Camp Anawana (Sugar Pine)..

Some people believe that the best way to learn to swim is to be thrown into a body of water and let your body react naturally and it will all work itself out. I believe if a person doesn't know how to swim and they are thrown into a body of water, they will flail about for a minuet or two and chances are they will drown. My point is, I don't know where to being on telling you about my summer, so I'm just going to jump in:

This summer I had my very first camp experience, I was away from home longer than I ever had been before, I didn't know any one at camp when I left home and I had the most amazing time ever!

I didn't have any expectations when I arrived at camp and therefore didn't have any room to be let down. When I first got there I was informed that 1)Don't go off first impressions and 2)Just because it's a Christian environment, I should still be careful.
I am grateful for both these pieces of advice, but mainly the 2nd as I have a tendency to be a little naive when it comes to who to trust.
There were parts of the summer that were great fun such as getting to meet all the new people, making friends, enjoying new company, swimming, team building, my first In N Out experience, fake arguments in the work place, chapel, finally going running, etc. But there were also some really heavy times such as a death in a co-workers family. Or the death of a camper. And then calling home to find out all these people in friend's lives have also passed away. This was a very trying time in my summer and for about a week or 2 I had a really hard time talking with God. I was mad at Him and when you're mad at someone, you just don't want to talk with them. Finally I opened up and spoke honestly to Him and it all worked out. I still don't know the reason behind it all and I probably never will but my faith is still in tacked and that's the most important.
At the beginning of the summer I met a guy named Gifford. I quickly realized that in my spare time I was in search of his company and about the second week into it a liking for one another was discussed. In the end, nothing much came of the matter between Giff and I but I did spend a lot of the summer getting to know his family. I became the "local exchange sibling" - according to his brother, Evan. Being the emotional creature God created me to be, I of course have come to love this family. There are 13 of them in all and they are all amazing in their own way.


This is Claire. We learned how to grill burgers together. Despite the massive flames, the burgers were quite tasty!
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This is Evan. To be completely honest, I didn't really care for him at the beginning.But it turns out he is a pretty cool guy and I really view him as a brother. (He picked on me a lot!)

This is Natalie and Cami. They are really sweet and love to sing. They learned to play the recorder this summer.

This is Winston. Winston could be very gentlemanly for a 5 year old. He is very sweet but is addicted to video games. He loves "Persia Persia" (Prince of Persia) And SkippyJon Jones. He's got part of it memorized!

And this is Liam. Liam provided me with nonstop entertainment. Some of it came from being so cute, and some of it came from his lack of being able to make it to the toilet at the appropriate time.

Here I am with Natalie, Winston and Claire.
Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the rest of the family so we'll move on to my work environment...
Here we have Jess and Alyssa
Jess and I liked to turn the music up (maybe a little too loud) and dance while we were working, and Alyssa and I enjoyed fake shouting sessions near the soda fountain.

And Stacio (Stacy)
Stacy hates hair, movie theaters and grasshoppers. But she loves it when I sing to her(Da-na-na na na na Whipish Whipish). She pretends to be hardcore but I know that she loves me.

And here is Stacy with our good friend Sarah Oooooooo (who is an honorary (and ex) snack bar girl):

And here we all are looking just like ourselves:

I pretty much worked with some amazing girls. We are all different and funny in our own ways. We had so much fun working together and learning how to work through things together. Even though we all had our cranky moments, we were always there for each other.


And now here is a poem about the Snack Bar: (ehem)
Frappachino's, Not cho cheese
Out of Change, more quarters please.
Twelve year old's that hit on Jess
Spilled the icee, what a mess.
"Come in here guys. You hear that tune?
That my friend, is the sweet bassoon."
Salted pretzel, small iced tea
A new boyfriend for dear Stacy.
Gummi worms a dollar flat
Slim jim with cheese? You don't want that!
Dr. Laura's evil schemes of feeding us
'till we burst from the spleen.
Choco Tacos, Chips Galore
"Stupid ho bags" "Norish whores"
Everyone loves Alyssa's bling
But they were all secretly jealous of my stylish sling.
Talks of poop and Chicago winds,
Summer '09 comes to an end.

Now it's like you were there!

I had the most amazing time at camp. I learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot about people. I learned that you don't really have to "drink" water, you just have to pour it in. I learned that genuine people can genuinely hurt you. I learned that no matter what color socks you take to camp be it red, blue, or argyle, you will take home brown, brown and brown argyle socks.
I learned that no matter how I'm feeling - good or miserable, I can bring it all to God and He will listen with a heart more open than I could ever imagine. I learned that God is bigger than I ever dreamed, but I didn't learn how big exactly. I learned that being a "momma bunny" is not a compliment. I learned people's darkest secrets and I learned that despite a hard shell, there usually a severely soft heart inside.
I've learned to embrace my uniqueness and I learned to allow myself to be held and carried by Him. Because I am not enough. I can not do it on my own.

I wish I could have packed you all in my suitcase and taken you with me. I wish you could have seen how beautiful it was. I wish you could have met all the people I met. I wish you could have laughed all the times that I laughed. . Because there were some pretty funny moments!
But the reality of it is...There's a 50 pound limit per suitcase and you only get 2 checked bags.. And I barely made the limit with just my things.

I'm going to leave you with a short story about this kid who came to the window at Timber (the kids camp) with his friend. I said "One of you smells good", to which he replied "Oh -it's me. You noticed... I put on my bod"... It was hilarious. And he made my day with that moment.

And on a more serious note, I conclude with a song: