This is extremely late...
I have spent this whole week (a couple of weeks ago actually) at a camp outside of Shell Knob, Missouri off of Table Rock Lake. It was so beautiful down there. I would wake up every morning to look at the sunrise and the first thing that would pop into my head was Psalm 46:10, "Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Although as I was growing up in Awana, I always learned it as, "Be still and know that I am God....".
Monday the 10th: I was supposed to leave my house at 4:30 in the morning so that I could be to church at 5:15 to load music equipment into the music trailer, but that didn't happen. I woke up at 4:20, and I still had some packing to do. I ended up leaving around 4:50, but I got to our corner and realized that the beast needed fuel, so I had to go 4 miles out of my way to go fill it up. As I was filling up, I realized that I had forgotten my orthopedic shoe inserts sitting on top of the washing machine, so I hurried home grabbed them, and then headed for Lincoln. I arrived around 5:45 to find the music trailer already packed, and the van hooked up to said trailer already full of students. So, I decided to ride with Nick Cole. He is an amazingly godly man, and his granddaughter was in my cabin and Girls of Grace Camp. It took four 15-passenger vans to get us all there. The vans were stereotyped like this: Nick C's Van: all girls; Ryan's Van: all guys (and Kara); Duane's Van: the rich and popular kids; Nick M's Van: most of the band. It's funny because the vans are almost always set up like this. Every trip. We left around 6:30, and then we stopped some where in Missouri for breakfast three hours later. A few hours later we stopped for lunch in Lemar, and then our last stop was about an hour and a half from the camp. The last leg of the trip is the worst. It is hilly and bumpy and curvy. The vans have to constantly speed up and slow down. It did not help my car sickness at all. I thought I was going to blow chunks all over my lap. It was bad. When we got to camp, we had 30 minutes to unpack, and then we had to go do a swim test. After that we had supper, and then a short sermon.
Tuesday the 11th: In the morning I had special music practice. That was a disaster... Okay... Flashback. The week before camp, Megan asked 4 of us junior girls to do a special music song with her. So we set up a practice the day before we left for camp. Before the practice we decided that Kara, Megan, and I would sing harmony and Taysha and Lauren would sing melody. The harmony was too loud, so we moved Megan to melody. The harmony was still too loud, so we moved Kara to melody as well. The harmony was still too loud, so they were constantly telling me to shut up. End flashback. Anyway, at camp two other girls asked to join, but we could only let one join because there were only six microphones. As we were practicing, my friend Nathan was back controlling the sound table. For some reason they gave me the lead mic. As we started the first verse I noticed that I was too loud even though I was holding the mic at least 2 feet from my face. So I cupped my had around the top to magnify my sound and firmly stated, "Nathan! Turn! Me! Down!". He hates when I do that because it scares him, but I think it's funny. Needless to say, he got the message. As we were singing, I noticed that one of the girls was extremely off pitch, so I went back to the sound table and listened to her in the ear thingys. It was terrible, and I felt really bad for her. So I grimaced at Nathan and he read my mind and turned her mic all the way down. I winked at him and then went back on stage. It sounded wonderful. I just started getting a little upset because some of the girls were having bad attitudes. So I had a little talk with all of them about how we need to make sure that our focus was on the Lord and not on ourselves. They completely ignored me and gossiped about me the moment I walked away. It made me really upset. We should be glorifying the Lord with everything we do and say. Then I realized that by getting upset, I was not reflecting well on the Lord either. It was a long day. That night we had a pool party. I really need to stay away from diving boards. Enough said about that.
Wednesday the 12th: I got up at 6 in the morning to go wake boarding! It was so much fun, and it was WAY easier than water skiing. Surprisingly enough, despite my many wipe outs, I only lost my swim suit bottoms once. Thankfully they didn't sink too far, and I was able to retrieve them before the boat came back to get me. After breakfast and devotions, my friend Cassie and I were signed up to do the ropes course. The ropes course is VERY challenging. It took us about two hours to complete the entire course last year, and this year we did it in about 45 minutes, and I only fell off of the wire once this year! Which is really good compared to last year! The best part of the entire thing is when you get to the end. They harness you to these straps and then push you off of the end of the platform, and you swing all the way to the ground. The bad thing about that was that Cassie and I both have very long legs, and our legs kept going too far and hitting the tree.
After that we had lunch, and then I had special music practice again. After my little speech, everything started working out more smoothly. Upon completion of a successful practice, all of us girls went swimming until we had to be at the team challenge course. I was on the yellow team this year along with all of the lovely ladies in my cabin. The only problem was that there were only 4 of us that could actually be considered "athletic, strong, agile, etc." so we pulled almost all of the weight for our team, literally. I was always the base lifter person, and the last one to maneuver each obstacle because I was the tallest. I was stepped on, tugged on, stretched, and pushed. The whole idea of this challenge course was to get the team to work together as a team with out getting mad or upset with each other. I think that was the most "challenging" part of it. Sure it was physically strenuous, but it was even harder to treat your teammates with the kindness and respect that they deserve even when they are not helping out or are hindering our efforts. That night during worship, we performed our special music song. It went wonderful, but for some reason I was really nervous. My hands were shaking like crazy. And adrenaline also caused my natural vibrato to act supper funny, so some of the harmonies were a little shady, but oh well.
