socks, but hey! There were a lot of choices!) and I ran into one of my girls campers from my cabin last year! Tessa lives in the area up here, it was so good to see her even though we didn’t really have time to sit and chat, at least I got a hug. :-)
After that we ran to Target so Tyler could get his hot sauce (the guys staff table goes through that stuff like it was water!) then there was a debate in the parking lot over where we would eat…Tyler wouldn't pick and I refused to even though he said I was the girl so I had to :-P I wouldn't unlock the car door until he picked one of the 5 places I listed. We finally decided on Audrey’s Pizza, it was not a mistake. :-D
We got to the pizza place and walked up to the sign reading “please wait to be seated” and were greeted by two of the cutest hostesses I have ever had the pleasure of being seated by. Two little girls, both about 10 years old, came around from behind the counter with menus and silverware and graciously asked would we be dining in? And would we like a booth or a table? Right this way please, your server will be with you presently. Yes sir, we are in a little old small town in the UP.
After we ate the best pizza in the world (I got leftovers waiting for me in the cooler!) we walked around the old town and down by the water a little bit, then back to the car and after a stop in at Good Will it was back home to camp.
It’s been a good, chill day off, just the way I like it. and I still have all the time after dinner to hang out, so I might track down my brother or some of my old girls campers and catch up. Or, I see many little games of Ninja going on around camp, so I am tempted to join in on a few of those…we shall see.
Whoo-ee this is a long one!! but I got the time today, so it is what it is :-D
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Crazy Good Nights
Two nights ago marked what I’m going to think of as the real beginning of the summer. Tuesday night, we were gathered in the Quiet Place for staff worship. (the Quiet Place is a building slightly separated from the rest of main camp, it’s where the staff hangs out and counselors have their meetings and nursery kids go during family camps). Every night the staff gets together, it’s our way of ending the day and bringing it all to a close. I love this time so much and on those days when we cant have it I always feel as if my day has been left lacking. I wish you all could experience it, there's nothing more powerful then twenty-five or so young people gathered together to lift up Gods name, singing full out with their whole self, just pure, raw love for God flowing through the room. Every night, no matter what hardships the day held, I walk away from staff worship knowing fully that this is where God wants me to be, and that He is great and is doing great things.
Anyways, I can go on forever about staff worship if you let me, but I wanted to write about this particular one on Tuesday night. We were just getting done singing (I love that moment of silence after the final sounds of voice and guitar fade from the air, it’s like everyone is returning from some place deep in their heads and are surprised to be back) when Alana suggested we take some time as a staff together to share our testimonies of our past year and where God has taken us from last year to now. We had about fifteen minutes before it would be time for our devos in the separate staff dorms, so we figured sure, two or three people can share now, then just finish up some other night, right? Nope. Apparently God had better plans and He was working. Once we got started, there was no stopping, one person shared after another, crazy amazing things that God has done in the past year and how they’ve grown through it. Time was no longer a thought, and after a half hour had passed we decided to forget about devos and continue with where we were. The Spirit was moving and we were not gonna get in the way. Only about a third of us shared that night, but it was so good. Many were crying, not the “oh, well everyone else is crying so I will too” kind of crying. It was genuine, so full of emotion and joy and love for one another that there is no other way to let it out then to cry kind of crying. And, as Alana pointed out, the times we cry together are the times we grow closest, and that is so true.
After we were done sharing, we decided to pray together. In one large circle we joined hands (as we always do when we pray) and had a pop corn style prayer. In that moment, holding hands and just loving one another, we became unified as a staff together. After only a week it’s crazy to already be this close when in past years it’s taken many weeks. God’s doing something crazy up here in da UP!
Soo, one of my dreams is coming true this week! I’m being trained for the Challenge Course!! This means that I will be able to work with campers on the climbing wall, ropes course, and zip line! I’m so super excited for it, I've wanted to be up there ever since they built the thing. :-)
This week we’re working on the training, so now I know all the knots and how to get the ropes up and that kind of thing. I’m also working on the commands, the things I have to say when I’m hooking someone up to the wall or whatever course they’re on. There’s so much I have to say and I’m worried about forgetting something! I’m crazy excited to be done with training and working right with the campers. It’s the BEST!!
