Last year I told Ben (my brother) that for his birthday I would go tubing with him, while he was here at boys camp we tried to go, but there wasn’t time. He was disappointed but he told me that I would have to make sure we went the next year (which is now this year) then, at the beginning of the week for boys camp Ben asked if I was gonna be able to tube with him. I told him I wanted to but I wasn’t sure.
Then, on Wednesday, I went to the lake where the boys were having their camp out, I was one of the AO’s (aquatic observer) so Benj sat with me the whole time and we talked a lot.
The next day, I was being an AO on the beach, and Ben’s counselor came up to me and told me that Ben had gotten a little teary eyed at the camp out, he’d said he was homesick and sad because even though I was up here I was always so busy and couldn’t really hang out. I told his counselor about wanting to go tubing with Ben, and how upset I was also that we couldn’t do more together, I loved that Ben hung out with me the whole time and I knew he really wanted to go tubing. Lisa, the head lifeguard that day, over heard and said “we might be able to work something out”. Then, after my shift, I was just about to leave the beach when Ben comes up and said “are you busy this afternoon? Can we go tubing?” I told him I really wanted to, but we had to ask Lisa if it was ok, and Drew is he would drive us. They both said it was no problem so we quickly got suited up and went. Ben loved it, the whole time he kept yelling “this is awesome!” he told everyone that I’d finally given him his birthday present.
Turns out it was a good thing we got that tube ride in, because the next day, Lisa, Katie Cooper and I were just leaving the zip line, when Michael Dyer came driving up in a golf cart. “your brother is going to the hospital” he said. Michael Dyer being Michael Dyer, I of course didn’t believe him. “your lying.” I said, “I’m not,” he insisted, “he fell during the mountain biking class and hurt his arm, I came out here to get you.” so, we all piled into the golf cart and raced back to camp, where I found Benj sitting in the Suburban with his arm in a sling. Benjabean is such a cutie (even if he’ll hate me for saying that) and he didn’t show that he was in pain at all, rather he was just sitting there smiling away. After running around, checking with all the people in charge if it’d be ok if I went with them, Trevor, Ben and I all took off on the 45 minute drive into Marquette. On the way we had a great time, Trevor told us all about the times him and his brother and sister had broken something or had something stitched up, and Ben and I filled him in on a few stories from our own family.
It wasn’t long before we arrived at the clinic in Marquette. We walked up to the desk and were met by a rather rude receptionist. I had never had to check someone in before, so of course I was a bit flustered, but I handed her the blue sheet with all of bens info, expecting that to be enough, but the woman kept acting all exasperated with us, like we were just silly children wasting her time. She got especially annoyed when she asked for my address just to find out that I didn’t know it. (sorry ma’am, I’ve never actually been there). anyways, I think she got a better attitude when I mentioned that I was Ben’s sister, and she realized that me and Trevor were NOT the parents. :-) I needed Ben’s Social Security number, and since I had jumped right in the car after coming back from ropes, (still stinky from sweat and in my tennis shoes, not my preferred footwear of flip flops) I of course didn’t have my cell phone. But, all was well, Trev let me use his to call Mom and get all the info I needed to sign Ben in.
After all of that, we were escorted into a room, where a nurse who looked just like a Veggie Tales character came in and took care of the basics. While we were waiting for the doctor, Ben kept stroking his swollen arm and commenting on the amount of “muscle” he had, and making plans for all of camp to sign his cast. Trevor said he’d sign it as “your personal ambulance driver”. After awhile the doctor came in and had a look, then the x-ray guy took Ben back, then the doctor came back and told us that Ben would most likely need surgery and that we should bring him in to Marquette General Hospital because he didn’t know everything about broken elbows, but it looked like a double fracture.
So, we hopped back in the car and drove to the hospital, where the doctor looked at the x-rays and said that the first doctor didn’t know what he was talking about, the elbow was fractured, but just once, and that Ben would need a cast, but not surgery (to this news Ben pumped his good arm in the air and happily said “yes!”). Since the arm was still swollen (or rather, as Ben would remind us “muscular”) they would send him home to MD in a splint.
By then it was about 8pm, we had left camp around 3:30, so we had missed dinner. But, all was well, after swinging by Walgreens to get some pain meds (thank goodness for Trevor again, I of course didn’t have any money and apparently the prescription was too low for insurance to cover, so Trev took care of it, I still have to pay him back come to think of it :-) we made a stop at the all wonderful Jilberts, the supplier of all camps dairy and (most importantly) ice cream!! After getting our “dinner” (a double scoop each) we headed back to camp in time for devos (aka, 10:30)
Even though it stinks that it happened to Benj that he broke his elbow, I’m still kinda glad, I got to spend a lot of time with him (and since both our love languages are Quality Time, I think we were both pretty happy) and we got to have a great memory together. I’m also so thankful for Trevor, he is going to school for nursing so whenever Ben had a question or I didn’t know what the doctors were talking bout, he would explain it to us. He also let us use up a lot of minutes on his phone to talk to both Mom and Dad, and he kept everything light, joking with the doctors and making sure Ben was having a fun time.
