EAGLES CAMP & Victory Jam 2005

The last three weeks have been a whirlwind, I have spent two of those weeks at summer camps....Middle School Victory Jam on Long Beach Island New Jersey right next to the beach and EAGLES Camp at Swallow Falls State Park in the mountains of Western Maryland.....details to come...now I'm off to VBS.

Okay I'm back...I am 4 hours removed from the end of VBS today and now I will tell you that I had an amazing time at both camps this summer. Above all the most influential experience for me was the deeper relationships I formed with my youth group and with other kids at the camps. Both camps were different in that regard...Victory Jam was large and I spent all my time with my kids and it was great. I felt like I really got to know everyone a lot better. Brandon and Alan...you guys were awesome roommates! We got a room for six all to ourselves! And I was really impressed by both of you and how intelligent and deep your conversations were about the topics we were talking about. You guys have wonderful potential to be wonderful leaders for the youth group. No doubt in mind about that.
I was so glad that we had some of the newer girls to the youth group come to camp. It gave me and Suzanna and opportunity to get to know you guys better. Kelsi and Lauren...you two really opened up by the end of the week and I was totally impressed with your "big booty" skills....I still havent been able to get that game/song out of my head!! Ah big booty!
Anyway....Katie...your so cool....you were so quiet at youth group but by the end of the week at Victory Jam I think you opened up the most! It was so cool to see....and lets not forget Colleen.....you really let loose and showed your funny side and your capability to be such a great influence on those around you was amazing.
It truely was a treasure for Suzanna and I to get know you guys better. The week really endeared me to you guys.
The camp itself was a blast....lots of fun games....fun moments- like my car breaking down on the way up, to our beach freeze tag to our night game of outburst to our Christian Rap Jam session in the parking lot to the Showplace ice cream adventure where Colleen and Katie sang musical caliber lines in order to get their ice cream!
I know for me the talks given by Drew Derreth were incredibly enlightening and encouraging for me and I am pretty sure that you guys like it too....and I definately know you guys enjoyed the jump and jiving worship time and the wacky skits put on by Jeff, Tim and Steve.

EAGLES Camp
I got home late Friday night completely wiped out...and it took two days of sleep for me to recover from those cold, damp nights spent shifting my sleeping posture over a rock that was unremovable under my sleeping bag.
Other than the cruddy sleeping conditions and the two days of rain...the experience was amazing.
This was a much smaller camp...probably close to 30 kids and around 10 counselors....and we all bonded like family!
I loved spending time with Laura, Rebecca, Mary Claire, Jaclyn and one my tent buddies, Ben P! MC and Jaclyn were in the best small group...the "Quazi's" which was my group! (Along with Sydney from Severna Park) We had the best group because we had the most laughs...and the freakin' best flag design ever! Our name came from the word quasi meaning half....long story.....and our motto was cleverly thought up by Chelsea....."Quazi's are half and not whole without God in their souls" Wow....what a catchy phrase...and only a cheerleader could come up with that!
The highlight of the week was a our small group time, problem solving and the rafting. The problem solving was so so funny! Sydney and I's group did the least creative things to cross the imaginary canyon with their boards and other tools to help them cross over.....Hannah was so funny, she wanted to use Duct Tape for everything....including anchoring the 2 x4's to grass by using the duct tape! I made a bewildered face after that! Our group also had the bright ideas of doing a run, jump and summersault roll across the tavern in an Indiana Jones fashion....roping a branch and swinging across like Tarzan and using cheerleader holds and pushes which only led to a 2 foot jump....so yeah....thats why I said our group was not very creative...they just wanted to copy Hollywood stunts.
So Syd and I decided to make up the rule that they had to use all their tools to get them across....in a good nature they complained about it to Trip, leader of the camp, and he said they had to follow our rules and the kids responded by saying that other groups didnt have to do that and he said it was beacuse their group leaders were sadistic! Of course that was their new catch word for the week.....everyone wanted to change our team name to the Quazi Sadistics!

Onto Rafting....everyone in my raft....Scott, Chelsea, Hannah, MC and Jacyn fell in twice but me and MC, the anchors to the raft in the back. I dove in once kamikazee style to take out Andrew who was on another raft...but what was better was down the river when Daniel repaid my act with an even more stealthy kamikazee manevour that left my feet vertical and my body doing flips under the frigid river waters....I heard it was quite the site to see!

Another highlight was Brian Wolf....the speaker from Miami who reminded me a lot of my college friends. He really taught us a lot about temptation and how to surrender our lives to God. His stories and funny sense of humor really made it relate!
I am thinking we might see him again next year.....if the youth group goes down to Miami for a missions trip.... perhaps?

So I get home Saturday and my roommate is gone and I am alone and I feel like I should have 40 people around me and there's not.....and of course the last couple days I have missed everyone.
These two camp experiences were amazing for me and I loved every moment....even the lack of good sleep and stinky kids!
I Thank the Lord that he gave me the opportunity to grow closer to those of you that went....that was the highlight for me