In Need of a Break

Tonight was our staff Christmas party. It was a ton of fun, even though I ended up with this pathetic t-shirt from the white elephant exchange (I can't believe I gave up purple striped arm warmers for that!). The good thing is that I'm probably going to another gift exchange where I can unload it. The best part was playing extreme ping pong, starting out with the preteen girls, and somehow it turned into a few of the twentysomethings by the end of the night. 

On the way back home, Erin texted me. I realized that, other than the Christmas party I just attended, I had nothing to report about anything, especially not any good news. I kind of got in a slump, and began thinking about everything I had set out to accomplish this year, and have done nothing to work towards them. Some things it seems like I even gave up or took a step backwards on.

I don't think coming to Rivercrest was a mistake by any means. God definitely called me here. But I am beginning to question if this was ALL God called me to. After all, the internship only lasts until summer, and then I'm on my own, and I have no idea what to do. If anything, this internship has only brought up more questions about my life instead of answers. And, right now, I'm really not hearing anything. 

I'm definitely in need of a break, which is good because that's exactly what I'm getting come Wednesday. I'll have a week and a half off enjoying a change of pace, and then maybe (hopefully), coming back to Camp Rivercrest will be refreshing instead of unfulfilling and incredibly mundane. And maybe the different surroundings will help me to hear God's word better, so that I can act on it. I really hope I can act on it while still interning, but if for some reason God tells me otherwise, I'm willing to go (but I will cry and quite possibly throw a fit!). 

So to make things clear, I have NO PLANS OF QUITTING. I don't even WANT to quit. I just think that there's so much more out there that I'm missing out on... and I intend to find it. 

In the Dead of Winter: Snow, Kansas City, EMT Training, and Student Ministry

It finally snowed on Saturday! And boy, did it ever snow! I don't know how many inches we got, but I never saw so much snow besides in the mountains! This was perfect for our open house on Sunday, where we finally got to use the sledding hill. Since a bunch of people and their families were here, we had a lot of fun. We tried to see how many people we could fit on one tube (I think our record was six), "accidentally" crashed into other people (although the side of my face really hurts from one of these incidents), and just hung out in general.

Then on Monday, the five of us left in the full-time internship program headed to Kansas City. On the way there, I got to taste something that my taste buds have been longing for during the past 12 years: Chick-Fil-A! I got a spicy chicken sandwich, and it was delish. Then we continued on to Missouri.We stayed at the KC Sentral house, which was ridiculous:

The bedroom I stayed in- I guess I've gotta get used to having my own room!

 We stayed at the house awhile, eating pizza and playing games, but then later in the evening we went to a church for our evening session. It was a cool little church, inside an unfurnished basement. The topic of the meeting that day and the next was about spiritual wellness. The speaker was great and she really got me thinking of the ways I've been neglecting my relationship with the Spirit lately. After that, we went back to the house, watched the newest episode of How I Met Your Mother, and stayed up late just talking. The next morning, I woke up to this:

We brought the snow with us from Nebraska! Apparently, though, us bringing the cold to Kansas City only made Nebraska colder; we found out it was 1 degree in Omaha that morning! After some breakfast and general chilling out, we went back to the church for an all-day session.

It was a great session. I loved seeing the variety of people, but the connection because of the Holy Spirit. I loved experimenting through the conversations, walks, and prayers. During the breaks, we were treated with some great food like scones, chai, sandwiches, and water that didn't taste like sulfur!

To top off a nice time away from Nebraska, we ate at the above Bar-b-q restaurant. It's kind of weird to think that Missouri actually is kind of "Down South". Other than a couple murals of famous black people, I didn't really seem to notice it until we went to this joint. I've never been South before, but this is exactly what I suspect it would be like! The rest of the trip home was filled with conversations of what we learned and what we are currently going through. 

