Coƒƒee §wirls & Velvét Cake ƒor You*
[Tuesday, June 27]
week 5ish. ...dude. halfway done.= |
covenant group leaders [girl collection].
i meet with these girls (and Tricia, our leader, the photographer) every morning for an hour before trekking out into the sun.
i meet with these girls (and Tricia, our leader, the photographer) every morning for an hour before trekking out into the sun.
- i woke up two nights ago with extreme pain in my famous left knee. out of nowhere. and it still hurts.
- being tech this week at camp is awesome. i get to see all my kids in their assemblies. coz i kinda run all of them. heh.
- i'm becoming extremely hating towards the force that destroyed my camera and is keeping me from having one at hand.
- i went through 4 disposables in 2 days. and that was holding back on a lot. rediculous.
- people who genuinely love God, people extremely talented, people who can love; they exist.
- i feel very lost. i dunno where i'm supposed to be. i mean once camp is through. i'm futureless. i'm lost.
[Sunday, June 25]
week 4. ~galore.
harris, nick, ethan, mclane and jack all bought bibles from the souvenir shop.
because they'd asked me. because they wanted to.
not a toy. not a tshirt. a bible.
they're 6. mclane is 5 and a half.
at this time last sunday i was depressed coz i was going to have junior camp for what was last week. i got in monday morning and found out that not only was i going to be located in a windowless room as junior campers are assigned, but also i had boys. for the first time ever.
let me just say it was one of my most favourite weeks ever.
my boys understand the difference between joy and happiness. they know who Paul is and what he went through. they know he wrote to philippians. they know that the philippians were from a place called philippi. where are they from? no harris not philippia, philippi. they know the formula for joy. they know John 15:11 faster than i can write it at full speed. they know what the Holy Spirit is and what His role in us is.
on wednesday, we were in bible time and i was using what God gave me, drawing out the story on the board. (it helps them remember.) i was saying something about how God in us, as the Holy Spirit gives us the super powers to banish the joy-stealers. (how many are they? 4! that's right! and what's number 1? circumstances! 2? people! you got it! even we can be joy stealers sometimes when we say things to make people upset... what's 3? things! gooood, and the last one? .... begins with a w. .... worldly! nooo, worldy is what all these things are... wuh... wuh... woorrrr..... wordly! noooo silly! (tickle) worrreeeee worrying! yeeeeeees!) i can't remember exactly coz it never feels like i'm talking in bible time. but i paused for a moment and then remembered something key that would defeat the purpose of camp if i failed to mention it. "but boys, the thing is you have to ask God for the Holy Spirit to come into your heart." i hadn't even said the 't' in heart when harris propped up in his chair with his hand raised and the brightest face i've ever seen and shouted "i just asked Him!" i stood there staring at him. he was ahead of me. and my heart soared and celebrated. the way he said it was genuine... joyyy filled me up. i didn't have time to celebrate with him because the others started piping in in the silent gap i'd made "i did too!" "i always ask him!" "i asked him a million billion times!"...
the next day, the thursday it always is, was the gospel itself. jesus dying on the cross to make a way to heaven for us because we are sinners. i wrote romans 6:23 on the board and we began to break it down and i began drawing.
they took it in and decided they wanted bibles when we went to the canteen on friday.
on friday i found out i was going to be pulled out for the hour of canteen to train for being sound and lights tech next week. i was eager to find out if they would get them or not. our paths crossed in the reception and they ran up to me waving their bibles in the air. i picked nick up, as he's my piggy back rider, and looked around as they all tried to show me what they got.
little mclane came up to me within the minute we had before going to the big assembly and asked me where john 15:11 was. he held up his bible to me and i decided assembly could wait a bit longer. i crouched by him and saw that he'd already opened, on his own, to john 15. the verse numbers were a little too small. i counted with him. 'if this is 8, 9, 10...." he read it aloud, quickly, because he knew it by heart.
