Connect

Class was great last week, we got to try out lots of different ways to immobilize our spines, and I got a 90 on my  quiz. Woo! I was kind of nervous about that quiz though, because the day before was the student ministry's Reach event, which stole several hours that could have been spent studying. However, it was tons of fun playing laser tag and hanging out with the teens (and I also made vocab flashcards so that I could study during the car ride there, which helped a LOT). 

Of course, nothing could compare to this weekend: Winter Camp! Friday morning was spent putting the finishing touches on the camp, and then we welcomed five youth groups and their kids that evening. I was given a schedule of what I was supposed to do, and then I ended up getting even MORE tasks! For example, because I made the PowerPoint slides for the worship songs on my computer, that suddenly meant that I was to run all the visuals for the evening chapels! Oh, and one group's girl leader had to cancel, so I was a program staff by day and a counselor by night. And I also had to teach a skit to the staff because Shawna hoped that I could at least come up with something funny (mission accomplished btw!). 

So Friday evening included a night game, chapel, a campfire with s'mores, and meeting the four girls I'd be spending the night with. Saturday had breakfast, a relay race, teaching a skit to the staff, lunch, sled design and races, zip line, dinner theater, chapel, and broom ball. The skit went over well; it was the one where someone gets bit by a snake, and the ambulance comes but it's too late. Then the audience realizes that it's just a movie because the director (played by me) comes and says how horrible it was. The director then has the actors go over the scene several times in different ways: robot, Spanish, musical, valley girl, etc. Then once the director is satisfied, the cameraman announces there was no film and the skit's over. I've done this skit at camps in the past, but this was I think was especially funny because of how good the rest of the staff was at their parts. Owen played the actor who got bit by a snake, and he was very dramatic at dying. Eli (the only other person in the skit that is also taking the EMT class) announced "the scene is safe" once he got off the ambulance, which made all the other EMT students in the audience (especially Adam) laugh really hard. Broom ball that evening was also a ton of fun. Only seven teams had signed up, so while Eli was making the tournament brackets, I suggested that we could form Team Awesome out of staff members to make for an even eighth team. I grabbed the speaker, Adam and his band, and Owen, and including me that made our team six players. Naturally, between some extremely competitive people on our team and the fact that we were playing against junior highers, we won game after game after game. We didn't even let any of our competitors score a goal! After a tiring day, I had absolutely no problem sleeping, even though the lights in our cabin were left on all night, the girls came in really late after talking with their youth leader, and the sound of a sinking ship was playing on someone's phone at 5 in the morning. (I do think the girls liked me being their counselor though. I brought them a hair dryer to use and gave them a bunch of extra team points for no reason at all.)

Sunday was the last day of camp, so we just had to take care of breakfast. Shawna also asked me to help come up with team prizes. The other day I had seen some small plastic movie trophies in the Batcave, so Kirk and I set to work giving the trophies a makeover. On the base, I put a label that said "Camp Rivercrest Winter 2012 Winner/2nd Place/3rd Place", while Kirk made puzzle piece shapes to cover the film reel that were labeled "Connect", which was the theme of the weekend. After the dining hall was all cleaned, I had absolutely no problem relaxing and doing nothing for the rest of the day. 

Today is our day off, so I'm going to rest some more and hopefully study for EMT class. (I'd like to see if I can beat a score of 90 on this week's test!) I also need be really careful with my back now, since it's been hurting extra for since Friday morning. The problem is, I really don't know what happened. Was it laser tag on Wednesday? Trying on the PASG pants or neck brace on Thursday? Or did I just make it worse during the weekend with broom ball, pushing kids down the zip line, and sleeping on an uncomfortable foam mattress in the lodge? So if you could pray that it will heal and I won't have to go to a chiropractor, that would be great. Other than that, I've just been enjoying camp ministry and everything else that I've been involved with, so praise God!

Here's to You, Mom

These are a picture of the tortillas I made on Saturday, requested by my mom. I based them on the first tortilla recipe I found on All Recipes. 

And this was my Saturday dinner. Homemade soda and tortilla, plus a Mexican-style soup that I made up as I went. I think the finished product ended up with chicken broth, milk, cheddar, red bell peppers and carrots.