So far as I know now Ben is doing well, still doesn’t have the cast, but he says “soon”.
Anyways, fun times! :-)
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Here There Be Pirates! / Dancing in the Rain
Ok, so it’s been about 2 weeks since I last posted…aka, about 2 weeks since I’ve sat down for more than 5 minutes to breathe!! It’s been intense and SO much has happened…so rather than one overwhelming post with ALL the stuff at once, I’m going to post several posts about each individual topic…hopefully I’ll be able to get through it all today, I feel like the longer I take the more I’ll forget. Just a few days ago I was working on the climbing tower with the boys campers and one of them was asking me if I knew his brother who was here at JV. I said I recognized the name but didn’t have a face since it’s been such a long time ago, “it was just last week!” the boy said, “I know” I said back, “but do you know just how long a week at camp really is!?” haha, so yes…here’s these last 2 weeks:
The last Wednesday of JV was my second day as kitch girl, which, as I’ve said before, means that I’m usually much busier than the rest of the girls, however, that day we had an unusually free afternoon, which meant that I was free at the same time as my Uncle Dave, which meant that we could finally go sailing!! So we hopped in a boat to took to the high seas of Farmers Lake.
It was a lovely day, the waters were calm, the sky was blue, a few other boats spotted the lake, both the brightly colored sailboats as well as a few scattered kayaks. Steve and Hilary were lounging in the P-boat (patrol boat), peacefully keeping an eye out for trouble.
It was a relaxing voyage, until we were met by two boys in kayaks, quickly paddling towards us. “hows it going?” Uncle Dave asked cheerfully of the boaters. “we just made Dan Martins kids cry because we told them we were pirates here to take over their ship.” They replied, “so we have to take over yours now.” Upon those words epic battle began.
This was no “splash, splash, haha you’re all wet” kind of battle, this was full out, tip over the boats, hitting and scratching fight with all you’ve got war! the boys names were Alex and Amos, Alex was a smart one, as captain of the pirate fleet he instructed Amos to assist him in stealing our rudder, attempting to cripple our ship as they tried to pull us off. At the same time Uncle Dave and I attempted and succeeded in tipping them out of their kayaks several times, as well as capture their paddles from them. However, they were always able to retip their boats and get back their paddles.
At one point, Amos had again taken hold of out rudder, but I grabbed for it to try to rescue it, I was clutching the actual rudder part, while he pulled the stick part used for steering. He was bracing himself against the side of our boat, I pulled and pulled, and finally let go when I felt the metal of the hinge dig into my pinky. Amos got away with our rudder and I examined my battle wound, it was a crescent shaped gouge with a large hunk of skin flapping off. As I was in the thick of battle, I couldn’t let it worry me right then, so I held the wound closed with my other fingers and continued to fight.
Meanwhile, Steve and Hilary had stayed within range, laughing at our antics. Steve radioed into the beach asking for permission to engage in battle, and it was granted. They motored over and Hilary grabbed the rudder back from Amos. Later she said she thinks she might have cut his finger in the process, but I told her it was ok, finger for a finger.
Finally, after about 15 minutes of intence battle, the pirates succeeded in pulling me and Uncle Dave out of our ship. I made a grab for the paddles and swam to the abandoned kayaks, while Uncle Dave worked on dropping the sail right on Alex’s head, after which he joined me in our escape, leaving the pirates with a crippled vessel.
Upon our return to land, we laughed and told all who would listen of our adventures on the highs seas of Farmers Lake, and warned all who ventured out to keep a wary eye out for the fierce pirates who patrol those waters.
Dancing in the Rain
That same night of the pirate attack, God sent us a massive rain storm, we were in the lodge with the JV campers, it was the night of the talent show. After the show, we raced to get the snacks we had brought for the campers packed and back in the kitch. There was so much laughing going on, and we were all sopping, but no one cared. I had to do kitch girl clean up but I just couldn’t stay inside, the rain was calling my name. I ran back to the dorm, using the excuse that I had to get my ipod, but really just wanting to be washing in the rain. When I got to the dorm, Brittany was outside “Ashley!” she cried, grabbing my hand, “run with me! I love running in the rain more that anything!” so, hand in hand we frolicked down the driveway outside the dorms and onto the street. It was pitch black, we literally couldn’t see a thing, just the lights of the dorm reflecting through the trees, but in front of us the road was nothing but black. As we gasped and ran, we talked about how life was like running in the rain down a dark street, we cant see anything, but we trust that God will lead us and wash us clean. Brittany being Brittany of course burst into random song “stand in the rain, stand your ground, stand up when it’s all crashing down, stand through the pain, you wont drown, and know that what's lost will be found, stand in the rain”. “Brittany!” I yelled as I grabbed for her other hand, “that’s one of the songs that’s gotten me through all the junk of my year!” I told her, excitedly jumping up and down. “really!?” she yelled back over the sound of the rain, “same for me!!” laughing we again began to run as fast as we dared, singing at that top of our lungs. As we rounded to corner we came onto the baseball field, and what did we see but 5 other staff girls dancing and twirling without a care in the world. Laughing, we joined them. For about 15 minutes we all danced, and jumped and ran our hearts out in the pouring rain. Our clothes and hair was soaked through and through, we were muddy from those times our spinning got the best of our feet, but we never stopped laughing. At random, one of us would shout out in song, and the rest would join in, singing every sing we could think of that praised God for His glory. We’d run up to one another and grab each others hands and exclaim a prayer of praise for Gods beauty and His rain. We ended at midnight, standing in a circle, each praising God.
