i just woke up from my daily nap and my thoughts are all over the map. i can't believe that it's already Week 8. it's junior high week so the kids are totally different and i love it. we spend a lot more time just hanging out. now if the weather will just cooperate, this will be a great week. which is nice. last week was the longest week ever. but soon it's all over. and then i won't be tired anymore! yipee! but i will miss camp. and i don't want to go back to school yet. i have very mixed feelings about this. on friday we're going out to celebrate my survival of Crazy Summer. my wonderful husband just told me that he's taking me to rainbow stage to see the sound of music. i can't wait!!
yesterday we came home from camping at clear lake. it's been awhile since i've been camping in a national park. wow, is there ever a huge difference!! it was so beautiful, so well kept. the gorgeous flower gardens, the huge trees and green lawns, the nice beach, the plethora of gift shops which of course all sell ice cream, and of course the museum with the stuffed moose and bear and owl and wolf and deer and cougar, complete with buttons you can press to hear the sound of elk in both french and english. it was wonderfully relaxing and definitely worth the almost 3 hour drive out there.
now i think it's about time i start packing. after all, we're moving next friday. hey if you're free next friday do you wanna lend a hand?
Monday, August 20, 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
only 6 days left
this week has been the longest week of camp so far. the director was gone for 3 days so i was basically doing his job and mine and trying to deligate some tasks to others. i knew ahead of time that he was going to be gone, but the plan was that the youth pastor was going to step in during this time. however we didn't foresee that the youth pastor was going to be injured at a retreat on the weekend before and therefore out of commission this week. so, it's been the longest week ever for me. but he's back now and i have eagerly given the reigns back to him. i don't like doing his job and mine.
i know that there were a lot of people praying extra hard for me this week and i thank you for that. i had a lot of extra energy and actually felt less tired this week than most other weeks. but now i can feel myself crashing. this is not a good feeling. we're going camping this weekend with jonathan and kimberly so that should be good for me.
okay i shouldn't make it sound like it's been a terrible week. i really like the kids this week. it's been neat as i've been hanging out with the older boys (10 and 11 year olds) quite a bit. besides being the trouble makers, they're actually a lot of fun.
oh and the zoo was fun yesterday. i got to see the oldest polar bear in the world take a poop and leave half of it on his butt. nice!
i know that there were a lot of people praying extra hard for me this week and i thank you for that. i had a lot of extra energy and actually felt less tired this week than most other weeks. but now i can feel myself crashing. this is not a good feeling. we're going camping this weekend with jonathan and kimberly so that should be good for me.
okay i shouldn't make it sound like it's been a terrible week. i really like the kids this week. it's been neat as i've been hanging out with the older boys (10 and 11 year olds) quite a bit. besides being the trouble makers, they're actually a lot of fun.
oh and the zoo was fun yesterday. i got to see the oldest polar bear in the world take a poop and leave half of it on his butt. nice!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
the long weekend
last weekend we were at rae and marvin's wedding. it was right on the beach and it was wonderful. we had brought along our tent and camping stuff as had planned to stay in the campground that was right there. when we arrived, the weather was weird - overcast, humid, gusty winds. the campground was filled with gnarled old oak trees and the random, abandoned shacks kinda creeped us out. we decided to stick it out. little did we know that we were in for quite the adventure....
click here for the whole story.
the next day it was sunny and the freaky old trees actually looked quite beautiful. the place wasn't so bad, so we stayed for another night. we had a great time relaxing with no agenda and nothing to do but read books, take random pictures on the beach (see Side Bar) and hang out...
our campsite in the creepy campground. note the location of the firepit.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
life and beauty
yesterday i was driving through the countryside and contemplating beauty. here is a picture of true beauty:
on my left, a cloudless blue sky and a farmer's field with vibrantly green crops blowing in the wind. on my right, the deep yellow of sunflowers, with the late afternoon sun warming the earth. i'm on my way to visit a friend that i haven't spent quality time with in a very long time. on the way home later, the gigantic full moon lighting up these same fields with a cool, eerie light.