Room Rearranging, Ride-Alongs, and Other Randomosity that Begins with the Letter R

The past week has actually been quite nice. After a relaxing Monday off followed by an intense class on Tuesday, Wednesday went well as well. After a discussion about the current book we're reading for our internship, Mike, Eli and I had a study group. Jon popped in a few times to share answers, and Jeff even stopped by to give us a bunch of information about aspects that we were struggling with. The quiz was on Thursday, and although I didn't do as well as I had on previous quizzes, it must have been a fairly difficult quiz, because the only four that passed happened to be the four of us that studied together! Since our study group proved to be so effective, we moved it to first thing on Wednesday mornings so that others from the class can join us. Friday was preparation for the winter camp. Saturday was pretty dull, but I taught myself how to make tortillas! On Sunday after church, Eli picked me up and took me to his brothers' house in Omaha. I ended up playing this crazy video game called Dead Island, which is basically about trying to slay zombies and help the few survivors on a vacation island. Unfortunately, I wound up playing this well past midnight, even though my ride-along was the next day at 7:30am!

The good news is that I DID make it to the fire station at 7:30 awake and ready for action. I saw the ambulance leave the station as I was coming in (turns out they were just getting food, which explains the absence of lights and sirens), so one of the firefighters gave me a tour of the place. Now, before I continue, I've got to mention that just about everyone else was stuck in the station's classroom alone and without TV, and they couldn't even eat meals with the firefighters and paramedics. The firefighter that was giving me the tour said he would take me to the classroom, which I would probably like because I would be able to use the TV. But when we got in there, a firefighter was relaxing in there, saying it was where he hang out, but "she can stay in here if she wants, she's cute enough." That's when I realized "Oh yeah, I am the girl. That might just get me royal treatment here." And boy, did it! :)

I ended sitting at the kitchen table, which was WAY better than the classroom. For one, I wasn't alone. I'm pretty sure everyone chatted with me at least a little. For another, I got to watch TV. I was also trying to study, but there was some pretty interesting news on that day, and later in the day they even let me have control of the remote, which is something that they rarely let students do from what I've heard in class.

We got one call mid-morning. Of course, for security and privacy purposes, I won't give out details, it wasn't a very serious incident that involved a whole lot. However, it was great to see how the things I've learned play out in real life, because there are some things that you just can't practice in class. Some things I had always wondered was why the firetruck almost always follows the ambulance (in case a patient is too heavy for the two EMT/Paramedics to lift on their own, or just in case another trained professional is needed in a severe emergency), do you have to knock to enter a patient's house (a family member was waiting at the door for us, probably instructed to do so by 911), does lack of lights/sirens mean that there is no patient in the ambulance (no, they'll sometimes just drive normally between picking up the patient and transporting to the hospital, depending on the case), and what's it like once we get to the hospital (park in a garage, take the patient inside, go to the room as instructed by the receptionist, and inform the person in the room of all the info that you gathered). I also got to glean other information like how to take care of the monitor, ambulance maintenance, and the importance of communication and "detective" work.

After we left the hospital, we took the ambulance to a grocery store to get some food for the station's lunch and snacks, and then we went back to the station. Some people started to prepare lunch, which included turkey bacon clubs, salad, and fries among other things. And yes, unlike my classmates, I actually got to eat with the paramedics and firefighters!

The rest of the day was pretty slow. I got a lot of studying done, and even got permission to get ice cream or whatever I wanted from the fridge (which was stated in our class' station rules as something we were not allowed to do, but since they told me I could, I guess it was okay in that instance!). Mid-afternoon everyone was relaxing. I was sitting close to the scanner, and all morning long I had heard all the calls for other stations in Omaha. But in the mid-afternoon, there were hardly any calls for any stations! I started to get really tired at this point in time and could easily have taken a nap right then and there since everyone else was relaxing, but I knew that, as a student, I wasn't supposed to do that, so I decided to do what was right: take some ice cream from the freezer and hope that the sugar rush would give me a second wind. The good news is that I did do quite a bit of studying, so class should be at least a little easier!

