Home, Sweet Home!

I made it back into Salem at 1:45am on August 1. After a tearful goodbye at the end of project banquet, a night in Littleton, and adventures in the Denver and Las Vegas airports, I was ready to be back.

Our end of project banquet was a "tacky prom" so this meant we were all supposed to have gone out to a thrift store and purchased a tacky outfit. I did not have the resources to go out and get something, so I just ended up in a dress I'd brought with me. It was a lot of fun, and our emcees were absolutely hilarious! Everyone was dancing to crazy music and waiting for their turns to jump in line for dinner...which was an adventure in itself. I was definitely not expecting for the goodbyes at the end to be as tearful as they were. I was glad to be on my way home, but not glad to be leaving some of the people from project.

We spent Thursday night at Mia's house in Littleton, and it was so nice to sleep in a bed that was not in a dorm. It was wonderful to have breakfast (which I'd pretty much given up on by about the third week of project) and to spend a morning not having to feel rushed about getting to work on time. Brooke and Joe left for Colorado Springs and Salt Lake City shortly after breakfast, and I spent the morning with Mia packing and repacking my bags to make sure everything was going to fit.

The board showing my delayed flight to PDX

When I got to the airport in Denver, I was 5 hours early for my flight. And, I didn't know this, but you can't check bags prior to 4 hours before leaving...so...I was sitting in the airport reading for just over an hour, waiting for my turn to check baggage for the flight home. When I was finally able to check my luggage, I was informed that my flight from DIA to Las Vegas had been delayed enough that I wouldn't be able to make the connection flight (the last one of the day) to Portland. I was placed on standby for an earlier flight, in hopes that I would not have to spend the night in Vegas.

I didn't think I'd be able to get on the earlier flight because it was completely sold out, but Lo and Behold, about 5 minutes prior to departure, my name was called and I got one of the very last open seats on the plane. Thankfully we landed in Vegas without a problem, and I was able to get to the right gate for the flight to Portland, which was supposed to depart at 9:40pm.

It didn't.

I found out when I got there that the flight had been delayed 15 minutes. Not a big deal, right? Right. Then, as I was waiting for the call to board, an announcement came on stating that we would not be leaving until 10:30pm, putting us in to Portland at 12:30am. This was not part of the original plan. I was supposed to be home 10 minutes before my sister's 16th birthday, but unfortunately, it was much later. The flight did leave around 10:30 from Vegas without any further delays, thank goodness.

I know it may not sound as bad as some other airport stories you may have heard (or experienced), but after 7 weeks in another state and only two weeks in between a 7 month absence and a 7 week absence, I was ready to be home, and exhausted from travel, so this experience was definitely unexpected, but a lesson in patience and flexibility.

Carissa's birthday was great, we spent the day in Lincoln City at the beach and outlet stores, which was really fun. I'm so glad that she got to have a great day, and we've continued to celebrate through today and possibly even tomorrow. It's been great being home, though not very relaxing...yet. We'll see how things continue. :-)

Seventh

The seventh and final week of project is already upon us and I'm not quite sure how to feel about it. I'm excited to be going home, but also I'm just now getting to know some people really well, and wish that the connection would continue to grow. We only have three more days of work, one day of packing, and then we're on our way back to our respective homes.

The explosion of children at Kids' Camp was everything they told us it would be, and more. My class went from seven students to twenty-one, though the last couple days it's only been about seventeen. They're crazy, but so much fun. They make me laugh, and make me frustrated, but they are such a joy to have and to be able to see them even in the last few days making friends and being so kind to one another is enough to make the times I'm frustrated to the point of exhaustion disappear. They're the perfect thing to make you appreciate all sides of life.

This weekend was super exciting! Tim Hawkins, a comedian came to the Crusade conference, and he was so funny. I love to laugh, and having the opportunity to get away from what was happening on project and at camp to laugh with hundreds (maybe thousands) of other people was wonderful!

Saturday night, the band Tenth Avenue North played a concert at the conference, it was one of the most powerful and fun experiences this summer. They are a great band with a wonderful vision and sense of who they are, and who God is in them. I most definitely bought the CD after the concert and it's been the only thing playing on my iPod for the last couple days.

