Tribes and races

Today is tribe day . . . The one day in the summer that counselors spend gleefully pretending to be the worst junior campers ever encountered.

More visits

My family came to visit and exchange Lydia for Naomi. Lydia is beginning her summer as a YAP.

We spent a lovely evening in the RV park. We were "being hobos" according to Lee Brown. Tons of fun. Gardner girls even showed up for s'mores and a rousing game of something that resembled baseball.

Lines

Kevin and I painted lines on the East Side ballfield. Some of the lines are straight.

This afternoon we're being trusted with more lines - these lines are not meant to be straight. I'm not sure whether that means we'll be more or less successful.

titles are for normal people

Today I feel like a stalker. I'm sneaking around Facebook, stealing pictures from unsuspecting summer staffers to use for my own nefarious purposes. And the poor souls haven't a clue. Until now. If they read my blog. Hey, guys! Thanks for the pictures?

I may also have just pretended to be simultaneously Lee Brown and Jeremy Linsley.

In other news, the mighty hunter cat in our family has met his match. It's a squirrel about the size of a chipmunk and it has thrown Algie completely off balance by following him everywhere and refusing to be intimidated. He's been adopted and has no clue what to do.

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Buckets

I spent some time over the past couple of days wrapping paper around yogurt containers in an effort to make them look less like yogurt containers and more like an exciting discovery that could be part of one's Blockhouse hunt. They now look like yogurt containers with paper taped around them.

A visit

Naomi came to Camp with me thinking it would be a party. Now she's playing checkers by herself.

A Visitor

We had a friend visit us in our house. He seemed stunned to be there. We enjoyed his brief time with us and then gently transported him a safe distance away from the cats, who are very poor hosts.

Co-Labor: It Happened

The first Co-labour flew past in a haze of leaves and tarps. I missed hearing the number of people who made the trip to Barakel to rake our forest, but I do know, randomly, that it was the exact same number as the year before. If you know how many came last year, you now know more than I do about the numbers last weekend.

I led a raking crew from Graham on a mighty journey across West Side. They were an amazing crew, impressing me with their relentless enthusiasm and dedication. By the end of the day, we were all fairly exhausted, but a lot had been accomplished.

I prayed with my crew, waved farewell, and hopped in my car for a trek south. I had the privilege of speaking in the college-age Sunday school class at Five Points – my home church – with Dan and Sarah who are resident staff at Barakel. I loved hearing things from their perspective.

This week is my last visit home before I leave Barakel in August. I'm spending my time going through my boxes of stuff, eliminating the unnecessary and packing the needed for the fall. My TA orientation begins August 13^th, so I need to be moved in to wherever I am living by then. I spent some time looking for apartments this week and now I may have been providentially supplied with a roommate.

By the time I return to Barakel, there will be only two more weeks remaining before summer workshop. I am now officially an east side programer, so expect to spend much of that time doing prep work – whether this work involves painting, counting flagbelts, shooting videos, or formatting documents I'm not certain. Probably, it will include all of these things along with other tasks I haven't thought of yet.

I'm excited for this summer. It will be my fourth on summer staff but my first time doing two consecutive summers. It will be another new position for me, so another grand adventure. I'll be busy. This will definitely mean less writing on the blog. But have no fear! I'm planning to post pictures frequently (I have a magic, new phone) and hopefully they will keep you all fairly updated.

A Picture = One Thousand Words?

This is a test of the emergency photo broadcasting system. Don't be alarmed.