Maybe Teaching Archery Was A Bad Idea...

Well this past week was Daniel's last week with the CK7 team.
This was also Taylor's week to teach archery.
Talk about some new experiences.

Sunday night I sat down with Daniel and we went through the debriefs for the track and I suddenly got extremely nervous. I had helped Daniel the first week so I kind of knew what was going on, but not really.

Monday came and Daniel and I woke up early and did some work in the morning and got some really good conversation, then the camp week began. Literally within the first thirty minutes of registration it began to rain. And when I say rain, I mean pour. T-shirts moves inside and we continue to get work done no matter what weather... I guess you could just call us the United States Post Office.

Bible study went great this past week and the kids loved it, but probably the most exciting news is the Riptides won the Captain's Oar the first day at recreation! I nearly flipped out because I was so excited! I set up the archery track time and literally just began to pray. Track A went great without a hitch and track B suddenly became interesting. I had another child with Autism in this track and his name was Dima. He came up and told me on the first day that he probably wouldn't be able to participate a lot because he didn't do well waiting in lines and concentrating on something he didn't want to do. I thought that it was going to be a challenge whenever he started having the time of his life. He started challenging people to shooting competitions because he enjoyed it so much! It was amazing to see him in the zone! Throughout the weeks track times Dima became my AA (archery assistant) and he absolutely loved giving the commands and helping me out with whatever needed to be done. Dima quickly worked his way into my heart and it was a struggle to see him leave on Friday.

Not only did the Riptides win the Oar on Friday, WE WON THE ENTIRE COLOR COMPETITION. Which outside of camp that seems like no big deal, but seeing how competitive I am it was awesome to see all of our hard work paid off and the kids got to live in the victory for a little bit!

I am slowly coming to the realization of me going home and being without my team. I'm super excited to return to my family and friends but I know that my time for this summer is almost up, but that doesn't mean that God stops working in my life. He just starts working in a different way.

IT'S CHRISTMAS AT CENTRIKID!

Last week was Christmas at CentriKid Camps and it was awesome! We all drew a name and they became our Secret Encourager that week.

Monday: One Dollar Day

• I got Hair TuTu's (hairband with ribbons tied on it)
• I got my person a cute rubber bracelet 

Tuesday: Snack Day

• I got Diet Pepsi and Reese's Pieces
• My person got Sour Patch Kids!

Wednesday: Encouragement/Random Acts of Service

• I got my favorite bible verse on a poster
• My person got a really sweet poster board note

I also had my track time set up this day, but I passed out from dehydration. Talk about a day ruiner. I was coming up from the recreation field and went inside to go sit down and sat on the stairs and then from what I'm told I passed out, but I don't remember this. I just know that I came to feeling horrible and knowing that something wasn't right because I was on the ground.

Thursday: Pimp My OMC
I got to wear:

• Fluorescent construction vest with rhinestones vest
• fluorescent soccer socks
• ninja turtle boxers
• "Take it to the Streets" boys graphic tee's
• rhinestoned visor

My person got to wear:

• Black tee with I'm A Rockstar ironed on
• Miami Ink boxers
• Black bandanna 
• Aviators

Friday: Creative

• I got a coloring book!!
• My person got a verse painted on a piece of wood

Saturday: CHRISTMAS
I got:

• Nice Gap shorts
• Painting
• Bowl
• Book of Useless trivia

My person got:

• Headbands
• Black and white striped tank
• Paintbrushes

I promise that camp happened that week too, but Christmas was a huge part of it for the staff. This was actually the only week I got a TA and she did an amazing job being with the kids and getting them to do what I said. It was nice to have some backup. Track B was interesting. I had a kid named Jarod that had autism and he was amazing. The first day we played games and worked on trapping, and Jarod actually participated! His mom came and told me that this was the most she had seen him participate in a while and it made me smile that he found something that he could do with other kids and not feel different. Jarod became my little camper for the week and it was amazing to see him grow and come out of his shell more and more as the week progressed.

Not only did camp happen but my mom left for Peru that week. My heart went out to Peru and I so wanted to go and see the people that I worked with last summer. However, since I'm at camp I had to let other people go in my place. They had a safe trip there and back and I loved reading posts about what was happening over there. God had some amazing plans for that team and they were carried out.