Here we go, plowing into the last three days of work. It's going to be an adventure traveling back from Colorado and transitioning back into life at home for the short time I'll be there. My sister and best friend have birthdays within two days of each other and they're right when I get back so there will be lots of celebrating to look forward to!

Grand Anticipation

So, as of today, three of the kids I've had for the last four weeks are no longer in my class, and the class will grow substantially between now and next Wednesday (I've got seven now, and will have close to twenty next week). We have a four-day weekend starting today, and then start again on Wednesday morning thirty minutes later than we have been! Oh how wonderful those extra few minutes of sleep will be!

Recently, project has been very eventful, and though tiring, it's awesome! I went camping for the first time ever last weekend, and loved it! I want to experience camping with a smaller group before going with a large group again. Some pictures from camping and our hike in Rocky Mountain National Park are below.

My first camping trip -- six person tent!

Absolutely Beautiful Scenery at RMNP!

That's probably one of the biggest things that's happened in the last few weeks, besides the gigantic Independence Day Bash that we had, that was fun. Although, I wished I could have been celebrating with my family because it was my Grandma's 90th birthday, and I wasn't able to be with them, for the first time that I could remember.

At the end of our camping trip, all of the staff members who had been directing the project's many areas: ministry teams, Bible Studies, Financial things, etc. left!!! They passed on the leadership of the project to the students and gave us responsibilities in each of the areas they had previously been leading. There's a group of 5 students that are working as directors, associate directors, and operations leadership. Then twelve students, two boys and ten girls are leading small group Bible Studies, and all the ministry teams have two co-leaders for each group working to make all the rest of our events run smoothly.

About a week before the staff members left, my Bible study leader approached me before a project training meeting and asked me if I'd be willing to lead my Bible Study group. We had our first "sans staff" small group on Monday night and I loved it! It was so great to be able to facilitate a discussion about spiritual things with girls who I feel connected with, instead of it being just a random group of strangers getting together to have awkward conversations. Even when we'd get off track, we were always able to bring it right back to what we were initially talking about. I love watching God work in that way. It's been awesome to be here and be so challenged to grow and lead. Yay!

Now it's time for a restful and fun weekend before starting back up on Wednesday!

Summer Project, The Saga Continues

Ok. Well, I know I promised an update on Monday, but with late nights and early mornings, I felt sleep was a better alternative. Plus, today was our first field trip, and I have more to talk about today than I would've yesterday!

The kids have pretty much settled in to our classrooms by now. Our class finally made up a song/chant either Friday or Monday, I forget which. They're really enjoying it...all the other classes would get into "volume fights" while walking in the halls, but we didn't have anything to yell, so we couldn't participate. Yay for theme songs. Ours, when sung correctly sounds like the tune of "George of the Jungle", however we don't always sing it right. :-)

As mentioned earlier, today was our first field trip. The 4th - 6th graders went to The Pizza Farm, and the 1st-3rd graders went to the Discovery Science Center/Ft. Collins Museum today. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of keeping track. My girls didn't want to stay together at the beginning, but after the first few minutes they caught on and we had a great time walking around and looking at the exhibits/playing with the hands on ones. Andrew had our three boys, and I took our three girls for the afternoon, and we met back up at the end. I think everyone had a good time!

As far as the Foot of the Rockies project goes, everything is going well. I'm glad that I'm here, and God really has me going through a refining fire right now. I know He couldn't accomplish these things if I was in Salem, because I'd be too focused on other things, so it's wonderful to be here.

I tell you though, mosquitoes must think I'm some sort of delicacy, and I get pretty bad reactions to the bites, which is no fun. Several places on my arms and legs are very swollen due to being bitten by bugs. It's quite annoying. I guess if I'd actually use the mosquito/bug repellent I brought with me, things might improve. I'll try it tonight and the rest of the week and see what happens. I had no idea Colorado was full of blood-sucking insects. Sadness.

I went swimming at a lake this weekend and it was tons and tons of fun! I love doing things in the outdoors, I've got to find more places to go and do these things in and around Salem! I also spent some time at the Ft. Collins Brewfest (yes, that means beer) with our project people and the Young Adults ministry at a local church helping to hand out flyers, etc. for rides back home to people who were drunk or buzzed. I took one of the earlier shifts, so I didn't get to actually be there for any of the rides, but I heard it was pretty eventful, and I enjoyed getting to let others know they had a transportation alternative.

