Hospitals, Boyfriends, & Blessings

   What a whirlwind of a week!! I rarely allow myself the luxury of taking a nap on Friday afternoons because I like being able to sleep really well Friday night. This week though, I couldn't help it. First thing I did when I came in was pick up my cat and lay down on the couch. From what I can tell I was out within minutes. Next thing I know I hear my mom encouraging me to wake up and my cat no longer in my arms two hours later. "OOOPS" I thought, but it felt so good!!
   Monday night one of the girls on our OP Staff and I had to take one of our campers to the ER. We had been concerned with a couple things she had been complaining about that afternoon and decided to take her to the ER just to be on the safe side. Once we were there and everything was settled, I traveled back to camp to check on the rest of my campers. I missed our weekly dance party and arrived just in time for a snack and put out a few "drama" fires going on among some of the campers. Once I was sure everyone was in bed for the night and all was well I went back to the ER to be with my camper. Thankfully it wasn't too long and we were able to go back to camp. We arrived back at camp around 12:30 am and around 1 we were crawling into bed. We slept in our Med-Tech office since it was easier than trying to make her bed in the cabin and waking everyone up. We were up and down throughout the night, but was nice to catch a couple hours sleep before the next day. Around 7:30 the next morning one of her counselors came to relieve me and I ran to my cabin long enough to brush my teeth and head to breakfast. From there the day took off. Around 11 her home came to pick her up and take her home. I still had on my clothes from the day before- never getting a chance to change. After lunch my co-lead Eddie and I normally sit and work on the next week's cabin assignments, but Eddie kicked me out of the office to go take a nap and shower. (I don't think I was smelling very good at that point....hahaha) the nap and shower were wonderful and I felt somewhat refreshed.
   The day continued on in normal fashion with the exception of having a second pool party! The heat advisory was too high to do much else so to cool off we all jumped in the pool. It was a nice change. That night after acting goofy in some skits in our clown show, I followed one of our camper workers up to our activity building. She wanted some time to think about some stuff and I ended up being able to talk to her for a while about some things on her mind. We talked for a long time and missed our campfire and smores, but this was one camper I never felt I had "clicked" with, and by the end of the conversation, we covered ground and bonded like I never expected us too. Totally worth missing time around the camp fire.
    Wednesday ended up being a pretty normal day for me. I was able to spend it with my girls. That night I was hanging out with one of my cabins waiting on an Ice Cream Social that they had won as a Bingo prize earlier in the week. During this time, one of the campers became slightly aggressive. We were aware that this is who she is and it only comes out sometimes. We haven't seen her act this way in several years. She hit a couple counselors and tried to bite me. We thought we had her calmed down and put to bed, but it wasn't long before they came searching for me because she was acting up again. By the time I got back she hit all her counselors and bit one on the hand. Unfortunately this caused us to have to send her home. We could not risk her hurting a camper. I hated having to do it, because I have a love for this camper. But I know it was the right thing to do.
   Thursday rang bright and early. I wasn't quite ready to get up when my alarm went off. A male camper ended up getting sick in the night and it was Eddie's turn to sleep in the Med Tech Office with him. Poor Eddie only got a few hours sleep and looked as dead as I had been on Tuesday. So it was my turn to kick him out of the office that afternoon to sleep some. In the afternoon we were running on steam and asked each other if everything had really happened that week. Looking back at this point we both feel Monday was a long time ago. Talent Show was the perfect way to end the week. We had a Broadway Theme and added an intermission where Eddie and I dressed up with goofy glasses and sparkling top hats to hand out pop corn. My favorite act of all had to be one of our female cabins having a Beauty Pageant. It was the most precious act I've seen all summer. Each girl getting a chance to come center stage and do whatever they wanted. Some only walked up and waved, others danced or sang. It was beautiful and so precious. Love having counselors who come up with such creative ways to showcase our campers!!