Last night the staff made a trip into town for a Wal-Mart run. It’s so funny watching 25 teens stream into the tiny, Marquette Wal-Mart and disperse and run around the store. Since we make up about half the population of the Wal-Mart we’re constantly running into each other and pretending to be finding each other after a long time, “he-ey! I know you!! how do I know you!?” haha, it’s a lot of fun. It’s also amusing watching everyone (the girls especially) get so excited about shopping, even the kind of shopping that this Wal-Mart offers. “oh! I need that! Oh, hey! Lets get that! Whoa! Where’d you find that! I want one!” haha, after a week without a store, it’s like a kid in a candy store with his birthday money. :-D
Anyways, after the shopping spree, we went to see Toy Story 3. We made up just about the whole of the audience and felt no shame in laughing out loud (and louder!) and just enjoying ourselves. After the movie we drove back to camp (singing all the way) and arrived at midnight, just to be reminded that we STILL had to make bags for Hobo breakfast! Oh well, who needs sleep anyways? :-D
Please pray for the hot water heater in the kitchen :-D haha, it keeps breaking and everyday we have to boil gallons or water so we can wash the dishes, it’s a huge hassle and I’m not sure if they know what's wrong with it or not. They’ve been working on it for several days now. Hopefully they get it soon.
Anyways, I can go on forever about staff worship if you let me, but I wanted to write about this particular one on Tuesday night. We were just getting done singing (I love that moment of silence after the final sounds of voice and guitar fade from the air, it’s like everyone is returning from some place deep in their heads and are surprised to be back) when Alana suggested we take some time as a staff together to share our testimonies of our past year and where God has taken us from last year to now. We had about fifteen minutes before it would be time for our devos in the separate staff dorms, so we figured sure, two or three people can share now, then just finish up some other night, right? Nope. Apparently God had better plans and He was working. Once we got started, there was no stopping, one person shared after another, crazy amazing things that God has done in the past year and how they’ve grown through it. Time was no longer a thought, and after a half hour had passed we decided to forget about devos and continue with where we were. The Spirit was moving and we were not gonna get in the way. Only about a third of us shared that night, but it was so good. Many were crying, not the “oh, well everyone else is crying so I will too” kind of crying. It was genuine, so full of emotion and joy and love for one another that there is no other way to let it out then to cry kind of crying. And, as Alana pointed out, the times we cry together are the times we grow closest, and that is so true.
After we were done sharing, we decided to pray together. In one large circle we joined hands (as we always do when we pray) and had a pop corn style prayer. In that moment, holding hands and just loving one another, we became unified as a staff together. After only a week it’s crazy to already be this close when in past years it’s taken many weeks. God’s doing something crazy up here in da UP!
Soo, one of my dreams is coming true this week! I’m being trained for the Challenge Course!! This means that I will be able to work with campers on the climbing wall, ropes course, and zip line! I’m so super excited for it, I've wanted to be up there ever since they built the thing. :-)
This week we’re working on the training, so now I know all the knots and how to get the ropes up and that kind of thing. I’m also working on the commands, the things I have to say when I’m hooking someone up to the wall or whatever course they’re on. There’s so much I have to say and I’m worried about forgetting something! I’m crazy excited to be done with training and working right with the campers. It’s the BEST!!
Last night the staff made a trip into town for a Wal-Mart run. It’s so funny watching 25 teens stream into the tiny, Marquette Wal-Mart and disperse and run around the store. Since we make up about half the population of the Wal-Mart we’re constantly running into each other and pretending to be finding each other after a long time, “he-ey! I know you!! how do I know you!?” haha, it’s a lot of fun. It’s also amusing watching everyone (the girls especially) get so excited about shopping, even the kind of shopping that this Wal-Mart offers. “oh! I need that! Oh, hey! Lets get that! Whoa! Where’d you find that! I want one!” haha, after a week without a store, it’s like a kid in a candy store with his birthday money. :-D
Anyways, after the shopping spree, we went to see Toy Story 3. We made up just about the whole of the audience and felt no shame in laughing out loud (and louder!) and just enjoying ourselves. After the movie we drove back to camp (singing all the way) and arrived at midnight, just to be reminded that we STILL had to make bags for Hobo breakfast! Oh well, who needs sleep anyways? :-D
Please pray for the hot water heater in the kitchen :-D haha, it keeps breaking and everyday we have to boil gallons or water so we can wash the dishes, it’s a huge hassle and I’m not sure if they know what's wrong with it or not. They’ve been working on it for several days now. Hopefully they get it soon.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Faithful in Prayer…Prayer Camp 2010 + First Days of CAMP!!!
“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to His mighty power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory forever and ever!”