More life news: If you haven't heard the song "By Your Side" by Tenth Avenue North, you should. Just do it. Now. Really, I mean it. I think I've mentioned this before, but I pay very close attention to song lyrics, and this one has very powerful lyrics!

Children! They're Here!

Today was my second day with the kids in my class, and I must say, I'm so excited for what the rest of the summer is going to look like. After today, we've only got 23 more class times...I know that sounds like a lot, but it's really not, I have a feeling that the time is going to fly by as the camp continues to get rolling.

I have a class of six third graders (three boys and three girls), each with very different personalities. Of course, the boys are your typical seven or eight year olds -- crazy, crazy, crazy. So it's perfect that we named our class the Crazy Crescendos! The theme of our room is music, and we've been having fun the last couple days with that. Tonight, the kids are supposed to think about some sort of song and motions that we could do while we walk through the hallways.

Yesterday, I felt very unprepared for the kids, but today I feel much better and things ran a lot more smoothly. The more I think about things to do with them, the more excited I get! Already we have an activity for Friday just based on what the kids talked about with Andrew and me today! (Thank you Miss Childs for the inspiration!) Tomorrow is Valentine's Day (we celebrate a major holiday every Wednesday at Kids' Camp), so we have a special assembly to talk about the story of St. Valentine!

In other news, I feel very outdoorsy. Especially right now because I'm covered in mosquito bites. I'm going to have to start bringing my bug repellent with me everywhere! But I went for my first official hike on Saturday, and my first ever Whitewater Rafting trip on Sunday and had so much fun doing both of them! If I ever hike Horsetooth again, I'm making sure my water bottle is full, and I'm wearing different shoes with better dirt grip, but it was a ton of fun, and definitely something I would do again. I don't know why I've never done this before, but now that I have, I want to do it more often!

Tonight I went and watched a game of Ultimate Frisbee, which I think I may actually play in next week, and that's why I'm covered in bug bites. Yuck. I think a shower and lots of soap may be in order after this blog is finished. Thus far, Project has been a summer of firsts for me, and I'm so excited about the rest (especially the camping trip in July! FIRST TIME EVER!)

6:00am comes far too quickly, but I promise an update (and some pictures of Kids Camp too) on Monday, I'll let you know how our activity goes!

Summer Project: Blurs

These last few days have been blurring together. I was talking to the other girl in my discipleship group tonight and I couldn't remember if today was our second or third day of work. We've only been here since Friday, and already I don't know what day it is!

So, for those of you who don't know what I'm doing in Colorado, I am working with Campus Crusade for Christ on something called a Summer Project in Fort Collins, CO. I'm working for Colorado Kids' Camp, a ministry of Crusade during the New Staff Training and Staff Conference that are happening this summer here in CO. Whew! There's a lot of names in that sentence. In a nutshell: I'm a camp counselor for Campus Crusade for Christ.

Here's a brief update of what we've been doing the last few days:

Monday ~
Our first day of work! We went through camp policies, and found out whether we'd be working in the "Camp" portion or the "Care" portion of the summer. I will be working with the Camp (1st - 6th grade) and we didn't have specific age assignments yet. We went to the other elementary school (where the Care portion takes place) and unloaded a huge semi-trailer full of boxes that had been in storage for two years. The weather did not want to cooperate with us, because it was so severe that we had to stay inside the building. Pouring rain, hail, thunder, lightning, and even a tornado warning all made moving things inside a difficult task for about 30 - 45 minutes, while other miscommunications made the down time last about 2 1/2 hours or so.

Our first Bible Study small groups met that night as well. (we were introduced to our small groups on Saturday, but Bible Study started on Monday night). Later, we had a "Discover Ft. Collins" time, which , as I predicted was a scavanger hunt that sent us all around the city and CSU campus looking for things. It was really fun and I have a few pictures from it since I was the "designated picture taker".