"ok boys, get your ribbons, and line up at the door!" they insisted on taking their bibles.
mclane sat on my lap in big assembly, and nick sat next to me. everytime i looked at mclane, he was opening back to the verse. so i pulled out a pencil and told him to circle it. he did so, and in the margin i wrote the date for him and a little note. i didn't write my name, though i wanted to.
nick turned to john 15 but couldn't find 11. i told him "here's 8, here's 9..." he sat there in the oversized seat, his finger tracing the lines... he went right past 11, and i was about to speak when he said, "here!".... he had recognized the words.
i know why i was given junior camp. i know why boys. i know why i'm a counselor.
harris became God's and he and the others bought His letter to them.
i always wonder if i'll meet them again. much further in the future.
because they'd asked me. because they wanted to.
not a toy. not a tshirt. a bible.
they're 6. mclane is 5 and a half.
at this time last sunday i was depressed coz i was going to have junior camp for what was last week. i got in monday morning and found out that not only was i going to be located in a windowless room as junior campers are assigned, but also i had boys. for the first time ever.
let me just say it was one of my most favourite weeks ever.
my boys understand the difference between joy and happiness. they know who Paul is and what he went through. they know he wrote to philippians. they know that the philippians were from a place called philippi. where are they from? no harris not philippia, philippi. they know the formula for joy. they know John 15:11 faster than i can write it at full speed. they know what the Holy Spirit is and what His role in us is.
on wednesday, we were in bible time and i was using what God gave me, drawing out the story on the board. (it helps them remember.) i was saying something about how God in us, as the Holy Spirit gives us the super powers to banish the joy-stealers. (how many are they? 4! that's right! and what's number 1? circumstances! 2? people! you got it! even we can be joy stealers sometimes when we say things to make people upset... what's 3? things! gooood, and the last one? .... begins with a w. .... worldly! nooo, worldy is what all these things are... wuh... wuh... woorrrr..... wordly! noooo silly! (tickle) worrreeeee worrying! yeeeeeees!) i can't remember exactly coz it never feels like i'm talking in bible time. but i paused for a moment and then remembered something key that would defeat the purpose of camp if i failed to mention it. "but boys, the thing is you have to ask God for the Holy Spirit to come into your heart." i hadn't even said the 't' in heart when harris propped up in his chair with his hand raised and the brightest face i've ever seen and shouted "i just asked Him!" i stood there staring at him. he was ahead of me. and my heart soared and celebrated. the way he said it was genuine... joyyy filled me up. i didn't have time to celebrate with him because the others started piping in in the silent gap i'd made "i did too!" "i always ask him!" "i asked him a million billion times!"...
the next day, the thursday it always is, was the gospel itself. jesus dying on the cross to make a way to heaven for us because we are sinners. i wrote romans 6:23 on the board and we began to break it down and i began drawing.
they took it in and decided they wanted bibles when we went to the canteen on friday.
on friday i found out i was going to be pulled out for the hour of canteen to train for being sound and lights tech next week. i was eager to find out if they would get them or not. our paths crossed in the reception and they ran up to me waving their bibles in the air. i picked nick up, as he's my piggy back rider, and looked around as they all tried to show me what they got.
little mclane came up to me within the minute we had before going to the big assembly and asked me where john 15:11 was. he held up his bible to me and i decided assembly could wait a bit longer. i crouched by him and saw that he'd already opened, on his own, to john 15. the verse numbers were a little too small. i counted with him. 'if this is 8, 9, 10...." he read it aloud, quickly, because he knew it by heart.
"ok boys, get your ribbons, and line up at the door!" they insisted on taking their bibles.
mclane sat on my lap in big assembly, and nick sat next to me. everytime i looked at mclane, he was opening back to the verse. so i pulled out a pencil and told him to circle it. he did so, and in the margin i wrote the date for him and a little note. i didn't write my name, though i wanted to.
nick turned to john 15 but couldn't find 11. i told him "here's 8, here's 9..." he sat there in the oversized seat, his finger tracing the lines... he went right past 11, and i was about to speak when he said, "here!".... he had recognized the words.
i know why i was given junior camp. i know why boys. i know why i'm a counselor.
harris became God's and he and the others bought His letter to them.
i always wonder if i'll meet them again. much further in the future.
