1+1+1+1=4

I know. A long awaited post. What happened to me?

As indicated in my title, the total is four. As in, that's how many part-time jobs I now hold.

On Monday, I started at Baker Publishing Group as an Administrative Assistant for the Visual Communications Department.

Think that title is long?

My other titles are (in order of shortest to longest titles):

• Wedding Coordinator
• Jr. High Youth Director
• Administrative Assistant to our Associate Pastor for Adult Education

I constantly define that last one because I am not the admin assistant to the Associate Pastor. That would require more hours. Hours more like the new job. Also defined as a full, part-time job. Get it?

Let me explain; my AA in Adult Ed. is four hours/week. My AA in Visual Comm dept is up to 30 hours/week. If I were assisting our Associate Pastor in full capacity, it would be more like 30 hours/week. But it wouldn't be fair because no one else on staff has an assistant. But the other ministry departments have full, part-time or full-time staff. For instance, the Children's Ministry? Full, part-time staff person (I think she works 35 hours/week). Youth Ministry? Full-time, plus others below her in specific areas of ministry like me in Jr. High.

Now that I've explained that, let me explain that I am not crazy. Four part-time jobs is not too many.

For Wedding Coordinator, that's a consultant job. I'm paid when there's a wedding. We only have one on the calendar for 2015.

Jr. High Youth Director, it's ten hours/week for the school year. Most of the work takes place on Sundays. Plus, I have already planned out Sunday mornings through the school year. Sunday nights are planned out through December.

AA in Adult Ed, honestly that job may not exist after the end of the calendar year due to budget cuts. If it does continue, I have worked it out with my new boss that I can work half a day and then go work my four hours at the church, one day a week.

Hence my lack of blogging. I was visiting mom and dad when I got the call from Baker. I came back home and we have just been busy, busy, busy.

Last Saturday was the .1k and it was a blast. Team Bald Ego formed once again. We had a fundraising goal of $500. By Friday night, we were $225 short of the goal. The date was earlier (last year in was in November) so we had fewer team members.

Bill and I were taking a walk and I thought of a few other people I could ask to donate. When we finished our walk, I sent out an email.

One of those people is a Quotarian. She donated last year and has always been a great supporter of me.

Before I went to sleep that night, I said a prayer. I asked for a fundraising miracle.

Saturday morning, I was drinking my coffee, checking my email, and mentally preparing for the race ahead of us (just kidding). I got a text from the Quota member asking me how to donate to the .1k. I walked her through it. (I think it takes longer to donate than it does to race!)

About ten minutes later, an email popped up telling me I had received a donation. It had put us over our fundraising goal! We had been given that miracle!

Bill, Heather, Kathy F. (she was there somewhere, we never did find her), Chandra, Jason, and Addison were all a part of the team. We have decided, for next year, we will dress up. We are Team Bald Ego, after all.

Needless to say, I did not take any pictures of the race. We still had a lot of fun. We hope to come back next year with a bigger team. If you can't make it, you can still donate! I'll keep you posted on information.

I could have made this into two posts… to make up for my lack of posting. But I didn't. We'll see how often I can keep writing. Come back tomorrow for another explanation. I promise it won't be as long.

Football, Parades, Pork Tenderloins, and Presents (not alliterative, but almost)

Can you smell it?

Not the smell of rain.

Or the crisp air.

Or fall…

but…

Football!

It's here.

We're going to watch CMU play next weekend. They beat Purdue today. Hehe

Next week they play Syracuse. We'll see if they can do it again.

MSU is currently playing Oregon. And U of M is playing Notre Dame. It's an exciting evening in our house.

I do love football, but I gave myself a pedicure. Ha!

I'm trying to relax before my "first" day tomorrow. It's not my first day, it's my third year. And it's not my first day back this school year, I've been working for a couple of weeks now. No, tomorrow is what we call "Homecoming Sunday", the first Sunday back after Labor Day weekend. Our activity schedule starts to get back into the swing of things.

We're kicking the school year off with one service and a lunch afterward. Then we'll have youth group. Sunday school will start next week. I have one more week to find more teachers. Want to teach Jr. High Sunday school once a month? They don't bite, I promise. In fact, they're awesome!

No? Okay, then will you at least say a prayer that someone else will step up and fill the spot? I'm not going to worry about it. That won't do me any good. But I am going to start asking everyone I see.

I didn't blog the last two days because I was in Indiana for the Pork Festival!!! The last time I was there was 2008 and lucky for you, I wrote all about it here.

