All Was Not Well in the Nance this Weekend

What could go wrong with parflesnarf and "The Sound of Music?" One would not think such a wholesome, good clean fun kinda night could possibly go wrong, especially not in the Nance, it's pretty much the safest place on campus.

Movie night started good, but by the end, things just weren't really right, no one could really hold attention, it was almost an antsy-ness in the room, but after the movie was over I was looking out my window and waving at the people who happened to be walking around campus at 1:30 in the morning (nothing I haven't done before) but then this creepy guy on a bicycle stops and stares right up into our window. Alright, well while Stephen is telling us to call campus police just by the looks of the guy, Chris and I were trying to be rational and not jump to conclusions, afterall, if someone was waving at you, you might stop and try to figure out who it was, not neccesarily in such a creepy way, but you know he continued on his way after a moment or two.

Well a few minutes later, he's back outside our window, staring up at us again, this time the guys as well as myself are gathered at the window and again, the staring just wasn't normal, it was creepy, not right at all.

Well, being in the Nance and all, we had to kick the boys out at 2 but before they left we had them stand outside our window for awhile, check around the building, keep on the look-out and let us know "it was snowing in Japan" (code for it was all good) but while they were still down there, the guy rides by again, and not just rides by, but comes out of the breeze way connecting our dorm to another building on campus. Before the boys had even noticed he was coming I had seen him out of the corner of my eye and hit the floor like it was no one's business. The boys watched him ride off and said he was going the opposite direction so we figured he was gone, and wouldn't come back especially after seeing the four boys outside our window.

And he didn't see him ride by our window anymore

but around 2:30-3:00ish after Maggie and I calmed ourselves down I am on my way to wash my face and whatnot and I open the door and right to my left is the man WITH HIS BIKE, standing right outside my door! What the heck! SO I slam the door shut, lock it and sit down right in front of it barely able to move and just get out enough words to tell Maggie to call campus police. So I am sitting in front on the door and I call my friend Stephen and he's trying to calm me down and rally the boys together.

About 10 minutes later, campus police finally shows up and get this he knocks on the door and doesnt even bother to identify himself! And after about 10-15 minutes of "checking the building" he comes back and tells us he's done or whatever (like one cop can search the whole building effectively and he didn't even do bathrooms which he later had Maggie and I go with him to do but he sent us in while he held to door) and in the process of this our heros the boys had come back to the Nance and returned to our window.

Well after the cop left, neither Maggie or I felt very safe and we knew we weren't going to sleep and we weren't about to go out in the hall by ourselves, so we threw Maggie's ID down to the boys and broke just about every visitation policy in the Nance to let the boys back up into our room. So they call Kenneth, our friend who is a security assistant (and by the way there was no SA on duty in our building which means there was no one at the desk, the doors werent checked and the alarms weren't set) and he came and he and two of the guys did a really thorough search of the building and in the end Maggie and I ended up sleeping on the floor in Chris's room in Richardson, which is an interesting experience in and of itself, and needless to say, I didn't sleep at all really.

Much more has progressed on this whole issue since then, including the fact that some freshman on the first floor actually LET THIS GUY IN AT 2:3o IN THE MORNING!! I actually met the girl tonight and it took everything in me not to chew her out, not in an angry way but just to let her know how serious it was because giggling over it isn't how she should be responding to the situation.

Sigh, there is a lot more I can say but I'm gonna leave on a few closing points.

1. HUGE props and eternal thanks to our boys (Stephen, Chris, Kevin, Joe, and Kenneth) for being so valiant in their efforts to protect us.
2. Thank you Emilie for coming down and encouraging us to pray last night, I really needed that.
3. Thank you God for showing Maggie Psalm 27 yesterday, what a comfort in the Word.
4. To be quite honest, I have never feared for my life until that moment when I opened that door and saw that man. I have been scared to tears before, but never actually afraid, it's a very different feeling. For example, I cried going down the zipline at camp, I was scared, but deep down I knew that that wire wasn't going to break and my harness was tight and secure. I didn't know what was going on in this man's head, I didn't know he was there beforehand, I just didn't know and not knowing is terrifying. Just praise God I couldn't move on step farther after I opened that door, and praise God I didn't leave just a minute earlier leaving me by myself in the bathroom and Maggie alone in the room with the door open. Just praise God!

