shouts of joy

Every day the past couple of days, when I’ve taken the step out the door to the forest around me I have felt a different kind of air. It’s not much cooler, but definitely fall air. When I breathe it in my nostrils, it’s no longer moist and humid, but it’s just crisp. Kind of sharp, like a freshly sharpened wooden, old school no. 2 pencil, the yellow kind. It smells like freshly cut logs, neatly stacked behind the house hibernating there until a cold day in winter, which seems to be creeping up right around the corner. If I’ve never made it clear in any other posts you should know I’m not a winter fan. Unfortunately, this year I’m only missing the first part of winter, but fortunately, at least I’m missing half. Then I’ll be back in time to watch the nastiness of winter sprout up into a lovely spring. If you didn’t know, I love spring. Today, though, Karalee and I went “into town,” you see town is a short journey by car away, so we have to go in to get there. We we

Friday I went back out to camp to drive boats for the ski show. My orange indian pants blowing like parachutes in the wind, I made my way across the dock to get my assignment and a camper yelled out to me, "Cute pants, Brooke!" Instead of correcting her with a confusing story about leaving camp a week early and me not being Brooke, I thanked her instead and kept walking before she could see her mistake. Ski show went smooth and before I knew it I was on stage at camp council singing in a song group with my sister. Like I had never left. It was great to be back and have the maximum energy to participate and catch up with campers and staff. I felt like I was moving a million miles per second and talking like I had been created to hold conversation after conversation. Finally, I escaped to the empty docks where the ski show had already been cleaned up like it never happened, and the boat staff had left for a break before morning activities. Terry, my old boss (old beca

Some lucky people have a blood type that draws mosquitos. Wherever they go mosquitos find them, whatever time of day, it doesn't matter mosquitos will appear. I've always thought that those overly paranoid people must make it all up, it's all in their head. Then they complain, probably just for the attention. WWU's nursing dept is going back to my school in India in 1 week. Another blog about that soon ... A few weeks ago I was taking a trail through the woods from camp to one of the directors' house. Every morning we meet Joe, this particular director, in his garage gym at 6 am sharp for a workout session. I leave camp at 5:45 to make the 15 minute trek to his house. The early mornings there are too beautiful to describe. I wasn't far from his house when I heard some cracking branches coming from further up the trail. When I looked around the corner I saw a moose. Instantly, my brain started thumbing through the stored file in my brain called "How to

“There fore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:6,7 As I recount my last week at camp, possibly my last year of summer camp ever, my spirits have been lifted and now they’re ready for lift off. Well, maybe that’s a little too ambitious. It’s been a rocky past two weeks. Kind of like a fork in the road, my engine wasn’t slowing or making any turns, but moving head-on for the bushy median waiting for me to jerk the steering wheel in some sort of direction. Control is something I struggle with. Selfish control. The more I look at myself, the more I see huge logs of selfishness. A selfish, spoiled-rotten, little brat. There’s a lot to chop down and haul out of here. It’s intimidating, scary, embarrassing, and I’ve felt like a super loser lately. Not the kind of loser that brags about lbs., but the kind that wants to hide from gui

Lesson learned: All good things happen at evening campfire. Last night sitting in front of me were Kevin and Aiden. Both four-year-olds stand around 3.5 feet tall, very bony, very social, and very blond. Half way through the skit I see Kevin standing from his seat and Aiden sliding his flat palm on the the log bench below Kevin's bottom. Kevin quickly smashes his bottom to the bench aiming for Aiden's hand and Aiden quickly moves it leaving Kevin smacking the hard wood with no kind of barrier. This happens several times and Kevin hops his bottom closer and closer to Aiden to pin his hand between the wood and Kevin's toosh. Soon, Kevin is throwing himself onto Aiden and they are laughing out loud two rows from the stage. What a bonding game! I want a butt war buddy. Jump Wars Photo by Caressa Rogers

Last night I opted out of the mass crowd we call staff afterglow that happens every night after campfire. Instead, I stayed slumped in my seat in the back and listened to the words of “Amazing Grace.” After a few minutes little five-year-old Seleah, from one of my swimming classes, was walking towards me with her mother. I could hear her loud whispers, “Mom, I cant ask her, you ask her.” “What if we ask her together?” They were standing in front of me now, “Miss Tina, I want to ask you something.” Then she looked up at her mom and in unison they started, “1, 2, 3 … How much …” And Seleah whispered again, “I cant momma. You ask.” Pastor Annie, Seleahs mom, turned to me, “Seleah wants to know how much do you love Jesus?” So shocked by this question from a five-year-old and where it might have stemmed, I answered with my hands reached out wide above my head, “SOOO, SOOO MUCH!! How much are you crazy about Jesus, Seleah?” I was curious now. “So much, that I can't ev

It's almost time for a summer in review ... The quote never stops being more true, "Time flies when you're having fun." We've got 3 weeks before my 11 week summer at MiVoden is done. It seemed like a lifetime when I was in charge of programming. Now I can't believe it's already August. This week I had a swimming class with two sets of twins. I've learned that twins have telepathic-like minds and that it would be in my best interest if I never had twins. This week I invented a fishing net pulley system to go over the blob, which has been a huge success so far. Maybe I should have gone into engineering. This week I've learned that as introverted as I am and as much independence as I want and need, I still need someone to sit beside me when it's quiet. I love my sister. This week I learned that even doctors and dentists value simplicity and the small things in life, like playing with paper airplanes all day with the people you love. This week wa