I also have anniversary presents from my parents that I need to go open. All in all I have a lot to write about but it's late and this post has gone on for long enough.

on time delivery

Have you ever looked at the blue post office drop box and wondered, do they really pick up the mail at the precise, posted (ha, pun intended) time?

I dropped off my Jr. High mailing at one of those boxes today. That is what I wondered as I walked away from the box. It was about ten after five. Did they already pick it up?

Will it still go out tonight?

I'm not in a rush. The mailing can wait until tomorrow. It was just a thought I had...

Would it be suspicious if I sat outside the post office one day waiting to see if they really do pick it up at the exact time?

Probably.

If not suspicious, perhaps weird.

I won't do it. But I will continue to wonder, is the service prompt?

What happens when you give the youth your camera

You get lots of selfies. And shadow photos. And really, really good pictures.

I'm impressed.

I'm also surprised that there are so few selfies. I expected more.

These pictures are from our trip to Meijer Gardens on Thursday.

Now I have to chose which ones to share since they took 97 really good pictures!

Shadow pictures with the plants.

 Everybody around the Marshall Fredericks fountain.

 Drew, Brian, Caleb, Jasmin and Taylor with Fred and Lena Meijer.

Drew and "Mad Mom"

 Pippa, Jasmin, and Francine.

 Can you guess which three took the shadow picture?

 Checking out the sculpture from all angles (this is from the ground, they all went and laid under it for a new perspective).

 Anyssa and Francine.

Checking out the koi in the pond

 Can we roll down the hill?

All together! Three, two, one… roll!

I really did enjoy seeing the gardens from their perspective. I wish they had taken more pictures! 

Oh Hell

Michigan that is.

Yes, there's a Hell, Michigan and that's where we went today.

Hehe

But my pictures are still on my camera, so Hell won't be seen by anyone else tonight.

Instead I'll tell you about our Hell-ish adventures.

Hey, the people who work there are all about the jokes. Maybe it's their version of being in Hell.

There is a lovely diner/ice "scream" parlor. That's where we ate lunch because the only other place to eat in Hell is the Dam Store.

The dam in Hell created Hi Land Lake from what appears to be the Portage River (based on the map I'm looking at). The entire town is encompassed by the Pinckney Recreation Area. The state park is 11,000 acres. It was a lovely drive on the highway to Hell.

It wasn't too hot in Hell today.

I'll stop until I post the pictures.

I'm just glad we made it out of Hell in one piece.

Thursday

I'm working on our playlist for tomorrow. While I wait for my phone to sync, I'll tell you about today.

We went to Meijer Gardens! (The Arts Alive Campers and the Jr. High.)

I let them take pictures with our camera. I haven't even looked through them yet to see how many selfies there are. That's going to be interesting…

We walked around the sculpture park before eating lunch. Then we had a workshop and we explored the wetlands. We found all of the things on our scavenger hunt. The things we were to look for were:
butterflies
birds
duckweed
turtles
feathers
footprints
muskrat
dead wood
dragonflies
frogs
cattails
ducks

Yes, we saw all of those! Plus a few extra (see photos below). I don't know which student found the muskrat, but it was happily chomping away at some food and we (thirty or so 4th-9th graders plus adults) managed to check him out. If I didn't know better, I'd think it was a pet and they planted him there.

I snapped a couple of pictures on my phone.

 Here are the swans.

And here are a few of my students rolling down the hill en masse. Until they all crashed into each other. At which point they all got up, stumbled around for a few seconds until one of them yelled, "let's do it again!" and they all ran back up the hill.

Wednesday

We wrapped somewhere around forty book covers (front and back).

We enjoyed a drumming demonstration and danced again.

We (the Jr. High) went and got ice cream at D.Q.

I had a meeting and then stopped at Subway to get our sandwiches for Thursday.

People don't pay attention to t-shirts. I was wearing ours from last year. It says "FUMC Jr. High Youth" and has hands in a circle around the city skyline. I think it's graphically eye-catching.

The man behind the counter, who was making the sandwiches, asked if I was a teacher. I said, no, Jr. High Youth leader. He kept asking questions about us. I always like to brag about our students so I didn't mind his questions. I just couldn't understand what about my t-shirt he didn't get. On second thought, he probably couldn't see my t-shirt from where he was standing. I'm sure that was it.

Even though it's neon green.