Today was our first day of EMT class! I'm really excited about it, even though it seems like a lot of time and effort to go through (and probably lots of situations that will make me squeamish!) Besides the seven of us from camp, there are maybe five other guys. Oh yeah, and I'm the only girl in the class! Jeff is teaching the class part-time along with another instructor. The college campus itself seems alright. It was originally a middle school building, so it's not too fancy or big, but there's an ambulance that we get to use (in addition to our time at the fire department), and it comes with many "college benefits", like tutoring, tax benefits, student discounts in several places in town, etc. They also have a popcorn day once a week, and this week's popcorn day happened to be today. We loaded up on lots of free popcorn!

It's been a full day; recovering from Kansas City, going to a really long day of class, and winding down with leading student ministry (Sarah's in Vegas so Jr Hi was all on my shoulders!). I played Bible games with them in an attempt to get the girls to get excited about it and learn some things. I hope it worked at least a little!

In conclusion, winter doesn't bring much excitement to camp, but that's great because it's obvious that my schedule's pretty full anyway!

My Room is a Mess Right Now

My room is a mess right now...


...but it's NOT my fault!


...not really, anyway...


I didn't feel like writing about this in yesterday's blog post, but yesterday at the end of the work day, Erin (program coordinator/my roommate) announced that she was leaving. Her last day will be Tuesday, so she had to begin packing that night too. Chris and Kristjun (my two best friends in Nebraska... emphasis on Nebraska! lol) were hanging with me in my room while Erin was packing, so we got sucked into helping her pack. But that's okay, because we all ended up with some cool things of Erin's...except the couch, which is the one thing that we REALLY wanted. (In fact, just the day before, Kristjun and I were fighting over the couch... which one of us would get to keep it if Erin got married and decided she didn't need it anymore?)

Erin's relaxing on the phone while three of us are screaming our heads off in the next room? Hmm.... yeah, she'll miss us tons. :)

Yes, this is ERIN'S mess. Well, the stuff in the laundry basket is mine, but I'm blaming that on her (she's taking away my dresser... but in a few days I'll have two closets).

Only some of Erin's things are gone now, but I can already tell that my place will look so bland compared to how it used to be! She had so many paintings up on the wall, and without them, the walls just look ugly and boring. So when I wasn't helping her pack, I was redecorating. I had a collage of my initials above my bed, so I decided to move it out to the living room so that there's something on the wall when you first walk in. I also decided to make it bigger by writing "Lippe" instead of "JL". Once Erin is completely moved out, I'll have to redecorate more and bring in some furniture.

The beginning of my Lippe collage. A sad-looking Chris sits  below it on the couch that we CAN'T keep! :(

One good thing about this is if Erin HAD to leave at some point during the year, then this is the perfect time. Nearly all the dishware I've been using has been hers (after packing everything last night, I'm left with tupperware, a pot, a pan, a coffeemaker, a couple pieces of silverware, and a mug that I encouraged Erin to give me), so I'll be able to pick up some of the things I'll need while I'm in Oregon for Christmas. 

Most of the stuff in the living room belonged to Erin... what will it look like when she's gone?

I may or may not get a new roommate sometime in the future. I kind of wish I knew, but I completely understand that there's no knowing. If Erin's replacement is a single girl, she'll probably stay with me. If it's a guy, then there will be yet another guy in the next room over. Plus, we have no idea when a good hire will come up. 

Maybe Erin can leave me, but our imaginary friends couldn't live without each other! Reggie the Robot and Phineas are very happy that Erin let us keep their friend. :)

In other news, I went back-to-school today! The EMT class doesn't start until next week, but we had to be certified Healthcare Providers as a prerequisite. So today, we all went to Metro Community College and got CPR training. Since the class is more than just a regular CPR class, we got to learn 2-person CPR, which I had never been taught before even though it is a much better way to perform CPR. I only missed one question on the test, and EVERYONE in the class passed! So now we all get to move onto EMT training together! I'm really excited for that!

November Reach: Scavenger Hunt

First off, the reason why I haven't written much is because nothing exciting has happened recently. We haven't had any groups for the past week, and no group with meals or activities for the past month. That makes the search for leftovers kind of interesting...

