God Rocks My World

Can I just say that God is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING?

Just because He is. For no reason, and for all reasons. He's just been way good to me lately, and I just feel the need to express how happy I am to be here at Camp. I had a few hard weeks in there, but lately things have just been shifting for the better. I'm just enjoying things so much and feel much more confident. I guess these things just come with time, but I had to battle those insecurities head-on. It's still an uphill climb, but it is now one that I can see more clearly that God has wanted me to walk.

::Sigh::

I'll take you through the last few days/weeks:

-A time to get some sleep at home and to reevaluate how I was doing ... I wasn't too pleased with myself then.
-Some time to serve as program staff, making me remember that I'm here not for my own doing, but for others
-AN AMAZING CABIN! I had 8 girls that I am SO happy that I got to know! I was so proud of them: Their servant hearts, their happy attitudes, their love for the Lord, their happiness in each other. So cool!
-A half week of Nite Owl, AKA the craziest most uncoventional camp ever introduced to the WELS. Think: canoeing at 2am and doing the ropes course from like, 10pm to 4am. And a million other FUN things, coupled with a small, FUN staff and just 14 campers ... 13 girls, 1 boy. HILARIOUS! And I got to be the photographer, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
-A GREAT midsummer eval, which calmed down A LOT of my fears and worries and insecurities and misconceptions.
-A road-trip to Michigan! I got to know some insanely awesome girls much better and got to play in God's creation on the sand dunes on the coast. And Laaaaura's mom made us food in Chicago on the way! Whoot! And if you get the chance, hike the friggin dunes. SOOOO FUN.
-SALT Staff Retreat! Some GREAT chill-time in Steven's Pt, WI. You have not experienced a true board-game experience until you've played with Camp people. Nor have you experienced a rummage sale at its fullest until you go with Camp people. And if you have never played the game Warewolves, make sure that when you do play it, you play it in front of drunk people ... they will be very confused when you accuse others of being possessed!

Now I'm on a weeek of program staff again - Got devo tomorrow! Pray for me, and that God may speak through my inadequacies to further His Kingdom in those little 3rd-5th graders!

Much love.

Back at Camp!

So that last post was a little random. I just had never published it till now.

Obviously it's a lot later. A lot happened when I was home. Not all of it was great, especially in the friends scene. Mostly it was Nikki-Tracy time, which I'm entirely okay with. But soon it was back to Camp, which was GREAT. It felt so good to be back.

Oh, but I guess I don't have time to write for now. Ah well ... gonna chill out for awhile. I'm going to be Camp Photographer next half-week; wish me luck on my DVD making abilities. Dad, I shall be calling you a lot.

EXTREME Summer

A lot has happened in the past few days! In mere hours I've gone from being immersed in Camp to becoming a part of real world! Here's how ...

Last week's session was a random one. After my bouts of hysterics about my campers not liking me and not knowing how to handle/connect with them, things started to look up. We had some time to get to know each other some more and I think we all got used to each other and even started to enjoy each other's company. Then on Wednesday things got weird again and I got this 24 hour flu thing, where my head spinned and I puked a lot. I got to have some time off, totally crashing from quiet time to dinner. Luckily I soon got on my way to feeling better, because Thursday I had to be in shape to drive a 15 passenger van down to Devil's Lake. I didn't feel so hot in the morning, but we made it there without any "EXTREME PUKING" mishaps ... and without getting lost. (Boo-ya to all you staff who put bets on me winding up somewhere in Minnesota or other adjacent state.) It ended up being such a fun day! Our little road trip down was made into an 80's dance party and oldies at the top of our lungs. (I think they thought Karen and I were crazy ... !) Thursday ended up being an amazing day of rock climbing. We had perfect weather and we all survived the brutal hike up the bluffs, though I did think that my heart was going to pop out of my chest on more than one occasion. I've always wanted to go, but I have now decided that rock climbing is the greatest thing since ... surfing. I think I need an EXTREME VACATION someday. (Have you noticed that you can make anything sound exciting when you but the word EXTREME in front of it and scream the phrase in a LOUD VOICE? I have.) Here's some pictures of me being EXTREMELY HARDCORE. Kay, I'm done.

So yeah. It was just a blast. Oh, and here's the cheer my girls came up with:

We are climbing girls
In a rocky world
It's fantastic -
Helmets are plastic!
We don't brush our hair
Got bruises everywhe-ere
We've got muscle -
You better hustle!

Come on rockers let's go climbing
(Ah-ah-ah yeah)
Come on rockers let's go climbing
(Oo-oh, Oo-oh)

After that the week went quickly, bringing me to Saturday, where I got to go home! It's been sooo nice. When I finally stepped in the house a few hours later, my mom actually squealed. My parents grilled out and Leslie came over to enjoy that real food with me. (Not that I don't love Sysco ... ) I pretty much sat around the rest of the night and loved it. Loooooved it! Tracy eventually came over, and we discussed our now separate lives and all the things that have happened over the past month. It's so weird not being able to talk to many of the main people in my life ... She stayed over for a while, but I crashed after she tucked me in and I got to SLEEP IN the next day!