-Ephesians 3:14-21
Highlights of my first three days of camp (what!? Haha, I just had to ask a few of my staff sisters how many days I’ve been here already!)
Arrival! Many joyous hugs! I love the way we don’t see each other for a year or more, yet we jump right back into the routine as if we never left.
After that though, everything is just one hazy mess in my head of a jumble of making food, cleaning up, laughing and praying and loving :-)
I won a candy guess! Lol, it was a plastic piggy bank filled with gum balls (yet gum is not allowed at camp! Oops!)
Stayed up waaaay too late last night laughing with the staff girls and painting our toe nails bright, splashy colors (mine are Cuka-Mango :-)
Making the first batch of Carmalits with Janna for Evans birthday…they came out a little chewy, but hey! Carmalitas are Caramelitas and nothing tastes better! (if you’ve never had them, I will make you some next time I see you! you have not lived till you’ve tried them!)
Kyaked across the lake while Brittany and Janna swam…so refreshing with this heat!!
The first two days here was Prayer Camp. These days were totally devoted to praying for the camp this summer and the people we would touch. We had a few prayer walks, we were put into groups of about 6 and we walked to different buildings and prayed for specific requests pertaining to that building or place. We also had a perimeter prayer, all 40 or so of us surrounded the camp and covered it in prayer as a whole. And, mixed in there was a few times of silence and solitude, when we were able to go off on our own and just pray in the silence that can only come from being lost in the middle of nowhere deep in the U.P. I love these times of S&S, it’s a time I can allow myself to quite my head and listen to what God has to say to me, I feel such a peach during these times of silence, separated from distractions and surrounded by nothing but God’s beauty.
I’m so glad I was able to make it to Prayer Camp this year, it was the first time I’ve been here for it and it was such a great way for me to begin my camp year, I feel as if now I have things in perspective and am ready to take on whatever this summer holds for me. I serve a GREAT God with GREATER plans then even I can imagine (and trust me, from where I’m sitting, those plans are pretty crazy good lookin’)
This year I have the same roommates as I did last year, Janna and Cora (consequentially, Cora has been my roommate every year I’ve staffed :-) this year though, these two ladies have a bigger responsibility, they were both chosen as the R.A.’s of the girls staff, which basically means that they are in charge of the entire girls staff and have to make sure that everyone have a job and keep us all in line (guess since I’m rooming with them I have to be on my upmost behavior…shame that :-P ) but anyways, I hope that I can be an encouragement to them this summer, being an RA is a highly stressful position to be in.
This next week is Family Work Week as well as Day Camp. I’m one of the two girls in charge of the lunches and snacks for Day Camp…not sure yet exactly what that will include, but soon to find out!
First staff worship tonight!!!! (jumps up and dances a dance of ecstatic joy!) lol, I miss staff worship so much throughout the year, it’s a time we can come together and fellowship and praise God. I LOVE it so much, it feels so good to be able to praise God in a totally free way!
So I just got the word that I’m OFFICIALLY being trained to work on the challenge course this year! This is a total dream come true for me…ever since the day they built the climbing wall I have been in love with the challenge course and I have been so upset that I was never here early enough to be trained for it in my past years of staffing. The challenge course includes the 40 foot climbing tower, the two story 30 foot ropes course, and the something (maybe 40?) foot zip line! I’m so excited to be working out there! I love watching people concur their fears and try new things and challenge themselves. It’s the best thing in the world to see someone challenge themselves and go beyond what they thought they could do.
Anyways, my battery’s almost dead and I just got word that the staff is gathering early to play a game…so that is that!
-Ephesians 3:14-21
Highlights of my first three days of camp (what!? Haha, I just had to ask a few of my staff sisters how many days I’ve been here already!)
Arrival! Many joyous hugs! I love the way we don’t see each other for a year or more, yet we jump right back into the routine as if we never left.
After that though, everything is just one hazy mess in my head of a jumble of making food, cleaning up, laughing and praying and loving :-)
I won a candy guess! Lol, it was a plastic piggy bank filled with gum balls (yet gum is not allowed at camp! Oops!)
Stayed up waaaay too late last night laughing with the staff girls and painting our toe nails bright, splashy colors (mine are Cuka-Mango :-)
Making the first batch of Carmalits with Janna for Evans birthday…they came out a little chewy, but hey! Carmalitas are Caramelitas and nothing tastes better! (if you’ve never had them, I will make you some next time I see you! you have not lived till you’ve tried them!)
Kyaked across the lake while Brittany and Janna swam…so refreshing with this heat!!