Skycroft, Week 1

So we arrive here about ten thirty at night and we all get out and guess what? If you said Taylor is carsick, you are dead on. We met the Skycroft Staff that we would be working with for the next four weeks and then crawled into our bunk beds, which are located in a four bedroom house that I'm sharing with 17 other people. Needless to say this was going to be an interesting experience for the team. We wake up and set up the Audi and let the normal camp set up process begin.

Monday arrives and the normal registration process of handing out t-shirts begins. I was sharing a church group that week with Daniel and little did we know instead of being on the ball, this church WAS the ball. They brought 40+ kids to camp and they were all great and well behaved.

Now onto probably the most phenomenal bible study group that I've ever had. Monday night we got in the room and the kids were rambunctious and two of my boys didn't want to listen to me. I even texted a friend that night and said I'm going to need some severe patience with that week. I had a little kid named Marc Nassar that became my permanent hip attachment that week. I was a bit worried about this group, but after Monday night Tuesday they came in and listened like little angels. The first day we talk about how God provides forgiveness and my kids ate it up. We had to go all the way back to Genesis to see the beginning of sin and I had to explain how God knew that we were going to sin, but he loved us so much that he made the plan with Jesus to save us later down the road. The next day we talked about God provides Calling and I shared the story of my brother, father, and Marshall being in the hospital allowed me to see God placing the calling of nursing on my life. I didn't finish Marshall's life Wednesday and when I cut off the story my kid's flipped out and asked me NOT to go recreation and finish the story and go into the next bible study. Needless to say, I made them go to rec and made them enjoy it.

We had to do rainy day recreation one day and we played a game called "Draw It On" where you have to draw on the back of the person in front of you and it continues on until the person at the front of the line has to guess what was drawn. Once we supposed to draw a house with a door on it and it turned into this, :P, I'm not exactly sure how that happened but the imagination of a child is limitless. Not only did I get to do rainy dac rec but I also got to go down an epic water slide called Damascus Road. I simple fell in love. The kids ate it up and after going down, I completely understood.

Combo Camp

Okay, so I'm a little behind on the posting but I'm human.

We arrived in Ridgecrest after a 13 hour drive from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida to Ridgecrest, North Carolina. And let me just tell you, I'm so glad that I got out of the van when I did because I promise you I was going to toss my cookies if I hadn't been able to get out. We arrived and unpacked everything and I got asked if I could sew. I answered that odd question with an affirmative and agreed to sew without knowing what object I would be taking a needle and thread to. It just so happens that the object was plastic mesh that is part of the Paca Pit. Now, the Paca Pit is just this HUGE blue square with a partition that we fill both sides with packing peanuts and let the kids hop into and find the red ball for one of our games here at camp. The mesh however in the Paca Pit it a thick plastic mesh with about 1 cm x 1 cm squares. Apparently a child lept into the Paca Pit and busted some of the squares in the mesh and we couldn't have that so Taylor was recruited to sew those back together.... about two hours laterI have a sore back, poked fingers, a huge ego, and a rather dashing looking Paca Pit mesh (if I do say so myself.) After Audi setup I got to meet two counselors that worked the camp I attended last year and it made my heart so happy! It's a small small world.

Plus the laundry was free and so I finally got to clean my clothes without having to put quarters in the machine. Outside of the laundry room was what I learned was called and "Eno Village" an Eno is a type of hammock and Lindsey had one so she put hers up there and was just a swinging when I decided it would be fun to try one out. Although I was completely terrified that I was going to end up flipping out of it and onto the ground, this gentleman got up out of his and let me try it out for a little bit. I successfully sat in and exited the hammock without landing on the ground, and in my world that is an accomplishment all in itself.

Let camp begin. This camp couldn't be normal seeing as we were working along side Fuge Camps and we began on the 4th of July! The kids were great and I was just ready to begin dancing and having fun. My church group was the last one there but man were they awesome. It was their first year doing a CentriKid camp ever and I couldn't be happier that I was their host. After the opening celebration I met my bible study and knew that we were going to be a fantastic match. I had a sweet little girl named Haley that soon became my helper because she clung to my leg and followed me wherever I went. My kids had a lot of energy and a lot of love to give me and coming off of a severely emotional week I was super ready to receive it.