Ok, so I know this probably sounds like we’ve gone insane and I'm sure many of you are wondering if we haven’t finally cracked up here in the UP, this is just one of those things that I cant even explain why we do it, but by doing it I know that God is smiling and laughing and dancing right along with us.
After I got back to the kitch, I dried off as well as I could and put on praise music and began to clean. It wasn’t too long before my kitch boy, John, and a few of the other guys came romping in. I could tell that they’d had an equally amazing time in the rain, they also seems overjoyed and high on life. they told me that they guys had all taken a run around the lake, barefoot, with no flashlights. They said that around the other side they’d also had a time of prayer and praised God. “I cant even explain how great tonight was! It blows my mind!” Tyler kept saying. It was a great night…something we all needed…praise the Lord for rain!!
The last Wednesday of JV was my second day as kitch girl, which, as I’ve said before, means that I’m usually much busier than the rest of the girls, however, that day we had an unusually free afternoon, which meant that I was free at the same time as my Uncle Dave, which meant that we could finally go sailing!! So we hopped in a boat to took to the high seas of Farmers Lake.
It was a lovely day, the waters were calm, the sky was blue, a few other boats spotted the lake, both the brightly colored sailboats as well as a few scattered kayaks. Steve and Hilary were lounging in the P-boat (patrol boat), peacefully keeping an eye out for trouble.
It was a relaxing voyage, until we were met by two boys in kayaks, quickly paddling towards us. “hows it going?” Uncle Dave asked cheerfully of the boaters. “we just made Dan Martins kids cry because we told them we were pirates here to take over their ship.” They replied, “so we have to take over yours now.” Upon those words epic battle began.
This was no “splash, splash, haha you’re all wet” kind of battle, this was full out, tip over the boats, hitting and scratching fight with all you’ve got war! the boys names were Alex and Amos, Alex was a smart one, as captain of the pirate fleet he instructed Amos to assist him in stealing our rudder, attempting to cripple our ship as they tried to pull us off. At the same time Uncle Dave and I attempted and succeeded in tipping them out of their kayaks several times, as well as capture their paddles from them. However, they were always able to retip their boats and get back their paddles.
At one point, Amos had again taken hold of out rudder, but I grabbed for it to try to rescue it, I was clutching the actual rudder part, while he pulled the stick part used for steering. He was bracing himself against the side of our boat, I pulled and pulled, and finally let go when I felt the metal of the hinge dig into my pinky. Amos got away with our rudder and I examined my battle wound, it was a crescent shaped gouge with a large hunk of skin flapping off. As I was in the thick of battle, I couldn’t let it worry me right then, so I held the wound closed with my other fingers and continued to fight.
Meanwhile, Steve and Hilary had stayed within range, laughing at our antics. Steve radioed into the beach asking for permission to engage in battle, and it was granted. They motored over and Hilary grabbed the rudder back from Amos. Later she said she thinks she might have cut his finger in the process, but I told her it was ok, finger for a finger.
Finally, after about 15 minutes of intence battle, the pirates succeeded in pulling me and Uncle Dave out of our ship. I made a grab for the paddles and swam to the abandoned kayaks, while Uncle Dave worked on dropping the sail right on Alex’s head, after which he joined me in our escape, leaving the pirates with a crippled vessel.
Upon our return to land, we laughed and told all who would listen of our adventures on the highs seas of Farmers Lake, and warned all who ventured out to keep a wary eye out for the fierce pirates who patrol those waters.
Dancing in the Rain
That same night of the pirate attack, God sent us a massive rain storm, we were in the lodge with the JV campers, it was the night of the talent show. After the show, we raced to get the snacks we had brought for the campers packed and back in the kitch. There was so much laughing going on, and we were all sopping, but no one cared. I had to do kitch girl clean up but I just couldn’t stay inside, the rain was calling my name. I ran back to the dorm, using the excuse that I had to get my ipod, but really just wanting to be washing in the rain. When I got to the dorm, Brittany was outside “Ashley!” she cried, grabbing my hand, “run with me! I love running in the rain more that anything!” so, hand in hand we frolicked down the driveway outside the dorms and onto the street. It was pitch black, we literally couldn’t see a thing, just the lights of the dorm reflecting through the trees, but in front of us the road was nothing but black. As we gasped and ran, we talked about how life was like running in the rain down a dark street, we cant see anything, but we trust that God will lead us and wash us clean. Brittany being Brittany of course burst into random song “stand in the rain, stand your ground, stand up when it’s all crashing down, stand through the pain, you wont drown, and know that what's lost will be found, stand in the rain”. “Brittany!” I yelled as I grabbed for her other hand, “that’s one of the songs that’s gotten me through all the junk of my year!” I told her, excitedly jumping up and down. “really!?” she yelled back over the sound of the rain, “same for me!!” laughing we again began to run as fast as we dared, singing at that top of our lungs. As we rounded to corner we came onto the baseball field, and what did we see but 5 other staff girls dancing and twirling without a care in the world. Laughing, we joined them. For about 15 minutes we all danced, and jumped and ran our hearts out in the pouring rain. Our clothes and hair was soaked through and through, we were muddy from those times our spinning got the best of our feet, but we never stopped laughing. At random, one of us would shout out in song, and the rest would join in, singing every sing we could think of that praised God for His glory. We’d run up to one another and grab each others hands and exclaim a prayer of praise for Gods beauty and His rain. We ended at midnight, standing in a circle, each praising God.
