Here's the mail/It never Fails/It makes me wanna wag my tail/When it comes I wanna wail/ MAIL!

Oh boy. So yesterday I got 2 packages and a letter! 

Letter #1 was from my grandma. Love her! Her notes about everyday things help to remind me of where I'm at, who I am in my family. I am a granddaughter, I am a niece, I am a cousin, a daughter, a sister. I love her letters. 

Package #1 A mystery! It came from California and was small but heavy. Bound to make me ask questions! I opened it and a small piece of paper from the company came out, a packing slip, and CANDY! Special edition carmel Tootsie Pops from my Uncle Dean!! I loooove carmel things so this was perfect! Plus I love a surprise so it was great. I love my Uncle Dean. I know I used more O's to say that I love carmel things, but I love him more than carmel things. Promise. 

Package #2 From home sweet home, from my folks, my ma and pa. Sour patch kids (my favorite candy on any given day), photos, faith sticky notes with encouraging sayings, a sweet note, and a monogrammed polo with a Swedish flag and my camp nickname, Gus! It was so unexpected, I practically squealed with joy. It was really really cool. Photos are of friends and family. But those silly parents didn't send one of them! My mom did send a photo from The Judd's concert she went to- she was so close! Pretty sweet. I can still remember driving down 120 in our brown car that had a tape deck (ooo, ahh) singing "whoa whoa Grandpa/Tell me 'bout the good old days". I feel like there may have been more in the package, but I can't remember it right this second. 

In other news- I had laundry and Hunger Hut today which is the canteen. We have a popcorn maker and I burned my pinkie a little. It hurt. 

I missed my 2:00 Facetime date with Kate. I looked at my watch, realized it was 2:45, which is 3:45 her time and felt so lame. We will have to clear up what time we actually mean, and a time when I don't have to work in 15 minutes. 

In other good news- I finished Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Have you read that book? If you are a Christian and you live in America I highly recommend you read it. If you are a Christian outside of the US, you should definitely read it. If you are not a Christian but live on this Earth, you should still probably read it. Chan is a great writer. It is a great book for remembering what God really wants from us, what love means and who Love is. 

I rode a horse!! I was hanging around by the horses and I started petting one who was super soft and trying to take a nap on the post. I asked Sam, the wrangler, what its name was and she said, "Dakota." That's God at work, people. 


Before I left, I did an equine therapy session that involved working on me in conjunction with learning and becoming comfortable with horses. The horse I chose to work with was named Dakota. Thanks to God being so awesome, there is a horse at camp named Dakota. So I'm petting Clydehurst Dakota, and Sam says "Do you want to go for a ride?" and I say "uhhhhhhh…I have to run the Hunger Hut at 3!" because I am chicken. I got scared and thought of anything I could. And Sam assured me that "We can just got for 10 minutes!" and I said "Can I ride Dakota?" and she said "Yeah, definitely!". I rode with a helmet, even though I'm 18 and I don't have to. I could just see myself getting bucked off and in the process of flying through the air thinking "oh crap, why did I not take a helmet". It was great! The stirrups were too long, that that was a little unnerving but as we were taking off (by that, I mean pulling away from the post), Sam reminded me that "Ok you've got it now. You're in control of him" or something like that. It was comforting and empowering. The ride was short, but great. I can't wait to keep riding this summer and hopefully into the future. Having a horse here named Dakota was totally a blessing from God. He is so cool. 

OK I got majorly distracted and I can't really think about the train of thought I was on anymore. The blog brain is gone. Blehh I feel like I had a lot of stuff to say too. Oh well. More later! 

Monday Monday

Oh man. My job after meals today is window, which means grabbing forks, plates, knives, bowls, cups, slop, and paper trash from children, essentially throwing it into the dish room, and hoping that everything gets to the right place. It's so fun, high pace, and something I love doing. I was so nervous this morning before my first try at it, but now I can't wait to do it for dinner. I also got to clean the dining hall bathrooms today- wahoo! This is exactly why I am here. Luckily, they weren't majorly gross- I'll spare you the one major gross detail. 