Oh well, we know who we are. And now they do too.

drumming

Our Mission Week of Giving is at the same time as the Arts Alive Camp which is our church's version of Vacation Bible School. There is art, music and of course Bible lessons.

Last year, the Jr. High youth saw the younger kids learning African drumming. They asked why they didn't get to do that. I didn't realize they would want to, so I didn't ask.

I asked this year.

Yesterday we ended the day with drumming and dancing. The youth didn't realize we'd be dancing.

It was so much fun.

I love African drumming/music. I feel it deep within. Like it's in my core. Like we all came from a place where drumming and music wasn't taught, it was known.

I cannot drum.

I played the flute in marching band, pep band and concert band.

I can march to the beat of any drum.

Today we just had drumming lessons. It was a different director and he took care to give us clear instructions. We actually sounded good today. Yesterday we were just loud.

We will not drum tomorrow. We will watch a group drum instead. I think it will be most impressive.

let's volunteer

It's our Jr. High Mission Week of Giving.

I picked a short title. It's easier for everyone to remember.

We worked with various local non-profit groups last year. I don't want/like to repeat activities for a number of reasons. One of which is that, at this age specifically, they will remember what they did and how they felt last time. If it's different, which we all know it will be, and they don't like it there is no coming back from that. So if I just do something different, I don't have to deal with obstinance.

I've learned a lot over the years.

The other main reason we do different things is because it shows them how many different agencies there are just in our city.

This week we are working with the tutoring program that is at one of the local GRPS elementary schools. The tutoring program is run through our church. We staff it, we send the majority of the volunteers, we support it financially. When I asked Jer (the woman in charge) what we the Jr. High could do to help, I think she almost cried.

Today, before lunch, nine youth unpacked, counted, and "stuffed" 135 pencil boxes. Each box has two pencils (which two girls spent time sharpening), two pencil top erasers, a pencil sharpener, scissors and a box of crayons.

It took them less than two hours.

Our next task is wrapping book covers for the tutoring program's book writing activity. Fortunately, there is no specific number. They also need to be neat. It should take up tomorrow and Wednesday's time.

I can't brag about these kids enough. It gives me great encouragement to know that our future is in their hands. They will go far and do well. For that, I am very thankful.

Early bird

It has been another busy day.

I spent the day at the office, finishing my hours for Pastor Tish and the Adult Education "hat" I wear.

I'm now done for the summer.

Jr. High is not over yet. Confirmation Sunday is this coming Sunday. Then, in August, we'll have our mission week. I have a little bit of planning and coordinating to get that all set.

When I got home I ran/walked. I ate dinner, swept the driveway, ran the vacuum, did my workout/yoga, made baked oatmeal, and washed dishes.

Now I'm working on a few things before I go to bed. I have two emails to send out regarding this Sunday. I could probably wait and send them in the morning.

It is getting late. I was up early. You really do get a lot done when you start the day early. My parents laughed when I told them that. They have done their share of getting up early. Dad is retired and Mom is semi-retired and they are enjoying it. I think it's great.

But for now, I have things to get done.

a retreat for confirmation

I am headed off for a retreat with the Jr. High. It's the last one for the Confirmation year.

It has been a good year. Our curriculum has made it oh so easy.

I'm not even stressed about the retreat. I have cut out stoles for each person to paint. I have a couple of lists of things I need to gather, but all of those items are in my closet in the church. I have snacks ready to put in the car. Really, all I have to do is load up the car.

I don't think I'll blog while I'm at the camp where we'll be staying. First, we're on Lake Michigan, the same place the Women at First had their retreat back in March.

I hope the ice and snow has melted. If not, I'll take pictures! Because we'll be so close to the lake, the chance of having service is minimal. Plus, I won't have internet access.

And I'll also be busy trying to keep ten Jr. High students from doing what Jr. High students do.

Annoy the other leaders.

Just kidding.

They like to annoy each other.

Except they really don't. I've bragged before about how amazing this group of students has been. They continue to amaze me. We helped with the Second Best Sale intake last Sunday and those students worked.

We'll be making Mother's day gifts next week. And then we're done! It's the end-of-the-year party on the 18th. Except Confirmation continues until June 8th, Confirmation Sunday which also happens to be Pentecost.

Today I'm thankful for the authors of the curriculum. They made it so easy.

Forgetful Fridays, and Fried Chicken

Yes, I forgot to blog again on Friday. But you'll still get your Saturday post too.