Now Monday night was the same as the regular schedule but that was about it. Tuesday morning the wakeup call was super early because I had to set up my track time since we had to do tracks in the morning. That being said, we get done with I Can't Wait and begin the, I kid you not, fifteen minute trek UP the mountain trail. It actually wasn't that bad until some people started to lag behind and then Fun Miss Taylor disappeared and Business Miss Taylor showed up. I began to herd those kids up the mountain like a flock of sheep and believe me they made it without any scars.... the first two days. The last day of track, the kids were coming back down I hear a yelp and see a kid sobbing and sitting on the steps. Now I've only had one official class of athletic training but I know that a kid sobbing and sitting and holding his leg is never good. I ended up carrying him back up the stairs and to my director to get him taken down the hill. I'd never felt more like a fireman in my life.

After track times was lunch followed by recreation. We had about an hour to eat meals and it was literally like heaven on Earth. I don't know what I'm going to do whenever I get back into the real world and have to carry on an adult conversation while eating and have the option to eat slow... BUT, recreation was fun as always and my kids loved it. (Even with a June beetle infestation) Thursday was OMC and that was AWESOME!! The Green Team did The National Anthem as our cheer and it was fantastic!! We won the oar for the cheer!

Friday was bittersweet. It was nice to get to the last spot but I also didn't want to leave Ridgecrest. The van pulled out and we began our trip to the next and final destination for Team 7 of CentriKid Camps 2011.

God Knew... Taylor Didn't

Well to sum up Week 4 Cycle 5 would take a lot of tears, smiles, and phone calls. To start off I knew that these kids were going to be special seeing as it was my last week in Florida and I really really wanted to end on a good note. The kids arrived on Monday and we got them settled in like usual and then I met my bible study... Those kids had so much energy that it was just amazing to see what all they were willing to do just to chant "RIPTIDES" or "MEAN GREEN".

After the first day, Tuesday started out pretty normally with recreation then bible study. However, after bible study my day definitely took a huge turn. I learned that one of the campers mother had passed away from brain cancer and that the camper wasn't going to be told until the dad made up his mind on the arrangements. Although little Bridgette wasn't allowed to know they still wanted me to talk to her and basically do "what if" counseling with her. She had even prayed that morning that she wouldn't have to go home early. It was so hard talking to her and knowing in the back of my mind that her mom was gone. Bridgette talked about her mom in present tense and that really broke me. After talking with her I had to just make it through the day like nothing was wrong and I was only able to do that simply by the grace of God.

Wednesday went like any other day and I found out that Bridgette was going to be leaving the next day to go home with her dad. I made a special point to spend time with her and just love on her for that day and see how she was enjoying camp.

Thursday was the culmination of all things emotionally, physically, and spiritually testing. Bridgette's group leader called me and said that she was going to get her from bible study and that she wanted me to be there (which was fine) so I went on over and met up with Mrs. Robin before we went and got her and said that they were just going to tell her that she was going home unless she asked why she was leaving, they weren't going to tell her that her mom had passed. Well sure as the sky was blue, Bridgette asked why she had to go home and when Mrs. Robin looked at me with a look of sheer panic in her eyes I knew that she couldn't tell Bridgette that her mom had died, and that I had to deliver the bad news. I told Bridgette and then she just kind of looked into the distance and shut down. I think it was the shock of the news that made her do that. Whenever we asked her if she wanted to go or stay, she said that she wanted to stay to play OMC and the head home. I thought for sure that my role in her life was over and that she was going to go home and not have to hear from me again... in that area I was completely wrong.

Green team did the cheer and played their heart out at OMC that day. We were rewarded with The Captains Oar and placed fourth in the game part of OMC so it was overall a good day. After that I went on PM cooler duty with my crew and knew that I had a lot of track time setup to complete... whenever I got a call from Mrs. Robin. It turned out that Bridgette wanted to speak with me one last time before she left camp. Well I rushed over there and met her and I could tell that she had been crying pretty hard. We talked about her mom passing and how God had a plan for this and that maybe one day she would be able to comfort a person who was going through the death of a parent just like I was able to comfort her when it hit me. God knew that I needed to be on this specific team this summer just for this. No one else here had gone through that and could relate to her like I could. I started crying not from sadness but from joy that the purpose of my pain and sorrow was starting to be revealed to me in a way that I couldn't ever imagine. After my talk little Bridgette went home. I called Lindsey after that and it was a comfort to be reaffirmed that I was placed there for maybe just that specific reason.