The first two days here was Prayer Camp. These days were totally devoted to praying for the camp this summer and the people we would touch. We had a few prayer walks, we were put into groups of about 6 and we walked to different buildings and prayed for specific requests pertaining to that building or place. We also had a perimeter prayer, all 40 or so of us surrounded the camp and covered it in prayer as a whole. And, mixed in there was a few times of silence and solitude, when we were able to go off on our own and just pray in the silence that can only come from being lost in the middle of nowhere deep in the U.P. I love these times of S&S, it’s a time I can allow myself to quite my head and listen to what God has to say to me, I feel such a peach during these times of silence, separated from distractions and surrounded by nothing but God’s beauty.
I’m so glad I was able to make it to Prayer Camp this year, it was the first time I’ve been here for it and it was such a great way for me to begin my camp year, I feel as if now I have things in perspective and am ready to take on whatever this summer holds for me. I serve a GREAT God with GREATER plans then even I can imagine (and trust me, from where I’m sitting, those plans are pretty crazy good lookin’)
This year I have the same roommates as I did last year, Janna and Cora (consequentially, Cora has been my roommate every year I’ve staffed :-) this year though, these two ladies have a bigger responsibility, they were both chosen as the R.A.’s of the girls staff, which basically means that they are in charge of the entire girls staff and have to make sure that everyone have a job and keep us all in line (guess since I’m rooming with them I have to be on my upmost behavior…shame that :-P ) but anyways, I hope that I can be an encouragement to them this summer, being an RA is a highly stressful position to be in.
This next week is Family Work Week as well as Day Camp. I’m one of the two girls in charge of the lunches and snacks for Day Camp…not sure yet exactly what that will include, but soon to find out!
First staff worship tonight!!!! (jumps up and dances a dance of ecstatic joy!) lol, I miss staff worship so much throughout the year, it’s a time we can come together and fellowship and praise God. I LOVE it so much, it feels so good to be able to praise God in a totally free way!
So I just got the word that I’m OFFICIALLY being trained to work on the challenge course this year! This is a total dream come true for me…ever since the day they built the climbing wall I have been in love with the challenge course and I have been so upset that I was never here early enough to be trained for it in my past years of staffing. The challenge course includes the 40 foot climbing tower, the two story 30 foot ropes course, and the something (maybe 40?) foot zip line! I’m so excited to be working out there! I love watching people concur their fears and try new things and challenge themselves. It’s the best thing in the world to see someone challenge themselves and go beyond what they thought they could do.
Anyways, my battery’s almost dead and I just got word that the staff is gathering early to play a game…so that is that!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Last of the Lasts, First of the Firsts
The list of lasts I’ve been keeping in my head for the past year is finally running out…only a few left, last shower in the purple bathroom, last night sleeping in this room that built me, last morning waking up and climbing these creaky stairs, last time I walk out of that front door that was always there to welcome me home. It’s sad, this list was so long even just a few weeks ago. It was bittersweet though, each time I checked off another last, because I knew that even though the bitter of saying good bye is painful, I know the sweet can only come after the bitter, and I see this new list already coming…my list of firsts:
last game of frisbee here
last ice cream with my fabulous coworkers, I worked at the library from 2006 till last week, for real, best job ever, i loved it all :-) (this is Dana, fellow childrens room page and partner in crime :-)
this is Marge, the childrens room librarian, my boss, and the Lady Barbarian (haha, thats a good thing!)
last (an consequently first :-) walk in the park with my bestest friend Jessie, we've been friends since, um, birth? haha (oh, and my sister, we've been sisters since birth also :-P )
last awana, this is Portia, one of my cubbies, i helped lead this class for the past few years and these chillins have stolen my heart! and also, i've been in awana since i was a cubby too :-D
last sunday at Calvary, these boys are the cutest and the best and i wish they were about ten years older :-D haha, just kidding, but i love watching these lil guys grow up! i've known most of the ppl at Calvary my whole life.
last time babysitting the Ruffner family, these two are Sarah and Lily. i learned so much more then would ever be expected through babysitting these kids and their brother David for the past 6 or so years. this is another batch of kids i have loved watching grow and cant wait to see what life holds for them.
First Driving to camp (for the past 11 years I have always been driven, this will be an adventure)
First Counseling with my sister (is that a good thing? time will tell :-)
So many more camp firsts I don’t even know about yet but am ecstatic to discover!
The first time I see
My first time being fully on my own, in Colorado, completely taking care of myself, an adult (only God knows the massive amounts of firsts waiting for me in THIS adventure!)
