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.