Eli topped old croissants with mashed potatoes, tater squares and  melted shredded cheese. I'm dining on a pop tart, juice box, twizzlers and carrots.

 Last night at our Student Ministry's Reach Event, we had a scavenger hunt. I walked in, was put in charge of the snack bar, and then Rothe was explaining to the guys that they might need to drive if there were lots of kids. Then he turned to me and said, "and you ARE driving". Me? Driving a car in a place that I've never really been to in an attempt to find a bunch of stuff on a scavenger hunt list? I said "okay", but was actually pretty nervous. But then after a can of Dr Pepper (the first I had in a month and a half!), I was jittery and ready to have some fun! When the kids broke off into teams, some girls chose me as their driver, but a few seconds later found some friends who were on another team, so I was off the hook. But then I realized that, for possibly the first time in my life, I actually WANTED to drive. (It was probably the Dr Pepper speaking!) I've really only driven twice on public roads since coming to Nebraska, and those were just a few miles and out of necessity. For example, last week, the Solmens took the camp van to a musical and I went with them. The van needed to be back at camp that night since the directors had an early meeting the next day, and they were discussing how to get the van back at camp and still be able to go home. From the back seat, I suggested "Um, I could just drive it back." But anyway, back to last night, there were four boys in a team who didn't have a driver, so I volunteered to drive them. However, the car I was supposed to drive was already taken, so Rothe, after being a good cop and ensuring that I was a good driver, gave me the keys to his mom's car.

Four boys in a car is difficult. I didn't run around too much, but I got exhausted from shouting things like "Put your seatbelt on NOW!" "Where am I going?" "What's on the list?" "Which lane should I be in?" "No, that's illegal!" "Turn the music down, I can't hear you!" "Is it legal to pop a "U"-ey here?" and so on. But I really did have a lot of fun. Check out some of the stuff we had to do:

Sharing a drink

Playing on a playground/Making a pyramid

My team ended up in dead last place, and they blamed it on their Oregon driver. Oh well. The important part is that this, our biggest Reach event of the year, meant that lots of new kids got to hear one of Jesus' parables,  and that they got to connect with other believers!

Hosting, Winter, and Other Things That Are Happening Now...

For the past three weekends I've ended up hosting to some level or another...

2 Weekends Ago: Whitetail Lodge host for the craft retreat. We had a retreat for Dexcom during the weekdays after (they're kinda like our bosses; they're the leadership of the C&MA region), but that's the only thing I DIDN'T host.

Last Weekend: St. Patrick's Catholic Church. It was a confirmation retreat for their teens, and they didn't even need meals or activities or anything. I really only did three things that weekend: 1. Show them where the basketballs were, 2. Give them a lightbulb because the one that illuminated the Virgin Mary statue burned out, and 3. Take out their trash. Exciting weekend, right?

This Weekend: Girl Scouts and Paintball. The paintball group will only be here for a few hours today, and I don't even have to run it. The Girl Scouts seem like a good group, but again, they're doing they're own meals and aren't doing any activities (except a service project, which again, I'm not even running). It was originally planned for Erin to host this weekend, but she's been in Mexico for a week and wanted to see her family this weekend. I tried using the excuse that I NEVER get to see my family, but here I am hosting this weekend! (No worries though, I'm actually enjoying it!)

The problem with retreats that don't have meals or activities is that you only need one person working. So if everyone else has a reason to get out of here, they leave and you're stuck alone. Since Erin's been in Mexico (and generally goes to Lincoln on the weekends anyway), Jordan's been on a three-week vacation, and Kristjun always seems to find plans for the weekend, it's been just me. It's not like I never get out, though. In fact, just a few days ago, I hitched a ride with the Solmens to Omaha to see a musical performance. Kristjun gave me a hard time about ditching him, even though he was going out that night anyway, but whatever. I try to find things to do though. For example, last night I did this:



It's planking...with an actual plank!

 I often end up watching Friends, although it's definitely not the same as hanging out with real "friends".