Thursday the 13th: This was our trip day. We loaded up in the vans and left for a river in Arkansas. It was about 2 hours away from the camp. I assumed my position in the middle front seat, but I still got car sick. At the first stop, Nick looked back at me and made a teasing comment, and I didn't respond. He looked over at the "co-pilot" Allison, and she quickly shoved a ginger snap in my mouth and hurried into the gas station to get some ginger ale. They didn't have any, so she had to get 7Up. I hate drinking fizzy liquids when I am sick, but I knew that it was supposed to help. It took about twenty minutes to get all of the vans gassed up and ready to go. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, Nick looked back at me and said, "You must be feeling better." I said, "Actually yes, I am." He smiled and said, "I can tell. You got your spark back." Nick knows me so well, it is quite strange actually. He can practically read my mind. When we arrived at the river, we ate lunch, and then hiked a little over two miles until we arrived at the most beautiful part of the river. It was definitely one of those "Be still and know that I am God..." moments. After a couple of hours of catching crawdads and throwing bugs on city-slicker girls, we headed back to camp. The ride back was definitely worse than the ride there. I had to have Nick stop twice because I thought I was going to blow chunks. That night before bed time, a bunch of us girls had a big water fight. It was so much fun. We used our water bottles to throw water and ice on people. I was wearing a cut off, and three different girls dumped ice in my sports bra. No bueno. It was quite painful! In case you are wondering, yes, I am doing the potty dance in this picture. I really had to go, and the water wasn't helping my cause!
Friday the 14th: The last full day of camp! After breakfast, we had devotions, and Laura had asked me to share my testimony. Naturally, I cried. It was just so important to me that every single person in my small group had heard the gospel clearly enough to understand. After devotions, I went wake boarding again, and I was able to stay up for more than 30 seconds! I felt so accomplished! Soon after I pulled my feet out of the board, another girl jumped in to go next. I was about halfway on the boat when I realized that I really had to pee. So I jumped back in and started swimming away. Anna shouted, "Annastazia, what are you doing?" I stopped where I was, "I have to pee." "Please tell me you aren't going to pee in the lake." "Would you rather me pee on the boat? Didn't think so. Now let me pee in peace." I got so many glares when I got on that boat. This is what I get for signing up to go on a boat with a bunch of city girls who are scared of ruining their hair in the lake. We arrived just in time for lunch, and then after lunch Laura (one of my leaders) and I went kayaking/canoeing. She had never done it before, so I had to teach her how. We were having a lovely talk, and then one of the senior guys started swimming up to the kayak. Laura freaked out and rolled off of the side because she thought he was going to tip the kayak. Well, after she was in the water, I tried to redistribute the weight, but it was a lost cause. I fell in as well, and our kayak was upside down. We swam to shore in shame. After that I showered really fast and then went to go run and jump off of a platform that was 35 feet in the air. It was so much fun! Although for some reason when I jumped, I plugged my nose. I have no idea why I did that... I wasn't jumping in water or anything. People are still making fun of me for that. That night we had a big camp fire. One of the senior guys shared his testimony, and we sang many beautifully meaningful songs. Old school hymns. It was wonderful. After the campfire, we went star tripping. I love star tripping; it is so hilarious how everyone reacts differently to it. My reaction is usually deer in the headlights look, followed by a possessed sounding laugh, followed by falling uncontrollably to the ground, followed by failed attempts to get up, and followed by failed attempts to walk in a straight line.
Saturday the 15th: We got up early and had breakfast, and then quickly packed the vans and trailers. The first hour and a half of the trip was the worst, which made me sick the entire ride home. Ginger snap quickly became my new best friend. Although they do not make very good eye covers. That was a stupid move on my part, I had ginger snap crumbs in my eyeballs! No bueno! We arrived in Lincoln after a long journey at about 6:00, and I didn't get home until nearly 7:00. Our friends from South Dakota where staying with us. Noah, who is Rudy's age, decided it would be funny to sit on me as I was laying on the couch watching Legally Blonde with Payton. That kid might be two years younger than me, but he is about as tall as Rudy, and a heck of a lot heavier than Rudy. I had bruises! Anyway, while at camp we studied Psalm 1. I am always amazing by this passage. So now I will continue to be planted firm in the Word of God, as a tree planted firmly by the water, as well as pursue my walk by faith.
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