I got  a letter from Mrs. Hubbard and from my grandma today- yay!!! I like mail!

I had something to say about page 86 of Crazy Love, but I forgot to bring it with me to the Wifi spot, so it will have to wait. 

I had fresh laundry today- yay for clean clothes!

We are talking about 1Corinthians for our devotionals among crew girls and today was the first day. We only looked at the first 9 verses but I have a feeling it's going to be good. Harvey Hartman preached Sunday at chapel about what our epithet would be on our tombstone and I couldn't think of any. Thennnnnnnn I got a few notes from people and I think if I had to pick right now, it would be "hard worker". People wrote that in my note more than once and I liked it. A lot. I feel pretty good about it. 

You should go look up Luke 18:22-24. It makes me so sad for that guy. Really sad. That story really struck me today as it was pointed out in Crazy Love. If you haven't read that book yet, go read it. Now. Right now. That's right. Go.  

Also, I am so grateful that I sleep easily. I fall asleep pretty quickly, I stay asleep really easily, and I typically wake up without an issue. Sure, I take a little while to drag my butt out of bed, but for the most part, I am a great sleeper. Not too heavy, not too light and I so appreciate it.  

Yeah yeah yeah, this is great. Yay camp- it's sunny! I want to ride a horse and go by the river (which, we can hear at night and it's so beautiful) and I can do all of that here. YAY! 

Saturday June 11, 2011

Hey it's Saturday!
We had some major time off today so here's a mini entry. Kitchen prep today was so great- I kind of love chopping, pouring, mixing, and otherwise combining things. We don't really have to do the work in the kitchen on weekends. Different people have kitchen duty each weekend and mine is the very last weekend so I don't have to worry about it until then. Kiddos are coming on Sunday, so I hope the counselors sleep tonight.
I went for a walk with Katie, one of my crew girl counselors, last night and it was good to get away from everything. We saw a deer! and a bunny. And a bug flew into Katie's eye. It was gross.
I slept much better last night and feel much better. One week down already!
Our first horse ride is today at 2- I can't wait! I'm definitely thinking about Dakota, I miss her.

It's Friday, Fried Egg

Hey blog readers. I know what you are thinking.
"That girl never updates her blog. She shouldn't even have one! This is lame!"
Not so.
I constantly blog in my head.


As I write this post down, I'm trying to recall all the mental notes I jotted but some of them escape me. Hence why this blog is sometimes scarce and sometimes ramble-y. Right now, there's a piano tuner doing his thing in the corner which makes it very tough to concentrate.


We did arts and crafty stuff today like making name cards for the counselors, making name plates for our job sheet in the kitchen, and covering mini composition notebooks that our leaders bought us.


Today, I was feeling pretty down. Like this "Oh man. I can't do this. I want to go back to my room and cry and maybe yell a little. I stink at these jobs and I can't do them right." But then, I ate lunch and most of those feelings went away. I don't know why it comes on so suddenly but it's a nasty mix of defeated, tired, and sassy. It's unpleasant and not cool.


Yesterday, we went to town which means a mall, target, goodwill, etc. I got a very comfortable and great shirt there and I did take a photo of it with the camera in my computer, but for the life of me I can't figure out where they go! I got to talk with both of my parents which was great. I missed hearing their voices more than I thought I did. I slept on the way there, chatted on the way back. We got back around 9 but curfew was at 10:30. I went straight to bed when we got back and loved it! So I thought I was rested today, but I guess not (see previous paragraph).


