rubies camp 2015.

And with a grateful, over flowing heart, I present to you-

These ladies have taught me so much about myself. About others. And most importantly drew me closer to God- knowing I could not make it on my own.

We had a great week including

• getting rained out while playing softball
• Jug-A-Lug
• Swimming
• Cabin Time / Talking
• Devotions / Sharing
• Life Stories / Sharing Time around the Camp-fire
• watching God work in their hearts 
• all the wonderful food including the Pizza we won for Cleanest Cabin! :)
• "Of course you can't play with us! You don't have a shiny scale to play flash tag!"
• Clifton's blessing- the "Ticklish Reuben" song
• Trevor doing like 130 push-ups (nearly double his record)
• Pastor Jeff sitting on our barrel in "Slingshots"
• the party Thursday night / watching for meteors
• the huge spiders downstairs

And of course, many other things like Mini-Classes and Creek Walks...

Sooo. Here's the picture tour of our week... :)

Pastor Jeff in "Water Balloon Slingshots"

and who DOESN'T like getting mail?

whoever would have thought this stuff
would come in so handy?!

the EPIC fail

And with that we ended a very wonderful week. A week that will never be forgotten. Maybe to a degree, but not totally. Each of us will remember something. If it isn't something I did. We did. Jeff said. Trevor did. We will remember what God did! 
Love each of you beautiful ladies!

Some Teaching? ALL Teaching

So the sun has dipped behind the mountain

and I finally sit down- to write. Daddy has been bugging me about blogging like I use to for quite some time, and although I thoroughly enjoy it... uh hum! Time? Is there any time to sit down and just blog?! It's like some days I'm up before 5 am and still at work at 9 pm. There ain't no way I'm finding time to blog in my week!!!

But after this morning's wonderful sermon and the hike up to Eagle Rock...

They really are such a sweet couple!!! :)

I decided I have time to blog, SO here I am!

Well, when I was in school- like 1st & 2nd grade, I admired my teachers- and rightly so, but now that I'm older- I realize they had flaws like any one of us. And along with admiring them I, too, wanted to teach school. Well, somewhere along the way that teaching desire diminished and I wanted to become a RN. But of course, now here I am, a common farm girl. (And... I love my job, by the way!!) But still, teaching is something that happens in everyday life. We are always teaching each other something at the farm- whether it's good or bad! And I found a note in my Bible this morning that really hit me-

Yeah! It never hit me that hard before. I have made some great friendships at the farm- with complete strangers, what do they see in my life? I especially think of this lovely lady-

Samantha was raised in a home that was anything but Christian. Miraculously, both her and her boyfriend are here- after a horrific accident. She means so much to me and my life. I will never forget the times we hung out together, going to work early , and just working together. The questions we worked through together, the many questions she still has about Mennonites and the answers I will have to give even though they go against my grain! (Because of church differences.) She has an amazing testimony and she isn't scared to share it! Friday she'll be going to Roxbury Treatment Center and will be sharing a short version of it. She'll definitely need prayer!

Back to what I was saying- I work with her every single day of the week. And with her upbringing and all, I'm sure my lifestyle is teaching her alot. It's pretty much up to me (with God's help) to show her what's right and wrong- in everyday life. What is my life teaching her (or anyone looking on)? Is it what I want to see in this falling world when I'm old and a stooped Grandma?

God willing, we'll (Samantha & I) can forever be great friends and will grow old together and have baking days where there's only a little bit of dough left and we share it, and drink chai together, and share silly secrets, and talk about really deep subjects. I hope that never ends!

We don't often think about our neighbors watching us closely, but I've come to realize ours keep a close eye on us and how do they say we live, does our talk and our walk line up? Or do we do some stuff Monday- Saturday that would never happen on a Sunday? (That, of course, is other than work!)

Remember we always teach MORE by how we LIVE.

Busy Life?

Huh. Funny I thought life would be extraordinarily fun after I reached upper teens. I'm realizing now how my idealistic life was really off the wall!

Friday, the 8th, was our first Youth Gathering!! That was exciting- building up to my super exciting weekend/week!!!

(Saturday) So the day rolls around- I drag myself out of bed around 6:30 to run see Dad before he leaves for work (or else- I wouldn't see him till next Sun!) Then I fly back to bed so I can so-halfish catch up on sleep... :) Well, I packed in record speed- 45 min! 11:45 rolled around and I was freaking out I'd get lost in the middle of Lancaster! But all my fears were distinguished when... I recognized everything from last year- when we Jr's had went shopping and also when the Nurse took me to MedExpress for my burned heel. I arrived, and like none of the girls were around I'm like ok, I didn't really expect to be the first one here, but fine! So LiMiT training started that evening...