Next week we won't have any groups, and we'll have Thursday-Sunday off for Thanksgiving. We might even go to the zoo on Wednesday. I'll be spending Thanksgiving with Adam's family (although it would be much cooler to spend Thanksgiving with THE Addams Family! lol), and then probably just hang out with Chris and Kristjun and Sydney for the weekend.

Oh yeah, and it's getting pretty cold. When I was taking a lighter to the Girl Scouts this morning, it was raining and everything. It hasn't snowed yet, though.

Striped Socks and Suspenders

I found this cool webstore called Sock Dreams, which is actually a store in Portland, Oregon. I decided to order two things from them: thigh-high pink-and-black striped socks, and magenta suspenders.

They came two days ago. I wore the socks right off the bat (just in time for a super-cold day!), and wore the suspenders yesterday. I decided to get the suspenders because last week, I got a really bad allergic reaction to my belt buckle. I figured there would probably be nickel in the suspender clasps as well, but I covered them with tape and have to tuck my shirt in to wear the suspenders, so I don't think it will be a problem.

Today, I finally managed to incorporate both the socks and the suspenders into one outfit (while borrowing my roommate's fedora and shirt). I thought it would be fun to wear suspenders with a skirt, and the socks with bright shoelaces. Here it is, in my oh-so-dramatic pose:

We have the Ladies' Craft and Quilt Retreat this weekend. I'm one of the lodge hosts, so maybe I'll get to learn how to quilt or craft or something. Erin already promised to teach me how to knit, so we'll see if I can manage to make a scarf and cellie cover this weekend. After that retreat, we have another conference, so we don't get a day off until Wednesday. Whew!

A few other things about my life:
-I'll be starting an EMT course soon, paid for by Rivercrest! (They're paying for the credit tuition, and they'll pay for the fees and books too if I promise to work during the summer as a staff member with EMT certification.)
-I get to start volunteering at Relevant's Kids Sunday school. I can't make it this week because of the retreat, but I'll start shadowing this month and then after that I'll help about once a month.
-I watched a snake swallow a live mouse whole today. It was pretty entertaining.

SM Reach: Fire and Hay

Last Wednesday our student ministry had a "Reach" called Fire and Hay. We went out to the country and the kids got to do things like sip hot cider, roast s'mores, take hayrack rides, and sit around the campfire. We also organized a few games for them, and, of course, there was a gospel presentation. Here are the pics:

Sarah and I getting the food-stuff ready.

Games were one of the first organized activities we did. I'm explaining the game that I planned as Kristjun and I try on garbage bags for size.

The supplies for the game that's about to begin.

A boys vs. girls relay... they had to spread peanut butter on a slice of bread and stick it on either me or Kristjun.

The girls lost, but at least I didn't get any peanut butter stuck to my face!

It was really fun... for everyone I hope!

Obviously I didn't take these pics. I don't know who did and I don't know who posted them on the student ministry Facebook page, but whoever did thought it would be funny to title this photo "David and Goliath". Really?

Tonight we're back to typical small group student ministry. Sarah and I decided to scrap the standard lesson plan and make up our own because the girls really just wanted/needed to know about the basics. So tonight, I'm giving a brief history of the Bible in middle school-friendly format. We'll see how that goes! I also ended up helping work on planning a service project for all the students to participate in, which is WAY more frustrating than it sounds, especially since I know almost nothing about Elkhorn/Omaha charities! I'm praying that this will all be worth it in the end.

The Rules of Roommateship

I hope you all know that I'm not perfect. It's true, I'm not. Sometimes I get angry at other people sometimes. I got angry a week ago, but I decided to handle it in a unique and non-threatening way. Instead of a heated argument or yell-fest, I decided to poke some fun at the reason behind my anger and get everyone involved in making a list of "rules". I got input from everyone, wrote them down, and then had a discussion the next day so that everyone could ratify them. Here are the rules:

Rules of Roommateship

1. If your roommate asks you a question, you should give them an honest answer.

2. No sharing underwear or toothbrushes- everything else can be used with permission.

3. Don’t talk on the phone more than you talk with your roommate.

4. No music until ½ hour before work.

5. I won’t look in if you don’t look out.

6. Jessica can only consume Dr Pepper if it was provided by an enabler.  

7. No playing Third Day ever.

8. Kristjun must spend less than 1 hour in the bathroom.

9. Erin’s seafood can only be made outside.

10.                  Jordan will have a rule made for him in the future. Until then, he has to be a very good person.

11.                  “Jes” must be spelled correctly.

