It Goes By So Fast

So we are about to start week 8 of camp out of 10 weeks.  This is ridiculous.  Where did the summer go?  I can't believe it.  My group won best cheer again this week.  The MissionLab taught them to stomp and everything.  It was really awesome.  I posted it on facebook.  My missionlab was extremely overbearing though.   Oh well, they are gone now. Camp has been going really well though.  It is getting toward the end of the summer so some of my kids are coming up on their last weeks.  Last week was Tristan's last week, and this coming week is Nijah's and Maxxi's last week.  This is so so so so so crazy.  I just can't get over it.  This entire weekend we have all been very lazy, and it has made me very happy.  Friday night we went out to eat at Chili's and then to see the wonderful Harry Potter!  I loved it!  It was amazing, and I cried so much.  Imagine that.  I want to go see it again though, but for free.  Saturday we woke up and went to Krista's because she left for the weekend, and her husband Josh is in Cuba on a mission trip so she left us the key to her place so we could come watch tv and stuff.  I have made it all the way to season 5!  We played the office trivia game too, and I totally won!  I was up until 5:10 watching it, got back to the dorm room at 5:15, and woke up at 9:30 and got ready for church and stuff.  We went to church, got food on the way back, then back to Krista's to watch more of the office.  We eventually all fell asleep, and woke up just in time for the staff meeting.  I almost had to push Joel off the couch to get him to get up!  Anyways on the way to staff meeting Joel tells me him and his girlfriend broke up!  Ah!  This is bad.  He is way too flirty, and this is just one step closer.  The past few days it's been really bad, and come to find out they broke up a few days ago.  NOT OKAY.  Ugh.  On a better note, God is so good, and I love my church down here, and learning more and more.

Green Beans

Green beans are disgusting.  I hate them.  With a passion.  They make me want to throw up.  Literally.  Week 7 of camp has started.  Krista's husband, Josh, is in Cuba for the week which means a sub-ish type person is with the Lifters, and all of the kids love him because he has worked camp before.  Today was kind of a rough day though.  It wasn't so bad for me, but for Krista it was.  She got like massively chewed out by a mom.  That is one thing I would hate about being a director is dealing with crazy parents.  We walked in on her crying in her office so we decided to make her a delicious dinner!  Too bad we are all poor.  Oh well.  We got stuff for loaded mashed potatoes, dark green salad with goodness, beef stroganoff, and strawberry shortcake (GROSS).  Anyways, I am taking a break from cooking and blogging while watching The Office.  LOVE THIS SHOW.  Btw Bethany gets here soon because she be finally back from Scotland.  YAY!  Oh you may be thinking the green beans were super random but they serve them every single day at lunch, and I hate them so I am venting.  Grossness. :(  I LOVE CAMP THOUGH SO SO SO SO SO MUCH!  There is none sarcasm there at all. I am being completely serious.  Sometimes I feel that not many staffers feel the same way as me, but oh well.  They love the kids just as everyone should because kids be awesome.

Adrenaline Rush

So Friday at camp was okay.  We didn't win anything at celebration, and the Lifters won the spirit stick.  There, for some reason, is always a big rivalry between our group, and the lifters.  I'm not sure why, but dodgeball against the lifters is always kind of crazy.  Seriously. The lifters had some serious attitude problems also.  Becca and Krista both almost lost it on them because the girls are just so bad with their attitudes.  Idk what the problem is, but it's insane actually.  During aftercare Joel and I took on Darren and Jaylen for a game of basketball.  Darren is a baller by the way, and Joel is not very good.  We won 30-27, and Joel made one shot.  Who cares though, WE WON!  Too bad Darren and Jaylen are only like 11.  Oh well.  So that night Krista said she really needed some ice cream, and the office so we went and ate dinner at Izzo's, which is kind of like Moe's.  Really good in my opinion because it is Mexican.  Then we went to Winn Dixie and bought some ice cream, then back to Josh and Krista's for The Office.  We watched 4 episodes, and the last one being "Casino Night."  Now, if you are an office fan then you know exactly what this means.  It means it is the last episode of season 2 and all that happens during the episode is awesomeness.  I cried when Jim cried, and was screaming at the end.  I LOVED IT!  I then came back to the dorm and just dreamed about finding a Jim in my life who wants to adopt kids, oh plus mixed with Pacey from Dawson's Creek.  That would be wonderful. :)  Also on Friday I GOT A NEW BABY COUSIN.  His name is John and he is so precious!  I can't wait to meet him when I get home.  This morning we wake up, and go with MissionLab to the old Six Flags that hasn't been opened since Katrina.  Sketch to say the very least.  It was super awesome though, except we are still in the front of the park and see a car coming toward us so we run and hide, but 3 of our people are off somewhere that we don't know.  Apparently the guy was like a security type person, and saw Jeremy and talked to him.  He pretty much told him to get out because he was calling the cops, and to get his friends.  So Jeremy comes sprinting over to us, and we all start running out of the park because we had to park forever away like in a subdivision nearby.  We start going, and realize we don't have Lenny.  So we are trying to use his push to talk phone that we get for camp, and at first he didn't answer, then finally we did and we all run out together.  This was all this morning, so needless to say we had a nice adrenaline rush.  After that everyone decided to go to Uptown and take pictures, but I am so tired because I didn't get to sleep in this morning so I came back to the dorm to catch up on SYTYCD, and sleep.  Also, God is amazing.   I just want to say that.  I can't imagine doing anything else than what I am doing here, and being happier.  It is quite impossible, which just shows you how amazing God is for just knowing what to do for me, and blessing me with this opportunity!  Ineffible I tell you.

