Girls Camp!!!!!

Another year of camp has sadly come and gone. Not sad because it came, just sad because it's gone for another whole year. Our theme was "Reflecting the SON". I think the statistics were something like 200 some girls (including counselors and staff), 33 churches, 10 states and 3 countries represented. It was incredible. We started the weekend off doing cardboard testimonies for the girls. If you've never seen it or don't know what it is, go to youtube and searc cardboard testimonies. It was really powerful and emotional. I think about everyone was crying by the end. Just seeing everyone's "before and after" testimonies written out, saying "look what Jesus did for me" was very touching.

We had indoor/outdoor game time. I was helping with outdoor games. We did frisbee football (boo) soccer with an exercise ball (looked fun) and a relay where we passed an orange down the line with our necks (hilarious). Except, as you can see in the picture, sometimes there was a little bit of cheating going on. But it was still funny. We did it again using water balloons, then had a huge water balloon fight.

The counselors did a skit for the campers about how we are apples in an orchard and we need to stay at the top of the tree. The best fruit is at the top because it's closer to the sun, whereas the apples at the bottom may get picked first, but that doesn't mean they're better. We definitely went the guy route with the skit, but recognized how staying close to the SON goes for every area in our lives. That was a God thing. We practiced one time. Practice was unorganized, chaotic and confusing. But when it came time to do the skit, God took over and it played out nearly perfectly.

Saturday morning Gloria and LeaAnn showed up wearing the same shirt as me. Or maybe I was wearing the same shirt as them. Either way, we all matched:)

Saturday we went to Hermann's lake and much to my dismay I forgot my camera. I was not pleased with myself. But it was a great afternoon. Saturday night, of course, was skits. Ours was pretty funny if I do say so myself. All we did was take turns telling a laffy taffy joke, but we all had different laughs. Funny laughs. And when we all did our laughs together you couldn't help but laugh for real.

This is my awesome cabin, minus Alex and Christi. And Jennifer who was extra staff. They had already left when we took the picture. The other girls are (L to R) Claire, Jessica, Sam, Kyra, Mandy, Kendra (not a camper, just extra staff) and Anna. With 12 people in our cabin we managed to cover 11 churches.

Here's Alex. I unfortunately didn't get a good picture of Christi.

And my amazing co-counselor Javon. I've known her for quite awhile but never had the chance to really get to know her. Now I've had the chance and I must say, she's a dandy! And just a disclaimer, the picture was taken after just a few hours of sleep and several shots of espresso:)

Here's my Athens girlies. Jessica and Roslyn. I'm so glad they went. And I'm really glad they were in the car on the way home with me, keeping me awake. It took us about 9 hours to get home. We were plenty ready to be out of that car by the time we pulled into the church. But it was great to be able to spend some quality time with them. I love them!

So, that's the end. The emotions coming off of camp have been almost as strong as the emotions coming off of a great work trip. That's how great the weekend was. But now I'm tired and trying to get rested up before I head back up to Illinois again on Thursday. Then that should be the end of my IL trips for awhile. For which I will be glad. I love it when I'm there, but all the driving really wears me out. So, until next time..... ta ta!

*sigh*

That's how my day ended today. With a great big *SIGH*. We have a set of twins at the preschool who just can be absolute terrors. This afternoon was no exception. Both boys were in time out like five times in about an hour or less. I was feeling rather frazzled. It was hot, I was tired and we were all ready to go inside. So we starte putting bikes away. From where our bike shed is I can't see the parking lot, but I can see the gate that leads to the parking lot. And I looked over to see another little boy leaving the playground. Huge no-no. He get's in trouble for that a lot seeing as how he thinks it's hilarious to go stand outside on the sidewalk while looking at us with a huge cheesy grin on his face. I was not really in a mood to be patient so I yelled in a not so very nice way "Derik (last name) Get back in here right now!!!!!!!!" And no sooner had I yelled that I saw his dad's reflection in the window. Oops. Note to self- make sure a child's parent isn't standing right there before yelling at the child.

