Time Flies

Wow 2 weeks of camp have already come and gone! I apologize for being MIA for the past two weeks. It always takes a little bit of adjusting to get into the swing of things right at the beginning of the summer. Last week was the Senior High Session, high schoolers. Here are some pics from last week:

we broke in the new fire pit in the girls'
cabin circle!

first week of guarding went great! This was my favorite activity
we played: Raft Relay Race

mass in the morning :) every morning :)

one day we played pool volleyball :)

Eucharist

Girls Staff before the dance

Week one was so successful! God was so present in everything we did.
I'll post soon about this past week :)

Happy weekend everyone.

Amy

Time to Get Physical

Today was so awesome!

I started off my day with a 2 mile run. The road that leads to the camp gate from the highway is approximately 1 mile in length. Running from the gate, to the highway and back totals it to 2 miles. I remember last summer when I tried to run...I couldn't even make it to the highway without stopping for a breather. I went into this morning's run feeling pretty confidant I was going to make it to the highway with no problem. Guess what? I was right. Not only did I make it to the highway, but I ran all the way back too! I was so proud of myself! Hard work does pay off and it's so rewarding! I'm super excited to have my morning runs this summer. The air is still a little chilly from the night and the sun rises just perfectly as I round the last corner before I make my way back to the gate. It's going to be a great start to my days, to clear my head, to pray, and to just be in the Lord's presence by myself. Here are some of the views from my run:

Cameras never do sunrises or sunsets justice, but I promise you this one was a beauty! 

                                        

The rest of the day consisted of lots and lots of manual labor. Today was definitely the physical part of our staff training! We worked all day long cleaning up camp and bettering it so that when all the campers get here it will be in tip-top shape! I am so impressed with everything we got done! We started out with a huge long list of big things to do, such as knock out all the existing cabinets in the arts and crafts pavilion and begin to rebuild new counters and shelves.

Check out Dylan demolishing those shelves!

I went around to all the cabins today and cleaned them out and made sure they were ready to go, first aid kits and all. James and Courtney and I went and cleaned the outdoor chapel. The outdoor chapel is The Chapel of Transfiguration, also known as Transfig. We raked and dug up all the weedy roots that had grown over the year in between all the pews and isles. 

James and Courtney raking away

all cleared away! 

Isn't it beautiful? I love this chapel more than any place in the world.

I painted today as well. Camp has a big welcome sign that greets you as you drive into camp. Every year it gets repainted with the theme for the summer. I began painting over last year's sign today. 

This is last year's sign

Painting over it :/

I think I have probably 2 more coats of white to totally cover up the design that you can kind of still see peeking through and then I'll be good to go to paint this year's theme :)

These were just a couple of the projects that got done today. Staff was in major beast mode! We rocked.

Today was physically draining but so rewarding! I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes with hard work. Staff is already doing such an amazing job!

[I will post today's bible verses tomorrow...the net is being super slow tonight] promise.

This tired girl is going to bed. Hello pillow! goodnight all.

-Amy

Time to Worship

Alright here's the low-down on Spiritual Session #1:

We had a big overview of the theme for the summer: Here I Am to Worship.

We talked about what it means to worship, where/when we worship, and how we worship. I'm going to share a couple of the examples we came up with for each.

I. What is worship?
Worship is praising and adoration. Worship is NOT for self gain. It is NOT for yourself. It is for the Lord. We worship to please Him. Worship is not a part of our life, it IS our life.
II. When do we worship?
A good point was brought up when this question was asked. I think there is a fine line between when we worship and when we should worship. On any given situation, I think it would be fair to say that an average Christian would agree that they worship on Sundays or when they are specifically out doing God's work. In reality though, we as Christians should constantly be worshiping. From that comes the question of how though? How do we constantly worship our God?
III. How do we worship?
Gosh, there are so many ways! Through song, prayer, serving others, acts of kindness, etc.

So there you have it, a little peek into our discussion this evening. Besides worship, we also talked about how important it is to stay constant in our knowledge of the Word. Personally this is something I want to work on over the summer. I want to become more grounded in my faith through the Bible because I know that it is a guide to my life and it is the light unto my path. This saying really hit home with me tonight:

"The heart cannot love what the mind does not know." -Unknown

I need to better equip my mind with the knowledge of my faith so that my heart can fully love my God and others. With that I challenge myself to dive further into the Word.


what does worship mean to you?
how do you worship?


I'd love to hear your thoughts :)

p.s. at the end of most of my posts about the spiritual aspect of my journey this summer, I will make a point to link to a separate document with bible verses that were of particular notice to me. I invite you to look them up and read along with me! and please, as always, I'd love to hear your opinions and insights.

Bible Verses <------- here's the link for tonight

night all!
-Amy

I Have Arrived!

I am here! Finally at camp! I arrived around 3 this afternoon. I ran a couple errands in town and we made dinner and had our first session of staff training. Staff training usually consists of 3 main components: the physical, the emotional, and the spiritual. We have this weekend, this week, and next weekend before the first camp session starts to get ready for the rest of the summer. I can't tell you how excited I am for this summer already. Our whole staff hasn't even arrived, and won't until Sunday evening, but I'm so pumped to work and serve with all these incredible people of God. I will elaborate more on our first session that we had later this evening with a separate blog post. So with that said, I invite you to join me and follow along with me this summer on my physical, emotional, and spiritual journey.