I have been reading "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. Have you read this book? I like it so far! I started it a long time ago but never finished it, so I started again. He references Scripture a lot, so I like to have my Bible with me when I read it so I can look at the verses in my version. I read the New Living Translation and I think he is mostly looking at New International Version. Here are a few things that struck me:


Matthew 10:28 says "Don't be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both body and soul." I think that's pretty cool! People who hate or kill cannot affect your soul. If you are a Christian, you means your soul, not your earthly body on which earthly culture puts so much emphasis. Of course, our bodies are temples and we should take care of them. But we should have a greater concern for the health of our souls than our bodies because that's what God cares about and what He will look at.
AND I wasn't going to say this because I can't remember the guy's name, but we watched a video in the chapel and this man was saying that our bodies are basically rental properties so we should care for them but they're not permanent so don't freak out (I'm paraphrasing). This guy also said that of course God won't look at you on Judgement Day. If He did, we would all be dead! He looks at us through the blood of Christ and it covers us so we can be spared. I've never thought about it like that before but I thought it was worth sharing.
Colossians 3:2-4 says "Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only of things down here on earth. For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory." I think that's pretty cool too!  Getting to share in God's glory definitely sounds cool and I like that this is not my whole life. Sometimes I have wondered about non-Christians and if they ever think "Is this all?" because the underlying fact in my mind that there is more is amazingly comforting. If I thought this life was it, I would do everything, and probably end up dying in the process. Trying to do what you can on Earth while you can is important but I know that there is more after earthly death. I don't know how differently I would see the world if I didn't have that underlying knowledge.


I can't wait until it is warmer here. I hope it gets insanely hot so I don't have to wear these same jeans over and over. I have 3 pair + the ones I bought in town, but two have such big holes in them, they do not keep me warm. They are for work and getting dirty and throwing away.
I hate feeling inept. I don't know how to do everything. I'm trying to jump in but I always land awkwardly. I don't know where stuff is, what all the rules are, what every step of the cleaning process is, the fastest way to do stuff. I know I need to ask for help. But guess what, everybody else has big jobs to do too. I want to be the helper, not the helped. I don't like not knowing the answers. The incompetency comes in waves. I don't like asking stupid questions. I want to have the routine down.


Well that was a downer of a note to end on. Sorry about that. It's really not so bad! It's just that someone asked me a question that I didn't know the answer to while I was typing. This is going to be an awkward ending but that's the way it goes sometimes!


PS, if you didn't get the title, look up "Friday by Rebecca Black" on youtube. It seriously sounds like she is saying Fried Egg. The girls want to sing it today in the dish room since it is actually Friday.

June 7, 2011

More staff training! So far it seems like a lot, but we have one-ish big jobs per day. Once we get going on a schedule, it won't seem so intense, I think. We are getting to be more efficient at setting tables and getting meals ready as a crewgirl team. Bethany came yesterday and she's fallen right into the swing of things. I am so glad to have someone else with experience as a crewgirl!


I'm definitely missing my family but not to a point where I can't handle it. It's a healthy amount of missing them. Thursday we are going into town. So far, I wish I had brought more home-y stuff because I'm going to be here all summer. I've never been away for a whole summer! That's silly to realize now, but someone said that and it clicked in my brain like "Oh yeah, I haven't done that!"


The kitchen staff sings and listens to music, like at Arrowhead! I love it :)


They have a list up of all the jobs that were finished before staff was here to prepare the camp- it's 9 pages on those big post-it notes! That's a lot of stuff to do!


The coffee here is soooo good. I'm definitely going to be ready for college.


A girl who is a counselor, Christa, graduated from IWU so we talked about it today. She loved it- I can't wait!


It was chilly here today and I feel so badly for Keila, who is here from Mexico. She said this is how cold it is in the winters! I think it's about 50 degrees here.


Last night, I taught people to play pterodactyl! It ended up being lots of fun. So far all is well. Little camp kitties are so small and cute! Did I mention them already? I can't remember :-/


Okay, that's it for now. Yay for wifi! Who invented that thing? It's great!

June 6, 2011

Okay Okay,  I know it's not June 6 anymore but I wrote this then! 

Second day of camp- I already know pretty much everybody's name who is on crew and is a counselor but I don't know everybody quite yet. There's a guy here, Dr. Harvey Hartman who teaches at Liberty and he said he is going to have my friend Hope! We spent a lot of today cleaning the kitchen and now I know how to work an industrial dish washer! It's very hot on my hands but I think they will adjust. I am sleeping above a girl named Olivia, then there's Keila, Anna who isn't here yet, Bethany who isn't here yet, Miranda, Alyssa, Autumn, and Brooke. And me! I'm going by Gus this summer because there is a Beth who is a counselor and then Bethany who is coming. Larissa and Katie are in charge of us. That's a lot of names to you, but to me, I know I will get used to all of them in 10 weeks. 