Also today we got a package from the UPS man. I had ordered some new blocks and was pretty excited to get them. Until I realized that somewhere along the line I missed the "some assembly required" memo. So there I sat, putting together 40 cardboard mega blocks in the sweltering heat while the twins beat up on each other. Honestly sometimes I find it really hard to care if they're fighting and I just let them go at it. It just gets really old trying to referee after awhile. So I let them duke it out. I usually end up intervening before long though because duking it out would probably end in one or both of them getting an early start to their tooth fairy money collection.

But the day did end on a good note though. There's some classes at the gym that I like but they start at 5:30 which is when we close. So I can only go if all the kids leave a little early. They left just early enough today for me to make it to class so that made me happy.

Now it's after 11:00 and I really need to be going to bed but sometimes the whole process is just a little daunting. I mean, I have to brush my teeth...... floss...... take my contacts out........ wash my face...... put my pajama's on....... it's just a little overwhelming. Does anybody else have this problem? Missing out on precious sleep because it just seems like too much work to get ready for bed?

*sigh*

Dreamin'

Last night the setting in my dream was the moon. It was great. I've always wanted to walk on the moon.

Winners!

Hmmm......I'm sitting here trying to think of some creative and exciting way to announce the winners but it's just not happening. So I'll just tell ya. The first name I drew was
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.Heather!!!
The second name I drew was
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Wendy!!!!!!
And the third name I drew was
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Erin Leman!!!

So, there you have it. Sorry dad, you just didn't get it. I'll bring you an extra gallon of tea to make up for it. Oh wait, I ALWAYS bring you an extra gallon of tea!

Anyway, if you three girls could e-mail or facebook me your addresses, that would be great. Yes Erin, even you. Sorry. Hopefully I won't forget about this now. I don't want to send it right away because it's supposed to be a little bit of a suprise. The goal is to remember within the next few months:)
Thanks for commenting!

Paying It Forward

My cousin's wife Karen did something like this on her blog and now I am doing it on mine. Here's the deal. Leave a comment and I will draw three names out at the end of the week. Those three people will get a little suprise in the mail in the next few months. It won't be anything huge, just a little something that hopefully makes you smile and brightens your day. Or at least your mailbox. You won't know for sure when it's coming, it will just one day appear at your house. Even if you live in another country like, say, Jamaica, you can still comment. Now, I'm thinking that unless people start coming out of the woodwork, the few people that do actually comment on this thing have a pretty good chance:) Here's the catch though- if your name is drawn, you have to pay it forward somehow on your blog. If you don't have a blog, just find another little way to pay it forward. Sound good? You can leave comments up until Friday, June 19 at noon, central time.

It's A Small World After All.....

Today I was at Quizno's for lunch (they know my well there) and Mike, the quizno's guy was asking me if I was going on any more trips to Illinois soon. So I was telling him I have a couple more coming up in the next few weeks and saying that I'm putting a lot of miles on my car. Then they guy in line behind me piped up and said how it was only 500 and some miles to Champaign! I was like "Whoa! Who are you and where are you from anyway?" Turns out he was from Minnesota but lived in Rantoul for awhile and knew whereabouts I came from. Yes, it is a small world.
This weekend has kind of been a drag actually. Thursday and Friday I took the early shift and opened which meant I got done with work at 2:00. No complaints there! So yesterday afternoon I decided to go to Huntsville to do a little shopping. Usually I prefer shopping by myself- I get more accomplished that way. And I don't mind eating alone either. I just take a book along or sometimes just sit and people watch. But yesterday I was wishing I had a friend with me. I guess I was missing my family or something. But it turned out okay. They had a guy there playing his guitar and singing easy listening/soft rock/good background music type stuff so I sat and listened to him and read my book for awhile. I had been on the brink of throwing myself a pretty wild pity party and relaxing with the music and the book kind of helped snap me out of it. I hate the feeling I have when I'm at a pity party. It's just not a whole lot of fun.
Today I really didn't do much of anything. Usually I keep pretty busy on Saturdays running errands and stuff. Today I spent most of my time in my room finishing the book I started yesterday and messing around on the computer. I did run a couple errands, ate at Quizno's and cleaned my bathroom though. So the day wasn't a complete loss. Then tonight went to a Thai restaurant. First time I've been there and it was really good.
So yeah, the weekend was a drag but that's okay because after next weekend I'll be go go go go go go until like the middle of August.
And that's all I have to say about that.