(Sunday) Sweaty and tired... Ready for a break, but still we move on TOGETHER. Our team was moving on inch by inch, but we were getting closer to finishing the task. That is- almost. Until the groan was heard further down the line, "Oh, no! We disconnected!" Sooo. Back to the start again! Again? after we had come so far? Yes, we went back. It was disappointing, but as a team- WE WOULD DO THIS! I finally came tothe realization TDA's aren't that bad!

(Monday) Anticipation built the closer the time neared for the girls to come. Last minute finishing touches. 12:35 our first girl arrives. Then hundreds- yes, literally hundreds come pouring in- till all 240 were there.

Bad attitudes came as one looks at the schedule "You mean!?" Another sighs, "I give up! Everyone else is finished, let's just GO!" I flashed that you-got-this-girl look to the counselor.

Supper-time rolls around not a bit too fast. The director's son, Caleb, just COULD-NOT wait! Then... "You didn't know Canadian's eat dessert first!?" he teased as he ate his Popsicle.

(Tuesday) With dampened spirits and drenched clothes we tramp to the zip-line. Just the thought of zip-lining turned my stomach. The trail down to the platform to catch the kids was slick, the plat-form was none-the-less slimy with mud. Neither of us 2 down there knowing what we're doing, the conditions, and all- it took 4 people to catch the one coming down! NO JOKE!

Playing in the gym for lack of anything else to do.

Pyramid Ball in the rain!!! We losers did 20 jumping jacks for the girls... :)

First Chorus practice!! Living Inside the Crayon Box

Making new friends is totally amazing! The type you can share with and they feel with you. Those 9:30 pm walks in the rain. The horse running wild. EVERYTHING was wonderful! Even the rain, the mud, the slipping, the sliding, the falls. EVERYTHING!

(Wednesday) We stand in the dining hall gabbing, not knowing what to do with the girls being in their cabins already. Nelson & Elaine come out of the bathroom, both having suspicious looks on their faces... ok? "Do any of you want to become certified?" Elaine calls. Certified for what!? Well, all 6 of us tramp to the bathroom, Elaine gets a plunger in the midst of her laughter. And shows us what to do. We just stand there laughing historically. Melody (already certified from Tuesday) takes the plunger and gets the job done- but not without us devising another plan... One for Thursday night Talent Show. ;)

This thing probably had the work-out of it's life hauling all 6 of us around!

(Thursday) As the week neared an end- I could tell my body had taken a toll. Head-ache, shoulder-ache (from falling in the rain), and stomach-ache (from all the laughing!) :( Well, what else? :) What God was doing in these ladies lives was incredible! Changing them for the better, drawing them closer to Himself. Showing them it's ok to be a woman.

^Talent Show^

Thursday Night PARTY!!!

Gumball Machine Good-night Huggers!!

Then came Talent Show... A lot of people were bugging us Jr. Counselor's to do a play, because we had did one last year (First Anniversary Jr. Counselor Play!!!) ;) Well, at first we didn't have anything planned until- Wed. night when the episode arose... Thanks to the help of Nelson & Elaine, Brock & Grant Ruhl this thing wouldn't have gotten anywhere... Your suggestions were everything, the water idea though wasn't used cause this was girl's camp! ;) lol We pretty much re-played Wed. evenings scene with some additions... I wanted to add the video... but for some reason it won't play so, sorry!

(Friday) We couldn't have asked for better weather all week... even though it rained it helped us realize we need to be flexible and learn to deal with what God sends our way anyway! Closing program came- friends & family poured in then suddenly EVERYONE was GONE! Debriefing... then I headed for home, but not without getting myself lost in the middle of Lancaster! Well, actually I wasn't very lost at all, but I didn't know where I was... If only I had punched everything into my GPS before I had left, instead of thinking I could do it on my own... So I got home at 6:50... My brother sure were ready to see me, for some reason! They said they were bored! Very interesting! :) 

Program

Jr. Counselors

Clean-up afterward

Well, there's a rundown of my week- specifically posted for my friends who won't be talking much to me in church tomorrow... Very sorry, I couldn't stay!-if it wasn't for teaching Sunday School I doubt I'd be there at all!