So far, it's been great! No major difficulties, and right now we have time to just chill. Relaxing is wonderful. They have green bell peppers at the salad bar and that makes me smile. I know that's small but it makes me happy. The head cook, Connie, talked to us Crew Girls today and explained a little bit about the kitchen and how things work and a little about her. Then we sang "Give us clean hands" and the wind was blowing and it was totally an "ice of God" moment. 

Now I just want to sleep. We did an hour long staff training seminar this morning but Wayne guaranteed us it would not be longer than that ever, which is sweet. I could focus for longer if I didn't have warm clothes and a full stomach! 

I definitely don't have my routine down yet for little things, like when to bring devotional stuff, what stuff to bring in the bathroom and what to leave with my other stuff, etc. 

I just changed my background to a photo of Kate and showed the girls in my cabin photos of my family. I miss them! It's not to a point where I'm crying myself to sleep, but it is odd to be out here on my own somewhat. Our cabin is very close to the dining hall which is great! I wish you could see a layout of the camp because that's definitely what I needed- a layout of the land. 

Other girls here are Sam, the wrangler, who sat down next to me on the plane and said "Are you going to Clydehurst?" She had picked her seat on the plane the night before and the only free one was next to me! God is amazing! There's Beth (who I mentioned earlier), Savannah, Krista (who went to IWU!), Tatum, Holli, another Katie, Lindsay, Amanda, Kay (Cay?), Kellee, and a few other ladies but I don't want to get my staff list right now. 

Curtis and Laura, who are around camp all summer, have a cat named Solomon and a super cute black collie named Rogue, like from X-Men. I've already gotten to love on her twice and Laura assured me that she is a dog person. I showed people a photo of Maxi and they thought he was cute too. 

This was a lot of random thoughts, but I am tired and for as much has happened already, not a lot has! 

Denver Baby

At O'Hare


I got in the security line and two elderly Japanese men were in front of me. They forgot to take off their belts (silly!) but their stuff had already gone through the Xray machine. They were about to drop their belts on top of Brower (my laptop) but thought better of it and looked shyly to me for approval. I gestured and had them set their belts in the bin with my shoes. On the other side of security, they laughed but I'm pretty sure they didn't understand my joke that I had no need for 2 men's belts so they shouldn't forget them.


ON my way to the gate, I saw an old man who looked like Creed on The Office! It wasn't him, but perhaps a distant cousin?


Then I started getting hungry at the gate. I picked up 2 snacks, one to eat on the plane and one to eat in Denver. I grabbed these silly fancy nuts (picture later!) and a bag of Dirty Potato chips (salt and vinegar <3!) and the lady said "$3.99 is that okay?" those goofy nuts were $3.99! Before I could think through how ridiculous that was and what other item I wanted to consume, I said "Sure". They were good, but not that good.


Flying to Denver (My first flight alone!)


This super cute British couple were sitting together and the man was in my seat and she said "We've been spilt up, would you mind terribly sitting in his seat?" So I obliged. And lucky for me, because down plopped a well dressed, spikey-haired, British accented, if not slightly sniffly, great smelling guy. He was polite and didn't laugh (that I heard) when my head lolled around on my chest (I hardly got sleep, after all). At the end of the flight, I told him about camp and school and he said "cool cool, best of luck to ya!" which sounded way cooler than I can tell you.


In the terminal in Denver, a woman who looks like Bruce the midwife who made a few appearances on the show Gilmore Girls delivering and nursing Sookie's baby stared at me.
Ok, no more blogging for now. Hurray, Justin helped me get the wifi working so I could log on the web my fantastic thoughts.

Graduated

Hey there. Do I sound any different? I am now, after all, a high school graduate.
Graduation was fun and long. Student speeches rocked, but adult speeches were pretty boring.