Ok, so I know this probably sounds like we’ve gone insane and I'm sure many of you are wondering if we haven’t finally cracked up here in the UP, this is just one of those things that I cant even explain why we do it, but by doing it I know that God is smiling and laughing and dancing right along with us.
After I got back to the kitch, I dried off as well as I could and put on praise music and began to clean. It wasn’t too long before my kitch boy, John, and a few of the other guys came romping in. I could tell that they’d had an equally amazing time in the rain, they also seems overjoyed and high on life. they told me that they guys had all taken a run around the lake, barefoot, with no flashlights. They said that around the other side they’d also had a time of prayer and praised God. “I cant even explain how great tonight was! It blows my mind!” Tyler kept saying. It was a great night…something we all needed…praise the Lord for rain!!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
A Mosaic of Happenings
Here are a few mini posts of things going on that don’t necessarily need a full post of their own:
The Challenge Course:
The best part of being out there is getting to hang with the campers (haha, get it? “hang”? we’re on a ropes course? Get it huh? :-) lol, it’s so good to be able to interact with them and have fun with them.
The other day, while working on the ropes course, I dubbed a boy Mr. Darcy…he has no idea who that is or what Pride and Prejudice even is, but I told him that he’s have to live up to the name because Mr. Darcy is every girls ideal of a gentleman…he laughed :-P The reason I gave him that name is because his real name is Colin, and I told him I’d remember his name because of Colin Firth, who is THE Mr. Darcy…anyways, the name stuck for Colin. When your on the ropes course, in order to switch your sling lines from one element to the next, you have to ask an instructor (me) for permission, so the rest of the class Colin would ask me “Ashley this is Mr. Darcy, permission to transfer line one?” ect. :-D
I’m working on writing a song for when I’m out on the Challenge course. Whenever I hook someone up, I have to run through a list of checks (“give me a shake of the head, ok, your helmet is secure. Your harness is secure and fitted properly, your carabineer is [click bineer three times] 1 2 3 locked, loaded and oriented correctly. Your knot is tied and dressed correctly. The line is running cleanly through the system back down to my belay device which is [3 clicks] 1 2 3 locked loaded and oriented correctly. My harness is 1 2 3 double backed and secure. The slack is out of the system and you are on belay [camper asks “climbing?”] climb on!”) I think it’d be a fun one to sing!
Serving the tables:
My fav job! Even though serving tables means that I probably wont get to eat any more then I can scarf down in three seconds before rushing back out (my rule is, if I find myself enjoying my food, it probably means I have to go check tables) it’s still so much fun!
Since I know so many of the campers and just about all the counselors pretty well, it’s a lot of fun because we don’t mind taking a few minutes to joke around a bit.
My Uncle Daves cabin, Keweenaw, is the oldest boys cabin and they eat SOOOO MUCH!! Haha, but I don’t mind serving them, their a lot of fun and always call me Amazing Ashley when they see me coming.
The other day, I was serving Eliza Ferris’s table (she’s a camper, I call her Eliza Doolittle and she calls me Ashley Doolittle). My regular phrase for checking a table is “is there anything else I can get for you ladies?” and Eliza said “Ashley, I want everything” I answered her by saying my regular phrase for those impossible joking requests we staff girls get on a daily basis with an equally joking “I’ll get right on that for ya”. After that, every time I checked Eliza’s table, she’d ask me how that everything was coming. So, I went back to the kitch and grabbed a plastic cup and with a marker I wrote “everything” on it and brought it out to her. I explained that in order for the cup to work, she had to use her imagination that everything in the world was inside…she said it worked perfectly. :-D
The next day, I was serving Abigail’s table. Abigail is a staff girl who’s counseling during JV. I asked her table if they needed anything else and Ruby, one of her campers, solemnly requested that I bring them world peace. I tried to convince the table that only Jesus could bring that, but Abigail was adamant that I bring them some. So, I again grabbed a plastic cup, this time I wrote “world peace” and threw in a few slices of pineapple. I brought the cup back and explained to the girls that if they ate the pineapple from the world peace cup, they would feel so peaceful that they’d want to spread the peace to everyone around them, thus creating world peace!