My first time climbing a real, God made mountain (haha, this is a first I can not wait for!)
Tomorrow, at 6 in the morning (if you can really call that hour morning!!) I’ll be joining up with two beyond beautiful girls and we shall begin our adventurous journey of the summer together! I’ve given away so many goodbye hugs this week, I can not wait to give out the joyous hello hugs tomorrow!
here are some good memories of some lasts i'm sad to see go, but overJOYED to have had in my life, i want to celibrate them :-)
last game of frisbee here
last ice cream with my fabulous coworkers, I worked at the library from 2006 till last week, for real, best job ever, i loved it all :-) (this is Dana, fellow childrens room page and partner in crime :-)
this is Marge, the childrens room librarian, my boss, and the Lady Barbarian (haha, thats a good thing!)
last (an consequently first :-) walk in the park with my bestest friend Jessie, we've been friends since, um, birth? haha (oh, and my sister, we've been sisters since birth also :-P )
last awana, this is Portia, one of my cubbies, i helped lead this class for the past few years and these chillins have stolen my heart! and also, i've been in awana since i was a cubby too :-D
last sunday at Calvary, these boys are the cutest and the best and i wish they were about ten years older :-D haha, just kidding, but i love watching these lil guys grow up! i've known most of the ppl at Calvary my whole life.
last time babysitting the Ruffner family, these two are Sarah and Lily. i learned so much more then would ever be expected through babysitting these kids and their brother David for the past 6 or so years. this is another batch of kids i have loved watching grow and cant wait to see what life holds for them.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Dear YOU, please write! Love, Ashley
Getting a letter is like getting a beautifully wrapped surprise present in a driving spring thunderstorm and a strong, warm autumn breeze, flowers all around with the stars up above as the sun rises, a rainbow in a cloudy clear blue sky, with butterflies everrywhere, eating cowppuccino ice cream while dancing through the woods in a yellow dress in my red high heels on a perfect hair day.
These as just a few of my favorite things (cue Sound of Music… :-) and guess what! Getting a letter is better then all of that rolled into one! Thus is the conclusion, I love letters. :-) So, I naturally want every one of you who reads this (you know who you are!) to write me while I’m at camp (and elsewhere). E-mail and Facebook is nice, but nothing says “love you and miss you” like a good old fashioned hand written letter. (If you have kids, I love getting colored pictures also :-) If you make sure your address is on the envelope, I will do my best to write back too (though my intentions are good, procrastination usually gets the better of me, because of that I do give a little bit of forgiveness if you don’t write…but not much :-) I’m leaving for camp early in the morning on Wednesday, June 16th, and I’ll be there through mid August. Hope to hear from you all!
Address for
Ashley Padgett c/o UPBC
Little
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Love, Ashley
“The written word is an important way to document our feelings and experiences in friendships. We can look back and remember how much a friend meant to us and the important role they’ve played in our lives. Good friends are hard to find and easy to lose through neglect. Communication keeps friendships alive.”
-Sarah Arthur, “Dating Mr. Darcy”
Sunday, June 6, 2010
the first of many
chase a baby bird around my and my neighbors yard, rescue him to somewhere hopefully safe (i named him Mister-Mister p.s. :-) then off to Summerset mall, talking to strange guys with a video camera, pretending to be snooty and rich in Sacks 5th Avenue, planing the perfect decor for a dream home, and wondering if segway scooters would make an escalator go faster....then a mad dash home, a whirlwind of preparation for a Narnian Tea party, get that stubborn tent set up, welcome 16 of the most beautiful ladies in all the land, dine on authentic (enough) Narnian-esqu cuisine, photo-shoot with a giant blue picture frame, climb trees in our dresses, run to the park in the rain, and finally, say good-bye.
this was my day in a very small nutshell. it was a beautiful day, and at the end of it, as i stood at my window, watching the storm dance in my back yard (a back yard i never fully appreciated or realized how beautiful it is) i thanked God for His timing. all day, all week actually, i had been watching the sky with a worried eye, knowing those clouds were full of rain, praying that it would hold out until after this party. guess when it stated raining? just as the parents were arriving to reclaim their young ladies. perfect timing. but then, it always is. :-)
in this case, i can call the timing of the storm "perfect" because it fit in with my agenda, my time schedule. but the part i'm still learning, still trying to understand, is when God brings that rain in before i think i'm ready for it. and rain isnt always the wet kind.
today, i had to start the part of moving that i wanted to put off as long as possible, but it had to start some time. the part of saying good-bye. tonight, as a few of the girls were leaving, i had to say good-bye to them for what may be a very, very long time. what scares me is that some of the people i say good-bye to now, i may never have the chance to say hello to again (at least not on earth). that is rain i dont think i'm ready for yet. but Gods timing is perfect, whether i think so or not.