I had a forgetful Friday.

First, I was off a day all week. As Bill pointed out, that happens when one only works six hours a week. To which I replied by sticking out my tongue.

It does happen to me a lot. I think mostly because I used to do my grocery shopping on Tuesdays. Now that I work in the office on Tuesdays, I go shopping on Wednesdays. For whatever reason, it sets me off a day.

I had one thing on my to-do list for Friday. That was to call in our lunch order for Sunday. We're having fried chicken. No not Bill, Greg and I. The Jr. High Confirmation class. We'll be visiting the First Community A.M.E. church and, after the service, are going back to our church for lunch and a lesson.

This is for Precious; of course I had to get fried chicken.

I almost forgot to call in the order though! I was on the phone with Heather O. when I realized I hadn't called yet. It was 4pm. I had already missed the lunch rush and was hoping to avoid the dinner rush. I quickly got off the phone with her (I feel bad about that, but her birthday is coming up, so I'm planning on calling her again soon) and called to order our chicken.

Then I forgot to blog.

That's all.

I'm sure I'll be thankful for fried chicken on Sunday, but maybe I'll find something else to be thankful for, so I'm thankful for fried chicken today. I can't wait to chow down on it.

silence is golden

Today, Pastor Tish and I led our Jr. High Confirmation students in a prayer retreat.

Have you ever heard Jr. High students be quiet? Me neither.

By the time their parents came to pick them up, I was telling the parents, we contemplatively wore out the students. Which meant we were sending them home full of energy.

I could write many posts about these students. They are setting the bar super high for future Confirmation classes. They are intelligent and intuitive. They are compassionate and loving. They are also accepting and inclusive. They continue to amaze me.

After discussing a type of prayer structure to use, and then practicing it, the question was asked what did you like or not like about that? One of the students didn't like it because she thinks of praying as a conversation with a friend (God) and being forced to use structure made it more difficult for her.

Seriously? Seriously.

I explained that many adults don't even know how to pray. That they are a unique group of students who are amazing, and we have these structures in case there ever comes a time that something happens and prayers just don't come to them.

The rest of the day went very well. I made it a point to tell them that it was okay to be quiet. That it may make them uncomfortable, but they needed to respect that others might need the quiet.

They did okay.

We had a few timed, completely quiet, sessions and it was absolutely quiet. No one moved, rustled, or even sneezed. For two minutes at a time! Three times!!! I was impressed.

They also had a Silent Walk with several prayer stations. At the end of the day when I asked them what they liked best almost all of them said the Silent Walk.

I would call it a success.

I'm thankful for the silence that the students honored and for these students.

the Overnight plus the other days I've missed

Okay, clearly I am too busy for the last few weeks of my "year of blogging, part 2".

Thursday, I went to visit Molly. She is attending Hope College. It was almost 80 degrees so we had ice cream. It was yummy.

Friday, I spent most of the day preparing for the Jr. High Overnight. We had nine youth. We went to The Spark Foundation and made a donation.

Our super star mom, Denise, made the best dinner ever. Here's the menu:
Mini Eyeball subs

Mummy hotdogs

Veggies N Dip (Pumpkin shaped – carrots/broccoli)

Spider Cheese Ball n’ crackers

Bone Bread Sticks n’ Blood Dipping Sauce

Brain cupcakes

Eyeball cake pops

Then we went to the John Ball Zoo for a Twilight Tour. We saw the reptiles, a Screech Owl, a Chinchilla (which we got to pet), some monkeys (or relatives of them), we saw a Barn Owl, the Frogs, and the Aquarium (Penguins sound scary when you wake them up at night).

We watched a video clip (from the Skit Guys but it's not them... it's really good and spooky) and then "Goonies". 

Today I have spent the entire day (once I got home at 11:30am and cleaned up) on the couch watching tv. I watched shows I have dvr'd but haven't had a chance to watch.

Right now I am watching part two of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". It's the end of my marathon. Three months later.

Hey, better late than never.

And just so I would be sure youth show up for Sunday school tomorrow morning, I bribed* them with prizes/treat. 

*Disclaimer: only two of them really came in costume last night and I had three prizes. I also had enough goodie bags for the youth plus the leaders. I had two youth who were grounded and only one leader took a goodie bag. I have plenty of treats left so better to give them away, even if it means bribing them. I am fairly certain the Bible doesn't say anything about not bribing your youth to show up at Sunday School the morning after an overnight. That is pretty specific so please correct me if you know of that particular Bible verse.

