Youth week at Camp Lakeside

Holy Toledo this was a tough tough week at camp. We had more youth here this week, than the camp has seen in the last 2 years combined! All together we had 38 kids!!! Most of the kids that were there this week have been coming to camp for 4 or 5 years, and apparently the camp has made some dramatic changes--changes that those kids don't like. So it was tough dealing with kids who were used to getting away with things that we were told not to let them get away with, and on top of that, they were just plain rowdy.

I'm mostly talking about the boys, by the way. They were crazy, and they liked to have fun. I like to have fun, but jumping off of the roof of the pavilion does not sound like fun to me. Once again, I was known as the mean counselor to a lot of these boys simply because I wouldn't let them do what they wanted to do (like talk during worship, hit other people, throw rocks, stick shaving cream in people's ears, and throw people into the pool). Some of the boys even said that they hated camp because the counselors never let them have any fun. Oh well. It's not all about having fun, it's about praising God. Yes we do have fun while we worship, but it shouldn't be all about having fun. God deserves all the glory!

We had a group of about 12 kids from a local church come this week and they were ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!! They showed us all the respect that we asked for and more. They set such a good example for the crazier kids--in fact, there were a few times that they calmed the others down. They loved to worship, they loved to sing, they loved performing the skits, and they just absolutely melted my heart with their kindness. I think had they not been there, the crazy boys would have driven me into madness!

The girls were a different story. They were so sweet and so caring. I have ZERO complaints about our girls. Holy moly they were wonderful! We started with 6 girls in my cabin, but one of them got hurt and decided to go home early, and her cousin who was also in our cabin left with her. So we ended up with four for the week. But then, in the evenings, two of our girls had softball games and practices that they couldn't miss, so for a few hours each days we only had 2 girls to take care of. But all of them were so sweet and kind and FUNNY!!! The last night we just went stupid and started getting "ghetto" and then we were indians. And then we were ghetto indians. "Oh no you dinnet, guh. HOW"

We did the messy games again and it was extremely messy this time. we added raw eggs to almost every event just to make it gross. And the funny thing is that it was so hot outside that by the time we were done with the games, most of the eggs had started to cook. :) it was cool. This week we also had shaving cream wars and water balloon wars. And the counselors all creamed the kids in a water balloon ambush on the last night. We were a little cruel and bought a huge water gun and filled it with ICE water! ooh it was so fun!

Overall, it was really an AMAZING camp experience. It was tough and it definitely tried my patience, but it was great. I'm so glad that youth week is just before my week long break! Now I have a full week to recuperate before we go back for another week of 2nd grade through 6th grade. Then the week after that is day camp and the evenings will be just me, the counselors, and the swimming pool! I can't wait!

Camp Week 2

Oh my word. I thought last week was exhausting, but this week took the cake. We had 25 children, ages 9-16, with hormones and attitudes, and above all, wonderful, fun-loving spirits. They were definitely a handfull at times, but so funny and sweet (usually). Most of them had been to Camp Lakeside before, so they thought they had precedence over the other campers (and the new counselors, sometimes), but I managed to nip that in the bud. It's amazing what one phrase will do a child's attitude: "5 minutes out of pool time." I hate to say that I became known as the mean counselor, but I really got sick of ungrateful attitudes and back talking. Now I know how mom felt when I was that age.


Speaking of bad attitudes, there was something off about this week. I had the worst attitude in the world for the first half of the week and I couldn't figure out why. I was cranky, I snapped at my coworkers and some of the campers, and I felt horrible about it. So I prayed. Sadly it was the last night of the week with the campers that I finally asked God what was going on in my life. I think it was just that I wasn't surrendering myself to Him. I was taking too much control and it was blowing up in my face. But anyway, the campers all gave me a BIG hug before they left and told me they loved me.

Monday we all got to know each other and played a LOT of really fun games. We had a lot of kids whose names were similar, so learning names was difficult. T.J., J.C. (John Cody), Cody, Carrie. We had a Hannah who looked like a Morgan, and a Morgan who looked like a Mona, and Magen, who was just out there. LOL. It was difficult. Then we all painted ceramic crosses and they were fired up and made shiny and pretty. The kids really loved that.





Wednesday we played Messy Games, which was really gross. Ingredients for messy games included: peanut butter, jelly, sardines, vinegar, hot sauce, SPAM, poopy diapers (chocolate pudding and raw egg mashed together in a diaper which was then smashed in someone's face.) It was gross.













these were quite possibly the FOULEST shirts EVER in the whole wide world. soaked for hours in a combination of vinegar, hotsauce, molasses, tartar sauce, and sardine juice. YUCK!!!





clean up for the messy games was just as fun as the games themselves!!! We showered everyone with the water hose!!!


