Friday, April 25, 2008

Ship Shape

This weekend is our first big event that kicks off summer at IRBC. We have approximately 150 people coming this weekend for Counselor Training. Before I delve into our philosophy of counseling at IRBC, let me highlight all that goes into this weekend.


Much of our campground is not heated and sits dormant and unused most of the winter. Our retreats are limited to small groups because of this. This also means that all of these buildings need to be cleaned and ready to go for this weekend. So we all push up our sleeves and jump into to task of cleaning off a large layer of dust, dirt and grime. It is really neat to look out the office window and see the dining hall shining and ready for campers. I was going to take some before and after pictures for you, but couldn't find my camera when it was all a mess. The after pictures would be meaningless now.


All this cleaning also takes place as we are getting our materials ready for Counselor Training. We print booklet after booklet and handout after handout. For the last five years, I have had two very prominent helpers assist me in putting together all of the materials, Amanda and Pamela. I found this picture of them the first year they helped out with Counselor Training. Wow! Have they ever grown up since then!


This is them now! It's not a great picture and they would hate that I put it on, but here it is, nonetheless. We just won't tell them, will we. :)

Since they are now both involved in track and too busy to come help me (I've been abandoned for the long jump and relays), I have now started training their younger sisters! They did a fabulous job and I look forward to many years of their help as well. I pretty much have 6-7 years before I'm out of helpers. I think the two young couples on staff need to start their families or I'm going to have to do all the work myself! :)


Well, this is getting to be a long post, so I'll delve into our philosophy of counseling some other time!

Oh, please pray for me this weekend. I woke up with a really sore throat and cough. We have a lot to do and long hours, so pray that I endure until Saturday evening...then I can crash!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

What a Great Day!

I'm sorry there won't be any pictures in this post. I was going to take my camera with me and forgot it. Sorry!

I finished printing The Beacon today (our camp newsletter), and had a group of seniors at church that helped me put it all together. It's quite the process! I print 3,700 newsletters, which is two pages printed front and back. The seniors help collate, fold and label. They then have to be counted and sorted for the bulk mailing. I print the labels in zip code order which cuts down on a lot of the sorting.

Anna came to help me today since she wasn't subbing. When we got to the church, I opened up the back of my Jeep and one of the crates full of papers came spilling out. Now, it had been raining and really windy. Anna immediately dove to the ground to sacrifice her body for The Beacon. As she laid on the ground half under my jeep with her legs and arms sprawled, I ran to retrieve the run aways. It was at this moment that I really regretted forgetting my camera. I'm sure you would appreciate the story much more with pictures. She would little by little lift up parts of her body, so I could scoop up the papers. We saved all the pages!!!! The amazing thing is that not one page fell on a wet part of the ground and the wind stopped blowing. God is so good.

We got it all put together in record time despite the spill out of the Jeep, a coffee spill on the table and dropping a stack of some already sorted (all done by me by the way)! Thanks so much to all that helped. It would have taken me a week to do it all myself.

I also had Aaron and Anna, and Shane and Lynnae over for supper tonight. It was a last minute thing and I didn't have enough food for everyone, so we combined all of our meals together. It was a great night of fellowship. We ended the night with a game of Shanghai.

Well, I'm off to my parents' for the weekend, but just wanted to say hi to everyone. Have a great weekend!

Monday, April 14, 2008

Fun Magnets

My friend, Kari, found these magnets and sent them to me. Thanks, Kari! I love them!

This one is great because it is so true. The guys that have shown interest in me and have asked me out have been guys that I have no interest in whatsoever!


This one is just plain cute!!! I think we have all been guilty of buying that new outfit to look "eligible."

Thursday, April 10, 2008

New Do

I thought you would like to see my haircut. I love having my hair short again, but the drawback is that I actually have to do my hair every day. No more ponytails. The upside is that I look better because I have to do my hair every day. No more ponytails. :)


Monday, April 7, 2008

Praise to the Lord

"I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth." Psalm 34:1

"Seven times a day I praise You for Your righteous rules." Psalm 119:164

Last night at church, Pastor gave a devotional on Psalm 119:164. I was reminded that we are so often quick to complain, but not to praise. Here are my seven praises for today:

1. I praise the Lord for His Word. The Bible is full of all I need. It give comfort, direction and keeps me from sin.

2. I praise the Lord for my Jr. Girls class. God is so good to have given us the opportunity to teach His word to these girls.

3. I praise the Lord for my family. I am so fortunate God gave me the parents He has.

4. I praise the Lord for IRBC. I am so thankful to be part of such an incredible ministry.

5. I praise the Lord for friends. I am blessed with so many people that mean so much to me.

6. I praise the Lord for my church. I am blessed to be a part of Faith Baptist Church. They are a second family to me.

7. I praise the Lord for Spring. Today is a bit chilly, but the sun and warm weather are on the way. I love the different seasons! God's creation is amazing!

So what are your seven praises for today?

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Happy Holidays!!!

I want to wish everyone a Happy Holiday!!!! Just to recap what I did last year, click here. Okay, now on to present day!!! (Just to warn you - I will be using a lot of exclamation points today! See I just can't help it!)

The story starts with my previous post requesting help from you, my faithful readers (all five or so of you). Amy from South Africa suggested this idea so I must first of all acknowledge her assistance. Thank you, Amy!!! My second acknowledgement must go to my chiropractor, Dr. Jeff Anderson. He loves to hear about my April Fool's "gifts" and asked me what my plans were. I told him Amy's idea of using poppers on chair rollers, but I had no idea where to get them. As it turns out, you can only get them in states where fireworks are legal and Iowa is not one of them. He just happened to have gotten a case of them in WI and said he would be happy to share. Thank you , Dr. Anderson!!!!!!!!!!


So here they are - the wonderful box of poppers.

I put them on the stopper of their drawers (they actually haven't found these yet). This is going to be the "gift that keeps on giving."

Here they are on the rollers of their chairs.

Now, let me introduce you to my partner in crime. Stacey is my friend, Jr. Girls co-teacher and now my April Fool's buddy. I didn't just want to keep the joy all at camp, so she met me at the church and we left "gifts" for our pastors as well.

I guess these photos might be a bit incriminating.

Stacey thought that our pastor's wife, Mary would like her desk decorated a bit. We thought what better to decorate with than T.P. Mary knew we were going to leave "gifts" for the pastors, so we knew she would know this was from us. She didn't work today, so I guess the other secretary was the one to receive the gift in her honor.

Mary called me this morning to tell me that Pastor called her to tell her that everything in his office popped this morning when he went in. (Just imagine my evil laugh...ahhhh, ahhhh, ahhhh.) He thinks it was all Stacey because of the note she left on Mary's desk. I'm sure he doesn't read my blog and Mary told him that she would never reveal her sources. I'm safe for now.

This year, I had several "gifts" left for me as well. When I arrived at my desk this morning, the desktop on my computer was upside down and my mouse had been tampered with. Try moving your mouse in the opposite direction than normal to try to fix everything. That was a good one. Thanks Shane.

When I went downstairs for lunch I noticed right away that something was a muck. (I heard that in a movie once and just love that phrase.) The handles on my refrigerator and freezer had been moved to the other side. They also switched a couple of my drawers. Thank you Dan, Shane and Aaron. (My mom taught me that it's rude not to thank people for gifts.) I hope this is a gift that will be fixed though. It will drive me crazy to have to open the doors from the other direction now.

So, how did you celebrate. Come on...don't be a dud. Get in the spirit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!