How Do You Eat Your Gummy Bears?

So, I have very much been on this obnoxious (but ever so delicious) gummy bear kick the past, ehh week or so and I have noticed that I have a very specific (and originally unconscious) way of eating my gummy bears.

First I eliminate the green and yellow ones (typically the green go first followed by the yellow ones but sometimes I eat them together) and then comes the pesky little pineapple clear ones, followed by the orange and (saving the best for last) slowly ration out to red ones the rest of the time I am enjoying my gummies.

Well, being the psychologists that I am (I have had three semesters after all) I am thinking that there is definitely some deeply rooted psychological finding and revelation to be had by analyzing how I and others consume gummy bears and other candies that could be sorted by flavor and/or color.

So my challenge to you, my beloved readers, is tell me...How do you eat your gummy bears (or other candies as described above)???

Three Things

Number One: Chivalry is NOT Dead!

I must say, that it brings me the greatest joy whenever I see even the tiniest displays of proper gentlemanship being expressed out in today's world.

Saturday, while having a pleasant dinner out with my grandparents I was fortunate to see not one BUT two such displays. The first was as simple as a fellow holding the door open, and it was not just for me, but also for my grandmother, his own mother, and a few other ladies, and mind you there were pauses in the flow of people coming out this door, but he stood there nonetheless holding the door and smiling, as if it were his pleasure.

Second, while walking around a shopping center there was a young man, who while walking with his lady had his elbow perfectly angled so as to be able to escort her around while they shopped...that's right elbow out and hand about level with his mid stomach...that ladies and gentlemen is something we do not see everyday.

Anywho, bravo to boys with good manners.

Number Two: Eating Alone

So due to various scheduling issues, on Mondays and Wednesdays I have to eat an early dinner, and by early I mean like 4:15. Naturally, not many people partake in such early dinners so today I was left to eat dinner by myself, and I must say, it was wonderful.

See, it dawned on me while I was enjoying my Cocoa Puffs, that is has been MONTHS since I have had any time to myself. I went from school to home to camp to home to Europe and now back to school, and each and every destination involved me being almost constantly in vicinity of and interacting with other people. Now don't get me wrong, I quite enjoy the company of those who I've been around, but dagomit, I'm pretty cool too and I like to hang out with myself sometimes.

Number Three: Body Sculpt

As is customary of Maggie and I, a new semester brings a new fitness opportunity and we have decided to continue our exercise classes, this time taking up BODY SCULPT...basically it is a low weight/high rep. strength and toning class...Whoot!! I am excited because this is definitely going to be a challenge, I can tell my the amount of muscular pain I am in at the moment. I love exercise!!

Just a Snippit

Ladies and Gentlemen, that would be Pope Benedicto the 16th himself, that's right, looking right at me, and yes, no zoom required!




And down below, this is Assisi just at sunset, this was my favorite place we visited.




This is a group of some of the kids from our group on our cruise down the Rhine.







Here I am imitating Constantine. And please please please remember, Constantine was the first Christian emperor.
Here's me and Beth throwing our coins into the Trevi fountain, which means we both shall return to Rome some day.

The Life of a Pilgrim

The past 36 hours (well it's been 37 but I am not counting the past hour) have been some of the most challenging hours of my entire life.

Last night was the World Youth Day vigil, which basically is a big camp out on a massive field where the Pope comes to speak and there is lots of prayer and music and whatnot. Well, I don't know if you know anything about the weather in Germany but it was absolutely freezing like night, as in, I could see my breath kind of cold, and the ground was muddy and the constant threat of rain was on the horizon. We left the hotel at 7:45 in the morning to stake out our place (section A, which means we were pretty close) and basically spent the entire day killing time and hanging out (and in my case sleeping) on the field. It was cold all day, but when the sun went down, oh man, it was insane. So sleeping was quite a challenge, and let me just say you get to know people you didnt know very well, very well when circumstances call for it. So needless to say, I didn't get any sleep last night. Not to mention the toilets there were backed up and overflowed which left bathroom out of the picture and we hardly had anything to eat.

