Timeless

   What a week! So full and busy! So crazy and fun! I still can't believe its time to be back again. Man how I've missed it!! This year feels different though. In the 60+ staff this year, only about 15 of us are returning. The other 45 are all brand new staff members. Yes, its a big turnover year. I've never experienced a turnover year this big before. Its been an interesting adventure this week getting to know everyone and trying to help everyone understand the scope of what their job entails this summer. I proudly say though, everyone is excited and cannot wait until campers arrive tomorrow morning. I'm excited about this group of staff this year. Everyone is excited, fun to be around, and easy to get along with. Its going to be an amazing summer.

   This week Eddie and I were able to lead some of the training sessions. I enjoyed being able to be that involved with training week. On Wednesday he and I were able to sit down with our counselors and really focus on the family that we become over a summer. It happens every year. We explained to them how much we already cared a lot about them and were excited that they would give their summer to our population of campers. We momentarily touched on the hardship we faced this past off season as we lost not only 3 campers but also a very close and dear staff member, we explained that they didn't understand the scope of that pain yet, but one day they would understand and we hoped we wouldn't face that day any time soon. I think the loss of this past off season hit all of us so hard that now we band together even tighter. I feel it with each passing day. 

   On Thursday our administrators took us on a field trip- back to the beginning of camp. They took us to Paris Mtn. State Park to the very shelter that Spearhead first began. It was overwhelming at first. We had a special speaker come (one of the original counselors from the Paris Mtn. days) it was so cool. She talked about specific campers and all the returning staff laughed as she described them and we all affirmed they were still the same. Some of them she didn't even have to say their name and we knew exactly who she was talking about. It was as if she was describing the Spearhead we know today- but yet she was describing Spearhead in the 70s. It hit me, Spearhead is timeless. yes, faces come and go, both camper and counselor, but all in all, its still the same place, with the same mission. Wow was all I could think for a while. What an amazing place Spearhead is! And what an amazing joy I have to be able to be apart of it!!! 

   After our special speaker that night, we watched the video that Eddie and I (mostly Eddie) worked on for this week. We wanted them to see this place we call Spearhead and what an amazing place it is. Throughout the video Eddie weaved pictures of our lost campers and staff member. It was a joy to remember them in those wonderful moments of years past. But it hit me like a ton of bricks the loss we have had. I sat there in tears as the video closed. I could hear sniffling around me so I knew I wasn't alone. Someone offered to go on a hike and almost all the new staff were up and gone in an instant. I sat there and then looked around. Only returning staff remained tears streaming down our faces. For a while we stood and clung to each other crying and forcing ourselves to move on past the feeling of loss. When we finally thought we had sucked it up and tried to carry on, we joined the others in various activities. When we got back to camp we played a trivia game and then closed down for the night. Before we did though, we all gathered around the tree that was planted in Cliff's honor in the middle of our drive way to sing our goodnight song. I looked around at the people holding hands around me as I sang and again felt the loss of our Cliff. How I miss him to this day. As we ended the song, the returning staff yet again found our way to each other and cried some more. His loss will forever be huge in our hearts. 

   This week is a week of happiness though! I am excited to get these campers on camp!!!! I cannot wait to see them. Its a great week of campers. A bunch of my older ladies are coming that are so near and dear to my heart!! I cannot wait to see them!!!! Pray for us as we get started!! Its overwhelming when its your first year. Can't wait to get this party in paradise started!!!! See you on the weekend!!!

A New Journey!!

   I've been dying to get my hands back on my blog for months! But thanks to an incredibly busy schedule, finding time to write consistently was next to impossible. However, today officially starts my summer! I am headed to my home away from home to begin a new summer with my camp family! I love staff training week. We have a lot of new staff this year and I'm excited to get to know them and watch them grow this summer.
   This past Friday I said goodbye to my students for the summer. Man my heart breaks to leave them. I am so thankful for the school year that I have had with them. Such an incredible class of children but oh how I love their families as well! I haven't bonded this closely to so many families in my three years of teaching. They all have been so supportive and encouraging this school year. There was a lot going on and many changes. How thankful I am for a group of families that have loved me through each day and always saw the best in me. I have been so richly blessed beyond description! I'm going to miss them so much this summer!OK, enough tears!!!
   This past 9 months have been some of the hardest months I've gone through in a long time. God has stretched me and pulled me in so many ways that I thought I couldn't go. I have lost a camp brother to suicide, 3 campers to various types of death. All of them sudden and unexpected. My life has not gone as I planned or how I necessarily wanted. But I am walking into my summer more in awe and more in love with my God than ever before. I haven't always had the right attitude about the circumstances in my life, but there is one thing I know. My God sees the whole picture. I see only a part. I am His creation and He is molding me and the life around me into what I need to be. A friend once told me, everyday when she walks into her classroom and sits down behind her desk before her day starts, she sits and prays, "God I anxiously await your presence today." i was so convicted. How many days do I get up and not look for Him around me in my day? Way more often than I want to admit to you. I have that quote written down and it lays on my desk. Every day I look at it and read it and pray the same thing. I'm ready for new summer. It is a new beginning and its going to be one of the best!!! My God is already there waiting on me to discover it. I am so excited that He is joining me on my summer journey through paradise! I cannot wait to see His presence everywhere!
   So here I go into my new journey! I cannot wait to drive to camp! I leave in only 15 min!! This drive is always a favorite. It takes an hour, but once I hit that last stretch just before I arrive at camp, adrenaline kicks in and I can barely contain my excitement! Hope I don't scare the new people away!!  I cannot wait to tell you about our new adventures this week with our new friends!! I'm so excited! Thanks for joining me and my God on my awesome journey through paradise!