and i have lots of time to think. lately i've been thinking a lot about the fragility of life. well, basically since i heard of the passing of nate toews. i knew nate and his brothers and their wives from bethany. not that we were close friends, but it's still so shocking to hear that this could happen to someone so talented and full of life and someone my age. it's scary. [toews families, i'm praying for you guys. especially for rosanna]. i cannot fathom what it would be like if R died suddenly in a car accident. yesterday afternoon, i was on the phone and R had to go somewhere. he was going to kiss me goodbye, but i was talking to a camp volunteer, so he just waved and left. my conversation ended right after that, and suddenly, i was like, "what if R doesn't come home to me?" so i ran outside, caught him before he left and kissed him goodbye.
no, we shouldn't be paranoid. but i have been reminded that life is fragile, life is precious. savour it. love it. and enjoy the beauty of it.
on my left, a cloudless blue sky and a farmer's field with vibrantly green crops blowing in the wind. on my right, the deep yellow of sunflowers, with the late afternoon sun warming the earth. i'm on my way to visit a friend that i haven't spent quality time with in a very long time. on the way home later, the gigantic full moon lighting up these same fields with a cool, eerie light.
and i have lots of time to think. lately i've been thinking a lot about the fragility of life. well, basically since i heard of the passing of nate toews. i knew nate and his brothers and their wives from bethany. not that we were close friends, but it's still so shocking to hear that this could happen to someone so talented and full of life and someone my age. it's scary. [toews families, i'm praying for you guys. especially for rosanna]. i cannot fathom what it would be like if R died suddenly in a car accident. yesterday afternoon, i was on the phone and R had to go somewhere. he was going to kiss me goodbye, but i was talking to a camp volunteer, so he just waved and left. my conversation ended right after that, and suddenly, i was like, "what if R doesn't come home to me?" so i ran outside, caught him before he left and kissed him goodbye.
no, we shouldn't be paranoid. but i have been reminded that life is fragile, life is precious. savour it. love it. and enjoy the beauty of it.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
hot hot hot
check this out. 24 degrees outside. okay.... that's nice. oh, and it feels like 34.... okay that's a bit warm.
oh yeah, check out the time, if you can read it. yes, it's only 6:00 AM. that's how this week has been at camp.
gotta go. we're off to the beach with the kiddies....
oh yeah, check out the time, if you can read it. yes, it's only 6:00 AM. that's how this week has been at camp.
gotta go. we're off to the beach with the kiddies....
Monday, July 23, 2007
give me wax on my board, keep me surfing for the Lord....
i got to work this morning and found out right away that the jon, the director, was really sick and not coming in today. so that means that i'm now not just assistant director, LIT director, and health officer. nope, now i'm the director as well. or i guess acting director. so, forget the LIT stuff that i was going to work on that morning, it was time for me to jump in and make up the teams for the week and assign the counselors and LITs to them. then i looked over the stuff that jon always does on monday morning - staff intros, rules, team names and cheers, etc. oh and teach the large group Bible story. usually, afterwards, the teams go to their team rooms and talk a bit more about the Bible lesson. i was thinking of just getting the counselors to teach the story to their own teams because i was a little overwhelmed at this point (hey jon, a little warning would have been nice! but then again, i probably would have been up all night worrying about it). but then i thought, really, i KNOW the story of baby moses in the basket, and i DO like teaching - hey, i was always going to be a teacher - why not just go for it? so i just did it and i think it went really well.
the second thing i learned when i arrived was that one of the three LITs that was supposed to be here this week, won't be coming because he's at a different camp. hmmmm. good to know.
since it hit 39 degrees with the humidex today, we stayed at the over-air-conditioned church and played a ton of games inside and a giant game of waterballoons and running through a sprinkler in our clothes, outside. it was a good day, the kids had a BLAST - they asked to go through the special agent obstacle course a few times - but i am SOOO tired now. i hope jon's back tomorrow.
i did get some good news today. we have a new home to move into in september!!! it's an apartment (not our first choice, but oh well), and its wood construction (also not our first choice as sound carries, but oh well), and it's only available sept. 1 and we need to be out of here by aug. 31, so we may need to move twice, but..... we finally have a place!! it's a block away from here so i can walk to school again next year. it has 2 bedrooms, a wood-burning fireplace (which will be well used in the winter!), in-suite laundry, outdoor pool, a sunken living room, a kitchen that's about twice as big as mine right now and a patio.