What I missed, Friday

Yesterday, I slept in. This weekend is going to be two days of getting up early and since we don't have children we get to do fun things like sleep in on whatever days we want.

Except that sleeping in for Bill usually means 7:15a and for me it's 8:00a. If I sleep past that, I can't fall asleep that night. What a predicament.

I also watched some Skit Guys videos. Man, do they make me laugh. This is now my job. As Jr. High youth director, I have chosen to use their material for Sunday school. So I get paid to watch these skits and laugh.

I'm okay with that.

Then, after a "date-night" dinner at Twisted Rooster, Bill and I went to celebrate Brent's 30th birthday at their new house. Since we had to get up early Saturday (see next post), we didn't stay too late.

But it was fun to actually be out, on a date, on a Friday night.

Okay, next post.

when it rains...

... it pours.

Would anyone else like to offer me a job?

No wait. Don't answer that. I shouldn't speak too soon because I have an interview on Friday.

However, the current count is three.

Three part part-time jobs.

I am the new Jr. High Youth Director, in charge of all things related to the Junior High in our church.

I will be the Wedding Coordinator at our church come 2013. I am training right now and have a pretty good handle on all things wedding in our church.

Today, I was asked to be an Administrative Assistant to our Associate Pastor. I think that's the job title. It all happened so fast, I'm not really sure.

I could have said "yes" to being her chair tester. Or Editor. Or something random like that.

Between the three jobs I'll be working somewhere around fifteen hours a week.

That is total.

For all three.

Hence the job interview on Friday.

I won't say anymore because I don't want to jinx it.

For all of you whom I have mentioned this interview; I was completely wrong on the job. It is not the Assistant for Funds Development.

That's all I'll say. I'll let you know more on Friday, after the interview.

it's "camp" week

This week is our church's version of VBS. It's called Arts Alive!

The Jr. High youth are helping to build a shed at one of our member's house.


It does not hurt that she has a trampoline, big back yard and a swimming pool.

You'll see from these photos that we worked and had fun.

That's where I was yesterday and where I'll be Thursday. Then, on Saturday, Quota is hosting a "camp" for our new Junior Quota. I hope to take pictures of that too.

High Adventure Camp

Here's my week as a counselor at Lake Michigan High Adventure camp. Actually, I don't have photos of the whole week. Every counselor was taking pictures, so I stopped. Here are a few highlights...

I was the co-counselor for the Black Team. Jason was the male counselor.

The typical daily schedule went like this:
7:00am Wake up and shower
8:00am Breakfast
8:45am Adventures in Chores
9:00am Morning Worship, Skit & Bible Study
11:00am Morning Adventure
12:00pm Lunch
1:00pm High Adventures/Swim
3:00pm Swim/High Adventure
5:00pm Family Time
5:30pm Dinner
6:15pm Mighty Adventure
7:15pm Evening Adventure
9:15pm Snack
9:30pm Fire bowl
10:30pm Get ready for bed (Family fires)
11:00pm Lights Out

Campers arrived between 3pm-5pm on Sunday (July 5th). After everyone got their beds made and settled in the tent we spent a few minutes getting to know each other. Then we headed to the dining hall for dinner. After dinner our team played the Yellow Team in a game of broom ball. Then everyone gathered for the Big Banana Hunt. We were right behind White Team as we closed in on the Big Banana. But they beat us.

Addy and Nadiya tried out the big chair.


One of my girls summed it up for me the first day when she asked, "We don't go to bed at 9pm?" Oh the glory of having the younger girls. With that being said, I didn't have any problems getting them to sleep when it was lights out. And if we were early to bed, there was no complaining!

Monday: the Black Team got to play Capture the Flag with the Green and White Teams in the morning. We spent the entire afternoon on the beach. We got to kayak out on the lake. I was a little nervous about that, but once I got out there, it was a blast! We had good weather that day. In fact so good that we all got sunburned! And we even used sunblock. I took my umbrella the rest of the week. After dinner we quickly tried to get a game of disk golf in with the Pink team. We got three "holes" in. Dave (Pink's Male Counselor) and I were creative and we let everyone throw at the same time. It was a blast to watch all the frisbees take off at the same time. Then it was time for Camp Olympics. There were all kinds of relay races. We all had a blast racing back and forth all in the name of fun. Then it was time for fire bowl.