Eli picked me up around 4:30 with his backseat full of stuff. I guess it was his real move-to-camp day, even though he still has stuff to bring. Last week I had realized that he really didn't have a place to live. The boys' room is really messy and full. Even though Kristjun no longer lives/works here as of Thursday, he hasn't moved any of his things out yet. Since my bedroom has a door that goes directly to the main room, I told Eli that he could have my bedroom and I'd move my bed to my personal living room. It was mostly a nice gesture, but, after moving everything around last night, it turned out to be a blessing for me too. I mean, take a look at this:

Ever since Erin moved out, I had no idea what to do with this wall of the living room!  As you can see, it turned into a tv and burn box storage space, and the walls were pretty drab (except for the pineapples).

The bedroom looked pretty drab as well. An empty bed, and only a few bulls eyes decorating the walls

But with all my stuff moved into one room, it looks like this:

Oh, and here are a few requested aspects of my room that I have forgotten to show on my blog until now:

The "Lippe" wall

...And this is my kitchen, made complete with the presents I got for Christmas! On Wednesday, I also received a SodaStream soda maker to review, which is the device in the left corner. Yes, between the soda, baked goods, and willingness to study with people, my room has become quite the popular hangout!

Now, I should really get back to studying. It was a hard day at school and I zoned out a little, but Eli and I did some online work for an hour, and then I took a break to write this blog post. Now for some personal study time! (I really want to get a good grade on Thursday's test!)

How I Keep Myself Occupied

Decoupaged candles and a tea party for one- read below to see what I did with this and more!

I have a confession to make: I'd rather have Mondays off than weekends. Weekends can just get SO dull, especially when I don't have the means to go anywhere. But I've gotten creative over the past couple weekends, so they're a little more fun now.

Last weekend I decided that I could perk things up in my living space, so I went on a hunt to find some cool things. I found two tall, narrow vases in the Batcave (that's just a fancy name for the cabin full of junk!), remnants of scrapbook paper in the chapel, and candles in the unoccupied office (it used to be Erin's, and lately Kristjun and I have each been using it when we want better internet connection). Then I set out to do something crafty while watching TV on my computer. My original plan was to put my small, thin candle into the vase for a stained glass effect, but I couldn't find a matching candle, and I wanted to use both vases. So instead I found some chunkier candles, shaved them down a little, and they fit perfectly in the top of the vases.  Then I decoupaged the vases with the scrapbook paper, and as you can see in the picture above, they didn't turn out too bad! I also decoupaged my little candle so it wouldn't feel left out! ;) In fact, I ended up also decoupaging a cup for my "change jar" and an oatmeal canister that I keep my jewelry in--- I was addicted to decoupage that day!

This weekend I actually am working, but Saturday was mostly a day off since the group didn't come in until the evening. So on Friday I realized that I had enough ingredients to scrape together a half a batch of scones. I always use the recipe from this blog for my scones, except this time I left out the chocolate chips and vanilla. I found some apple butter and Cool Whip in the fridge, and each of them (separately!) went well with the scones. Saturday I still had plenty of scones left, so I decided to make a tea party out of it, as you can see in the above picture. I made some tea, served apple butter with the scones, and used inspiration from the tea party blog link above and made pineapple sandwiches. I didn't have cream cheese, so instead I subbed the sugar and cream cheese for Cool Whip. I know it's kind of tacky to have a tea party for one, but really, who do I know that would have joined me for this?

On Sunday, I decided to have another fun lunch: I would go on a picnic! But first I had to figure out what to eat. I came up with what was probably the most delicious meal I ever made, and I created it entirely out of leftovers and dairy products.

First, I boiled some milk on my skillet, then mixed in pre-cooked rotini noodles and gravy. I then added lots of Parmesan and a little bit of shredded cheddar mix cheese. When that was nice and hot, I put it in a Tupperware, drove down to the lodges, and (after checking on the group) went down to the campfire pit that overlooks the river. The river looks kind of weird now; it's the only place that still has snow. However, the weather itself was quite warm.

I have a few more stories about my mundane adventures, many of them involving food. What can I say? Food is pretty darn good and I'm the only one who regularly cooks around here; as if I was becoming the residential mom. In fact, this first incident I'm about to tell you about involves two very motherly topics: coffee and cleaning.

