Peabody is an interesting and entertaining place at 2:58 on a Friday afternoon. Boys are just entertaining as they attempt to kill the two minutes before the weight room opens...

you know how when you are a little kid, and something happens that you're involved in and someone asks you a question like "what happened?" and your response is "i don't know."--maybe even you give a little shoulder shrug and that cool walk away thing kids do (or 20 year olds). but then if the person is really lucky you might provide some insight into situation which really is an effort to just provide anything to get whoever to leave you alone and you say something like "devin did it". yeah...astronomy makes me feel like a little kid and i just want to shrug my shoulders and be like "i don't know...God did it."

i really like doing laundry...and making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches...that's why i plan on making it my profession...

...rain on concrete...

I Don't Normally Get Attached to TV Personalities but...

He's gone...and that really does make me sad.

today i felt quite small

im ok with that

Peru has pretty much been amazing so far. I have had some amazing food and we have had a lot of laughs. Plus we are working on two different churches in Lima and tomorrow afternoon we are going to go to an orphanage to play with the kids and drop off some toys and old clothes and such.

I could enjoy living in Peru I think, I just need to work on my Spanish.

ah, and i ate beef heart today, who would have thunk it?

some of the funniest things that happen at camp, i swear, involve a toilet....last summer it was singing to Will on the toilet...and tonight, it was cleaning the nastiest toilet (in the boy's bathroom mind you) i have ever seen in my entire life...two rolls of toilet paper jammed down in it, an explosive case of human excrement and to top it off the stall door was locked and there was more "mess" on the floor, so i climbed over the stall praying my foot wouldn't go straight in the toilet and got to work...fortunately i can't smell because i have a sinus infection.

at one point, as i was trying to plunge this lovely thing, it splashed....all on my leg...so i ran out and immediately grabbed a bottle of sanitizer and sprayed my leg down...yeah...i love final cleanup

so, finally a week that i can say i was truly satisfied with how it ran. for the most part, no major glitches or scheduling conflicts...most everything ran just as it ought and overall the kids were pretty into all of the activities...i'm dead tired though, not just from this week but from the summer...it's ok...two more weeks and i will be on my way to Peru...yeah buddy!

i really don't have the brain capacity to compose something of much interest at the moment, so i have decided that i will just post a list of things i have thought about over the past week:

1. i do fear that i shall always struggle with apathy
2. i want a tatoo
3. i am pretty sure that deep down my life goal of being on the real world is still there, although Leann told me about this cool thing called the World Race that sounds pretty awesome.
4. i need a hair cut
5. i'm tired: emotionally. physically. mentally. spiritually.
6. sky diving might go on in december.

i am/was (Jordan just had me turn it down) listening to brevada really loud in the office right now...it's good, i want to hear "urgency", it's kind of where my heart is.

gah what a week, it is definitely the middle of the summer, let me just say that. we had ACA this week, which pretty much determines whether or not we would remain an accredited camp. let's just say monday, tuesday, and wednesday I experienced some of the most intense stress and pressure i've ever felt. by lunch on wednesday Gene was painting it as if we were really in a tight spot adding just more stress and caused me to prepare for the worst, failing. at about 5 that afternoon he called Jordan and I into his office, informed us of the "case of the stupids" we as a staff had that day, then let us know that we got a 100%...by the grace of God only, man, I had no choice but to cry. we also had The Difference from SWU in this week which is always a joy and it was quite sad to see them go this afternoon.

i feel like spiritual moral is kinda low around these parts and that there is the same underlying tension there has been for the past few weeks. part of it, i know, is because i am not with the kids as much as the counselors so i don't get to see the same growth as they do. i feel like God is really breaking me and teaching me and it's been tough, I can honestly say I haven't enjoyed the lesson but I know He is going to strengthen me, plus, I've kind of known a breaking was on the horizon for a while now.

in so many ways though God is blessing things here at Rockfish. we had so many kids come to know Christ this week and it's so exciting. I got to hang out with some way cool operation purple girls and minister to them some. there is laughter. it didn't rain. we passed ACA. so yeah. my thought process is sort of farting out right now.

not the best day ever, one day things will just work....

My Motherland is Ghe-tto

We walked into Brooklyn yesterday, over the bridge, and of course yelling over the side (well as close to the side as we could get) just like they do in Newsies. We also found a statue of Horace Greeley and did a brief reinactment of a Newsies dance sequence....you know, it's just how we roll.

But yes...yesterday was the most bizarre, out of whack, yet amazingly entertaining day ever. We caused a car accident (not at all a serious one) because some dude was staring at us from out his car window while attepting to drive, thus causing him to run smack into the back of the van in front of him.

Then we missed out on the time of our life with this creepy old man in Brooklyn who stopped us on the street.

We made an attempt to get to Coney Island which resulted in riding the subway back to Manhattan, switching to a train going in the right direction, and then re-entering Brooklyn and eventually making our way to Coney Island...a ride which would not have been complete without silly middleschool and highschool boys trying to look cool and tough in front of us.

