It's coming to an end....but I don't want to think about that.

My first thought today is that I wish I could put up some pictures for y'all to see, but I think it would just take way too long to try to upload them all. I did, however, put some on facebook if you want to check them out. As always, kamp is going well! We are over halfway through 5th term. Because of this, people are beginning to talk more about after kamp stuff...and that makes me sad. Yes, I'm excited to be back in Waco, but I don't want to leave kamp. I love it too much! I love how relaxed and fun it is! I mean, there are times that I get stressed about things, but it's not overwhelming like school. At school, it's harder for me to have fun and enjoy things when I have deadlines and assignments swinging over my head. I've realized that I'm more of a person who is very much where I am, mentally, emotionally, and physically. So let's just say that I'm very much enjoying being at kamp right now. I'm trying to soak it all in. Even thought I'm getting tired and things are becoming somewhat monotonous (since this is now our 5th repetition of everything), I still don't want it to go by too quickly.

This term of kids is a ton of fun. Some highlights from the past few days:

There are several classes at kamp that I tend to teach a lot. One of these is aquaskipping....the weird bike/pogo stick on water that I mentioned earlier in the blog. Anyway, I love teaching this class becuase it gives me a chance to know the girls well and watch them progress throughout the term. Usually, the girls just skip out as far as they can and then the drop and swim the aquaskipper back to the dock. It supposed to float on its own in the water. Then the girls just pull it as they swim. Well, on this particular day, the girls were doing really well and skipping out pretty far. As one girl dropped into the water, all of sudden the entire aquaskipper just sank!! All of the girls jumped in the water and started swimming around, trying to find the huge metal contraption. We literally searched for 10 minutes. They were even "superdunking" each other. Since they were wearing lifejackets, they couldn't go down very far on thier own, so one girl would push another down and then push her further with her feet. Probably not the safest thing haha, but it proved effective! One girl, Katie came back up and had found the aquaskipper!! Hooray! I was so relieved that I didn't have to tell the dock daddy that I had lost one at teh bottom of the lake.

About a week ago during FOB, my favorite family at kamp, the Rapps, was having some swim time at the pool. I was walking by with two of my friends and they jokingly yelled at us to hop in! So we decided to take them up on the offer. We went and got our suits on a hopped in for a swim! I was so much fun to just hang out in the pool and go on the water slides without having kampers around. We all decided to go on the water slide and Carter decided to come along, too. As we were getting in line, we told Carter to go first. He said "No, Lindsay, you go first, then Allison, go second. I'm third." He smiled. If you know kamp, you know that although he got the context wrong, he's at least been paying attention. God first, Others second, I'm Third.

Just rolling along...

Another day off...so soon! The new staff at kamp has been absolutely great! It's funny, because I forget that many of them have never done this before. There are little things that happen that just make me shake my head and smile sometimes. But I don't blame them...I mean, they've been away from kamp for 6 weeks and then we throw them back in and expect them to do everything right! Let me just say, though, that they are great counselors! They are so good about spending time with their kids and getting to know them. Their energy has been absolutely incredible!

I really feel like I'm growing up this year at kamp. More is expected of me and I am trusted with so much more as well. This is the first year that I've felt old compared to the new counselors. It's kind of a weird feeling, and sometimes I don't know how to quite approach it. I also feel like this year, more than any, I'm beginning to have "kamp eyes". I'm learning how to see the big picture of what's going on. Granted, there is a lot that I don't see or even know about that goes on, but I'm learning how to take full responsibility for my job and make sure that the things that I'm overseeing are running smoothly.

Lately, I have been praying that the Lord would challenge me and grow me more. This can be a scary prayer to pray sometimes, but I just felt that I was becoming stagnant in my walk, and I didn't want that to become the case. I can already tell that He is beginning to move. I mean, what should I expect? He's a pretty faithful guy. But even in just daily frustrations or things that get under my skin, I can tell that the Lord is trying to refine me. I need it for sure. I've definitely realized this summer what a sinful person I am...I'm so thankful for that realization and the grace that covers that. Ok, well I need to go figure out what kind of charger I need to get for my laptop, because I just happened to lose mine. Awesome....

Love you all!

New beginnings!