Later that day was the variety show and it went amazingly well! All the kids performing did a spectacular job! Plus we found out that night which color came in first place and won bragging rights over that entire week of camp. Which team came out on top? Well the GREEN TEAM DID OF COURSE!! I was SO excited that the Green Team came out with a win! That night after the variety show we got prepared for worship, and what an amazing service it was. So many kids responded to God and how he was moving in their lives it just made me so happy that the kids were getting it.

We packed up and moved on Friday to our current location of Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina. We're doing a combo camp with Fuge this week so our schedule will be a little off but it's all good because I just get to meet more people and more kids! Please be praying that the team can adjust to the schedule without any trouble and that we'll be able to minister not only to the CentriKid campers but to Fuge campers as well. Also pray for health on the team, another climate change simply means another easy way for us to get sick.

Peace, Love, and CK.
-Taylor

Week 3, Cycle 4

Well this was our first week here in St. Petersburg and can I just say that this may possibly be the hottest place in the world? Aside from sweating off about 15 pounds the week was a complete blast and blessing. The kids got here and we were outside for my part of registration, which is when the little ones choose their track times, and Micheal, Colby, and I were sweating like nobody's business. We got the kids through registration and then got to meet them all before supper. I met some of the guys from Bethany Baptist Church and came up with a new game called Spazz. It is a combination of basketball, football, soccer, and bowling.

After playing for Spazz and getting cleaned up for supper, the opening celebration began. It was awesome. A lot of the kids already knew the motions to O Happy Day so it wasn't as awkward when Lindsey and I started jumping around like maniacs on stage. Whenever that was over I got to meet my bible study for a little bit, and that was interesting to say the least. I had about every kind of child you could have in my classroom but I was really excited about camp and so were they; it was really nice to see how we all worked together even though each of our individual personalities were completely and totally different. Not only did we do bible study but we did the party and church group time. My church group was one from North Jacksonville and I was so excited to meet people somewhat close to my home.

The week began hot and muggy, as we soon learned that every day is like that here. Bible study went great and so did recreation, but the real fun came at track time. My first track I had people that didn't really seem to care to play soccer, but when I got them playing games and having fun they seemed to end up kind of enjoying it that day. My second track was similar except that the kids already knew a lot more about the game so they became super competitive super quick. My face however did not like the sun, and neither did my shoulders... Needless to say a hat and rolled down sleeves were worn from there on out. The last day of my track time we played a real game and the kids ate it up. They were having so much fun and I loved that they wanted me to play with them. However an outdoor track can't be complete without some type of injury. Thankfully my track didn't get them but Flag Football definitely started feeling the hurt. The first day, Ben came limping over and his knee was beginning to swell and after suffering two serious knee injuries I knew that wasn't good. It turned out to be a bruised meniscus and a stretched MCL. Nothing to take lightly but at least nothing was torn. The last day I look up and Lindsey is jogging to me with a kid holding his nose. Could it be a regular bloody nose? Of course not. It had to be a twenty minute fountain of a bloody nose. And when I say fountain, I mean that the moment that I pulled the cotton ball out of his nose another whole GOB came out with it and continued to pour. The poor fellow took it like a champ though. He kept saying this was common and he would be fine. I appreciated that from a kid his age.

Thursday night worship is always an emotional one but this week it was taken to a whole new level. The kids AND adults responded in a way that only God could be in charge of. Part of my testimony is played in worship that day and after that a minister from one of the churches approached me and asked me to talk to one of his girls that lost her dad three weeks ago. I said I would do it, exited the auditorium, and then broke down. I went to meet up with that church group and I ended up giving my whole testimony including Marshall Coile's impact on my life and I could pick out just from looking at the church which girl I needed to talk to.

After I shared, the church group prayed over me and gave me the BEST group hug I've ever had in my life. I found that girl and we talked. She mostly cried but she just needed that time to cry and someone who has been there to tell her it was going to be okay. While we were talking I realized that just like Esther was prepared for a time to save her people, maybe my dad died just for that moment right there where I saw that girl begin to look for the good in her father's passing. It was just a moment that I'm never ever ever going to forget. It was literally one of my top five most special moments in my life and I know that I couldn't have gotten the opportunity to talk to her if I wasn't given the opportunity to work camp.

Please pray for next weeks cycle. We are relaxing this weekend so it won't be as hard for us to pick up our energy but any prayers for that are greatly appreciated. Also pray for the kids. They all come with problems and they always need love.