~~~~~
tuesday night we had a photo scavenger hunt. each covenant group got together and we went around town snapping photos and getting people to let us do stuff. it was fun in that we got to see who'd do what, to what extent, and what we could make out of things...
thursday night my group went out for a mexican lunch. we had a lot of laughs, and we got to see sides of people we hadn't seen before, which encouraged me in many ways. i personally don't like to be a leader. even if i qualify. i still like to be led, and just be a really good assistant to the leader.
mum and mark had gone up to a city called rome in northern georgia. they were going to his orientation at berry, which is the college i fell in love with and wanted to go to when i was still in high school in turkey.. funny how life plays out. but they had left thurs morning and wouldn't return till fri night.
i woke 8. the others in the room were sleeping and i knew some had gone out to run, so i got out of the bottom bunk, grabbed my bible and creeped to the balcony. i sat there enjoying the peace. the sun rising up. the water. i realized how much i'd missed water fronts. i love being by them.
after pancakes, we got on the boat again and did a little more wakeboarding till we found out the guys had arrived. we met up with them, and they immediately went out for some tubing. two girls took out the jet ski, and the last girl and i grabbed a lilo, and jumped in for some floating conversation.
soon later i got a jet ski ride with caitlin and we had a blast. she drove and i enjoyed. we caught a lot of air, and at one point, after making our own whirlpool, (round n round n round) the jet ski jerked and we tilted to the left, surely believing we'd fall in. hehehehe... it was hilarious: we fell in to the left. we came up easy (i love lifevests) and cracked up for a while at what'd just happened. after lunch, we went tubing. i had been worn out and wouldn't have minded not doing anything of the sort (i remembered how much i got out of it last year) but i ended up doing couple of rounds. it was fun, and both times i came off were easy slides off. certainly not like the air-soaring head-over-heels wave-crashing that some of the guys got. for the most part, if i was on the boat, i was taking photos. (with other people's cameras) (gr).
laying in the sun, snacks, chitchat, floating... the sun came down and we packed and head back south.
i met up with the family and ella's house. she was asleep but i saw my cousins who were in from florida. by the time we left, the thunderstorm that should have been there all saturday finally came in. and i mean thunderstorm. blinding lightning and downpours of rain (which is only now starting to wear out) continued as i hit the hay, aching and sunburnt, and fell asleep.
thursday night my group went out for a mexican lunch. we had a lot of laughs, and we got to see sides of people we hadn't seen before, which encouraged me in many ways. i personally don't like to be a leader. even if i qualify. i still like to be led, and just be a really good assistant to the leader.
mum and mark had gone up to a city called rome in northern georgia. they were going to his orientation at berry, which is the college i fell in love with and wanted to go to when i was still in high school in turkey.. funny how life plays out. but they had left thurs morning and wouldn't return till fri night.
~~~~~
friday after work, i joined the rest of the covenant girl leaders to head up to lake burton to sleep over and enjoy some water fun. it was a long trip up in two cars. we'd hit rush hour, so we got there at around 7ish. we'd stopped for zaxby's on the way. so we ate, got into swimsuits, and head out on the boat. couple of the girls tried to wakeboard and they all eventually succeeded. we head back when it got dark, had dinner, and sat on the couch talking till we resigned to much loved sleep.i woke 8. the others in the room were sleeping and i knew some had gone out to run, so i got out of the bottom bunk, grabbed my bible and creeped to the balcony. i sat there enjoying the peace. the sun rising up. the water. i realized how much i'd missed water fronts. i love being by them.
after pancakes, we got on the boat again and did a little more wakeboarding till we found out the guys had arrived. we met up with them, and they immediately went out for some tubing. two girls took out the jet ski, and the last girl and i grabbed a lilo, and jumped in for some floating conversation.
soon later i got a jet ski ride with caitlin and we had a blast. she drove and i enjoyed. we caught a lot of air, and at one point, after making our own whirlpool, (round n round n round) the jet ski jerked and we tilted to the left, surely believing we'd fall in. hehehehe... it was hilarious: we fell in to the left. we came up easy (i love lifevests) and cracked up for a while at what'd just happened. after lunch, we went tubing. i had been worn out and wouldn't have minded not doing anything of the sort (i remembered how much i got out of it last year) but i ended up doing couple of rounds. it was fun, and both times i came off were easy slides off. certainly not like the air-soaring head-over-heels wave-crashing that some of the guys got. for the most part, if i was on the boat, i was taking photos. (with other people's cameras) (gr).
laying in the sun, snacks, chitchat, floating... the sun came down and we packed and head back south.
i met up with the family and ella's house. she was asleep but i saw my cousins who were in from florida. by the time we left, the thunderstorm that should have been there all saturday finally came in. and i mean thunderstorm. blinding lightning and downpours of rain (which is only now starting to wear out) continued as i hit the hay, aching and sunburnt, and fell asleep.