A Momentous Occasion

Momentous- is that a word? I kind of think it is, but even if it's not, I'm using it anyway. I, or rather my car, had a momentous occasion this weekend on the way home from the wedding. Somewhere just north of Nashville........

My car is a '99 and is just now hitting the 100,000 mark. I got it about three years ago, right before I moved to Alabama. Much to my dismay, my little green cavelier was dying of old age and was in no shape to start driving 16 hours on any given weekend. The people I bought my Alero from took really good care of it and mostly just used it to drive around town. They lived and worked in Bloomington. When I got it, it had I think around 48,000 on it. So yes, I tend to travel a little more than they did. But ever since I bought it I don't know if I've heard any good about Olds Alero's. And I'm finding those negative comments to be true. It's going downhill at a very rapid rate. It was great until about 75-80,000. Then I started noticing little things going wrong. And I'm trying to save for a new car but the money doesn't seem to be piling up as rapidly as the car is going down. So I'll just keep driving it, all the while hoping and praying it doesn't leave me stranded somewhere along I57. I do like my car though, it's been good to me considering all the wear and tear I've put it through. This post reminds me though- I need to get my brakes fixed.....

Shane and Jules

I headed back up to Illinois this weekend for Shane and Julia's wedding. Since we've been so low on kids I decided to take Friday off and get a head start. I left Friday morning and took Amber Edelman up with me. Dropped her off at her aunt and uncle's house and headed to Roanoke. I had called my dear friend Katrina to see if she wanted to do something that night and she said they had VBS in Gridley and then were having girls to their house afterwards. So that's what my Friday night entailed of. Saturday I got up and mowed and then went to see my aunt Boni. While I was there I got a suprise phone call from Mandy saying they came home for the weekend and wondered if I wanted to eat lunch. After lunch I went to one of my dad's new hog barns to help them finish planting trees. I think they planted like, 700 or something like that between the two barns. I only got in on the last little bit thank goodness. Saturday night after supper we tried out the new ice cream place in Roanoke. The Scoop. It was quite delicious. I'll be going back there if I have any control over it. Sunday was a good day. I haven't been in Peoria in a long time so it was nice to visit there again. And it's always great to see long lost friends. I did the guestbook with Beks before heading home. I didn't leave until about 4:20. Ususally on Sundays I like to book out of church and get on the road as soon as I can. I decided to take a chance and speed a little more than normal because getting home at 1:30 didn't sound very fun when I had to work the next day. The speeding paid off. But on the way home I started feeling kind of sick and by the time I got to Nashville I had one of those "sounds like a barking dog" sort of coughs. I'm feeling a little better today though. My only complaint? I was going to go swimming with Erin and Angie but we didn't go cause it was just a little too cold. Bummer. I have a few pictures but my camera is still in my car and I'm just really tired right now and feeling too lazy to go get it.

The Best Things In Life Are Free

The best things in life are free. Especially if that includes food! Tonight Sonic was giving away free root beer floats. We cleaned the church instead of having our normal Wednesday night Bible Study which is why we're in our grubbies, but afterwards Jena and I went with Mark and Bekah to get one. The consensus? Mmmmmmmmm...........................tasty.

I really wasn't going to post two pictures of us sitting at Sonic having root beer floats, but I thought the difference in the pictures was kind of funny. I took the first one and Mark took the second. You can tell how much taller he is by the angle of the shot!

Good times, good friends, good ice cream.