Isaiah 43:19 - See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
thank goodness God gives us an umbrella :-D
this was my day in a very small nutshell. it was a beautiful day, and at the end of it, as i stood at my window, watching the storm dance in my back yard (a back yard i never fully appreciated or realized how beautiful it is) i thanked God for His timing. all day, all week actually, i had been watching the sky with a worried eye, knowing those clouds were full of rain, praying that it would hold out until after this party. guess when it stated raining? just as the parents were arriving to reclaim their young ladies. perfect timing. but then, it always is. :-)
in this case, i can call the timing of the storm "perfect" because it fit in with my agenda, my time schedule. but the part i'm still learning, still trying to understand, is when God brings that rain in before i think i'm ready for it. and rain isnt always the wet kind.
today, i had to start the part of moving that i wanted to put off as long as possible, but it had to start some time. the part of saying good-bye. tonight, as a few of the girls were leaving, i had to say good-bye to them for what may be a very, very long time. what scares me is that some of the people i say good-bye to now, i may never have the chance to say hello to again (at least not on earth). that is rain i dont think i'm ready for yet. but Gods timing is perfect, whether i think so or not.
Isaiah 43:19 - See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
thank goodness God gives us an umbrella :-D
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
butterfly girl
ok, so i changed things around here, and i think i'm close to liking it all now (before was just the basic "for now till i make it better" look) but, dont be surprised if the layout changes a lot, i like doing that kinda thing :-D
anyways, so i decided on the title "butterfly girl" after a song by Jaylene Johnson, unfortunatly i couldnt find any copies of it online, but i'm putting the lyrics up. i LOVE this song because it reminds me of how many times i feel "full of fear and doubt and insecurity" and want to just hide away, but God is creating me to do something beautiful and He wants me to "show my colors to the world". also, with everything happening in life right now, it's like i've been living in this cocoon, safe and growing, but now it's finally time to break free and try my wings! thats pretty exciting. :-)
so if you really want to hear the song, ask me next time you see me if i've got my ipod on me, and i'll give you a listen :-)
p.s. my official leave date for camp is promptly at 6am, wednesday, june 16....thats exactly 2 weeks from today! crazy!
Butterfly Girl......
do you only remember the way you used to be?
full of fear and doubt and insecurity
taking things that people said to build a web around you
thinking you'd be safe
in that place
i know your frightened and your wings are frail
but summer's here and you've outgrown your silky veil
the walls of you cocoon have left no room for breathing
so break free, break free
butterfly girl
don't you know you're beautiful by now?
too long in hiding
free to shine girl
time to spread your wings and show your colors to the world
butterfly girl
don't you know that you're a precious miracle
suffering transformed to something wonderful
all the things that had you bound have only made you stronger
so trust me and fly
trust me and fly
anyways, so i decided on the title "butterfly girl" after a song by Jaylene Johnson, unfortunatly i couldnt find any copies of it online, but i'm putting the lyrics up. i LOVE this song because it reminds me of how many times i feel "full of fear and doubt and insecurity" and want to just hide away, but God is creating me to do something beautiful and He wants me to "show my colors to the world". also, with everything happening in life right now, it's like i've been living in this cocoon, safe and growing, but now it's finally time to break free and try my wings! thats pretty exciting. :-)
so if you really want to hear the song, ask me next time you see me if i've got my ipod on me, and i'll give you a listen :-)
p.s. my official leave date for camp is promptly at 6am, wednesday, june 16....thats exactly 2 weeks from today! crazy!
Butterfly Girl......
do you only remember the way you used to be?
full of fear and doubt and insecurity
taking things that people said to build a web around you
thinking you'd be safe
in that place
i know your frightened and your wings are frail
but summer's here and you've outgrown your silky veil
the walls of you cocoon have left no room for breathing
so break free, break free
butterfly girl
don't you know you're beautiful by now?
too long in hiding
free to shine girl
time to spread your wings and show your colors to the world
butterfly girl
don't you know that you're a precious miracle
suffering transformed to something wonderful
all the things that had you bound have only made you stronger
so trust me and fly
trust me and fly
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