The Free Willy Pose

I'm just going to throw out the fact that I LOVE CAMP!  I really do!  I don't feel like I'm ever there enough, and I HATE leaving!  This week is staff training, and I was able to go to the first part of it from Thursday to Monday.  

I arrived on Thursday a little before lunch.  There was a VBS going on, so everyone was occupied.  I unloaded and moved in before seeing anyone.  When I got to the office, Sue said hi, asked if I had shoes on, and sent Dom and I to pony rides.  Naturally, I was the happiest!  I love working with the horses.  I've really been missing working with cattle lately too.  I led Moses around and chatted with so many little children!  I love doing pony rides!  :)  We headed into lunch and Toby sat next to me.  He's starting to become my friend, I think.  He was being goofy and opened my taste buds to ranch dip mixed with ketchup on my french fries.  It won't choke a dog.  After lunch, I headed to the trampolines with a bunch of people, and I harnessed for a while.  I had a little scare with a big snake that was being held by Katie Riley.  It was funny, and the snake was held, so it wasn't a big scare.  Soon, I was off to the Craft Room to help Kindergartners.  I soon got told to go back to pony rides.  I led Petey this time.  I got to led my 2 favorite camp horses.  How much better could my afternoon have gotten??!!  I sat with Brittany for supper and was able to catch up with her quite a bit.  While we were eating, it started down pouring!  It wasn't done by the time we had to move over to the AC, so we ran through the rain.  It was fun!  Camie asked Anna and I to go grab the crafts that the kids had made and bring them back to the AC.  We drove my car over, loaded them up and I backed up to the door for Anna to get out.  It rained for quite a while!  The VBS program went really well.  Anna and I then had to go grab towels from the Upper AC to dry off and cover up the seat of the hay rack.  Patrick helped and we got it about as good as it would get.  As soon as all the riders were on, it started to rain.  I had grabbed my boots and umbrella though!  I jokingly asked Daniel to make me a S'more because it was still raining and he seriously made me one!  I'm never disappointed by S'mores!  :)  Anna and I were sent for towels again, so her, Patrick, and I got the seats ready for the second time.  That ride was finally able to go out, and we were able to sit by the fire until a short staff meeting.  We got good news that we wouldn't have to be ready to work until 9!

Friday was mostly spent in anticipation for the arrival of all my friends sometime in the afternoon.  The morning involved cleaning the Dining Hall.  I've never mopped for so long in my life!  But it felt good, ya know?  Amy and I got sent to the Upper AC to sort and stack all the towels and put them back.  I found a pretty sweet one!

We then got sent on the adventure of folding and stacking the tarps in the maintenance shed.  It was my first time in there!  It was a lot of fun clamoring around on the shelf.  What was not fun was when I found a wasp nest.  Luckily, it was empty and it was time for me to leave to go host lunch!  Dom helped me host and it was easy.  I'm glad I know what I'm doing this summer!  After that, it was time for us to wait "patiently" while the staff slowly began to arrive.  We weeded in the waiting.  When Alison pulled in, I didn't even let her get out of her seatbelt before give her a HUG+E hug!  When Lindsay came, she stayed locked in her van just to torture us.  We sat at the picnic table for quite a while and talked and laughed so much!  We also ate plenty of gummy bears.  Lindsay tends to lose things.  We had fun making a list of things that she is bound to lose this summer!  :)

Soon, we took a very crowded hay rack ride around camp.  Just before supper, some of us girls played Apples to Apples Disney.  So much fun!  After supper, it was time for a get-to-know-you game and team building.  I had a good group and we had fun in the rain.  After chapel and another game, it was bedtime.  I found out that I was going to be in the kitchen for a while the next afternoon.

When my team didn't have a job to do after breakfast, I snagged a swing and had a little TAG time.  Camie soon left the stroller that had Tucker in it with me.  What a happy baby!

 Ric then asked if I would step into the kitchen.  Again, I'm glad I know what I'm doing, if I didn't, I wouldn't feel confident with stepping in like that.  I got to cut the awkward block of cheese again, and then I was sent to my bakery corner to make pound cake.  I'm glad I knew how to separate eggs because I did it 24 times! :)  8 loaves of pound cake later, I was free.  Since I went in in the morning, I was replaced for the afternoon and was able to participate in staff jam with my team.  We had a lot of fun!

That evening after worship, we went around and introduced ourselves.  There are a lot of people!  It's so exciting to be a part of something so wonderful!  :)  We spent some time doing My Stories which is where we write out our testimony, but kind of the short condensed version.  I didn't write near as much as I remember writing last year, so I got done early.  Lindsay did too, so naturally, we were giggly and loud and almost got in trouble.  Every night during staff training before lights out, there is often multiple guitars strumming and many voices joined together in worship.  It is such a cool thing to listen to as I write out an evening prayer, and a cool thing to be a part of too.  

Sunday is one of my favorite days.  I wore my yellow dress and went to First Baptist.  I love that place!  Us staff are so welcomed, and it reminds me of my church back home.  It's such a sweet place and they are always praying for us and asking how the weeks are going.  It was wonderful to worship there again, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the summer as well.  While hosting lunch, Jay, Laura, and myself fixed up the pound cake I made with strawberries and whipped cream.  It was delicious!  Jani arrived after lunch and it was great to see her again!  We walked through the registration process and headed up to the lake.  We walked through a shallow end search and cleaned out weeds before being able to swim.  The water felt so refreshing!  We ran through the opening day skit.  I think it will be a lot of fun when it comes together.  I got a little downtime before supper which was a relief.  I'm so excited for a summer of working hard!  During supper, we found out that Chee, one of the horses, was not feeling well and was walking and walking and walking.  We did the Free Willy Pose in hopes to get him better.  He did get back up after he fell.  I'm not sure how he is now, but I hope he's better.  He's been at camp for many moons.  We played a new game.  That was my workout for a while.  We had a long session and it was good.  I was so tired by the end of the day that I basically just took out my contacts and fell into bed.  I MUST drink lots and lots of water EVERY day this summer!  We were told to be ready by 7:30 to take part in an activity before breakfast.

Memorial Day was beautiful!  We gathered under the awning and waited.  Luke had us do a sense of urgency drill where we walked the loop of the Lodge as fast as we could without jogging/running.  This was to make sure that we weren't lollygagging between jobs.   After breakfast, my team had bathrooms.  I then had a few minutes until session, so I went to figure out where to leave my stuff.  I caught both Sue and Camie in the same moment and Camie said I'd be counseling!!!  :)  I'm excited and I should be okay with it being my first week of online class as well.  I have the opportunity to counsel for Young Teen 1, and I'm in Bunkhouse for the week.  Session was very informative with the staff manual.  We worked on importance of various instruction hours and activities before heading to the dishroom and lunch.  I couldn't finish the time in the dishroom because it was time for me to head back to CF.  I got everything moved to Bunkhouse and packed in my car before saying goodbye to the girls cleaning in the craft room.  It was hard to leave, but at least I'll be back on Saturday.

Prayers would be appreciated for the staff who are continuing staff training.  Please pray for unity among the staff, and for knowledge and skills to grow.  We have a big week next week as we are having campers for both Junior 1 and Young Teen 1 at the same time.

I thought I would leave you with a remarkable photobomb!  :)