The staff guys!
Only the best guys around! Nothing can beat them and this year their especially cool. A few days ago, all the staff girls took a day off together while the campers were on their day trip, we went to town and ate out and everything, it was great to be able to sit down while we ate and enjoy our meal. But, meanwhile, back at the camp, the guys were taking our jobs and serving the campers! (ho great is that!?) anxious to see our brothers at work, we made sure to get home in time to see the end of the meal (I was informed by a camper table that they were ready for scrapers at any time). It was so good seeing our staff fella’s fumble around the kitch yelling “where’s this!? Where’s that!? What is going on here!?” as they graciously refused to allow us girls to help them in any way. when clean up started, however, we decided to keep up the charade and the girls took the boys normal jobs of washing the dishes and picking up the leftovers from the tables, and the guys continued their roles of being us and dried dishes, scraped plates and ran dishes to their proper sinks. There was so much laughing and encouragement (and sarcasm) and pictures being take and shouts of “how do I do this!?” It was so good to be able to switch roles for awhile and get a taste of what the others do.
The other night, Jay, a former staff guy who was visiting and helping out on staff for a week, came in to do devos with us girls and share all the secrets of the guys staff. He kept saying “ask me anything, I’ll tell it all, this is my last night here so I got nothing to hide.” Anyways, he just told us some really encouraging things that we otherwise wouldn't have picked up or noticed from the guys. He told us about how much the guys staff loves and respects us girls and how much they talk about us and all the things we do. He also said that all the things the guys do, whether it be some kind of goofing around or doing their best at a job, it’s all to impress us. The campers rarely see them at work, and even though they do see them goofing around, they don’t always appreciate it, but we girls are the only ones who see them at work all the time, how hard they work and how they’re still able to do the work in joy, and we’re usually the only ones who love it when they goof around and understand their need to be crazy. Jay also said that the guys create a whole new love language (there are the 5: words, gifts, touch, time, acts) but the guys show us the “sixth” by “being mean” or, sarcasm. “when they prank you, or sauce you in the kitchen (“sauce” means dump some kind of food on you or throw bubbles from the sink at you) what they mean to say is ‘I love you’”. finally, Jay told us that, in speaking for all the guys, the qualities they look for in their future wives are those we as staff girls show, we are the models they hold other girls up to, and if a girl couldn’t make it as a staff girl then she wouldn't be the one for him. It was all a lot of encouragement, especially coming from one of our own staff guys, who we respect and love so much. It all goes right back at them too, everything that we do, we do to impress them, they are the ones we look at to. We talk about them all the time in our dorm, laughing at their silliness and the crazy things they do, and commenting on when they do an especially good job on something or just encourage us in some way. I’d say we do our own share of the 6th love language as well, by retaliating in full force when they prank us or lock us in the cooler. :-) and I cant tell you how many times the words “I’m gonna marry a staff guy!” have been said. We have so much respect for them and everything they do, both silly and serious, and the way they show their love for God in their actions and make everyday fun and exciting. Camp just wouldn't be camp without them!
so, thats just a few of the things going on here in the last few days...more every day though, lol, i get to the end of each day and ask someone "what was your favorite thing of your today?" and when they ask the question back at me, i always have to ask "what even happened today!?" each day is full and they're getting fuller!
The Challenge Course:
The best part of being out there is getting to hang with the campers (haha, get it? “hang”? we’re on a ropes course? Get it huh? :-) lol, it’s so good to be able to interact with them and have fun with them.
The other day, while working on the ropes course, I dubbed a boy Mr. Darcy…he has no idea who that is or what Pride and Prejudice even is, but I told him that he’s have to live up to the name because Mr. Darcy is every girls ideal of a gentleman…he laughed :-P The reason I gave him that name is because his real name is Colin, and I told him I’d remember his name because of Colin Firth, who is THE Mr. Darcy…anyways, the name stuck for Colin. When your on the ropes course, in order to switch your sling lines from one element to the next, you have to ask an instructor (me) for permission, so the rest of the class Colin would ask me “Ashley this is Mr. Darcy, permission to transfer line one?” ect. :-D
I’m working on writing a song for when I’m out on the Challenge course. Whenever I hook someone up, I have to run through a list of checks (“give me a shake of the head, ok, your helmet is secure. Your harness is secure and fitted properly, your carabineer is [click bineer three times] 1 2 3 locked, loaded and oriented correctly. Your knot is tied and dressed correctly. The line is running cleanly through the system back down to my belay device which is [3 clicks] 1 2 3 locked loaded and oriented correctly. My harness is 1 2 3 double backed and secure. The slack is out of the system and you are on belay [camper asks “climbing?”] climb on!”) I think it’d be a fun one to sing!
Serving the tables:
My fav job! Even though serving tables means that I probably wont get to eat any more then I can scarf down in three seconds before rushing back out (my rule is, if I find myself enjoying my food, it probably means I have to go check tables) it’s still so much fun!
Since I know so many of the campers and just about all the counselors pretty well, it’s a lot of fun because we don’t mind taking a few minutes to joke around a bit.