New Week, New Kids

So the travels to St. Petersburg are over. And as much as I hate to admit it, I am sick. Allergies, congestion, nausea, if you think it I have it. But after acquiring some medicine I am getting back to full speed and raring to go!

We welcomed a whole new bunch of kids today and it was awesome! I have the church group from North Jacksonville (which makes me super happy seeing as I'm from a place close to there) and they're super sweet! . This new group of kids needs some love though. Speaking with adult leaders and other students some of them are going through a lot of things that they just need to see God working in.

Today after opening celebration we went to my bible study room, which is literally a ten minute hike from the auditorium. We arrived to only find that the air conditioner was not working. And in St. Petersburg at seven p.m. if the air conditioner is not working, neither is your brain. We created a game of using the name tags as fans which all the kids loved. After a quick session, we made the ten minute hike back to the auditorium for the party, and oh what a joy the party was. To start off the people working backstage need to be on the constant lookout for sticking any part of yourself in the middle of the screen, and well three out of the four people working the party forgot about that part of the job. Not only did we have some unscheduled appearances for the screen but we set up the last game, Fiesta Explosion, too early. Michael and I had already rolled out the Paca Pit and then Ben comes leaping up to the stage and pushes it back whispering that we had forgotten a game. So not only did we set everything up, but we had to tear it down and then set it up again in a matter of five minutes. After the party everything pretty much followed the schedule and that was a relief in and of itself.

So, now that the mishaps of the day were said, please be praying for my bible study group, track times, and all the churches that came to camp this week. I'll try to keep a little more up to date but that's about all I have for today!

Week 1+ Weekend

Well, this is the end of my first week and my only weekend camp. And there are so many memories that are flooding my brain and hopefully will go into my fingers to get these stories into place. And, let me say at the beginning of the whole saga that my voice is SHOT.

Registration was actually pretty chill on the first week. We got the five churches that came in there and out like it was our job. Well,  I mean it is but just go with it. After registration my teammate Linsdey and I had to dance on stage like little kids and do motions. Hard to believe I would do that right? This also brought a whole new meaning to the phrase, sweating everywhere. Plus my jeans were a bit too big and so I had to subtly keep the up while jumping up and down and doing motions. After we danced it was time to just meet my bible study kids and get to know them for a little bit. And let me tell you, they were awesome.

Recreation was a whole different animal all to itself. Seeing as my voice was already starting to fade, but now I'm screaming over music, a rec leader, 10 really hot kids, an air horn, and 10 kids getting hotter as the seconds tick on, I loved every single minute of it. The games are so much fun for me to play as well, but then again I always feel like a little kid. Plus on the first day of rec ever my Green Riptides won THE CAPTAINS OAR!! (which sounds like no big deal outside of CentriKid but it's a huge deal here!) After Rec comes lunch, hang time, supper, worship, and my favorite time of all which was church group time. Church group time is when staff gets to invest in a group of kids from one church without having distractions from other people. The kids are also a lot more comfortable and they definitely open up more in this time. My kids told stories about their lives and just opened up beyond belief. It's funny that the church group that I was put with had some youth get killed in a car wreck and I can identify with that as my brother died from a car wreck.

OMC was AWESOME!! I got a cooler dumped on my head, water balloons chunked at me, and shaving cream everywhere. My kiddies didn't win but man we gave it our best shot!!

I helped with the archery track time and man you could tell that I was rusty. I was hitting in the same spot on the target ... that spot just wasn't the yellow. I got better as the week went on but I only hit the yellow once on the last day and that is a feat all in itself. After the week was over I got to teach my soccer track time all by myself and being nervous is an understatement. After I got out there with the kids though, it started to flow and that's when I knew that God had heard my plea to give me some ideas to do with these kids. Even the devotional at the end of the track time was from God, because it definitely wasn't the one that was in the manual but the kids understood it and made the connection back to their own lives and that's what counts.

After the Week 1 kids left almost immediately the weekend kids began to pour in and that was a elephant sized feat all by itself. My team persevered, however and continued to be amazing and finish up what needed to be done when it needed to be done.

That night I got my first opportunity to lead a little girl to Salvation and it was the best thing in my life. She understood that she needed God and that her relationship with God had to grow and decided to pray the prayer in a dorm room right there that night. It was amazing, and something I will definitely never forget.