So on Saturday, I went to use the microwave. The coffeepot sits on top of the microwave. I don't drink coffee, and no one else who currently lives here has a set habit of drinking coffee, so I was more amused than repulsed when I peeked at the coffee mug and saw this:

I posted this picture on Facebook, and  Eli owned up to it. He's moving to camp this week, and he claims that things will change at that point! (In reality, he's generally the biggest neat freak out of all of us, so he probably was telling the truth.) Here are a few other comments my friends gave about this picture on Facebook:

 ·  · Share

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    Kristjun Taylor Not me. Im not the coffee drinker.
    

    Saturday at 15:42 · 
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    Nicole Pecheny That is nasty.
    

    Saturday at 18:05 · 
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    Elijah Sturgeon Haha ill take the blame lol ill bring my own out anyways...too bad you can't burn that heh
    

    Saturday at 18:39 · 
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    Jes Lippe I'm so used to seeing a bunch of moldy food since I'm probably the only one that cleans the fridge... but this was too beautiful to pass up! I don't know... if I let this ferment a little longer it probably will be burnable!
    

    Saturday at 18:50 · 
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    Jeffrey Rhoads · Friends with Erin Howard and 11 others

    Don't you dare put that in my burn pile! I don't have a permit to burn Hazardous Material!
    

    Saturday at 19:27 ·  ·  4
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    Anna L Teemer Gross!
    

    Saturday at 19:49 · 
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    Elijah Sturgeon Haha well I guess you could always eat some jes and then we can hav a live patient to practice skills on :P things will change when i move this in this wk
    

    16 hours ago ·  ·  3
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    Bailey Kinney I think i just threw up in my mouth a little.
    

    14 hours ago · 
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    Jes Lippe I ended up dumping it down the toilet (although I'm afraid the pipes may disintegrate), but the pot's filled with bleach, so Eli can add some ammonia and drink that!
    

    12 hours ago ·  ·  1

(BTW- We weren't actually trying to kill each other with this... but if one of us were to drink it, it would be great practice for our EMT class!)


Speaking of old food, we often get too many of one kind of leftover and not enough of others. One leftover that we've been getting quite a lot of lately is apples. They start to get a little mushy before we can eat them all, but as long as I don't try to eat them raw, they still taste pretty good. A few days ago I figured out how to make an amazing grilled cheese sandwich with whole wheat bread, provolone, Parmesan, and thin apple slices. (I also found some toaster bags in my kitchenette so I can put the sandwich in the toaster oven without getting crumbs or cheese everywhere!) Another thing I've been making for several months now is fried apples.   I melt a little coconut oil, and then throw in some diced apples and water, then cover and wait for them to get really soft. It's a fun challenge to come up with new recipes for old food, and I would definitely welcome any recipes that you can suggest!


My original intent was to have my Sunday picnic on top of the tower overlooking the river. On Saturday, I remembered that I actually haven't gone all the way up the tower yet. The furthest I had gone was to the part where the climbing wall is, and that's only about halfway up. So I decided to see if the top of the tower was all it's cracked up to be. I started up the steps, and made it to the part where the climbing wall ends no problem. Then after a few more steps, I started to freeze up. This thing is pretty tall, and it seems taller since the river is much lower than the ground that the tower was built on! After a few more steps, I knew I couldn't convince myself to climb any higher. I only made it 5/8 of the way up that day, but someday I will see the top! However, 5/8 of the way still has some nice scenery:

My final story is about last night. Adam had us come out to his house for dinner. He didn't say that he had also scheduled a private concert! The first performer was Kevin, who performed for us the first night I came here back in August. It was much more entertaining this time around since I'm now comfortable with my surroundings and I'm not exhausted from a full day of flying! The second group was a band called Families, which was also very good. When I got back to camp, I was already really tired, but I decided to share my own musical talent as well:

(The sound is a little off... it synced perfectly on my computer and on Facebook; it's just a Blogger prob.)
I chose this song not only because I like it, but because I'm halfway there with this whole internship. Woo!

God Provides

Even when we don't ask, as long as we have faith, God provides.

I've seen it happen so often in my life, especially here at camp.