My Uncle Daves cabin, Keweenaw, is the oldest boys cabin and they eat SOOOO MUCH!! Haha, but I don’t mind serving them, their a lot of fun and always call me Amazing Ashley when they see me coming.
The other day, I was serving Eliza Ferris’s table (she’s a camper, I call her Eliza Doolittle and she calls me Ashley Doolittle). My regular phrase for checking a table is “is there anything else I can get for you ladies?” and Eliza said “Ashley, I want everything” I answered her by saying my regular phrase for those impossible joking requests we staff girls get on a daily basis with an equally joking “I’ll get right on that for ya”. After that, every time I checked Eliza’s table, she’d ask me how that everything was coming. So, I went back to the kitch and grabbed a plastic cup and with a marker I wrote “everything” on it and brought it out to her. I explained that in order for the cup to work, she had to use her imagination that everything in the world was inside…she said it worked perfectly. :-D
The next day, I was serving Abigail’s table. Abigail is a staff girl who’s counseling during JV. I asked her table if they needed anything else and Ruby, one of her campers, solemnly requested that I bring them world peace. I tried to convince the table that only Jesus could bring that, but Abigail was adamant that I bring them some. So, I again grabbed a plastic cup, this time I wrote “world peace” and threw in a few slices of pineapple. I brought the cup back and explained to the girls that if they ate the pineapple from the world peace cup, they would feel so peaceful that they’d want to spread the peace to everyone around them, thus creating world peace!
The staff guys!
Only the best guys around! Nothing can beat them and this year their especially cool. A few days ago, all the staff girls took a day off together while the campers were on their day trip, we went to town and ate out and everything, it was great to be able to sit down while we ate and enjoy our meal. But, meanwhile, back at the camp, the guys were taking our jobs and serving the campers! (ho great is that!?) anxious to see our brothers at work, we made sure to get home in time to see the end of the meal (I was informed by a camper table that they were ready for scrapers at any time). It was so good seeing our staff fella’s fumble around the kitch yelling “where’s this!? Where’s that!? What is going on here!?” as they graciously refused to allow us girls to help them in any way. when clean up started, however, we decided to keep up the charade and the girls took the boys normal jobs of washing the dishes and picking up the leftovers from the tables, and the guys continued their roles of being us and dried dishes, scraped plates and ran dishes to their proper sinks. There was so much laughing and encouragement (and sarcasm) and pictures being take and shouts of “how do I do this!?” It was so good to be able to switch roles for awhile and get a taste of what the others do.
The other night, Jay, a former staff guy who was visiting and helping out on staff for a week, came in to do devos with us girls and share all the secrets of the guys staff. He kept saying “ask me anything, I’ll tell it all, this is my last night here so I got nothing to hide.” Anyways, he just told us some really encouraging things that we otherwise wouldn't have picked up or noticed from the guys. He told us about how much the guys staff loves and respects us girls and how much they talk about us and all the things we do. He also said that all the things the guys do, whether it be some kind of goofing around or doing their best at a job, it’s all to impress us. The campers rarely see them at work, and even though they do see them goofing around, they don’t always appreciate it, but we girls are the only ones who see them at work all the time, how hard they work and how they’re still able to do the work in joy, and we’re usually the only ones who love it when they goof around and understand their need to be crazy. Jay also said that the guys create a whole new love language (there are the 5: words, gifts, touch, time, acts) but the guys show us the “sixth” by “being mean” or, sarcasm. “when they prank you, or sauce you in the kitchen (“sauce” means dump some kind of food on you or throw bubbles from the sink at you) what they mean to say is ‘I love you’”. finally, Jay told us that, in speaking for all the guys, the qualities they look for in their future wives are those we as staff girls show, we are the models they hold other girls up to, and if a girl couldn’t make it as a staff girl then she wouldn't be the one for him. It was all a lot of encouragement, especially coming from one of our own staff guys, who we respect and love so much. It all goes right back at them too, everything that we do, we do to impress them, they are the ones we look at to. We talk about them all the time in our dorm, laughing at their silliness and the crazy things they do, and commenting on when they do an especially good job on something or just encourage us in some way. I’d say we do our own share of the 6th love language as well, by retaliating in full force when they prank us or lock us in the cooler. :-) and I cant tell you how many times the words “I’m gonna marry a staff guy!” have been said. We have so much respect for them and everything they do, both silly and serious, and the way they show their love for God in their actions and make everyday fun and exciting. Camp just wouldn't be camp without them!
so, thats just a few of the things going on here in the last few days...more every day though, lol, i get to the end of each day and ask someone "what was your favorite thing of your today?" and when they ask the question back at me, i always have to ask "what even happened today!?" each day is full and they're getting fuller!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Be Ye Not Afraid or Discouraged By the Battle….
…The battle is not ours
It is Gods! It is GODS!
And when we begin to sing
Hey! Hey! Hey!
And when we begin to praise
Hey! Hey! Hey!
The Lord will set up ambushes
Against the enemy
He will! He will!