Please pray for my team as the Week 2 kids come. We're almost doubling in size from the weekend which means we're quadrupling in kids from Week 1. Just pray for strength, energy, and that our hearts will be prepared to minster and serve these kids no matter what is going on at home or around us. Pray that the kids are open to the Gospel and that their hearts will want to know more about God and more about how he saves us!

Peace, Love, and CK
Taylor

Let It Begin

Well, training week is almost over. Literally. In about 2 hours and10 minutes it'll be Monday and we will be receiving little kiddies like there's nothing else. All we've done lately is prepare. I've decorated a bible study room, played all the rec games, practiced giving instructions, and just a general stuff that has to be done before you can begin camp. You know how that is. Please be praying for the little kiddos that are going to be coming tomorrow. There are only about 100 adult plus kids, but after that we have a weekend camp of 400, and then a camp week of about 450. So 950 kids in two weeks? No big deal. On that note be praying for the team, we are going to be super exhausted and then after the week of 450 we have to pack up and drive 16 hours in order to get to our next site. So worn out won't even begin to cover it.

But Really

Today was just a culmination of everything almost perfect in the CentiKid world. To start off, I got to make bandanna jewelry (which I think solidifies my being a counselor) AND today was when OMC happened!!!!!!!! (Just in case you can't tell, it's kind of a big deal.) But, before that, we did some team time about studying the bible and I just found out some stuff that you would think that a staffer would already know. It's not like studying the Bible is a foreign concept to me, but let's just say I'm not the most proficient person when it comes to breaking down scripture and looking at it bit by bit and interpreting it. I found out just how important journaling is and how it can be used to write in so much more than your daily excursions. For those of you curious out there (which I know there are so so many)

Things that can be written in a journal

• prayers
• praises
• prayer requests
• answered prayers
• scriptures studied and broken down
• personal struggles and thoughts
• daily excursions

See how versatile one can be?

After team time was another learning session and then ...wait for it.......... OMC!!!!!! (crowd goes wild here!)

My team had a really good cheer and we had so much fun performing it and just acting a little wild and crazy. One group remixed Pretty Boy Swag and let's just say I went nuts, seeing as I love that song. BUT, after all the cheers OMC commenced and it was a combination of messy, crazy, smelly, nasty, hilarious, silly, and insane tasks. For example, take someone's shoe and use is as a phone, or ask an adult leader (a.k.a. Your director) to give you a wet willy, play leap frog with ten other friends. The other crazy part is that you can't say no to anyone who asks you for help, no matter what you are doing. So that definitely made things super interesting.

The yellow team got third in points, but the best was only yet to come! I went back to rinse off a combination of water, shaving cream, and sweat and called my mom for a little bit of an awkward conversation that quickly cleared up and corrected. After that, getting ready for worship turned into turbo mode. Make up, hair, and outfit all ready in twenty minutes... be proud. After singing some songs, JE (an in charge man) shared his story and made me tear up when he began talking about his baby girl and made me proud to have a man like that leading the way for CK. After JE shared his story we were told to write down ours and share it with our family group. It was awesome to hear about the experiences of some of the girls in my group.

The variety show came after the family group time and I must say, CK7 was blessed with some great and fun leaders! Cheernastics, Foot Praise, Sign Language, and Worship Band were amazing tonight in their performances! After all the performance tracks went, we found out who got the Captain's Oar for their group winning. And you guessed it, the YELLOW group won!! It was awesome to win that and just celebrate some fun and hard work with my team! The variety show was followed by breaking down the auditorium (which went rather quickly) and team time. I'm so so so excited to be serving with these people this year and can't wait for the little kiddos to arrive. But until then... This is Taylor, signing off!

No Voice

Well, it looks like the newbie has fallen for the oldest trick in the book. Which is not saving your voice. Yesterday I went through a phase where most of the talking I did was more of a squeak than an actual communication using words with other people. But, thanks to Liz I have some cough drops and am using them to scrap together what little strength my vocal cords have left for the OMC tomorrow!! For those of you that aren't familiar with the OMC it stands for Organized Mass Chaos. I mean, the name should give away pretty much everything about the game. The staffers that are training run around like kids and collect task cards that have to be carried out, after the task on the card is completed the kid will place the card in the bucket and scamper over to the next card to get the next task. So, imagine about 90 staffers running around like kids completing tasks... and that is OMC during training week.