For example, just over a week ago, we were running pretty low on food, namely meat, veggies, fruit, bread, eggs and milk. (I know, there isn't much else besides those kinds of foods, although we did have a few canned goods, stale chips, cheese, and spaghetti, but not enough to get a healthy variety of meals.) Then, God  allowed us to have meals prepared for us that weekend. So while my belly was full for a few days, I knew I would need to find a way to go grocery shopping soon. But then, when the dining hall kitchen was cleaned out of food they wouldn't be able to use, guess what was in the staff fridge? Salads, apples, craisins, bananas, whole-wheat bread, milk, pot roast, and more! Even just yesterday, the milk had gone prematurely bad and I thought I had run out of breakfast food (I had moved my oatmeal container and haven't used it since December, so I completely forgot about that). I was eating a SALAD for breakfast, and then Cheryl comes in saying "I got you guys breakfast!" She then proceeded to hand me a bag full of  Egg McMuffins and a gallon of fresh milk! These were just the most recent gifts of food that proves God provides; on a couple of occasions in the past month, we were running low on food, and the Solmens stepped in and said to us "We have more food donations than we can use, would you like some food?" It was always perfect timing.

After spending a week with my friends in Oregon, I realized that for months, I have been missing out on girl time, especially after Erin moved out. Then, my first day back at school, I get a text from Shawna asking me to be a sub at the the Ladies' Bunco that night. Although I was by far the youngest person there, it was a great chance to fellowship. (And, oh yeah, the Lord provided me with a free meal that night too when all we had back at camp was spaghetti!)

Since September, I had been trying to find a way to take a winter college class online as a way to gain some new skills and further my education. All the opportunities I found were extremely expensive, required at least a little bit of travel, and/or would not help me gain skills or add to my previous education. Then one day, just a couple months later, Adam comes in and tells us that nearly all of our expenses would be covered if we wanted to take an EMT class in Fremont. How could I say no to that? Now that I'm taking the class, while it is indeed a challenge, it's proving to be more than I could ever ask for.

Even going back to when I first came to camp, I expected to have to buy a bicycle as my means of transportation, and I wouldn't be able to go much further than Fremont without paying lots of travel expenses. And yet, the first week I got here, one of my life goals was fulfilled when we went to see Mount Rushmore! God has provided plenty of other blessings to satisfy my wanderlust by going to LifeLight, Kansas City, Colorado, and more. And not only do I get to go these places for free, but I technically get PAID to do them! I even got vacation pay over Christmas break! Oh yes, and even for more local endeavors, God provided me with a free bicycle to use!

I'm definitely not the neediest or poorest person on the face of the Earth, but it's so comforting to know that God will provide for me even when I don't deserve it. These are just small reminders of the bigger picture that I am so incredibly blessed.

If you read my posts from July, you'll agree that I had the opportunity to come to camp because God provided that opportunity. I would have never thought to do this myself! And the blessings haven't stopped since.

I noticed one thing in particular for accounts such as those I just described: God didn't make tangible gifts like food, friendship, education, or even travel simply fall from the sky. He used other people to make them work. I hope that I can be used to bring huge blessings from God to others!

One Week Off, One Week On

So I haven't written since I took a Christmas break. I'll tell you about that. And I'll also tell you what's been going on since I got back.

The Wednesday before Christmas was my last day in Nebraska. Kristjun had already left for home the day before, and we really didn't have any work to do, so Eli, Jordan and I just stayed at camp for most of the day. Eli finally got our fireplace working, although it was really smoky. But hey, now we can burn cardboard instead of walking all the way out to the cardboard dumpster (I'm not really sure if building a fire actually takes less effort, though). In the evening, we went to the Relevant Student Ministry Staff Christmas party, which involved an expensive restaurant grilled cheese sandwich and a super-fun gift exchange. I got a package of shuttlecocks and a rubber mallet, which was a pretty good exchange for the book and t-shirt I gave that ended up with Sarah. After that we went to Eli's house because he lives in Omaha and I needed to catch my train in a couple of hours anyway. He let me borrow a few of his movies, which came in handy during the long train trip ahead of me. I finally boarded the California Zephyr a little after 11pm. I settled into a seat, met a family next to me that was also going from Omaha to Sacramento, and then fell asleep.

One of the many beautiful and unique views from the train.