so ya. life is crazy. but God answers prayers. as in during the singing of "give me oil in my lamp" this morning during the last verse i prayed the lyrics, "give me umption in my gumption, help me function, function, function...."
the second thing i learned when i arrived was that one of the three LITs that was supposed to be here this week, won't be coming because he's at a different camp. hmmmm. good to know.
since it hit 39 degrees with the humidex today, we stayed at the over-air-conditioned church and played a ton of games inside and a giant game of waterballoons and running through a sprinkler in our clothes, outside. it was a good day, the kids had a BLAST - they asked to go through the special agent obstacle course a few times - but i am SOOO tired now. i hope jon's back tomorrow.
i did get some good news today. we have a new home to move into in september!!! it's an apartment (not our first choice, but oh well), and its wood construction (also not our first choice as sound carries, but oh well), and it's only available sept. 1 and we need to be out of here by aug. 31, so we may need to move twice, but..... we finally have a place!! it's a block away from here so i can walk to school again next year. it has 2 bedrooms, a wood-burning fireplace (which will be well used in the winter!), in-suite laundry, outdoor pool, a sunken living room, a kitchen that's about twice as big as mine right now and a patio.
so ya. life is crazy. but God answers prayers. as in during the singing of "give me oil in my lamp" this morning during the last verse i prayed the lyrics, "give me umption in my gumption, help me function, function, function...."
Friday, July 20, 2007
it's friday
it's friday. that means a lot of things.
first, i'm a little exhausted.
second, i'm not as exhausted as i was yesterday. the wednesday-thursday sleepovers are the longest, hardest days. but then thursday night i get an amazing sleep and feel better for friday.
third, it's the weekend so i now try my hardest to leave work at work and just relax and not think about camp. this has been really hard to do so far, as i spend a lot of time on the phone calling volunteers, reminding them of the week to come, or else hunting down a bus driver to fill the empty slot on monday or reminding LITs that they're on for the next week, etc. etc. but not this weekend. nope, i think i've got that all done already.
fourth, since R isn't home tonight, i think after this i'm gonna throw on a chick flick and finish off that chocolate pudding that's in the fridge.
i've been asked by a lot of people about how camp is going and what exactly i am doing. so here is my official letter-of-what-i'm-doing-this-summer. (some of you may be receiving this in the mail quite shortly if you have not already).
* * *
I have now survived 3 weeks of camp! Actually, I didn’t just survive, I had a whole lot of fun.
Once again, I am working at the day camp at our church. This summer I have many roles. First of all, I am the Assistant Director. For the past two months, the director and I have been hard at work planning and preparing for the 300+ campers that will pass through the church doors during the eight weeks of camp. The main theme is based on Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” The special-agent-themed curriculum follows the idea that God is always with us and will give us courage to obey Him, even when it’s hard. This theme has also been a lot of fun to work with as we planned events like a “special agent training course” and decorated our “Headquarters” with giant posters to make it look like the control center of a spaceship. Part of my job is to recruit bus drivers and volunteers to help with the meals that we give the campers during the mid-week sleepover. I am learning just how difficult it can be to get volunteers, especially during the summer months when people are unsure of when they are taking their holidays.
I am also the Leader-in-Training Director. The Leader-in-Training (LIT) Program was brand new last summer, but lacked in structure and direction. This past spring I really struggled with the decision of whether or not to return to camp this year, but it really felt like God was telling me that He wanted me to be the one to develop the LIT program. As I was busy working on the program and creating a LIT Handbook, I began to get really excited about all the possibilities for the LITs. The LITs are high school students who work with a team of campers alongside a counsellor, as they learn what it means to be a leader. These LITs have thought about what they want to achieve this summer and have created some personal goals for themselves. Also, they are given “daily missions” such as “Learn the names of all your campers on your team by the end of the day” or “Take initiative to do something extra. Find something that needs to get done and do it!” I am very excited to see how this program will turn out.
That’s not all. I am also filling the role of Health Officer once again. I will be responsible for the medical aspects of camp, such as keeping a log of medical incidents, managing the camper’s medications, keeping track of the ever-increasing list of life-threatening allergies and handing out a whole lot of band-aids. This part of my job is the simplest, and yet it is slightly scary as we usually have a number of children with life-threatening allergies.