On another note, track times. I'm SO excited about teaching soccer as my track time this summer. I know that the games are going to be so much fun and that maybe some kids that don't quite "get it" in bible study will be able to pick something up about the Gospel at a track time.

Worship tonight was just awesome. Instead of traditional sing, pray, preach, exit, we sang and then there were five stations set up around the auditorium for us to visit and read the verses, reflect, and just pray about each one. It was so nice to just go around and have some time alone with God. I love praying with a lot of people, but that alone time with God is what makes my relationship so personal. The fact that we were allowed to get that and rejuvenate tonight was so so so refreshing. I can't wait to see what God has in store for this summer!

P.S. Ask me about my team's OMC cheer after I get back... It's an experience everyone needs to have.

Flight Pt. 2

So now the saga of flying must be wrapped up and ended. After about four and a half hours of sitting on the floor of the Atlanta airport, I decided to simply inquire about my bag. Well, the first time I got a really rude lady with a Delta “rhinestone” clip on her had, a jet plane on her lapel, and an attitude bigger than the airport. She proceeds to tell me that my luggage could be in Atlanta or it could be in Nashville… Not comforting news by any means. To top it off she wouldn’t even scan my baggage claim to see if it had been moved. So, as I walk back to my mom, I begin to cry. Like, sob. In the Atlanta airport. In front of everyone. She proceeds to go back to the baggage office, talk to another woman, and have it explained that while my baggage IS in Atlanta, it hasn’t been pulled and if we let it just go on to Nashville it will arrive before we will Friday morning. So we leave the Atlanta airport, me luggage-less, and head to Calhoun. That ride was pretty uninteresting, but it ended with me in a bed and in dream-land. 

I awake this morning and go downstairs in my friends house to see my mom and Mrs. M watching The King’s Speech. I plopped down and watched from about the middle to the end of it, and wanted to stand up cheering whenever the movie ended! After a shower, packing up what little clothes I have, my mom and I embark to Nashville. After arriving, we check into the hotel. Right after we get out of the car we realize that we are outnumbered in the ethnicity department. Seems like a family reunion was commencing tonight that we were not aware or. Checked in and unpacked, we head to the airport where I hold my breath, walk into the Delta office, and squeal and jump with joy whenever I see my bag. I get it without a problem and simply rejoice in the face that I have my luggage back!! 

So in summary, I have my luggage, I’m ready to go to camp, and now all I have to do is pray, sleep, and get to the airport in one piece. (I probably shouldn’t say that seeing my luck lately)

Flight, Pt. 1

Well to start this off, shortly and concisely, this has been the trip from Satan. Literally. It all started last night around six thirty whenever Delta Airlines called us to let us know that our flight had been cancelled and we had to move to another flight. That should have been a tip off right there, but seeing as we now did not have to get up at the butt crack of dawn, Mom and I were grateful. We arrive at JAX around 1:30 and check in, get lunch, and simply wait. Where we find out that our flight from JAX to ATL has been delayed. We board out plane and wait to take off. The we had to circle around ATL because of storms and an overload on Air Traffic Control. We land and meander our way to our gate because now instead of a one hour layover, we now have a three and a half hour one. Perfect, right?

As we’re dutifully waiting for our flight to take off the thunder storm rages on and the flight gets delated thirty minutes… and then an hour. And around 8, our flight is completely cancelled. Seeing as you can’t fly without a pilot, and our pilot was stuck somewhere else is the USA, we were not heading anywhere. 

Mom and I end up canceling our flight because the next open one is the 28, and since I have to be in Nashville by the 28 anyway, we swiftly declined and cancelled the flight entirely and are going to drive to Nashville. As we’re walking away from the gate my mom says two of the most fatal words of the night, “YOUR LUGGAGE?!” We find out that it’s at least a two hour wait to even get baggage from a cancelled flight on a clear day, so of course the wait is upped for one with storms and thirty other cancelled flights from that day. We’re told that the luggage will probably come within about four hours. Keep in mind that this is around 8. We are now in hour 3:15 in waiting for our luggage, and have a screaming child to keep us entertained. Oh the joys. 

After we get my luggage the fun will only begin, we have a 1:30 drive to Calhoun and then we have a three hour trip from there to Nashville. This trip will continued to be logged.