[Thursday, June 22]
where i'll be friday night and all saturday.
[Wednesday, June 21]
sunday
she loves his goatee.
j, j's cousins, and him and her at 3iffo's birthday
her.
off to all the coo peepow.
big pimpin.
got a lighter?
twas a dark, rainy night.
grey coloured the skies and the fog around was so thick, you could slice it with a silver knife.
she came to me, looking for help......
grey coloured the skies and the fog around was so thick, you could slice it with a silver knife.
she came to me, looking for help......
concentric circles.
so mark and i went to target this past week.
i americanized him.
and styled him up.
this hat is one of the coolest designs i've ever seen, but he didn't like it. tsk.
i americanized him.
and styled him up.
this hat is one of the coolest designs i've ever seen, but he didn't like it. tsk.
[Monday, June 19]
so i want to update...
before i start forgetting!
camp camp camp.
and that's mainly all i've been doing.
i often try to wonder what camp looks like through their eyes. the kids'. they come in at 9:30ish and leave at 4ish. i don't think it ever occurs to them people come in at 7am, others leave at 6pm... we all have to return at 6:30 for a meeting.... so much stuff goes on "behind the scenes". i don't know how our counselors did it - in jordan, in all the grain-de-bles and yfcs.. wow.
what i want to do is try to keep a record.
first, i'll tell you that the camp theme is being Super. Jesus as our superhero, and the fact that we have His superpower. namely the Holy Spirit. every week is one fruit of the spirit. (i'm guessing week 10 will be a wrap-up of everything else; unless they plan on making one up. (or should i say "grow" one? =P ))
week 1 was love. the story was about Ruth and how her "act of selflessness for the benefit of others", Naomi, led to a fruitful life that followed. my 3rd grade girls had the story down like they'd heard it from a preacha.
week 2. patience. david vs saul. this week was, by far, the funnest, most solid week i've ever had. 4th grade girls are my love! i dunno if i just got a really blessed selection of girls or what, but i can't think of anything that went wrong that week.
week 3, movin' own, uyup to 5th grade girls. whooooa. what a difference!! i had a group of very special girls. they were each unique in such ways! this week was me being silliest- ever. thing is, you finally don't have to tell them what to do. they know we're on a schedule, and they know actions taken too far will be addressed. so you can focus more on enjoying each other. now that i'm here, i wish i had more of an opportunity to actually get to know each better. it's a shock when you find out towards the end of the week that a child's parents are divorced... that their older brother picks on them... i never knew there were soooo many broken families here. this liberty with divorce is making kids think it's an ok thing. the usa is..... ok off topic.
fruit of the week was peace. having peace with God to have the peace of God. "subject matter" was saul's conversion to paulism. his jailtime and persecution. his jail-house-rock.
week 4 is here, and for the first time ever, i have boys! i've been thrown into junior camp, so i'm stuck in a smelly windowless room with 7 6 year-olds who are insane about legos. today we discussed the essential difference between happiness and joy. for the first time, i just about disregarded our bible time sheet and talked the whole time off of what God put on my heart. once again, we're talking about saupaul. i don't know if the two people who wrote this and last week's bible time knew they'd picked the same acts story. but hey, it's easier for the counselors, and for the kids too. and hey, if they keep it up, we could turn the camp into a bible study; a very large one!
i've got to go sleep, but i'll return to update with the bible verse of each week. and a little more on the craziness of ma boys. (by the end of the day today, i only had 3 out of 7! the others had been picked up at lunch or something..)
i put some a couple more photos in my facebook album; use the link on the left.
also, please send me a pic or two. just because i asked.
and let me know if you find a good deal on a camera. i'm going crazy without one.
bonwee.