   It was an interesting week in a completely different way than the rest of the weeks. Some times we get campers and they have an infatuation with a counselor. They have huge crushes or even think they are dating the person. We as a staff try not to encourage it, because in the long run it hurts the camper but even in some cases, no matter how hard you pull away, you cannot convince them of what they do not want to believe. This was the case for me this week. Only I had about 5 campers come that have "crushes" on me. How this happened I don't know. Dickson has been one of my favorite campers since I met him four years ago. Back then he told me we were going to get married but when I told him I couldn't marry him cause I couldn't leave camp, he got mad and didn't want to speak to me again. He has since forgotten this scenario. He was back this week and he still waffles back and forth on who his girlfriend really is. Some times its me, sometimes its my friend and co-worker, Logan. Just kinda depends on his mood at the time. Another one of my "boyfriends" was Mikey. Now Mikey is one of those campers that for the longest time, he had a girlfriend one minute  and literally the next minute he was dumping her for another girl. This is how we knew Mikey. When Mikey came week 2, he started on his normal switching back and forth thing and then Monday night I realized he wasn't dumping me. He kept sticking with me. The next day I tested the waters by telling him that one of my coworkers was my boyfriend. I thought he had gone back to his normal self by finding a new girl friend, only to be told later by his counselor that he was heartbroken and cried during his cabin's activity. I soon found Mikey and made amends, and figured when he came back later in the summer, he'd go back to normal. Well I was wrong. When he arrived this week I was still his girlfriend. And his mother even told me that he came home talking about me. Something he had never done in the past with any girl. He never could remember the name of his girlfriend until earlier this summer. Then there was Brian. Brian is an interesting guy. loves swings and singing. He has a thing for the female lead counselor. Last summer when I was a cabin counselor, he wouldn't give me the time of day and was completely in love with our lead counselor Katie. This year I hoped that it wasn't the lead counselor he had a thing for, but I was wrong. He missed Katie at first, but it wasn't too long before I became his new girlfriend. Though I kept my distance and never encouraged him, it never worked. He also came earlier in the summer, but nothing kept him from liking me. Rick, one of our camper workers pulled me aside last week and asked if we could go out. I managed to skirt around the subject and encouraged him that we just stay friends. He approached me again this week about going out and again I gently turned him down. By Wednesday though, he found a new girl. Brad, one of the sweetest boys I know, came up to me throughout the week and gave me a hug and called me his girlfriend but that never went  much further than that. It was crazy. If I was talking to one of these boys, there was always another one watching and resulted in him getting jealous. Normally I can handle these kinds of "relationships" when they come different weeks from each other. But put them all in the same week.... that's crazy.
   My week ended on a very happy note when I found out my brother has the opportunity to come to camp as a camper next week. I'm so excited that he gets to come and a true answer to prayer. I can't wait to spend a week with him at camp!!!!!
    Though it was a crazy week, draining physically, mentally, and even emotionally, it was still a great week and I am so thankful the Lord gave me all the strength I needed to get through it. Without Him I can do nothing. I saw that this week and so thankful for His strength to get me through it. There are ways to look at this week and see a lot of negatives. But I'm so thankful He gives me the perspective to see the awesome Paradise I'm living in this summer!