Coney Island is quite an interesting place....not at all glamorous....seriously, not at all. The main attraction was a game called "Shoot the Freak"...with a live human target and an obnoxious guy with a microphone. We did eat at the famous Nathans and get a funnel cake and got to do some people watching, so the day was well spent.

Oh yes, and did I mention in some way shape or form we always seem to end up in Chinatown.

Today we were all dragging but determined to see more of the city. We hit up the Tenament Museum which was really cool. A man on the tour with us actually lived in the neighborhood when back in the day so it was really neat to hear his stories. We also did some last day galavanting about the city and then called it an early day to get back to clean up and pack.

We are leaving at 5:15 in the morning and I really ought to be in bed but I am suprisingly not really tired...my body is just exhausted...

Either way, I believe I shall head to bed...good night dears

If you were aiming to shoot an arrow through my heart........BULLSEYE

Thank you Chinatown...I am now officially the owner of a hot pink "Prada" bag...I love New York.

today was our Big City Day. We went to see "The Producers" which was pretty amazing and then grabbed dinner in Times Square, complete with a quite wonderful honkin' huge piece of cheesecake. We also wore dresses, which is always a great thing.

I saw the movie Say Anything for the first time tonight, I must say, I enjoyed quite a lot and it had potential to go on my list of favorite movies.

anywho, i'm about to head off to bed.

So New York is pretty sweet I must say. We got in yesterday and pretty much hung out in the apartment for the afternoon and evening, so we called it an early night.

BUT today, we got an early start and hit up the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island which was so good. So much history there and so much more interesting then I remember it. There is just so much personal history there, millions of people went through the same doors I walked through, but it wasn't just some quick check in, it was a long, tedious, and frightening process upon which their entire futures laid.

After all that though we walked around Little Italy and China Town. I invested in a killer pair of aqua sunglasses with purple stripes and a plaid scarf...it's killer, oh and more costume jewelry...i'm such a sucker.

anywho, tomorrow I believe will be our chill day in Central Park which will entail peeing at the Plaza Hotel, riding the carousel, and eating a hotdog from a vendor. so it should be lots of fun. we also might try to get on TRL, which would be sweet, we're going to ask for Peru money (by the way, if you would like to contribute to the Peru Mission Trip send the money with my name to 226 Camp Rockfish Road Parkton, NC 28371 and make the check out to Rockfish Outdoor Center for it to be tax deductable).

well i'm out, early morning...

ahh so much to write but not the motivation to do it all...

most importantly, the first week of camp went awesome. It was a good learning time for a lot of our new staff and busy for those of us on support staff because we were running program like crazy. for example, I lead 25 hours worth of GCC this week...go me, i'm so pro...

we had two teams in, one from IWU and another from Bethany Bible College who were SO awesome, we tried to buy the one team from BBC but it didn't work out. we were really blessed to have such hard workers come help us out...good servants and tons of fun to have around.

it was good to have kids in, there is always a good energy when kids finally come to camp, even though staff training brings its stresses and worries, kids are such a good reminder of why we're doing what we're doing.

I had one ROTC girl who seemed to warm up to me and I am hoping to get an email from her soon. She was pretty much amazing and seemed to be open and searching. The ROTC kids were wonderful, some of the most amazing kids I've worked with at camp. Sometimes I feel like God is really calling me to work with the military...I don't want to be in the military, but between Operation Purple and this week with the ROTC I just see the hurt and love to hang out with those kids.

anywho, tomorrow Jordan, Petra, and I are making our way up to the BIG APPLE BABY!! That's right, 6 days in NYC and the town will never be the same!

tis all for now, more later

p.s. zac hanson is getting married

Camp Has Officially Started

Kids came today...camp has officially begun...pray...things are kinda going nutso around these parts, but the kids seem to be having fun...more later

p.s. umm yeah...mail me stuff

Another Summer

So here I am, once again reporting from the lovely Rockfish staff lounge, another summer is beginning. Gradually more and more staff are getting here, a lot of new people, which is exciting, summer is going to be interesting, challenging, and I have a feeling really hot.

God's bringing the kids now we gotta bring the service.

Adam Seate had a good sermon today it was the third part of a three part series called Mission Impossible. He covered three things that we all should know and practice.

1. God has already called us. He calls sinners and unusual people to do his work.

2. God isn't going to change the world by Himself, to complete our mission we have to step up and do it.

3. Work Together, as a body, to bring people Christ and bring Christ to people.

He talked about Mark 2:1-12 and he focused on the last verse about the people being amazed and never having seen what they saw (the four friends lowering the paralytic through the roof to see Jesus). Adam talked about how they weren't amazed so much at the healing but that they probably had never seen four people work together for the sole purpose of bringing a person to Christ. A different perspective, I like it. Both Jordan and I thought it would be something worthwhile to share with the staff...I will admit, I have some anxiousness about the summer, but we all have to be working hard to make this work. So we'll see how things go.

maybe not...keep your fingers crossed

well, pretty much all my favorite camp shirts, most of my winthrop shirts, my tiedyed capris and a killer pair of orange track pants are gone...

can i have a crappier day please...

I, Brooke Currie, solemnly swear to
1) not break, lose, or scratch the recently purchased one millionth pair of shades for the year
2) not overpack for camp