The train ride was a really great experience, especially since I never took a train trip before. The scenery was so diverse, since we went through Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California. It was nice and snowy in the Rockies, and in California, a park ranger came on board to tell us about the history and natural resources of the area. I also liked meeting the people. I already mentioned the family I sat next to. I ate breakfast in the dining car one morning, and they always try to sit four people to a table so that you can meet new people. I sat with a retired couple and a woman in her 30s, and it was really fun to talk about our experiences and what we do. I also spent some time in the observation deck. One day, I was reading my EMT textbook, when I noticed the lady sitting across the table from me was looking and my wrist and my shirt. "Can I ask you a question? Who is first?" I realized I was wearing my I Am Second wristband and t-shirt, and so I told her that Jesus was first. "That's what I was hoping you'd say!" she exclaimed.

The decorations at the Sacramento station- much different than the DMV-style train station in Omaha!

After two nights on that train, I ended up in Sacramento. It was hard to see the town while carrying all my luggage, so I mostly just stayed at a Starbucks near the train station so I could im people. My next train didn't leave until after midnight. This train ride wasn't as good of an experience because both passengers and staff were pretty cranky. But it didn't matter too much because I slept almost the whole way and ended up in Oregon at 8 am on Christmas Eve!

The week I spent in Oregon was great. I got to see my family, celebrate Christmas, eat out, go to church, and do crazy things with my friends who were also in Oregon for Christmas. As much fun as it was, I was glad to go back to Nebraska on New Year's Day (although I still miss everyone and wish they were here!). I took the plane this time, and even got an upgrade to first class on the second leg of my flight. First class is pretty much the same as coach class was twelve years ago, but it was nice to get refreshments, coat service, and I didn't have to pay for my luggage. I got to Omaha at 10, but Eli was in Des Moines and couldn't pick me up for a few hours. I couldn't move around much since I had a 45-pound bag without wheels, but the airport did have free wi-fi and I had Netflix, so I was perfectly content for awhile. Eventually I did get picked up, and I didn't end up going to bed until 3ish. The next day, I didn't wake up until after 11 the next day. When Jeremiah said "mornin'" to me, I responded with "mornin'...if you can still call it that." But even though I missed out on the morning, the afternoon was a VERY important part of the day... it was bowl game day! Both the Huskers and the Ducks made it to a bowl game, and their games were back-to-back. Unfortunately, the guys realized that a new month had just begun and they had quit their cable AND internet for that month, so instead of watching the games at their house, Eli and I went to Bailey's house. It was sad to see the Huskers lose, although the fight that two of the players got in was fairly entertaining. We left at the Rose Bowl's halftime to head to camp, although it was very nice to hear that the Ducks won.

The next day was our EMT lab day, so that took up most of the day. In the evening, Shawna invited me to sub for her bunco group. That was a lot of fun, and I got some good food out of it! I realized in Oregon that I pretty much never have any "girl time" with others (the only girls I ever really see are my friends' girlfriends), and even if it's with a bunch of middle-aged women, I'll take it!

Then the next day was a work day, where we had to clean up after the painters that came in before Christmas. It was a pretty stressful day since we had that, student ministry AND a test the next day to study for, but it got even crazier. At the end of my lunch break, I went on Facebook and the notification in the corner said "Elijah Sturgeon's birthday is today". I yelled to the other room, "Eli, is it really your birthday?" and it was. I told him I was mad at him for not telling me and that I would get back at him for this. So all afternoon, while cleaning the lodge, I formulated a plan.

After student ministry, we stopped at WalMart for party supplies. I had originally intended on a Pink Fairy Princess theme, but there was nothing fairy-like, so it turned out to be a pink princess party. I bought pink princess cupcakes, pink streamers, pink balloons, and princess-themed presents. We also had a crown, scepter, confetti and pink plastic at camp. When we got back, Kristjun and I decorated his car with balloons, streamers, and plastic, and then we went inside and threw confetti on Eli and gave him the cupcakes, crown, scepter, and presents. We didn't spend too much time on it since we had a test to study for the next day.

The good news is that I passed the test, and I'm really starting to get into this whole EMT thing. After class, we had a little work to do in the lodges to make sure that they were clean before the group came. Friday was a much more relaxed day as far as work went because we had so much done the night before. And this weekend has been pretty mundane; I've just been at camp the whole time (but there were some meals so we got free food--which is WAY better than no food at all!). I've been reading, working on Girlz 4 Christ, and just resting up for what is hopefully another non-stop week!