We had dinner at Claim Jumpers- have you ever been there? Delicious strawberry shake, slightly over sauced BBQ chicken pizza, and a lemon bar brûlée dessert that was well worth the wait. 


Then an all night party at school! Mechanical surf board (Like a bull except standing on it), a "velcro strap around  waist attached to a bungee cord, run down a lane with a velcro pad and stick it on the middle while your friend on the other side tries to do the same thing and get it farther" blow up thing, a blow up obstacle course, a HUGE blow up slide, a temporary tattoo station, a photo booth, a blow up basketball shooting game (like at an amusement park), a hang out area with zebra carpet and low tables, tons of prizes, a snack bar with pizza, cookies, veggies (haha), candy, gatorade, water, and tons of other stuff I didn't even see, and a karaoke live band. And at about 3AM, it became the stage for the hypnotist. It was a fun show! Unfortunately, I don't think any of that is real. I'm not a great candidate because I am so skeptical but it is entertaining.


It was great. Just got a few hours of sleep and now I'm about to pack up my computer and finally pack my carry-on. I now mentally blog everything. My thoughts have always been as though I was telling a story (or at least they have been since I noticed it) but now I'm constantly thinking about this thing!

Graduation Day

Hey- I'm graduation today! It's insane. I don't know when it will feel real. It comes in waves of reality which sounds really unhealthy but true. My sister (Kayla) and her husband (Ben) are here- hurray! There's so much going on today. Going to the mall to run errands with Kayla, then coming back and getting ready, family photos, go to graduation (early for sound check- I'm in choir), and then graduate (walk don't trip, throw the cap, etc).

Thennnn there's an all night party at school (sweet raffles, music, a funny hypnotists), maybe sleep a little bit, then off to the airport! Montana is coming so soon. I can't believe I get to spend all summer in BigSky country.


I will fly fly fly and get to Montana at about 9 tonight. Someone is picking me up, I will sleep at their house, then that same family will drop me off in the parking lot to get to camp tomorrow morning. It's all happening insanely quickly. 

Busy, busy, dreadfully busy

More than a lot of things, I want to
1. be packed
2. have all my laundry put away
3. sleep in my bed


But I can't seem to finish packing. oh and
4. have all of my thank you notes finished. I'm thinking I'm seriously doing them on the plane. Or during the day tomorrow. People are getting well thought out, personal notes not something I dashed off as I was falling asleep. I want to do them right. I want to do everything right.
I realized I didn't originally pack socks. That is silly. Who forgets those things?


ok 2 suitcases packed and one is really close to 50 lbs. the other one is more like 38 but it's stuffed. trying to pack my backpack is making me realize how many cords I'm taking. So many electronic things! wow.


yeah I'm going to need help tomorrow from my dad, master-Packer-of-things-extraordinaire. So sleepy. so much to do. Feeling...stuck.

Sleep

I fell asleep twice this morning after I woke up. That's weird. The seniors in the music department at my school got to go to a Cubs game today. They lost but I wasn't surprised (they are not very good, did you know?). I like to be in the park. The atmosphere is not even comparable to watching a game at home.


Now that we are back, I decided that today I will-
1. Pack. For real. It's happening. That includes
  1a. Labeling EVERYTHING. bleh.
  1b. Stuffing everything in the suitcase(s).
  1c. Prioritize. Do I really need 5 sweatshirts? Probably not. I would feel better if I did.
2. Write down stuff that I do not have.


Tomorrow I will-
1. Go to graduation practice.
2. Go buy these things that I wrote down yesterday.
3. Go eat a delicious dinner that my friend's brother is making for me and their family.


It's odd to pack for summer when it is summer. When I pack for spring break, it's cold here so I am not having the "wear it out of my suitcase, make sure it gets back through the wash and back into the suitcase" issue that I am having now.


I did a of complaining. I am very excited about this summer, it's just a lot of work to prepare.
I am drinking Arizona Half Iced Tea & Half Mango and that makes me happy. The drugstore closest to here is running a "Buy one get one free" special on 'Zona. I've been there twice in 2 days.
Wearing a hat gives me a headache.