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!!

Halfway Point- Week 4

   Can I just say "Wow"? What a week!!! This week has been full of so many different commotions and emotions. I've never had a week that was so intense emotionally. 

   Monday started out as a normal Monday, but it wasn't too long into camper arrival that everything seemed to start falling apart. All of a sudden it seemed everyone of my female campers decided to show up all at the same time! On top of that, I had people unhappy with the cabin they received, unhappy that they weren't with their best friend- it was crazy! Normally I'm not the type to just up and change the cabin assignments at the last minute, but suddenly i was faced with probably needing to in a couple cases. Then two of us, me and one of my administrators, started making decisions and filling each other in later... which didn't seem to work at first- only added to the confusion. Then on top of that, I had two campers show up that weren't even supposed to come that week!! So while trying to put out fires with cabin assignment drama, I had to work with another one of my administrators to turn down the people who had shown up because we didn't have any room at all for the campers to stay. I've never been so turned around, inside out, and confused during a camper arrival!!! Thankfully though, it all eventually got worked out and we moved on and had an excellent day! 

   That afternoon though, I received some information that I knew would one day come but still took my breath away. Last summer I had a camper in my cabin that at first I wasn't too sure about. She intimidated me-as strange as that sounds, but after the first day of having her, something between us clicked and I ended up ADORING her. She was an older camper, had lung cancer from years of smoking and you had to yell three times before she ever heard you. She had three seizures that week. Which ended up confining her to a room in the cabin. When we went in to see her it was almost like visiting the hospital where your dying grandmother was lying. That Friday putting her in her van to go home was one of the hardest things we ever had to do. I still remember to this day walking away with tears running down my cheeks knowing that I probably just saw her for the last time as a camper. Well, Monday several women from her group home came and one of them pulled aside a coworker of mine and informed her that Sweet Miss Bertha passed away. I can't begin to describe to you the pain and the emotion that washed over me. She died just two weeks ago which is interesting because I just looked for her obituary just four weeks ago.I've never lost a camper before. My heart still aches to know I won't see Bertha again until the Lord returns. I miss her greatly and her memory will live with me for the rest of my life. I adored that woman. 

   On Tuesday, I noticed that a camper, whom I love, was giving her counselor some trouble. This is not unusual- she tends to be stubborn and insist on her own way and will not hesitate to tell you she is not happy and she wants to call her parents and tell on you or that she is going to write you up. She loves to do crafts and telling her that she can't do crafts is just out of the question to her. Well, I noticed this was going on so I walked over to help the counselor out since the camper, Sallye, and I have worked through differences before and she seems to love me and sometimes I can even get her to listen to me. Tuesday was not one of those days. I walked over and started talking to her and her anger only started to elevate. I began to get tired of the "game" we were playing so I finally got firm and told her to come with me. She noticed at that moment that her cup from canteen (snack time at camp) was on the table in front of her- still full of ice and just a little bit of Coke in the bottom. When she stood I thought I had won and told her to go throw her trash away and to follow me. No sooner did I turn my body sideways toward her, I felt a sudden cold and wet feeling on the side of my face. I had coke and ice running down my face and shirt. Thanks Sallye! It was almost like a scene out of a movie. Later that day I walked into her cabin just to hang out and see how things were. I looked at her and said; "Hey Sallye, my face is really sticky." She replied with; "Whew! I wonder who did that!" I about died laughing. "I wonder Sallye." I said. "Probably a ghost!" I no longer could hold my composure. Only Sallye would say something like that. It was so funny. 

   Wednesday afternoon I had the opportunity to go back to the old camp and see it. I haven't been there since my last day the summer of '08. I was so sad to walk through the old camp. Everything was left just as they had left it in '09, except for everything is now overgrown, someone came in and stole all the copper from every building and all the insulation has fallen through the ceilings. My heart ached to see a place full of so many wonderful memories so neglected. Walking through and remembering things I haven't thought of since that summer. So so sad.

   Thursday rolled around and we were all tired and ready for the weekend, but something happened that afternoon that boosted my spirits. I was able to witness a counselor and a camper connect-truly connect. Its something pretty special when you connect with a camper. There is an unconditional love and understanding between the two that surpasses what words can express. The camper eventually included me in the conversation that was playing out between the two of them. He was very repetitive- continually telling Andy and me that he loved us and that he wanted us to always love him and write him notes. Reminding us that we didn't like it when he had tears running down his face. (he had cried earlier in the week) One of the sweetest campers ever. And just precious being able to see that connection between Andy and Houston. 

   I can't believe tomorrow starts the last half of the summer. Just four more weeks! Where has this summer gone?? I'm looking so forward to this week!! Can't wait to see the new adventures that await just beyond today. How much better can it get? I'm in Paradise!!!