So after a nice, cold, 2 and a half hour Mass with the Pope this morning, as pilgrims we set off to what was supposed to me a 4K walk to the train station, but when we got to the train station all the trains were out of order, and this was the case for the next station which was another 5K off...Needless to say, from 1 o clock to 7:30 we were walking across Germany.

I really don't know if I have ever pushed my body quite so hard, but it's insane how God can deliver strength.

Ok I only have 39 seconds left and I need to get this up...more soon.

I'm Alive and Well

Well here I am...sitting in a internet room in the ground floor of a hotel in Cologne, Germany!!!!

I must say, I have fallen in love with Europe, I could live here quite happily.

I want to write so much more, but I one, don't want to use all my internet time right now, and two, I can't quite process it all just now.

The trip has been so awesome so far though...all of last week we were in Italy and we got into Germany two nights ago and just got into Cologne yesterday night.

There are 800,000 youth here at World Youth Day and it is so amazing seeing people from all over the world in one place to worship God, although it is kind of tough with the language barriers.

Ok, I can't write eloquently just now, so I shall write more later but I am here and missing you all.

I'm friggin going to Rome today!

So today is the day--around 5ish I will be peacing out of the joint (and by joint I mean the United States) and be well on my way to Rome! And after a few days in Rome we're going to Assissi, Florence, Padua, Trenton, a few cities in Germany and then to Colonge for World Youth Day. I'm so excited I could perhaps wet myself, but I shall have to keep that under control.

I believe this trip is going to be very good for me, as all travelers say traveling is, but I just feel like it's going to be an exciting eye opener for me and only start an epidemic of all the traveling I hope to do some day.

Unfortunately, I am not done packing and doing all the other million things I had to do before I leave, so I must go, but I love you all and will miss you. I shall try to post if the opportunity arises.

Ciao!

roll out the red carpet my inner dork is coming through

Isn't he precious? For those who don't know, this is Hulk Hogan, he's a wrestler, and I must say, he's one of my favorites.

sigh, it has been quite some time since I have devoted any time on the internet looking up anything wrestling related, yet last night I found myself, back on the old websites, checking out stuff about the WWE, old favorite wrestlers, and other things of the like.

man I'm a dork. the sad part is, in middle school this was very much a regular occurance. man.

I miss DX man, the good ol' days. only the cool kids would know what that means.

Something that brought me great joy

mama
i made parfelsnarfs!! i tryed some it is even better with butter popcorn!! my parents havent tryed it yet my mom thinks it looks gross i will keep tryin though

if you have batmans phone# can i have it
his email says it does not exist

i had the best dream last nite if only it would come true
all of op c moved to the same street it was called OP C BLVD
lol
gota go I LOVE YOU and MISS YOU LOTS
LiL D


this is why i love camp.

Not Packing

I need to read more.

Because I am doing just about everything other than packing for my trip to Italy and Germany, I was piddling around on the internet today and found myself looking up books on the Dacus (Winthrop's library) on-line catalog. I looked up C.S. Lewis and decided that there is a lot of his stuff I really want to read and that I should truly make an effort to read a lot more that is NOT school related. So I believe I shall make this one of the many goals I set for myself for this coming school year.

While procrastinating I also spent time looking around the Rock Hill city website and looking at classes and such that are offered at the local rec centers, both ceramics and hip hop dancing looked interesting.

Oh yes

Oh yes, I forgot I also wanted to post the lyrics to this lovely new song Micah introduced at camp.

The Throw-up Song

I think I'm gonna throw up
I think I'm gonna throw up
I think I'm gonna throw up
my hands to the Lord

I think I'm gonna chuck
I think I'm gonna chuck
I think I'm gonna chuck
my sins out the door

I think I'm gonna hurl
I think I'm gonna hurl
I think I'm gonna hurl
Satan back to hell

I think I'm gonna pee
I think I'm gonna pee
I think I'm gonna pee
A-R-T-Y

*that spells "party" for those who don't get it

I find it quite entertaining.