Tuesday: The Black Team were Hoppers at all three meals. That meant we had extra Family Time and no Adventure in Chores. After lunch we went out to the Challenge Course. If you've ever been to camp (or a team building seminar at a camp) you know exactly what I'm talking about. The Black Team had to get to "Heaven" using only two wooden planks moving from one platform to the next. Each platform was a different size. One of our boys has been to the Elementary Camp, so he knew what to do. After they breezed through it, Jason had them start over, using a different route, which also meant a more difficult route. But they did it! Then we moved on to the single platform where everyone had to have one foot on the platform and nothing else touching the ground. They did not work so well together on this one, and never really accomplished it. But they did manage to get up for about five seconds, and since it had taken them a half hour to do that, we let them go. The next challenge was the Spider-web. They were a little too eager and kept touching the ropes. But eventually everyone made it through. The last one I don't remember what it was called. It's where two people start at the narrow end of a V shaped balance beam, you hold your partners hands as you both move slowly down to the open end of the V. I was very impressed that Jason and I made it to the end. The kids were not so trusting and kept their butts sticking out, so the farthest any of them made it was just past half way.

After the Challenge Course we went down to the beach. It was much colder on Tuesday. And the wind was blowing from the north. That meant I had to weigh down my umbrella to keep it from blowing away since I had to face it into the wind to block the sun. That night we were supposed to sleep out on the beach. But it was going to be down in the 40's, so the Dean's decided to wait until Wednesday night. After dinner we had hang out time. The girls all learned how to make cool new bracelets and necklaces with beads while the boys played Nuk-'em.

Then we went out to the beach to have a Beach Party. That just meant we played a game of water-balloon-sling-shot-aim-at-your-counselor. Jason went down to catch the water balloons for the Black Team, first. He didn't catch any. And the kids didn't really have the hang of it. When I went down to catch the water balloons, it was clear that Jason gave them better instructions on where to aim and how to use the sling-shot. I caught four! And even though I tried to keep them away from my face, every one of them splashed me in the face! After that we had fire bowl and went to bed.

Wednesday: The Black Team's Morning Chore was just cleaning our tent and site. After the morning worship we met up with the Green and White Teams to do our Bible Study during a hike. We climbed Heart Attack Hill (does every camp have one of those?) and hiked along the top of the dune. We went down to the beach and had our Bible study in the sand. (oh the sand!) Then we walked over to the Sugar Bowl which is where we would be sleeping that night. After lunch we went with the Purple Team to Mac Woods Dune Rides (check out their website). That was really fun!! I had no idea what it was going to be like and was worried I would get wet (because it was still cold) but thankfully, I sat behind Jason and our side did not get wet.

When we got back to camp we headed down to the beach. After the beach was dinner and after dinner was a bike ride with the Orange Team. I didn't get off to a good start when the chain on my bike broke. But I was able to catch back up with the group. We took a nice trail around the base of camp. We saw where the new baseball field is going in and got to see the camp in a different way. When you're at the tent sites you would never even know there was a path going right behind the site. But sure enough, there it was!

After that was a Camp-wide game of Ultimate Frisbee. Several of the counselors realized that it had become a counselor only game and we stepped out. I'm used to being a counselor where you encourage the kids to participate and remember you are only there for their safety. It's not camp for me, it's camp for them. Thankfully there were others who felt the same way, so I was not alone. we took a stand and let the Dean's know that we didn't agree with the way the counselors were playing. In the end the kids all had fun. Then we went back and gathered all of our things to go sleep on the beach. It was still cold that night. By the time we got over the dunes and into the Sugar Bowl, the sun had already set. But the sky was still streaked with rose colored hues. It was gorgeous.

Thursday: We all woke up damp from the morning dew. We packed up all of our stuff and headed back over the dunes to get ready for breakfast. We were definitely hungry that morning! There were no showers because we didn't have time. After breakfast we cleaned the dining hall restrooms.

After worship we worked with the Purple and Red Teams on a Service Project. We lined the Challenge Course path with logs and cleared sticks from around that area. It seemed like all we did was eat because lunch came after that.

Then the Black and Blue Teams headed out for the High Ropes Course at Grace Adventure. I had one girl who really didn't want to go. I talked her through it, and in the end she only had time to climb the ladder. My God Moment of the week was when I was talking to her and I told her, "I know you can do it. I know you can climb that ladder, and I know you could walk across the double beam. I believe in you." The look in her eyes as I said that is indescribable. It was as though for the first time someone was telling her that and she believed it. I watched her believe in herself. That was awesome. All of our other kids did a great job climbing and crawling their ways through the high ropes. I took some great pictures on Addy's camera.