Nathan when he got back from Disney World!  (I WANT TO GO)

Battle of the Barges

Lawrence during a relay race

Relay Race

Six Flags

Only a few pictures before we got the cops called on us

Worst Day At Camp

Wednesday was fine.  Thursday is different.  Today was horrible.  Completely horrible.  First off today was water/field day which should already be an indicator for how bad things are going to be.  Well camp starts at 9 just so you understand the time frame.  Okay so there is a girl named Shannon in my class, and she is autistic which clearly means I love her.  Anyways today at 9:03 one of my kids comes up to me and tells me that Shannon is crying.  So I go get Shannon and talk to her for a little bit.  I ask her why she is crying and then she tells me because "they are teasing me."  You have to understand that it took a lot for me to get that out of her too because she kept getting distracted and yelling because she was crying (hard to explain, I know).  So then I, of course, ask her who was teasing her and she tells me Maya, Danielle, and Layla.  I then go and get them and take them to a separate room to talk to them.  At this point I am furious, I'm pretty sure I'm about to break down in tears and not even be able to talk, and I want to punch each of them at least a good 10 times.  So I start talking to them, and Maya breaks down in tears and has to go sit down because she is crying so hard, Danielle is giving me her stupid "I'm so confused because I'm perfect" face, and Layla is crying telling me she didn't do anything in Christina man cry voice.  I had no sympathy for any of these kids, and they are just in the process of making me more mad.  I eventually break down in tears while yelling at them because they kept arguing with me, and I may have accidentally told them that I was about to punch all of them in the face, which I know was a bad thing to say, and I totally regretted it afterwards, but I was just so mad.  I told Krista about it later, and she just laughed that I had told them that so that made me feel better.  Maya also cried for 43 minutes straight over this.  I wanted to shove her in a closet to make her shut up. Ugh.  Okay so there is the 9 o'clock hour which is totally not the way anybody wants to start a day.  After that I had Danielle and Ali make fun of Shannon during Bible study, and yet again I wanted to punch them, but at least I didn't cry while getting on to them this time.  To add on top of all of that the kids were just super disrespectful today, and wouldn't listen to us, or be quiet when we ask.  Also, our MissionLab didn't tell us they didn't prepare anything for craft and afternoon bible story which was a shocker because we thought they did so we had to come up with stuff on the spot which was totally not fun.  Then after afternoon field day stuff Becca comes up to me and hands me a postcard from Scotland, from Bethany!  As soon as I got it I went to the bathroom, read the postcard, and just cried.  God knew exactly when I need that card, and I was so thankful for it because it was totally what I needed TODAY!  Today was horrible, but I still love camp just as much as ever, as well as my bff.

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Your Love

I've been focusing a lot recently on God's love.  It is just amazing to me, and I kind of enjoy just meditating and thinking about it.  There is one song that I keep listening to over and over again because it blows me away to think about.  It's called You Love Me Anyway by the Sidewalk Prophets.  I shall share it with you! :)

The question was raised
As my conscience fell
A silly, little lie
It didn’t mean much
But it lingers still
In the corners of my mind
Still you call me to walk
On the edge of this world
To spread my dreams and fly
But the future’s so far
My heart is so frail
I think I’d rather stay inside
But You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
Yes You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me
How You love me
It took more than my strength
To simply be still
To seek but never find
All the reasons we change
The reasons I doubt
And why do loved ones have to die?
But You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
Yes You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me
I am the thorn in Your crown
But You love me anyway
I am the sweat from Your brow
But You love me anyway
I am the nail in Your wrist
But You love me anyway
I am Judas’ kiss
But You love me anyway
See now, I am the man who yelled out from the crowd
For Your blood to be spilled on this earth shaking 
ground
Yes then, I turned away with a smile on my face
With this sin in my heart tried to bury Your grace
And then alone in the night, I still called out for You
So ashamed of my life, my life, my life
But You love me anyway
Oh, God… how you love me
You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me
You love me, You love me
You love me, You love me
How You love me
How You love me
How You love me

Battle of the Barges

Sunday-  We didn’t go see Transformers last night, but that’s okay with me!  Jess and I went over to Krista’s to watch The Office...I’m still obsessed.  Sunday morning we got up and went to church, which was fabulous as always.  We did like serious prayer time which was wonderful, and I’ve pretty much decided after a lot of prayer that I am going to go to seminary.  I want to say definitely, but then I get nervous so I’m still praying, but I really feel that is where the Lord wants me so we shall see!  After church we all went out and ate at Superior Grill, which is mexican food!  YUMMY!  It was amazing!  Then I came back to the dorm, and went back to sleep till around 5:30.  Then I got up and went to the store to get supplies for cooking tonight.  I made chicken with white sauce because my family sent me some!  Everybody loved it...because it’s awesome.  We also watched The Office then. 