Jumping Back In

   It feels so strange not to have a post filled with stories this weekend!! But I must say, I have truly enjoyed my week off. I spent the week truly relaxing and not worrying about anything. I was able to sleep in most of the week- which felt amazing. Kicking back, going shopping with my mom, doing lunch and pedis with a couple of girlfriends, spending the last half of my week with my two nieces- cooking, going to a water park, nails, sleep over, a birthday party for a camper,  yep its been a full week but one of the most relaxed I've been in months. I can't believe its already over. As much as I've enjoyed being off, I'm ready to get back into the routine and being with my second family- my coworkers at camp- we've truly become like family this summer. I love them all so very much. But most importantly I am ready to get back to my campers. I miss the crazy buzz of activities and the ongoing excitement from the campers. We only have five weeks left in our summer and I am recharged and ready  to go. I know there are still challenges to overcome but I'm ready to face them head on. That's all for now, but at the end of the week I can't wait to share with you more stories from my Paradise.

Week 3

Sorry this is later than normal, I've been catching up on some much needed relaxation. Spearhead counselors have the week off due to Camp Courage (a camp for cancer patients) using our facilities for a week. So I've enjoyed having the last few days to truly relax and not having to rush through my weekend. Although, if I were completely honest, I am already missing camp. It was strange not to be there today for our pool party and dance party. I missed dancing so much I downloaded some of our line dances tonight!!! Is that dedication or what?? LOL 

This past week has probably been our hardest week so far. With 91 campers (which is capacity) all our counselors were challenged to the max. But I can honestly say, I was very impressed with them. Most of our campers were higher maintenance campers than the last few weeks. (-meaning they just need closer watch over) Our counselors were pushed harder mentally, physically, and even emotionally. I was so impressed with them. They certainly showed their 212 attitudes and pushed through the week. It was an awesome week filled with laughter and fun. 

I made a new friend this week. A camper that has been a camper in the past but for the last few years has chosen not to come to camp, but this year she changed her mind. She's an older lady but completely there mentally. She cracked jokes right and left and was truly funny. She had to have a lift to get her in and out of her wheelchair, and a lot of help with everything. Her week started off a little rough because as she told me, her counselors didn't know how to take care of her. She felt she may have made the wrong decision about coming. I explained to her that her counselors were still learning and she just needed patience and walk them through it all. By the end of the week she was begging me to get her signed up for the rest of the summer!!! Sweetest lady I've met in a long time. On Thursday night I was walking around the dinning hall when she and her counselor called me over. She then handed me a card she had made- hand painted even. Inside were some of my favorite verses from the Bible. The funny thing is, she had no idea they were my favorite. But here she is, encouraging me. I was like, wait this is backwards!? Shouldn't I be the one doing the encouraging?? But I gave her a big hug and thanked her a million times. A treasure I will keep forever.

I was able to get 3 full nights of sleep this week!!! First time since staff training week! It felt so good! The first night i was up till 4:30 am trying help a camper get tired enough to go back to bed. She had fallen asleep but woken up about 1:30 am and decided she didn't want to be quiet or go back to sleep. So she, one of her counselors, and I sat outside and talked until she was tired enough to go back to bed. All in a night's work I guess. :)

My girls got really creative with their cabin themes this week!! Going to check cabin clean up was a lot of fun this week! One cabin had the theme of African Queens. One day they sent me on a Safari to find pictures of jungle animals the campers had colored. The next day they had a stream for me to rest beside and relax- even had my bathing suit waiting for me. Here, they had a refreshing drink for me to sip on while I checked their cabin... waiting beneath a homemade palm tree...

Another one of the cabins had the theme Candy Land. So cute! Everyday they sent me on a trip on an actual life size game board. Leaving me cards to follow and candy at the end of the trail...here's a few things they did:

It was such a great week. But I think I will enjoy my time at home with my family just relaxing and gearing up for the rest of the summer! Thanks for stopping by and catching a glimpse of my Summer in Paradise!!!