When we got back we headed down to the beach. Then dinner which was a "cook-out" that night. That just meant they brought all the food out to the fire bowl and we all ate outside. Then we joined the Green Team on the giant slip and slide. The dean's have built this themselves so when I say giant, it's not your mama's slip-n-slide. They had to extend it because the big boys go off it. The one dean installs sprinklers so he made the sprinkler system for it. It was amazing. Of course when I finally took my turn I pulled both thigh muscles on my first two steps. It was painful. I wasn't able to go down again after that. I was very sad. But I think that got the rest of the girls to go. They loved it!

After that we all got ready for the dance. Gerrit (aka Spaz, counselor of the Purple team) was the d.j. He rocked the Christian music like no other. It was fun! Of course that's when I realized most of our kids were dehydrated. "Drink Water!" because my motto! After the dance and fire bowl, we were all in bed when we heard singing. The boys were out serenading all of the girls. It was very sweet and beautiful. Only one of the girls in my tent had managed to stay awake, so sadly the other three missed it

Friday: Wow. Where did the week go? Monday was the longest day ever and the rest of the days flew by. After breakfast, morning worship and our Bible Study the Black Team had some free time. While two girls showered, the other two worked on the bracelets that they had learned to make on Tuesday. The boys all played on the tire swing.

Tobey climbs in for his turn and Eli is ready to spin the tire.

Fatmata and Jeneba work on their bracelets.

After lunch we headed to the beach. It was the first cloudy day. We were very lucky with the weather.

Eli, Evan and Tobey dug a deep hole and then buried themselves in it. The girls helped cover them once their arms were under the sand. It didn't take Eli or Evan very long to get their arms out when it was time for them to "break free". But Tobey had sat in a weird position and did not have any leverage to get himself out.

Here, Evan is free and poses for the camera while Tobey still tries to dig out his legs.

I finally got Nadiya to smile for the camera!!!

We left the beach and went with the Green Team out to Little Sable Point Lighthouse. Everyone climbed the 102 steps (or something like that) to the top. All around the railing it told you how far different places were. I only took the picture of how high up my feet were.
Somewhere, Brian has an awesome picture of the two of us leaning over the edge, screaming. It took me a couple of minutes to get up the courage to pose for that shot, but I finally did it. Then we all went down to the beach spelled out, "Lake Michigan Camp". Brian stayed at the top and took pictures. It turned out so cool! Hopefully I'll get a copy of that too!

The Black Team girls all posing in front of the lighthouse.

We got back in time for dinner (whew!) and then we practiced our skit for the Talent Show. We did the "I have to Wee!" skit. The counselors started off the Talent Show with Over the Rhine's "Poop in the Potty" song. Mike was the poop with his brown sleeping bag, some counselors surrounded him as the toilet. Others were the Turdettes. We called ourselves the Number 2 band.

Lots of the teams spoofed game shows. The Black Team went last and had a blast! We stole the show. Then all the returning counselors rounded up the new counselors for an initiation. They tried tying us up behind the shelter, but we escaped (just kidding, they did try to scare us though). They brought us back onto the stage one by one. It turned out to be a whipped-pie eating contest. Or rather, find the starburst in the whipped topping pie. Lisa and I tied, but it didn't matter who found it first, it was who had the least amount of whipped topping on their face. But that didn't really matter either, it was for fun, and we had fun.

Then it was time for our last fire bowl. We all took communion in our own teams. Having the younger group meant that there was more contemplation on their own then praying or being saved. After the boys went to bed, the girls went out and took their turn serenading.

Saturday: The last morning. We woke up (oh, I didn't mention that Lisa was in charge of waking us up every morning. The first morning she rang the bell. After that it was all about riding around on the golf cart and being obnoxious which all the counselors loved! We'll forever remember her chant , "It's time to wake up, it's time to wake up, it's time to wake up this morning.") to Lisa singing "Rise and Shine" aka the Noah song. We carried all of our stuff out to the pick-up area and cleaned up the tent and the site. We had breakfast and then we waited for the parents to show up. After introductions and some singing (this years favorite camp song was "Mighty to Save") the kids had a chance to sign up for next year. And then, just like that, they were all gone.

And that was my week as a counselor at the High Adventure Camp on Lake Michigan!