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!