Week 2

This week most everything was pretty much the same in the structure of camp but with different and even new campers. Two of our new campers this week were two young girls with autism. Their counselors were amazing and took both girls in and loved them both with all of their hearts. I'm so proud of how those counselors handled their week. One girl, Lindsey was very very sweet and happy all the time and very energetic. The other, Lauren, was more the "typical" autistic girl you kinda expect to see. Repetitive in her speech, if she didn't like something you said be prepared for a slap or hit, or even bite. Her counselors walked away from the week with a few scratches and maybe a couple of hits that left their heads spinning a little. But still, nothing could shake their love for her and their drive to want to help her.  On Tuesday we took them up to the Challenge course we have at camp. It consists of two zip lines, rock climbing tower and another tower to climb up to get to the zip lines. We had no idea if one or either of these girls would even attempt to climb, but it was worth a try. I went up with Lindsey to take pictures and see how she did; she began to climb what we call the "Taco Net"... (Because it’s a net that looks like a taco shell). With the patient kind soft voice of her counselor directly behind her and my reassurance from the outside of the taco net Lindsey began to climb. Five steps forward two steps back. Five steps forward, two steps back. I continually encouraged and coached from the ground as she climbed and as she listened to her counselor. I cried as I took pictures, knowing this was not exactly what I had expected. Though Lindsey is generally very obedient, I wasn't sure she'd do what we were asking her to do. Unfortunately I was not there to witness Lauren climb, but when it came time for her to climb; she took to the net like a spider to a web. She climbed the net in no time hooked up to zip line and was back down in no time, all the while continuing to talk about going to see "Mousie"... the mouse at Chuck E Cheese her favorite place on the planet. I was amazed to hear how far she had gone and done.

The next day I was hanging out with another one of the girl cabins. Their activity for the afternoon was riding bobcats- outdoor terrain vehicles. (Favorites at camp) I hopped on with one of their campers and off we went into the woods. We went up and down hills hit a few bumps but we were enjoying every minute of the ride. On the way back the camper I was with began saying things like; “Let’s just get through this rough patch and everything will be alright.” She wasn’t scared, just stating facts. I listened to her and began really thinking through what she had said. How often do we hit “rough patches” in our lives and yet do not look at them as if they will soon be over- we just have to get through them. At times we walk around with a “woe is me” attitude because life isn’t how we wanted it to be. Yet here is one of my campers putting me to shame because she has a better outlook than I do. Let’s just say I’m improving my attitude from day to day now.

Thursday night a camper was praying over our meal, and said “Thank you for Camp Spearhead and for a place for people to come if they don’t have a family or feel like they don’t have one. Amen.” This was said by my sweet friend Dhiren. Dhiren is one of my all-time buddies at camp. He calls me his “Narly Cool BFF.” He gives the best hugs I’ve ever received in my life. They are literally suffocating, but I tell you what, they are so nice when you just need a pick me up. I love having him at camp and I love his outlook about camp. He just lost his mom last November and his dad has also passed away. His life over the last few months has been rough I’m sure. But it doesn’t stop his positive attitude and great bear hugs. I can tell when I talked to him that he still hurts about his mother’s death but what an encouragement he was to me when he thanked God for a camp like Camp Spearhead.

Every day, my co-lead, Eddie and I do what’s called Cabin Clean Up. We go around and score each cabin on cleanliness but also on creativity. I had the biggest laugh on Thursday morning when I walked in a cabin to find myself on a scavenger hunt. The theme for the scavenger hunt went along with the theme our Administrators gave us during staff training week- Always being 212 degrees. Water boils at 212 and we are encouraged to keep enough energy going to be 212 at all times-giving it all we have. If you’re at 211, you’re not quite there yet, but at 212 so many things can happen at the boiling point. So I was sent on a scavenger hunt through this “212 cabin” at the end of the scavenger hunt, this is what I found:

On the back the door this is what they said. 

Needless to say, they received full points that day.

Other cabins left me sweet notes throughout the week on mirrors or on the countertop to let me know they loved me. Checking cabins have become a very fun activity for me.

I realized over and over again this week why we are at camp. Why we do what we do. We push and encourage our campers beyond what we expect possible- such as helping them climb towers, be there for them if they need a place that feels like family. This is why we do what we do. We love them so unconditionally and want to hand them the world. And I think in some small way we do. We let them win battles that sometimes they are never given the chance to even try to fight. I love my job. I love what I do. This is my summer in paradise.