Thursday was the Talent Show, which was so wonderful. And yet so sad, because we had to say goodbye to our campers. :( but they all did a wonderful job. And we truly had a WONDERFUL week!!!








We had 2 campers get saved this week. They absolutely MELTED MY HEART!!!
T.J. got saved Tuesday night, after we talked about prayer. He didn't tell anyone, though. We do weekly surveys that the kids fill out and the first question was What did you like best about camp? T.J.'s answer: "the counselors were cool and I got saved." We talked to him about it, and he understood everything about what it means to be saved. We rejoiced so much with him. He announced it at evening worship on Thursday night in front of all of the camp, and most of the campers' parents. (I wish I had a picture of him to show you)


LeeAnn was in my cabin, and such a sweet sweet girl. At the invitation at the end of evening worship, she broke down in tears saying she needed Jesus. Me and Brie (the counselor in the cabin) prayed with her and her life changed for forever. Emily said that when LeeAnn walked out of the room after her prayer, she could tell that LeeAnn was full of the Holy Spirit. Her face just GLOWED. Not long after T.J.'s announcement to the world, LeeAnn stepped on stage and said "I have Jesus" and the whole room burst out with applause and screaming and jumping for joy. It was wonderful.


At the end of the night, all of the counselors piled into a car and rode 20 minutes to Grenada for some pizza. What a perfect way to end to the week!!!!

Camp week 1

Holy moly it has been an extremely exhausting and extremely spirit-filled week at camp. I'll start from the beginning.

I'm not sure what I was expecting to see when we drove past the sign that said Camp Lakeside, but this place was not quite what I imagined. I guess I was thinking it was going to be a huge place with 10 or 12 cabins, plenty of facilities, and lots of concrete and places to get away from bugs. But it wasn't.

Let's try 4 cabins to split between the guys and the girls, and one small cabin for the camp director, a small gym, a nice pool, and one very small dining hall all lined up down a gravel road about 200 feet long. It wasnt much, but it was just enough for us.

We had 14 children come to camp (7 boys and 7 girls) and 7 of them made a decision for the Lord this week!!

and not only that, but we had so much fun!! I bonded with all of the counselors and all of the children, and we played volleyball, shot 22 riffles, did archery, played kickball, learned some new songs, went canoeing, swam (2x a day!!), and praised the LORD!!! It was so wonderful!!

however my camera's batteries decided that even though they were brand new, they didn't want to work. so I didn't take any pictures of this first week. but i promise that next week there will be some pictures up!!

God is so big and He is definetely working in Camp Lakeside. He doesn't need top-notch facilities to work, and He showed me that this week. Oh my goodness!! It was just such an amazing week at camp. I can't wait to see what else God has in store for this place!!

Recital Time!

The recital is finally over and I'm so happy that I don't have to worry about it any more. Now I can worry about packing for camp!!! Everything went well. It was really long, and I was extremely tired, and I had to pray a million times for patience (a lot of the girls were just riding on my last nerve today!) But it went well. I don't know who decided to wax the floor just before curtain, but it was nice and slippery!! Luckily, I don't think anyone fell--but I sure had a few close calls in my dances!! Check out some of the pictures that were taken at the recital (go to gallery and then Gym Plus Dance Recital)

Batman was so cool. I hate that mom ran out of memory, because the end of it was the coolest part. We all melt in a ripple and it looks so freaky. Too bad you don't get to see it. :) Those costumes were SOOOOOO short. Holy cow! I will NEVER be wearing that again. lol

This was my FAVORITE dance in the whole recital (probably because Ms. Mindy let us dance to Michael Buble's version of "Spiderman"). Let's just say, I was a VERY happy camper to tap dance each week! And it took WEEKS of practice, but I think I did rather well for a first year dancer! The girl in the middle, Brianna, is an eight year dancer and I was so thrilled that I could keep up with her!

top to bottom: Undriana, Me, Mary Alice, Brianna.

Josh (left) and Drew (right) came to watch me today, and I was SOOOO excited!!!! I love those boys and since Pete and Ryan decided they were too good to come, I was THRILLED to have support from my friends!!! Silly me didn't take any pictures with them... in fact, I didn't take any pictures for myself at all! :)

Recital Nerves

I'm sooo incredibly nervous about the recital today. I've never been this nervous about performing in my entire life. I have no problem with public speaking, I enjoy being in plays. I love to sing for people. But there's just something about this dancing thing that's driving me crazy with nerves.

I think it's because when I'm in a play, a completely different character is on display. When I'm singing in front of people, my voice is on display. But dancing is all about my body. And frankly, I'm not so comfortable with putting my body out there for the world to see.