Snacking

Over the past year I've worked really hard to get to know my body better and to figure out an eating system that works for me. I've come to the conclusion that I am A SNACKER! I've learned how to eat healthier and with that came eating more wholesome foods. By doing this my meals fill me up quicker, and I end up not being able to eat as much at one sitting as I used to eat. I get full faster, so naturally my hunger comes back quicker, which turns out to not be a total bad thing. Solution: snack!

Pros to snacking:

1. Keeps my energy going throughout the day
2. Keeps my metabolism up as well
3. Overall, puts me in a better mood

In order to help with #2 on my summer goals list, I've decided I need to go to camp prepared. I need to bring healthy snacks that I can keep in my cabin and stash in my backpack during the day so that when I get hungry or when everyone else is snacking on something else, I'll have a healthy option for myself that I'll feel good about! I headed to Sprouts today to start a stash for the summer.

Here's what I came out with:

• clif bars (5 different flavors to mix it up)
• single serving almond butter to eat on a slice of bread, with a banana, or an apple
• natural "everything" trail mix from the bulk section at Sprouts (only 140 calories per serving!)
• jar of chia seeds to put in yogurt and in my oatmeal
• (not pictured: kashi cinnamon cereal for an alternate breakfast option and almond crisp crackers)

Here's to a healthy summer y'all!

-Amy

What healthy snacks to you eat?

T-minus 2 days!

Only 2 days until I head off to camp for the summer! Crucis is literally heaven on earth for me! I can't tell you how excited I am for this summer! I just love everyone that is on staff and I know we are going to make a GREAT team working together this summer!

This next week is our staff work week. We spend the whole week cleaning and sprucing up camp and getting it ready for the summer. CPR and lifeguard training also takes place during the week. We also take the chance to use the time we have with each other to bond as a staff before all the campers arrive.

I'm so excited to be the head lifeguard this year! I'm responsible for keeping the pool clean all summer and organizing the lifeguard rotations for each camp session. I also get to come up with lots of fun games to play with all the campers that come to swim each day (P.S. IF YOU KNOW OF ANY AWESOME POOL GAMES, PLEASE COMMENT BELOW!)

 Here's the awesome girls' staff for the summer. (from left to right; Megan, Courtney, Me, and Bettis) Paula, the girls leader isn't pictured. Megan and Courtney are our staff cabin counselors for the summer, I'm head lifeguard, and Bettis is running Arts and Crafts! This was in April at our staff retreat. The boys staff are off somewhere playing football. I'll show pics of them soon! :)

Have an awesome Wednesday y'all!

-Amy

A Texas Style Wedding

I just got back from the most wonderful weekend! I spent Friday-Monday near and around Austin Tx preparing, playing, singing, and attending a good friend's wedding! Sarabeth and I grew up as childhood friends and now she has found the man of her dreams and they are happily married! I couldn't be more happy for her! Her wedding was a "destination wedding", seeing as how most of her family lives in Florida and she went to school in Pennsylvania. I was so proud of the gorgeous vision she came up with for her special day!

FRIDAY NIGHT:

rehearsal at the wedding sight, The Duchman Family Winery and Vineyards

after the rehearsal we all headed off to the rehearsal dinner, held at the "Wildflower Barn", just a couple miles up the road from the wedding sight

The rehearsal dinner was barbecue, catered from Salt Lick, and was held outside. The tables were decorated with picnic table cloths and mason jars full of Texas wildflowers. Everyone donned their favorite pair of boots as we enjoyed the evening air, drank beer, and celebrated the soon to be married couple!

I loved all the lights hanging from the trees,
especially as the sun started to go down!

SATURDAY:

The morning time was free until 2 so mom and I decided to go get our toes done for the wedding and Kev is such an awesome sport, that he joined us as we got our pedicures and kept us company! We also ran a couple errands for the bride's family to help them out a little! We got to go pick up some of the gorgeous flowers for the ceremony. Then, the rest of the day we spent tubing down the river in San Marcos with the whole wedding party! Sarabeth and Kevin even wore a cheap-o wedding dress and a tux vest with their swimsuits (from Goodwill) as they floated down the river :) 

Kev, mom and I grabbed lunch at the Railyard in San Marcos before we
met up with everyone to go tubing!

after getting off the river!

I'll have more pics from tubing later. Taking my good camera or phone on the river would not have been a good idea, but we did take 2 disposable water proof cams and I'm taking them to get developed today! Can't wait to see how they turned out! It's been forever since I've used a disposable camera! ha!

After getting off the river, we all headed back to the hotel to clean up and go eat dinner in Austin.

in Guero's outdoor garden bar

we had a little fun in Uncommon Objects on Congress
Ave. as we waited for our table to be called

 Getting a table took longer than we thought so we walked down to Congress St. bridge to watch the bats fly out from under it to kill time. We didn't have any luck though. The bats never came :(

waiting on the bridge

SUNDAY/WEDDING DAY!!!

me and my handsome man before the ceremony

such a genious idea for an outdoor wedding! the program
was a fan!

I was so honored to be asked to sing during the ceremony.
I sang a song that the groom rewrote the lyrics to
and also the Lord's Prayer.

first dance

I couldn't be more excited for you Sarabeth! Thanks for letting me be a part of such a big day :) I wish you both the happiest :)

-Amy