At Camp, we want to see hearts and lives change. But we also know that we cannot do this on our own – it is up to the Holy Spirit to touch the hearts of these campers. I ask that you pray for our camp, that God will become very real to the campers and that lives will be turned to Him. Also, pray for health and safety for the campers and staff. And please pray that God will give us His strength every day so that we will have energy to get excited with the kids, to consistently look out for their needs and to still have energy to be a little bit silly with them.
I also ask you to consider financially supporting me in this ministry. I have been asked to raise a portion of my wages. If you decide to support me in this way, please email or call me for details on how to do so.
May the Lord bless you as you consider your involvement with this ministry, an involvement that will touch the hearts of many children.
P.S. If you want to see some camp pictures, check out http://picasaweb.google.com/adcspecialagents
first, i'm a little exhausted.
second, i'm not as exhausted as i was yesterday. the wednesday-thursday sleepovers are the longest, hardest days. but then thursday night i get an amazing sleep and feel better for friday.
third, it's the weekend so i now try my hardest to leave work at work and just relax and not think about camp. this has been really hard to do so far, as i spend a lot of time on the phone calling volunteers, reminding them of the week to come, or else hunting down a bus driver to fill the empty slot on monday or reminding LITs that they're on for the next week, etc. etc. but not this weekend. nope, i think i've got that all done already.
fourth, since R isn't home tonight, i think after this i'm gonna throw on a chick flick and finish off that chocolate pudding that's in the fridge.
i've been asked by a lot of people about how camp is going and what exactly i am doing. so here is my official letter-of-what-i'm-doing-this-summer. (some of you may be receiving this in the mail quite shortly if you have not already).
* * *
I have now survived 3 weeks of camp! Actually, I didn’t just survive, I had a whole lot of fun.
Once again, I am working at the day camp at our church. This summer I have many roles. First of all, I am the Assistant Director. For the past two months, the director and I have been hard at work planning and preparing for the 300+ campers that will pass through the church doors during the eight weeks of camp. The main theme is based on Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” The special-agent-themed curriculum follows the idea that God is always with us and will give us courage to obey Him, even when it’s hard. This theme has also been a lot of fun to work with as we planned events like a “special agent training course” and decorated our “Headquarters” with giant posters to make it look like the control center of a spaceship. Part of my job is to recruit bus drivers and volunteers to help with the meals that we give the campers during the mid-week sleepover. I am learning just how difficult it can be to get volunteers, especially during the summer months when people are unsure of when they are taking their holidays.
I am also the Leader-in-Training Director. The Leader-in-Training (LIT) Program was brand new last summer, but lacked in structure and direction. This past spring I really struggled with the decision of whether or not to return to camp this year, but it really felt like God was telling me that He wanted me to be the one to develop the LIT program. As I was busy working on the program and creating a LIT Handbook, I began to get really excited about all the possibilities for the LITs. The LITs are high school students who work with a team of campers alongside a counsellor, as they learn what it means to be a leader. These LITs have thought about what they want to achieve this summer and have created some personal goals for themselves. Also, they are given “daily missions” such as “Learn the names of all your campers on your team by the end of the day” or “Take initiative to do something extra. Find something that needs to get done and do it!” I am very excited to see how this program will turn out.
That’s not all. I am also filling the role of Health Officer once again. I will be responsible for the medical aspects of camp, such as keeping a log of medical incidents, managing the camper’s medications, keeping track of the ever-increasing list of life-threatening allergies and handing out a whole lot of band-aids. This part of my job is the simplest, and yet it is slightly scary as we usually have a number of children with life-threatening allergies.
At Camp, we want to see hearts and lives change. But we also know that we cannot do this on our own – it is up to the Holy Spirit to touch the hearts of these campers. I ask that you pray for our camp, that God will become very real to the campers and that lives will be turned to Him. Also, pray for health and safety for the campers and staff. And please pray that God will give us His strength every day so that we will have energy to get excited with the kids, to consistently look out for their needs and to still have energy to be a little bit silly with them.
I also ask you to consider financially supporting me in this ministry. I have been asked to raise a portion of my wages. If you decide to support me in this way, please email or call me for details on how to do so.
May the Lord bless you as you consider your involvement with this ministry, an involvement that will touch the hearts of many children.
P.S. If you want to see some camp pictures, check out http://picasaweb.google.com/adcspecialagents
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