Hey friends,

Well, we are officially halfway through the summer. On one hand I can't believe it and, on the other, it feels like I've been here for so long! A few days ago, I got to take a 48 (2 days off) with my mom when she came to pick Austin up from kamp. It was so good to see her! It made me really miss being with my family and the fact that I'm going to be at kamp for so long. But at the same time, being away from kamp for that time, even just 48 hours, reminded me of how much I really do love it and how blessed I am to be there. It was great to relax with mom at Big Cedar Lodge, get a pedicure, see Toy Story 3, go to Austin's closing ceremonies at kamp, and play shuffleboard and putt-putt with the family. I wish that dad had been able to be there. He started his new job at Barksdale AFB in Bossier City, LA a few days ago. From what I've gathered, I think he is really enjoying it. Hope fully, we'll have out house and be officially moved in sometime in August.

As for kamp stuff, being halfway through the summer means staff changeover. A lot of my friends on staff stayed at kamp, but so many of them went home as well. A new, fresh group of counselors, kitchies, office girls, etc just got here. It was hard to see dear friends go. It's crazy to think about the work that they've done and how used I've gotten to working with them. The counselors in my section of cabins did a wonderful job. I could not be more proud of them!

It's kind of fun to have the chance to start over with a group of counselors. I switched sections. I'm now in charge of cabins 7, 8, and 9. These girls are all mainly 13 and going into 8th grade, which is basically a year older than the girls I had before. I feel good about this session....I've done my job once. I know what I've done well and what I need to work on and how I want things to look.

Some highlights of the past few days:

I am specialty head for All-Around specialty. Our goal for All-Around is basically to make a fun experience for all types of girls. Some may be super athletic and just burned out on sports and some just want to have fun. We have to be super creative in order to make sure most of them enjoy the class! We survey the kids at the end of each term and ask them what they thought of different things about kamp. I checked the scores for All-Around specialty, and 96% of our girls gave us an "awesome". I was so excited! My goal had been 90%. I couldn't believe it. Look like we'll just have to shoot for 100 this next time.

Yesterday in All-Around, we played a game when the girls had to "capture the cabin porch" of the other team. The girls were running around, trying not to get hit by tennis balls as they raced to the other team's porch. My good buddy, 5-year-old Carter Rapp, played with us yesterday. He had a great time!

Fourth of July was absolutely AMAZING!! I love that day at kamp! Jenica, our head cook, planned an amazing meal of hamburgers, brauts, fruit salad, and star-shaped rice krispie treats. So fun! Then, we walked up to the K-2 fields and met our neighboring kamps, K-7 and K-2 for fireworks and patriotic fun!

Sick and tired...

So this 24 I'm feeling a little under the weather....just one of those days. Allergies are killing me. Thankfully, I got some great rest last night. Two of our kampers and their families from last term invited us to stay the night with them at Big Cedar Lodge. They were so so sweet! And what a blessing! Beg Cedar is so beautiful and so refreshing. Lately, I've been feeling overwhelmed by the idea of staying here all summer. I don't know why that is...I mean, I've done it before. Not that I'm not enjoying it, but I'm finding myself having to rely on the Lord more and more for energy. I also feel like I've been taking this time here for granted sometimes. Sometimes I can't believe that I'm here and sometimes it feels like I've been here forever! I don't want to wish this time away! I love it. I'm going to blame the feelings of overwhelmedness on the new job. I have loved being a KPD, but it definitely pushes me out of my comfort zone sometimes. It is definitely a very flexible jobs, but also one of those jobs that, even thought you don't have something you are supposed to be doing at every moment of everyday, I feel like your still supposed to keep busy. Lately, even in life outside of kamp, I've noticed that it's been hard for me to be OK with free time and to use that time wisely. I'm slowly starting to figure it out...I know it may sound dumb, but that's just where I'm at. We got a new group of kampers a couple days ago. Austin's here!!! I'm so excited. It's so fun to have my little brother around. The new girls in my section are super cool. It has been so much fun to hang out with them already. They are so easy to interact with them....I needed that! I needed that motivation to be in cabins and spend time with girls, even though they are not necessarily in my cabin.

Unfortunately, I better go. It's time to head back to Lampe, MO. Sorry again for the limited post. And, facebook is still being lame about pictures. Every time I try to post some it doesn't work. I'll try again on my next time off. I have a 48 (two days off) at the end of this term, and I get to hang out with my mom!! I'm so excited!! Love you all and thanks for your continued prayers.

Loving life!!

What a glorious time for the break! We are at the Rapps house right now...it's so nice to be in a house, relaxing, and hanging out with one of my favorite kamp families. Things have been going really well so far. I am really learning to love my job. It's so fun to be able to hang out with kids, teach classes, and help out with parties and other things as well. First term was so great. The kids were wonderful. I'm over cabins 4, 5, and 6, so I got to hang out with a lot of the 12 and young 13 year olds. It's cool to be with the younger kids for a change. It was so much fun to help them braid their hair and put on their sweet make-up for Western night. The parties and activities overall have been great. I've been leading All-Around specialty. We had a great group of girls in our class last term. There were 22 of them! They were so fun and engaged in anything that we did. We played solleyball (a K-West creation between sand volleyball and softball), swam in the lake, played water polo, octoball (another kamp creation), 4 square...This next term, I'm hoping to take the girls over to K-2 ( the high school kamp) because they just built a water slide down a hill. It looks like so much fun!!