Some rules have been added since then. Rule 12 is "Adam is the official overseer of all rules", which hasn't been ratified, but I'll let it slide since the overseer doesn't actually have outlined rules. Chris tried to change some rules and add "No having noodles as friends", but since he doesn't actually live here, and the rule was not ratified, it doesn't count. He helped in making rule #2, but we had to add "Chris cannot make any more rules" as rule #13. This evening, Kristjun said he was adding the "golden rule", and I said he wasn't allowed to write it since it wasn't ratified, but he reassured me that I would ratify this rule. And, of course, it was ratified when I saw what the "golden rule" was: BABIES. (It's a joke based on something I said last week.)

The cool thing about the rules is since everyone created and ratified them, it's actually kind of fun to follow them. If someone decides not to follow a rule, we're just like, "Hey, Rule Number 3" and leave it at that.

Another thing that started this weekend is bets. I was trying to convince Kristjun that I was not addicted to Dr Pepper, so he told me to give it up for a month. I said I would if he agreed to stop playing video games for the last week of that month. Completely unrelated, just two days later, Adam agreed to give up soda for a month if Shawna would agree to not talk for an entire day. Around the same time, Christina realized she had lost a bet against Erin that they made when I arrived (regarding my dating life), and so now Erin gets to slap Christina. Today Eli said that he kind of felt left out of all these bets and decided to give something up just for the fun of it. So anyway, no Dr Pepper for me for awhile.

To Work at a Camp, You Must Be Random

First off, I don't think I could ever call myself a "creative" person. Other people may sometimes say that, but I just don't think that word fits me.

Yesterday we went to see The Three Musketeers, and on the way home Erin needed to stop at Wal-Mart, so I bought a watermelon.

Today, after our staff meeting, we played some playground-style games. LAME! Good thing we're working on a book of not-so-lame games that can be used this summer. I'm actually kind of excited to get this done because it means we can play some of the games to make sure they'll work for us. I'm already playing some of the games with the student ministry group, but I think playing against my coworkers will be even more fun.

So back to that watermelon...tonight after a long afternoon of cleaning and working on our book that we title "The Game" (BTW I lost the game), I had some dinner and a lot of oranges. I think the oranges are going to become a new joke around here. Anyway, to continue my fruity night, I pulled out that watermelon that I bought yesterday and started carving a foot in it. It wasn't nearly as easy as a pumpkin, and even with a towel on my lap, I got VERY wet, but I ended up with this:

To make this event even more memorable, I decided to break up some graham crackers,  top with chocolate chips, and roast mini marshmallows INSIDE the watermelon to make some delicious little s'mores!

Stay tuned for other acts of randomosity!

Awesome + Projects

There isn't too much to report back...the dining hall floor looks awesome, Psych season six is awesome so far, student ministry is awesome, and the work at camp is pretty much awesome.

One thing all of us interns are working on is a book that we decided to title "The Game" (which, by the way, I just lost). We're just writing up a bunch of games in a book so that the upcoming summer's camp counselors can have ideas on what to do with their campers. So today after church, I drove for the first time since I've gotten here and took Jordan to the Solmen's house so that we could plan out the organization of the book. (The ride home from church was a little scary because Jordan was driving and apparently he doesn't know how to drive an automatic....weird, right? So that's what caused me to finally drive on public roads.) The Game book is actually working well with the student ministry, because I can just take games from that for our opening activities. Plus, Rothe asked Kristjun and I to come up with two game for our Reach event this Wednesday, so we'll be playing "Barnyard" and "PB Sandwich".

