half way!

we are officially half done camp! today we concluded Week 4. i can hardly believe it. there has been significantly less injuries than that first week..... or maybe i really am just getting used to it. actually, the other counsellors have been very nice to me and have stopped sending their campers to me after every mention of a tummy ache (the kid just needed to stop running around and take a break for a minute?) or need for a teeny band-aid.

this week was different. the Holy Spirit was moving, something was happening at the beginning of the week and we were excited. i knew something was different. my campers were asking amazing questions about God, creation, Jesus, how does one get to heaven, what is a sinner, how do you become a Christian, etc. it was awesome. i was pumped. of course, the girls were pretty hyperactive and often asked more questions before i could even answer the first one.
"okay so you just said that you think that you can get to heaven by being good.... does anyone know what the Bible says about that?"
"ummmm, you need to believe."
"okay, believe what?"
"uhhh, in God?"

etc. it was neat, i got to explain the story of salvation with my team of girls everyday, because the questions kept on coming. and one of my campers became a christian one night! and another kept asking a ton of questions and is very curious!

however, their hyperactivity just increased and by thursday, they could not sit through our team time, with one camper begging to call her mom because she had hurt her knee the night before and it really really hurt and she wanted to go home. and another camper asking every 2 minutes or so if she could change out of her pajamas (this was the morning after the sleepover, and i had asked her before breakfast if she was still wearing her pjs and she said no, which she later admitted that was a lie, since it was now much later and she was still in her pjs) and i kept telling her, no, she'd have to wait 5 minutes until after we were done our Bible lesson, but then she'd ask again 2 minutes later. and all the other girls kept walking around, doing what? i don't know. and we were supposed to be making a skit/song/anything to present the memory verse (i was having trouble "loving my neighbour as myself" at that moment). they were driving me crazy. i eventually had to tell them that i was not going to yell at them to be quiet anymore and if they couldn't focus soon, i was ready to get up and leave, and they'd have to figure it out on their own, and they'd end up looking like fools when they presented it. they eventually pulled out a weak half-a-minute modern-day version of the good samaritan, which was the skit that they had just seen half an hour earlier. it was not a good day for julia.

last week i had the 6 year olds. this week i thought it would be easier with the 11 year olds. ha! by the end of the week, i was telling 2 of my campers that they act like 3 year olds and whine more than my grade 1 kids from last week. yes, i am mean. well, not usually, but i'm just telling you about the times that i am mean. i actually had a camper (who apparently is going into grade 7), who was lying on the floor, briefly kick her feet and pound on the floor with her fists when we told her she couldn't do something. wow. at the zoo on thursday afternoon.... i've never heard that much whining in my whole life. at anything and everything. the day before my camper whined all day that she was sick, but all she had for breakfast was 2 chocolate bars. and she wasn't hungry for lunch, but still wanted to eat her dunkaroos and the massive bag of chips. i almost begged her to eat her sandwich. ("i don't like bologna" *pout*) okay at least just some of the bread, or her orange ("i'm not hungry..." ...munch munch). finally some other counsellors intervened. but not before she barfed 3 times.
[at the waterslides today i somehow tricked her into not buying cotton candy before lunch, since she didn't eat breakfast, but later she bought 2 dozen mini donuts. and amazingly she's not obese].

hmmm. yes, it was hard to not have favorites this week. i just avoided some of my campers and i loved the others.... just at those times when i began to hate the way my name sounded "ju....li...aaaaaaa....." whine whine whine. (some of the other staff felt the same way about my girls too, it's not just me!).

wow, okay this was a long rant. and i could go on. but i shan't. it is the weekend, and i feel pretty good right now and i want to end on a positive note. my sister genifer was out here visiting and stayed for night on tuesday. it was good to see her again. and now steve is here until sunday. good times! i love visitors!!

[any suggestions? i mean, besides going to the forks?]