Tuesday ~
Second day of work. More policies/orientation stuff. I'm learning that 7:30am is a very terrible time to have to be at work...until my body acclimates itself to our work schedule. It requires waking up at least an hour prior in order to be ready, eat breakfast (for the 15 minutes between when it's open and when we need to leave), and transport yourself over to the school. Yuck. But...it's going to be alright. I will be exhausted and ready for rest at the end of the summer, but somehow I'll make it.

Wednesday (Today)~
Today we received our specific age assignments! I will be working with 3rd graders! There are only two counselors (teachers) in the room I'm in, me and one other. I guess if you want to be technical, my title is "lead teacher", but that's just for the sake of the state. I'm excited to work with the other counselor and develop things for the kids! Also, I am officially certified in Adult/Child/Infant CPR and First Aid as of this afternoon! So, if you're in trouble, I can keep your blood circulating and get oxygen into your body until medical professionals arrive!

Tomorrow we are getting trained in our curriculum, and it's supposedly really good! I'm super excited about it! However, I really should be asleep in the next two minutes in order to be driving away from CSU by 7:15am tomorrow.

Summer Project, Episode I

We finally arrived in Colorado! The drive itself didn't feel that long (Thanks Joe for driving the whole way!), it was the flight, down time and then the 7 hour drive that made this trip very significant.

I had a 90 minute delay at the Portland airport, due to Thunderstorms in Salt Lake City and backlogged planes at SLC International. Ugh. Right about then I was thankful that PDX has 4 Starbucks locations! Unfortunately, my phone died on me right before I boarded the plane. I waited at the airport for my friend to pick me up, but in the three lanes of cars driving past baggage claim it was very difficult to find her. Eventually we did connect and headed to her apartment for the night. Next morning I was picked up and we made the trek from SLC to Ft. Collins, arriving just after 5pm on Friday evening!

This morning we had a 2 1/2 hour orientation meeting and we found out a little more about what our schedule is going to be like. Whew! It's going to be an extremely packed 7 weeks, which means they'll fly by sooo quickly!

I've met at least three other people from Oregon here. My roommate is from Gresham (attending WOU), and there's a guy from Eugene (attending OSU), Joe's from Medford (though he's been in SLC since last year), and two of the staff couples served on staff at U of O, so I'm not alone in being Oregonian!

That's about it from the last three days, busy, but not action-packed! We're "discovering Ft. Collins" tonight (which I think involves some sort of scavenger hunt thing, guess I'll find out in 4 hours!)

More to come as the summer progresses!

Finals and Sunburns

As of Wednesday April 29, I can say I am officially done with my first year of college! I'll be entering next year only one credit shy of being a Junior by credit, even though I'm only a sophomore. It felt great to be able to take my last final and have a day when I could relax before the weekend came. I'm so excited that my first year is done, and now I can move on to thinking about May Term, then summer, then next school year! Woo-hoo!

The unfortunate part of being finished with finals is that my friends are all finished as well. Most of them are seniors, which means, they're gone. I'm so excited to see what they do in their futures, but it's also sad for me because I love them so much, and some of them won't be in Salt Lake next year. How I managed to be friends with the seniors, I will never know, but they've been such a blessing in my life, and I'm glad to have had a year to spend with them and to get to know them.

Today was an amazing day of risk and trust. I went rock climbing for the first time ever! This was actually the first time I have done anything "outdoorsy", and I loved it! I was really nervous when I got up to the wall, but when I could find something to grab on to, it was better. I really had to trust that Josh and Joe were going to keep me safe and help me get as far up the wall as I could. I didn't make it to the top, but that's okay. I did something that I never thought I could do before. Little did I know, I'd soon be climbing the rocks again...this time...with a twist.

They decided to have three of us climb blindfolded and guess who got elected from my group...that's right. Me. Getting up there was really difficult. I had to completely trust that Josh and Joe weren't going to lead me to a place where I could fall. They could see all the possibilites and I could see nothing, so I made sure to listen to them. To their credit, they got me up pretty far and were very gracious and supportive when I couldn't find what they were trying to tell me about. Thanks guys.


So, after this fabulous day, I'm a little pink. I borrowed some sunscreen from one of the girls who came, and it prevented me from being red, but I'm okay with pink. As long as it lingers, I'll be reminded of the risk I took and the trust I gained.