Another project that I was given to do on my own is plan a mission trip. We'll be going to St. Louis, Missouri in March or April for a week to work with an inner-city ministry there.

Well, that's really all I have to say, although I'm certain I'm missing out on some details. But since the point of this blog is to update people on what I've been up to, what do YOU want to know about my experiences?

Things Running Through My Mind Lately...

1. Illness: I had a fever Saturday morning. I got someone to cover me at high ropes and then spent the morning wrapped up in blankets and napping. I felt good enough by the afternoon to actually work, so I just wore a hat, scarf, and coat to sweat the rest of the fever out, even though it was a very warm day. I had to explain my choice of outfit to several people, and they all seemed to be concerned for me, even up to the next day or so. But I tend to be really stubborn with illness and try to get over it as fast as possible (unless, of course, I need to avoid something, like an exam, but there's nothing that I want to avoid here). Like my last mission trip to Peru, I got the flu or something, and I spent an entire night throwing up, and the next day I just didn't eat anything besides Gatorade, rice, and crackers, but I was fine. The guys who got sick on the trip stayed sick for days, and we had the same exact bug. However, the weather has since went south for the winter, and I think I'm catching a cold.

2. New Guy: We're getting a new guy tomorrow. He's Lance Ford's (the author) son. His name is Jordan.

3. My Stregnths: Last Thursday I went to the monthly youth pastor gathering. I was really disappointed that it wasn't in the underground Chick-Fil-A like it was last month. There's only one Chick-Fil-A in Nebraska, and it's inside the Mutual of Omaha bank, so you actually can only go there if you work there or you're invited. I've never had Chick-Fil-A, but I've really wanted to try it. But anyway, the meeting was at Gallup instead. Gallup created the Stregnthsfinder test, which I had taken previously for the church staff training meeting that happened on Sunday. My top 5 talents are Strategic, Input, Belief, Competition, and Individualization. Because "strategic" is my #1, Adam asked me to go to computer program meetings with him from now on because I might be able to understand the concepts better than he can. The guy that spoke at the youth pastor gathering on Thursday was the same guy that spoke at Relevant's staff training meeting on Sunday. I really got a lot of useful information out of his presentations that I can use both now and well into the future.

4. Pizza: Ate way too much the past couple of days. What can I say, if it's free, I'll eat it!

5. Babies: This morning at the staff meeting I confessed that I couldn't really read the assigned reading for 2 reasons: One, I think LOTR is boring and the book refers to it a lot, and two, I kept on getting distracted by thinking about babies. I was texting BFFL Jessica Patterson yesterday and we both admitted that we missed small children, even though we got strange looks when the two of us were taking care of foster kids in public places.

6. The Floor: Yesterday was supposed to be a day off, but I ended up volunteering to help with the dining hall floor. I got to wash it with acid, which was kinda weird to watch. Then we scrubbed it with shop brooms, then we rinsed and squeegeed it.

How Movie Night Taught Me That I Am Second

Today was my movie night. Today I got THREE packages shipped to me (strange enough to convince Kristjun that I was a drug dealer, especially when I pulled out a pocket knife to open one of the boxes), plus just a letter from my mom wishing me well with my movie night. (My mom also sent me a HUGE box of homemade cookies because she is the best mom ever!) God must have known that I needed encouragement via package, because I experienced one disappointment after another throughout the day. Two screens were ripped, location changed, WalMart didn't have the movie, too much popcorn was bought, downloading the movie took three hours, the power cords weren't long enough, I could find hardly anyone to help with the event, only two families showed up, one family left, the cord that goes from the laptop to the projector was missing, the popcorn machine didn't work, and we ended up having to play a completely different movie.

I think the five people that stayed did have a good time, especially since I kept on giving them free refills of hot chocolate and popcorn. We watched Hoodwinked instead of The Ultimate Gift, which at least was worth a few laughs (which I really needed). And afterwards, since there were more raffle prizes than people, I let them take whatever they wanted. They took a book, a shirt, some bracelets, and a magazine subscription.