Week 1

How did I become so blessed to be apart of such an amazing place? I seriously thought I'd have more time to write during the week, but it was a crazy first week so it didn't happen like I wanted, so here is the highlights of the week. Monday morning you could just feel the excitement at camp as staff awaited the arrival of our first week of campers. As campers arrived, the excitement only grew. If you've never experienced Camper Arrival at Camp Spearhead just let me give you a glimpse; a camper pulls onto camp and is directed to pull up under an awning where counselors gather and wait for campers to arrive. As campers get out of their car, you'd think you were at a red carpet event with counselors being the paparazzi, yelling greetings and reaching for hugs. The cool part about this event is that we are not trained to respond to campers in this manner. It just happens naturally. One of the many things I love about camp. Later in the afternoon we had our weekly pool party- a big highlight at camp. we stuff about 100 people into a pool that almost can't hold that many people and have a BLAST! It wasn't long into the party that i was thrown into my first "incident". I looked over at a lifeguard stand only to see a female camper sitting on the concrete trying to undress herself and two of her counselors trying to keep her clothes on. I run over to the situation and begin getting the information about the problem. Come to find out the poor woman's home failed to send a bathing suit for her and though her counselors were fine with her swimming in her clothes, she just didn't fully understand. To her in order to go swimming you take off your clothes... just common sense. I sat behind the camper and began talking to her calmly and sweetly. I wasn't sure she was hearing me since she was still yelling at her counselors. After what felt like 20 min (in reality it was probably only 5) I asked her counselors to let go of her. They looked at me like i was crazy but I asked them to trust me. They did and almost immediately the camper merely adjusted her waist band and put her shirt back on. She wanted nothing to do with her counselors so I asked them to walk away. I began talking with the woman and encouraged her to jump in so she did. It was so funny to watch her laugh over the fact that she was in the pool with her clothes on! She had a blast after that. I thank the Lord the event didn't get any worse than it did. Later in the week this camper found an empty wheelchair and deemed it hers. It was hysterical to watch her the rest of the week insisting on wheeling herself around everywhere but yet insisting on being independent. She didn't want any help from anyone. Randomly tough her counselors or I would find her getting out of the chair and dancing to some music or walking across a room to retrieve something she wanted. One morning her counselor asked me to check on her since she had been in the bathroom a while. I walked in and called her name but received no response. Called her several times and at no response I knew I would have to peak into the stall. I don't like doing that kind of thing because I like giving campers as much personal privacy as I can. But i had to know what was taking so long and why i wasn't getting a response.I looked in, and found the woman chugging milk!!! I about rolled on the floor from laughing so hard. She then stuffed the carton in the little trashcan in the stall and proceeded to exit the stall. It was so hilarious. I fell in love with her this week!

Tuesday went pretty well full day of programs from Tie-Dying to Dance Class to Clown Shows. 

Wednesday pretty much the same until that night when another camper became distressed and began threatening her counselors and cursing. I happened to be in the cabin making a nightly round to ensure all was well when she began. We eventually had to remove her from the cabin and to another building. In the end the camper, her counselor, and I spent the night in the Med Tech office on the hospital beds to make sure she had fully calmed down and that everyone would get some sleep. She didn't fall asleep until close to midnight, her counselor and I not too far behind that. Out of pure nature her counselor and I woke up every hour just to make sure all was still well. Let's just say I had 2 cups of coffee the next morning. But we never had an incident with that the rest of the week. 

Thursday dawned bright and beautiful. Everyone excited about the highlight of the evening: Talent Show. What a Talent Show it was. If you've never been to a Spearhead Talent Show, please let me encourage you to join us one Thursday night at 7:30. You won't regret it let me assure you. I love giving campers time on stage to do their own thing and hearing ear piercing cheers from their peers and loved ones. I love being apart of this place. Even through its ups and downs, this week was truly Paradise.