Against the enemy
This song was sung last week at JV, and at first I hated it, (if you could actually hear it, you’d understand just how obnoxious it can be!) and I would sing it in the kitch to annoy the girls because it would get stuck in our heads and bug us all. BUT, this week, I have a whole new appreciation for that song, this song which has quickly become the perfect theme song for JV Camp 2010!
We are under attack here at UPBC, I have never seen such fierce spiritual battle before. There are so many crazy amazing things that have been going on, good and great God things, that the devil is obviously angry beyond belief and trying everything in his power (which is so limited) to tear us down…no such luck!
Ok, so here’s what's been happening…today, at 12:30 am, we officially survived 24 hours without a hospital visit, the first full day in FIVE DAYS!
Our first hospital visit was Brian, one of the staff guys and the smileyest kid you'd ever meet! During one of the JV night games he fell and broke his shoulder, since it was at night he was brought right to the hospital, and by morning his dad was here to pick him up and bring him home. It was so sad though, because we didn’t even get to say goodbye to him! :-(
The next day was Marie (my last post) this was the first visit that involved an ambulance.
Next, one of the campers, PJ, was rushed to the hospital with a very high fever, he’s back and ok now.
Next, Bill Hill, one of the speakers, fell and hit his face while playing basketball…he was rushed in with an ambulance with the possibility of a concussion. He too is now back and doing fine.
NEXT, just when we thought nothing else could happen, yesterday I come out of the dorm to find yet another ambulance parked outside the dining hall…”it’s Todd” someone said. Todd is the one in charge of the staff and the director of the whole camp, he is the one we look up to most and fear the most :-D getting a complement from Todd is the best ever, since he’s very rare about them and genuinely means them.
Anyways, Todd was working on the freezer in the Trading Post when he was electrocuted; his hand was stuck in there for about 20 seconds before he was able to push himself out with his other hand. Everyone was pretty shook up, it was right at lunch time so we all gathered around the pit table for a pit prayer for him. Those prayers were answered and he’s back and fine, except for a sore shoulder. It’s crazy though, because as Aunt Sam (Todd’s wife) pointed out, all the rest of us staffers had been in and out of there, yet he was the only one strong enough to be ok through that! Praise the LORD!
Now, why, you might ask, would this all be happening? Why all these random accidents? Why the ambulance visits (in 11 years I have never seen an ambulance here, now there have been four within a week! (Aunt Dort, an older woman, she’s about 80 I think, was taken in about a week ago) Why (as Eliza Ferris and I would say to each other in mimicry of “David After Dentist” is this happening!?
Let me tell ya! There's a camper led Bible study (started by campers)
Last night was revival night in chapel (at least that’s what the staff is calling it) when the staff and counselors were able to pray with any campers who wanted too, and many kids accepted Jesus as their savior, and so many others rededicated their lives to Him! (yeah, the hour and a half service turned into two and a half)
Specific prayer requests are being answered
Campers are connecting with each other and the counselors and staff
God is present and we all know it!
All this and more is driving the devil crazy! he’s so mad, but we’re not letting him win! This battle is Gods and every time He wins another fight through us I get so excited I want to jump up and down and dance around! Haha, it’s so good up here.
It is Gods! It is GODS!
And when we begin to sing
Hey! Hey! Hey!
And when we begin to praise
Hey! Hey! Hey!
The Lord will set up ambushes
Against the enemy
He will! He will!
Against the enemy
This song was sung last week at JV, and at first I hated it, (if you could actually hear it, you’d understand just how obnoxious it can be!) and I would sing it in the kitch to annoy the girls because it would get stuck in our heads and bug us all. BUT, this week, I have a whole new appreciation for that song, this song which has quickly become the perfect theme song for JV Camp 2010!
We are under attack here at UPBC, I have never seen such fierce spiritual battle before. There are so many crazy amazing things that have been going on, good and great God things, that the devil is obviously angry beyond belief and trying everything in his power (which is so limited) to tear us down…no such luck!
Ok, so here’s what's been happening…today, at 12:30 am, we officially survived 24 hours without a hospital visit, the first full day in FIVE DAYS!
Our first hospital visit was Brian, one of the staff guys and the smileyest kid you'd ever meet! During one of the JV night games he fell and broke his shoulder, since it was at night he was brought right to the hospital, and by morning his dad was here to pick him up and bring him home. It was so sad though, because we didn’t even get to say goodbye to him! :-(
The next day was Marie (my last post) this was the first visit that involved an ambulance.
Next, one of the campers, PJ, was rushed to the hospital with a very high fever, he’s back and ok now.
Next, Bill Hill, one of the speakers, fell and hit his face while playing basketball…he was rushed in with an ambulance with the possibility of a concussion. He too is now back and doing fine.
NEXT, just when we thought nothing else could happen, yesterday I come out of the dorm to find yet another ambulance parked outside the dining hall…”it’s Todd” someone said. Todd is the one in charge of the staff and the director of the whole camp, he is the one we look up to most and fear the most :-D getting a complement from Todd is the best ever, since he’s very rare about them and genuinely means them.