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
John 15:11
[Wednesday, June 14]
lookie!
hahahahaha
Happy burthday
burrrrrrroh!
[Tuesday, June 13]
AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTUH.
[Saturday, June 10]
last week.
-lost my voice
-uv rays were maximum level
-couple of pics.
-hi5
-searching hard for a new camera or an alternate as an excellent phone
-uv rays were maximum level
-couple of pics.
-hi5
-searching hard for a new camera or an alternate as an excellent phone
[Wednesday, June 7]
ps.
authority rules.
pharoah won't let His ppl go.
no egypt for me.
pharoah won't let His ppl go.
no egypt for me.
pic from week 1 (last week)
hahahaa.. lookie =)
that there adorable [crazy] boy is carson. i fell in love with him the very first day. he rebelled by writing his name in big letters over all his artwork. sitting by him, i asked him wwwhhhyyyyy he did that. he told me so that i would never forget his name.
it struck me.
and i never did.... i spent the entire week by his side in art. he got punished couple of times (not by me) and yet was by far, in my opinion, the most wonderful camper that week.
the pic: we were on our way out of art when the photographer decided to paparizzi-ize shannon, who's in the wheelchair. we tried to make him look up at the cam and laugh... we got some out of him.... =)
good times: created.
[Monday, June 5]
day 1, week 2: sun with a beautiful breeze
today was pretty coowell (day of the word.) (ofcourse i meant to say word of the day) (i'm tired).
i have 4th graders- for the first time. and i think i love em. thing is, i have two girls from last year with me in my group. it's amazing to see them grown... for example one had problems with being a little mean to the other girls last year. today we hung out together the entire day. i realized i really love some of these kids.
i often wonder what i look like to them. in their eyes, who am i? how long will i last? what memory will i live on in?
i think of my chefs and cheftaines. but they were so much older. so so much older. we never had a college student lead us.
several times i had my girls ask me why i'm a counselour. they often ask about the money and whether or not it's "fun to be a counselour". i tell them i love it....
and then i wonder if, in 10 years, they'll be wearing name tags around their necks answering the same question...
but for some, some reason.... something's wrong. i'm not alright. there's something missing. something broken. something lacking.
i'm not up to it. i can't lead other counselours.
tell me why i dread our meeting. last year we looked forward to tuesday nights so much.
tell me why i get a feeling of dread every night about the morning that approacheth. tell me why i feel i'm going to vomit every morning.
i have no idea how my videos have been watched 14,000 times on youtube.
i Despise... with the utmost hatred, close to that i have for the devil, i DIS PIZE not having a camera. i feel like my camera died on me. i would mourn and wear black but i kinda have to stick to camp clothing.
i'm homesick.
and lovesick.
thing is.
i don't know where home is.
and love is forbidden.
i have 4th graders- for the first time. and i think i love em. thing is, i have two girls from last year with me in my group. it's amazing to see them grown... for example one had problems with being a little mean to the other girls last year. today we hung out together the entire day. i realized i really love some of these kids.
i often wonder what i look like to them. in their eyes, who am i? how long will i last? what memory will i live on in?
i think of my chefs and cheftaines. but they were so much older. so so much older. we never had a college student lead us.
several times i had my girls ask me why i'm a counselour. they often ask about the money and whether or not it's "fun to be a counselour". i tell them i love it....
and then i wonder if, in 10 years, they'll be wearing name tags around their necks answering the same question...
but for some, some reason.... something's wrong. i'm not alright. there's something missing. something broken. something lacking.
i'm not up to it. i can't lead other counselours.
tell me why i dread our meeting. last year we looked forward to tuesday nights so much.
tell me why i get a feeling of dread every night about the morning that approacheth. tell me why i feel i'm going to vomit every morning.
i have no idea how my videos have been watched 14,000 times on youtube.
i Despise... with the utmost hatred, close to that i have for the devil, i DIS PIZE not having a camera. i feel like my camera died on me. i would mourn and wear black but i kinda have to stick to camp clothing.
i'm homesick.
and lovesick.
thing is.
i don't know where home is.
and love is forbidden.
