Week 5

   I.LOVE.MY.JOB. 'nuff said. This week was crazy and slightly unusual, but with every passing day, God reinforces in my hear that I am in the right place and I love that I get to spend my time with the most amazing people on this planet!!
   I love it when God gives me the opportunity to really see who these campers are. This week we had a camper that I've never had the opportunity to work with, but from watching her a little on Monday I automatically drew conclusions about her in my mind. She's a one on one, non-verbal, and at first i thought she'd be one of the tougher campers. I was sleeping in her cabin this week and heard her get up during the night and had heard her a couple times before, but her counselor had gotten up with her, so I left them to whatever they were doing but the third time I heard her up, I got up just to check and make sure all was well. Come to find out, this camper had wet the bed and lost her way back to bed after going to the bathroom. So I helped the counselor fix the camper's bed and get this camper back in bed. All the while trying to tell this camper to stay in the bathroom while we moved around getting the sheets and all that we needed and somehow she just didn't seem to understand the words "Stay here". (lol) this only seemed to reinforce the conclusions I had made during the day. Well, throughout the next few days God pointed out to me, that I do not know as much as I think I do. Ruth Ann continued to surprise me every time I was around her. She'd suddenly say a single word that had to do with whatever was going on around her. Showing me that she knew more of what was going on that I thought she did. She ended up being one of the sweetest campers I've ever worked around and gives the best hugs. Thursday night, I heard her up again walking around the cabin. She had gotten up to use the bathroom again and lost which room was hers. I got up to help her and didn't think she heard me behind her. I didn't want to scare her for fear of waking up other campers. All of a sudden she whirled around and looked at me and said "BED!?!?!" I about fell over she scared me so badly. Now I think its funny but at the moment it scared me to death. I helped her get back in bed and as I made my way back to my bed, I realized how much even I tend to slap conclusions about campers in my mind and leave it at that. Which makes campers like Ruth Ann all the more special. When they prove to me just how little I know. And I love it.
   Cabin Clean Up was at its best this week!! Two of our cabins that had done ok throughout the summer really got into it this week. They went above and beyond and the competition was neck and neck. One girls cabin against one guys cabin.  The girls did a Christmas in July theme and the boys did an Extreme theme. The girls taped the shape of a Christmas tree on one wall, candy canes, stockings, snowflakes, everything--- the guys TPed their cabin all week. When Eddie went to check the cabin, the furniture was overturned, TP hanging from EVERY where. But not only did both cabins go above and beyond being creative, their cabins were spotless. Literally. The best score you can get in a day is 100. Eddie and I check cabins for three days. For the first time in history, we had two cabins have a score of 300 at the end of the week. Not just one cabin, but two. Eddie and I were impressed. From the girls Eddie and I received gifts from "Santa" and the boys kept us in wonder in how they kept their cabin extreme. On top of all this, both cabins were amazing with their campers this week. Doing their best to include everyone and loving all of their campers. It was a great week.
    By the time Thursday rolled around we had mayhem going on! I'm not normally in the office that much during activity times, but Thursday I was constantly in there. We had a camper going home due to her father dying, at the same time having to send another camper to the ER with Eddie due to really bad blood sugar levels. At the same time we found lice in a camper's hair and had to send her home as well. Which then caused us to do a camp wide head check to verify no one else had it. It was a crazy day but ended it with a great Talent Show. I love having my campers up on stage doing whatever they want and seeing a mass of over 100 people cheering for nothing but them. Its a cool feeling and an awesome sight. If you've never attended a Camp Spearhead talent show, let me encourage you to come!!! You won't regret it. We have 3 more this summer. Thursday nights starting at 7:30. Then you will get a taste of my Paradise!!