Sleeping in the Staff Lounge

hehe...I tickle myself with how the title of the post definitely sounds like a parody to one of Tasha's songs "Sleeping on Seaboard" or at least to me it did.

anywho, I am for real sleeping in the newly returned staff lounge with brand new, well new to us, couches that are equally or more hideous than the one couch Gene brought in earlier this summer.

It's my last night here at camp, I am leaving at 9 am tomorrow morning, just long enough to go to breakfast and say goodbye to everyone. I figure I'm not going to sleep much tonight seeing as how i still have a whole little mess of things to do before I leave such as finish the staff banner, PACK, finish laundry, write some letters to some people before I leave and other such things. The last time I showered was Saturday night and it's very much not in the plan for tonight. Gotta love camp.

I don't have much to say at the current moment, for the fear of being too emotional with not enough brain power to make my emotions sound eloquent. So I am probably going to start unloading my stuff from Jordan's car where it has been sitting for quite some time now.

sigh.

An Awaited Hour Off

So here we are, at camp, week number three of having 150+ kids and I am finally sitting here with an hour off. I almost don't know what to do with myself.

I'm pretty sure I have heat rash on my scalp, it's been itching since the 2nd week of CITs and hasn't stopped since. In fact, I woke myself up this morning scratching my head. Whoo Hoo for me.

I cannot believe the summer is almost over. This is my last full week, then come August 2nd I will be rolling away from the ROC until whenever it is I come back. The end of the summer is always tough, you never really are ready to leave despite how tired you may be, but this summer, it's going to be a lot harder. We have really been pouring a lot of ourselves into this ministry and watching it grow and lives change. We have spent so many nights worshiping in the lodge with sweat dripping from every imaginable part of our bodies. We've painted and fixed and transformed. We climbed and canoed and creek floated. We have a camp song and eaten our fix of Parflesnarf. We've had a good summer and I am leaving with a lot of good memories and friends.

I'm exhausted, my body is running out of energy, my voice is on the verge of being shot, but every morning I wake up rearing and ready to go despite all of that. Every night when I am thinking about the day I think to myself, where in the heck did the summer go? This summer has been amazing, it has far exceded any of my expectations and disproved all my apprehensions. God is working hardcore here at Rockfish and that in and of itself makes it hard to think about leaving, to think about missing something that might be going on in the last little bit of summer left.

I've grown a lot, I've pushed myself a lot, and I've had a lot of fun.

So here I am, on a much awaited hour off and yet when it's all over, I'll keep wanting just one more hour.

man that was emo.

Untitled

I had to sing to a kid on the toilet.


Thank you.

I'm Really Not Having a Bad Week...

But apparently just by looking at me people can tell that I am stressed out, and the truth is, I am.

I knew that this week of Operation Purple was going to be HUGE and it is, but I was ready for it. Then the reality of keeping up with 31 8 and 9 year olds hit and here I am already having cried twice this week and it's only Tuesday.

But I am really not having a bad week, my girls are awesome, they are so sweet and no problems at all, and the boys overall really aren't that bad either, they are little boys which means they go non stop all day long, and they fight and pick on each other, but I can deal with that. And we all play so hard in the pool and it's great, its more just all those little problems in combination with just the craziness of everything else that's getting to me.

It's also really hard to try to minister to these kids when we aren't running a "Christian camp" but rather a "camp run by Christians." We can't be explicit about anything and it's tough.

Anywho, I'm reading through Philippians and there's that whole verse about "not arguing and complaining" so naturally that kinda hit me last night and I'm really trying and like I said, I'm not having a bad week my stress level has just skyrocketed. So just keep camp in your prayers guys, God has a reason for bringing all these youngins here we just need to let him work.

New Kids--Same Domination My Kids Totally Dominated Part Two

So it is the start of another week here at Rockfish, although this one will be ending Thursday morning and from there a group of us will make the treck home to Myrtle Beach to hang out for a few days.

