15 fabulous days

What a wonderful two weeks! There is so much that has gone on, and I won’t even try to type it all out, but I can give you some of the highlights.

First was MN with the gang. Car rides go much quicker when you are with people you love being around. We turned on the tunes, and hit the road.

The place we stayed at was beautiful and so nice. The people we stayed with were also so friendly and fun — even for being older folks :] I immediately fell in love with them and their place. You would step outside their house, and be twenty feet away from the lake. We had beautiful weather the entire stay. What a blessing that was! We spent most of the day out on the water — water skiing or tubing. It was my first time skiing and my muscles didn’t appreciate it that much. But even with the soreness, it was definetely worth it. The three days together was a great way to end the summer and depart before some of them went off to college. I am so thankful that I was able to go!

Next stop was summer camp with ICI. I got home from MN at 1 a.m., and didn’t get to bed until 2 or so. I had to set my alarm for 5:45 so I could make it down to the city in time. I was tired, but excitement soon woke me up. When I saw how excited the kids were as well, I knew the week would be a good one. I knew Cassie and I were co-counselors, but I was anxious to find out what girls were in our cabin. I eventually found out that we would have a cabin of 10-12 year olds. They all were bundles of energy and sweet hearts. I loved every single one of them. One of the girls, Danielle (or Dee Dee), was probably the loudest and the most hilarious. She never failed to make me laugh. She was always cracking jokes or being silly. She was about 5′ 7” and reminded me a lot of my sister, Khalia. If they got together, I knew they would just have a ball.

While I was there, we got to talk 1 on 1 to every girl in our cabin. We would discuss what they learned at camp, or what they thought about the speaker. I was so surprised, and sad, to hear with what some of the girls had to say. Most of them claimed to be Christians, but when asked to explain in further detail what that meant, they couldn’t even begin to explain it to me. A lot of them were confused with what being a follower of Christ was and meant. It was so rewarding to clear up some of that confusion. I pray that these girls will continue to hear the Gospel and eventually fully understand what it means to live for Christ. So, there was no big decisions made during camp, but I feel that God was definetely working through all the counselors.

Oh, also…I gotta tell you this story. I admit I am a little proud of this achievement, but I just have to share it with you all :] So, through out the week each cabin could earn points. At the end of the day they would total up the points and announce the cabin of the day. At the end of the week, there would be a grand prize winner for the over-all best cabin. Well, one day they needed one counselor from each cabin. I decided I would go up to play the game. I was told previously that it had to do something with goldfish. There were rumors going around that you had to swallow a live goldfish, but I was just hoping that the rumors weren’t true. To my horror that was the challenge. Right before my eyes was a fish floating in a cup. Now, my fish was stunned (or dead) from the cold water it was placed in…but I was still not looking forward to swallowing that little, orange, finned creature. Before I knew it, I had the cup up to my mouth, and was swallowing an actual goldfish. It was actually a lot easier than I thought, but definetely not the best tasting. The water was nasty and the fact knowing that I had a goldfish somewhere in my stomach wasn’t very appealing to me. But that all to say, I earned 10,000 points for my cabin to have swallowed it the first. I still can’t believe that I did that…

A few hours after I got picked up from ICI, I was on the road again to Door County. In the course of nine days, I had only been home for a few hours, but I was anxious to get to Wisconsin. I knew sleep was in the schedule. I chatted to my mom all the way there, but then realized how tired I was, and slept for 2 days straight. It was so relaxing and low key…exactly what I wanted it to be. We spent most of the days on the beach or traveling around town. It was nice to be with family and recoup before another busy school year.

And now it’s time to get back to work. College applications have to be filled out, school books have to be purchased…and all that jazz. I guess I can’t be too disappointed. I have been blessed with some awesome memories with family and friends. God is good.

Shopping for school supplies,

Elle

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