Anyways, Todd was working on the freezer in the Trading Post when he was electrocuted; his hand was stuck in there for about 20 seconds before he was able to push himself out with his other hand. Everyone was pretty shook up, it was right at lunch time so we all gathered around the pit table for a pit prayer for him. Those prayers were answered and he’s back and fine, except for a sore shoulder. It’s crazy though, because as Aunt Sam (Todd’s wife) pointed out, all the rest of us staffers had been in and out of there, yet he was the only one strong enough to be ok through that! Praise the LORD!
Now, why, you might ask, would this all be happening? Why all these random accidents? Why the ambulance visits (in 11 years I have never seen an ambulance here, now there have been four within a week! (Aunt Dort, an older woman, she’s about 80 I think, was taken in about a week ago) Why (as Eliza Ferris and I would say to each other in mimicry of “David After Dentist” is this happening!?
Let me tell ya! There's a camper led Bible study (started by campers)
Last night was revival night in chapel (at least that’s what the staff is calling it) when the staff and counselors were able to pray with any campers who wanted too, and many kids accepted Jesus as their savior, and so many others rededicated their lives to Him! (yeah, the hour and a half service turned into two and a half)
Specific prayer requests are being answered
Campers are connecting with each other and the counselors and staff
God is present and we all know it!
All this and more is driving the devil crazy! he’s so mad, but we’re not letting him win! This battle is Gods and every time He wins another fight through us I get so excited I want to jump up and down and dance around! Haha, it’s so good up here.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
They "Just So Happened" to be There
so here's the story. (at least as close to how i've heard it over and again in the past few days)
Marie, one of the JV counselors, was tubing with Sarah, a fellow counselor. the tube gets flipped, and somehow, Marie gets ht in the head and goes unconscious. Sarah, who "just so happens" to be a life guard, was able to get to Marie immediately and turn her so her face is not in the water. meanwhile, Cora is life guarding on the raft (or maybe the patrol boat) sees whats going on and, despite the fact that she is silent as a mouse, she is able to find her voice and through the walky-talky, informs Trevor (head life guard on the beach) of what is going on. Trev jumps on the rescue board and flies across the lake at a speed that those watching couldn't believe. meanwhile, Jay, "just so happens" to be guarding in the patrol at the time (Michal was scheduled, but he had been double booked with the ropes course, so Jay took his place on water front). Jay also "just so happens" to be the one who planed out the emergency process, and "just so happened" to be at camp at all, he was just visiting for the week and is not a staffer. (Jay also "just so happens to be in the navy :-) anyways, Jay jumps in and swims to Marie and is able to help pull her to shallow water. meanwhile 911 is being called and campers are being taken out of the water and everything is running smoothly, running smoothly because everyone is able to comunicate clearly to each other through the 4 new walky-talkies that "just so happened" to come in that day (they used every last one of them that day) plus, J.D. an old time camp person and "just so happens" to be an on call EMS "just so happened" to be right around the corner from camp and heard the call and got there right away.
Marie is fine and back at camp now...but the number of ppl who were there and "werent supposed" to be, and the things that happened that "werent supposed" to still gets me so excited and giddy and makes me wanna jump whenever i think bout it! God was MOST DEFIANTLY at work that day, and He used that situation to prove to us that He is in control and He's got us taken care of in His strong and able hands!
Marie, one of the JV counselors, was tubing with Sarah, a fellow counselor. the tube gets flipped, and somehow, Marie gets ht in the head and goes unconscious. Sarah, who "just so happens" to be a life guard, was able to get to Marie immediately and turn her so her face is not in the water. meanwhile, Cora is life guarding on the raft (or maybe the patrol boat) sees whats going on and, despite the fact that she is silent as a mouse, she is able to find her voice and through the walky-talky, informs Trevor (head life guard on the beach) of what is going on. Trev jumps on the rescue board and flies across the lake at a speed that those watching couldn't believe. meanwhile, Jay, "just so happens" to be guarding in the patrol at the time (Michal was scheduled, but he had been double booked with the ropes course, so Jay took his place on water front). Jay also "just so happens" to be the one who planed out the emergency process, and "just so happened" to be at camp at all, he was just visiting for the week and is not a staffer. (Jay also "just so happens to be in the navy :-) anyways, Jay jumps in and swims to Marie and is able to help pull her to shallow water. meanwhile 911 is being called and campers are being taken out of the water and everything is running smoothly, running smoothly because everyone is able to comunicate clearly to each other through the 4 new walky-talkies that "just so happened" to come in that day (they used every last one of them that day) plus, J.D. an old time camp person and "just so happens" to be an on call EMS "just so happened" to be right around the corner from camp and heard the call and got there right away.
Marie is fine and back at camp now...but the number of ppl who were there and "werent supposed" to be, and the things that happened that "werent supposed" to still gets me so excited and giddy and makes me wanna jump whenever i think bout it! God was MOST DEFIANTLY at work that day, and He used that situation to prove to us that He is in control and He's got us taken care of in His strong and able hands!
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