Well yes, my kids totally dominated in the Ultimate last night, 3 flags, if you count the one Devon showed us, which we didn't because it would have been a cheap steal, but yes, domination is quite grand. This week my group of Explorers is paired up with Stephen and Danielle's Trees and together we have five kids, I'm not sure we will be able to handle it.

I must say though, we must enjoy this small, laid back environment while we can because come Sunday Rockfish is gonna explode...176 kids are going to be dropped in our laps for a week and God is gonna do HUGE things. I am so excited...oh, and by the way, I might totally be going to Peru next summer, Gene wants to take Rockfish global...holy cow.

Well, my break is very much about to be up, I would of written more but I fell asleep on one of the new mattresses with no springs, not the best nap ever, but you know, when you're tired you're tired.

Please keep camp in your prayers for the next few weeks, like I said, we're about to explode...


Oh and by the way Happy Fourth of July and much love out to Rique on his birthday!

Much Awaited has Arrived

Sitting Here

So I am sitting here in the Staff Lounge enjoying some Cocoa Wheats with the last 50 minutes of my 24 hours off. Man, I really cant believe that today is Thursday and that come Saturday the youngins I've been hanging out with for the past 3 weeks are gonna return back home. It's also sorta hard to take that summer is pretty much half way over. It's Crazy!!

I am really excited about Crazy Dress Dinner tonight, I finally have an actual costume that I am going to wear rather than just throwing plaid and polka dots together and calling it crazy. It should be a good one.

My kids are shadowing resident counselors today and it's Luke's day off, so I am assuming I will just be doing support staff stuff, which is cool with me.

Alright I really have nothing constructive to say right now, so I am going to go finish my breakfast but remember...

My address is:
226 Camp Rockfish Road
Parkton, NC 28371

Just in case you guys forgot ::wink wink::

24 Hours Off

So I have finally arrived at the much needed 24 hours off that I am being granted as a reward for doing the three week camp thing. I need it. I'm tired and worn out and really just need a day to have some "me time" before I will be any good to my kids.

I hate when I get this kind of worn out tired sorta way because I lose a lot of my patience and then can just not be a very fun person to be around. My kids are tired too, so we all could really use some time off.

Anywho, so Sunday I woke up to the sweet serenade of the Cape Fear river. It was quite awesome, I must admit. We took a 9-mile canoe trip down the Cape Fear over Saturday and Sunday and then camped out, right on the river bank. It was soo cool. I had never done that before, I had been down the Cape Fear when I was a senior high camper, but it was just so freeing to just pick a spot and pitch a tent. Our kids were really awesome too, they didn't get on each others backs or down their throats, so it was good. Luke and I read "Why the Cross" to them and talked about surrender. We really wanted to hit them hard with what it means to really surrender to God. I think they are starting to get it.

AHH...we're going to the mountains this weekend. I am so excited, not only will it be like 20 degrees cooler BUT it will just be more relaxing. So yeah...

I'm off .

Hurray!!

So as of Saturday I am officially 19-years-old...whoot whoot for me. I must say, I want to give major major thanks to all of my super awesome friends who really made my birthday awesome...this includes everyone from my personal chefs Stephen and Jordan to the WU kids who came all the way to Rockfish to play with me...Seriously...thanks, it was awesome.

So pretty much this is the deal...for the next three weeks I am with the CITs (Counselors in Training) and man, that's a l-o-n-g assignment. It's exciting, on the one hand because we get to do a lot of trips and special activities and whatnot, but at the same time, it's a pretty demanding assignment as well, but it has all been prayerfully considered and approached and so I know that God has put Luke and I with these kids for a reason.

I canoed today for the first time since my first summer working and that made me very happy, seeing as how canoing is my favorite camp activity.

Well I am off for now...

P.S. This whole sending me mail deal hasnt quite panned out, I mean, I'm not mad, but guys...I put the address right up so you didn't have to work too hard...::wink:: just kidding, or maybe not