I'm trying to look on the positive side. For one, I got to keep a lot of cool stuff that the family didn't want (AND some Dr Pepper, even though one exploded in my coat pocket!). Some of the things I kept include a shirt and bracelets from an organization called I Am Second, which I'm sure I'll wear a lot as a reminder. The idea behind I Am Second is that Jesus is first. He had some reason that my movie night turned out in a manner that I couldn't even expect, but I've just gotta respect him for that. I'm not really sure why it had to happen this way, but I know that it will work for His glory. Maybe it blessed the family that DID attend even more. Maybe it's simply to set the bar low for future busts of mine or even my coworkers. Maybe it's a humbling thing. Maybe He worked in mysterious ways with the other people that worked/attended. I don't really know. But I don't need to, because I am second.

How to Describe a Fun Day

Monday is Funday here at the Camp Rivercrest internship program. We usually get the morning off since we usually work at some point in time during the weekend, and then we do something "fun" in the afternoon. We were going to play lasertag this past Monday, but we decided to wait until more of the staff could join us so there wouldn't be just three of us. So instead we went to the movies. There wasn't anything in particular that I wanted to see in theaters, so I let Adam and Kristjun decide. They chose "Killer Elite". They were more excited to take me to my first action movie more than I was excited to go. It was an interesting concept and really in-depth, but I don't think I'll be going to any more action movies.

Yesterday was actually a work day. We started out with our regular Tuesday morning meeting. Then we all went on a search to find some teepees that were hidden somewhere unknown. We did find the teepees, but first we found a bunch of tents and camping gear we didn't know we had. We set up everything we could. We spread out the teepees, but they didn't have any poles, so we ordered some. Then we set up the "1-2 person" tents. We think it mean 1-2 CHILDREN, because they were only 3 by 4 ft. There were three of those tents, but we could only set one of them up because the others didn't have poles. Then we set up the 8 person tent. THEN we managed to cram six people into the 1-child tent while Adam was  ordering teepee poles so that we could surprise him when he got off the phone. That was a lot of fun.

Three of us finished the day cleaning up, while planning for something fun to do that night since Eli was going to spend the night. After work Shawna had made chicken and dumpling soup so we all ate that while hanging out on the golf cart. Later Eli and I went to WalMart so that he could get marshmallows and Coke (and I convinced him to get a 12-pack of Dr Pepper) for a campfire. The campfire was lots of fun, especially with me drinking 3 Dr Peppers and so many marshmallows that I forgot to count them. (Did I ever mention that Kristjun gave me a name for me on Dr Pepper? He calls me "Dr Pepper and Mrs Hyde".) After the Dr Peppiness took off, I started talking a lot and ended up mentioning something about Killer Bunnies, which piqued the interest of Kristjun and Eli. So after the campfire (and after Kristjun wrestled the box of Dr Pepper away from me), I got out Killer Bunnies and taught Eli, Kristjun, Chris, Mike, and Owen how to play. The game ended around 12:30 this morning.

This morning I got Mike and Eli to help me with organizing and setting up for the family movie night that will happen on Friday. First we took inventory of leftover snack shack food so I would know what we needed to buy (guess what kind of soda I had to put on the list?). We found the generator, found some canvas to use as the screen, stole the sound equipment from the dining hall, set up a screen on the baseball diamond and stored the av equipment in the bike shed. Then we had lunch, followed by moving stuff around for the groups this weekend (a college group, a junior high group, plus a bunch of youth groups on Paintball Sunday). Since then I've been putting final touches on the movie night and planning for student ministry tonight, where I'll get to lead the opening activity from now on. I also got my cell phone delivered and activated today; it's a really cool touch screen and by far the nicest phone I've ever had.