Highlights since the last blog:

-hanging out with great friends

-teaching mountain biking

-no injuries on the blob!

-fun with All-Around

-getting to help with set up for parties

-getting the chance to lead a small group Bible study for counselors since our usual leader, Erin, is out of town for her sisters wedding

-dancing my heart out while teaching the kampers our Komo dances

-getting to know some really cool kids

-building the All-Around trophy out of junk from the maintenance shed

-getting to drive the golf cart around....my fav!!

-learning more about the book of Matthew! So cool! I'm feel like I'm learning and growing more everyday!

That's all I can think of for now. Love you all. Thanks for all your letters and love you've been sending.

Keep praying for kamp this summer. We need it!!

A break feels so good....

I'm on my first real 24 of the summer and it feels so, so good. I mean, we had a few breaks during staff training week, but this has been the first time since I got here that I've been able to stop, sleep, shop, and take care of things as needed. We got our first slew of kids on June 1st. At first, I didn't really know what to do. I am so used to being in the counselor role...having a co-counselor and my own group of kids to run around with and look out for. But, when those kampers started arriving, I think it really hit me that I won't have that again. Yes, I still get to hang out with the kampers when possible and teach classes, but it's not my job anymore to run around with a group of 12 middle schoolers. Part of that is sad, but the more I get into it, it's exciting as well. It's take me awhile to figure out my job as a KPD (or middle management position as John Coffer likes to call it). Basically, I'm a counselor without a cabin. Instead, I'm in charge of cabins 4, 5 and 6. The majority of these grisl are 12. They are absolutely wonderful! For the past two years, I have alwasy worked with the older girls, so it is nice to be with the young ones for a change. They are so great! It's fun to get to encourage their counselors and spend time in the cabins when I can. I feel like I have gotten to know about a third of the girls in my cabins decently well. It's kind of cool getting to be the "fun aunt" who comes in randomly and just gets to hang out. Sometimes this means making friendship bracelets, braiding hair, helping with make-up for the western party, playing Horse, talking my the pool, and just hanging out in classes. On the flip side, it's been cool to get to help out on the leadership side of things. It's been such an honor to get to sit in on some meetings, talk things out, help with activities, etc.

Some highlights of kamp so far:

- seeing 3 SNAKES in the lake while teaching sailing. Are you kidding me?? 15 years at kamp and NOW I'm seeing snakes. Awesome.
- Komo Leaderships girls v. Cabin 8 in a dodgeball game. They won. Don't want to talk about it : )
- teaching the FIRST EVER girl's aquaskipping class at K-West. Such a blast.
- dancing our heart out in the gym, dining hall, and anywhere else it randomly busts out
- swimming in the lake with my All-Around Specialty girls
- getting to sit in the teepee with the chiefs and princesses during tribals
- the Western dance...always a blast!
- playing my djembe for K-Life worship
- leading PINK with Nicole...the girl's daily specialty awards
- midnight Bananagrams with my fellow KPDs
- hanging out with the Rapp kids

Ok, I have to go for now. Time to head back to kamp. Love you all and I wish I had time to write more and talk to you all. Check out facebook for some pictures.

Please be praying for kamp, the staff, and the kids that are coming through. We need your support!

Uncle Week 2010

Well, it's finally here!! It is officially summer 2010. It blows my mind...I still can't believe that I'm back. As I drove into kamp yesterday, it felt like I had never left. I can't believe that a whole year has gone by since I walked through these gates. I got here yesterday and have been so honored to participate in Uncle Week. This is typically a time for a few of the guys to come to kamp about a week early and begin to get things ready....opening kamp after the long winter, cleaning, mowing, sweeping, LOTS of dust. This year, for some reason, some of the girls from K-West were asked to come early as well. It's been so fun to hang out with the girls, clean, and just hang out. Tomorrow, another group of people will show to be trained in clinics and then the rest arrive on Friday! I think it will really start to sink in once al the staff gets here. I'm excited but I miss everyone! If you want to drop me a line, I would love it. Getting mail at kamp is absolutely the best!

K-West
793 K-West Dr.
Lampe, MO 65681

Love you all! I have to go for now, but I'll write again as soon as I can.