Monday-  We woke up early-ish and got ready for the day.  We then went down to the French Quarter to spend all day down there so we could get a good spot for the fireworks over the river later that night.  We went and ate at Bubba Gump for lunch, and I was totally in love.  It was a splurge to eat there, but worth it.  I loved the atmosphere, because I love that movie, but the food was really good too.  Hushpuppies=AMAZING.  After that we just walked around, took many breaks with water, and took pictures (Check out my facebook for all of the pictures Becca took).  After a lot of walking, we went and got a spot for the fireworks around 7:30.  They started at 9:00ish and it was called battle of the barges.  It was really awesome, and I absolutely loved it.  My camera died after I took 2 pictures of the fireworks though.  Sadness.  After the show we came back and went to bed immediately because we were so tired, minus Becca who had to edit and upload pictures.  

Tuesday-  Camp started back today, and we didn’t have any MissionLab.  I was kind of thankful, but today was definitely not the kids’ best day by far.  They didn’t get to swim today because lightning had struck the pump for the pool over the weekend and the pool was gross.  They were not happy about that.  Also the air conditioning was out in the gym, again.  Not cool.  Today was an okay day though.  My group had to scrub the walls though because they decided to write on them with markers.  Remember I have 10 and 11 year olds.  I wanted to scream, and yell so much at them.  I held it back though and just made them scrub everything from the walls to the floor.  After camp we went over to watch The Office at Krista and Josh’s, and Bethany called me!  I was so happy to get to talk to her because It had been a week and a half since I had heard anything from her, which may not sound too long but it was nice to talk to her for a little bit.  She stayed up till 2:45 her time though just to talk so I felt really bad, but I know that she knows that I would have done the same for her.  Then I went back inside and watched some more office, talked about tattoos, and now I am about to pass out because I am SOOOOOO tired!!!!  Peace.

RIP Crimson Cafe

So it's been awhile, eh?  Yes, I decided to sound like a Canadian then because I miss watching How I Met Your Mother so much!  Why does that show have to be so funny?!  Anyways, first off it has been officially 2 months since the tornado in Tuscaloosa which is really crazy to think about.  Sometimes I forget all about stuff back in Ttown since I've been in NOLA the entire time.  Apparently Crimson Cafe went out of business which makes me oh so very sad!  They took dining dollars, and the pizza there was AMAZING.  I think somebody else should just buy it so we can still have it.  Weeks keep going by faster and faster here.  I am definitely not excited about the rate that camp is going by.  I love camp, and I am going to cry like the biggest baby ever when it is over and I have to leave all of the kids, the city, and all of the people I have met.   It is all downhill from here since this was the 5th week of camp.  I really need to start blogging after each day of camp so that is my new goal so I can remember details about the week.  I don't remember much about this week besides the fact that I still want to punch some kids in the face, but instead I just play dodgeball against them.  My MissionLab group this week was one of the best so far!  The first week was awesome, and they were from Alabama.  This week was just a little bitty tiny bit below them in the awesomeness level and they were from Nashville.  It's a sign I'm sure.  One of my missionlab just graduated college and totally looked like Will Franklin Chapman.  I wanted to marry him...just kidding...kind of.  Friday was Monster's (one of my kids) birthday celebration day since his birthday was Saturday.  We had cupcakes, and made him a card and stuff.  This was the first week since camp started that my group hasn't won anything.  It's okay though because all of the people who won totally deserved it!  Last night we went to eat at Corky's which was really good, but still no Big Bob Gibson's.  I miss my white sauce, but I totally got a package from my fam with 4 bottles of white sauce in it!! HELLO!  Totally made my day.  I am cooking for everybody Sunday night.  Today I went to the mall, and got like 6 inches cut off my hair.  It be short, and will take some getting used to.  I am glad I did it though because long hair was not working for me this summer, and it's only getting hotter here.  It felt like 106 degrees the other day according to the weather channel.  That be crazy, y'all.  Anyways I must go, and like sleep and stuff because I am way too tired.  I shall blog again Monday since we don't have camp that day because of the 4th.  :)

Monster with our spirit stick.

Krista, our director who is totally fabulous.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MONSTER.

Alfred...cutest kid ever.

Lawrence and Skyler.  These are in my group, and they are awesome.

NEW HAIR.