So, how to describe a fun day? It definitely wasn't this past Monday, at least not for me. Next Monday looks WAY more promising; I loved going to Idaho with Xtreme Praise because we always got to play laser tag at that-one-fun-center-that-always-changed-its-name, and I often dominated! Tonight should end the day on a "fun" note, and while I don't promise myself that I'll personally have fun on Friday because I'll have so much work to do, my goal is to make that as much fun as possible for the people attending! But I really have to say that yesterday was a wonderful description of a fun day. It was purposeful, and yet exciting. Even the part where we were just cleaning cabins was fun because we got to hang out with each other (and they discovered that I am actually allergic to the pink-colored bathroom cleaner, which is now referred to as "Pink Death"). In fact, I think the reason the day was so fun was because it was all about the community and just hanging out with each other, whether that meant talking at the meeting, cramming into a tent, riding the golf cart, trying to buy the cheapest marshmallows, sitting around the campfire, or murdering each other's bunnies. That's how I describe a fun day.

I Now Know Why No One Went BACKWARDS On the Oregon Trail...

A few things about Wednesday night before going on to Thursday:
-When Adam stopped for gas, I ran over to his car and told him this would be my second time pumping gas and I needed the experience. He thought it was weird that it's illegal to pump gas in Oregon.
-After the evening session, Kirk, Kristjun and I went outside to see if we could hear the elk bugling. Adam and his friend Jeff and tried calling them at the national park, and the elk bugled back, so we tried doing that. After I made a (rather pathetic) noise, we heard an elk bugle back! We kept on trying, and then we heard a bugle that sounded rather fake. I shouted out "Are you an elk or a person?" The "elk" shouted back "Yeah, I'm a person." So it wasn't as successful as we hoped it would be.
-I had Dr Pepper at lunch. It really kicked it right before the evening session, and after the session I got really antsy to do stuff. I bugged Kirk to hang out with me. We played ding dong ditch on Kristjun, and then Kirk told me I should knock at Kristjun's door again and throw ice at him. I turned it around because when Kristjun answered the door, I explained to him what Kirk thought I was doing, but what we REALLY were going to do was run over to Kirk and dump all the ice on him. After that, Kirk and I went on a "scavenger hunt".


Yesterday morning we had our last session, and then had to pack up and go. The Solmens took the van, and Kristjun drove me in the Cherokee (I had to explain to him that no, I didn't want to drive and yes, I really don't like driving very much). I didn't take any pictures for multiple reasons (1. It was really windy and dusty as soon as we got out of the mountains, and 2. It was dark part of the way), so you can pretty much just read my first post about Colorado backwards. :)

It was super-duper windy. And dusty. And tumbleweedy. The only points of interest were the Nebraska border and the Central Time Zone border. Well, there were OTHER "points of interest" as labeled by signs along the road. We passed one of those signs in the middle of the desert and were wondering what on earth could be a "point of interest" around there. I'm pretty sure that the telephone pole was the "point of interest". We stopped at Taco Bell for lunch, and Arby's for dinner (my choice, glad everyone else agreed with it!). Kristjun encouraged me to get a Dr Pepper at Arby's and he would get a Mtn Dew to make the trip more "interesting". I guess I got a little more social, but it didn't kick in as much until we got home and I was nowhere near ready to sleep. We decided to go to WalMart because he needed a bunch of things, and I needed to look at phones because mine had spontaneously died while in Colorado (so no one try calling me!). I didn't find a phone, but we ended up shopping at WalMart until after midnight. I didn't fall asleep until about 2 this morning.

Colorado Day 3- Rocky Mountain National Park and More

I woke up this morning and decided to eat my breakfast (Pop Tarts and juice, a breakfast strictly for "vacations"), while going for a walk.

I passed a couple on the pathway that told me that there were elk on the other side of the road. That sounded cool, but I couldn't figure how to get to the other side of the road from there... until I saw this:

And here are the elk!

They were by the restaurant we ate at the first night.

After our morning session, we had time to go to lunch and then hang out. We ate at a Mexican food restaurant, and then went to Rocky Mountain National Park!

Kristjun had just given me his jacket since I didn't bring one, so Adam was hugging him to keep him warm. We just missed that picture. (But Kristjun did find another jacket.)

We then had a pizza dinner with everyone at the retreat and then had our evening session.

This is what we learned: