Burnout

Exhausted would be the word to describe how I feel after this week. We had "specialty camps" all week. The kids (and us) got to choose a camp they wanted to participate in every day this week.

My camp was bike camp. This week was the hottest week of the year. We biked 2-3 hours each afternoon and every kid in camp was a middle school boy. Thankfully, I've been getting tons of exercise each day this week, so it wasn't too terrible keeping up with all the boys. We had a great group of kids, though. Really respectful and well-behaved. I loved spending the week with them. And I discovered that I really love biking! I can't put pictures of kids online, but here's the group from the back. I was bringing up the rear.


On Wednesday, Carli and I threw a surprise birthday party for Anne. She was totally surprised and we had an awesome time. Best surprised face ever:

Friday we had some CollegeLife girls over for dinner and female bonding. Activities for the night? Eating dinner, eating junk food, and learning the hoedown throwdown (which is the Hannah Montana dance).

My computer completely crashed yesterday, which was very sad. Luckily, I have an awesome Dad who already got me a new one and will send it with Conner when he comes in a few weeks. I can use Anne's until then. The process of fixing the computer taught me a lot. Like the "blue screen of death" is never a good thing. And apparently computers need regular maintenance. Who knew?


Last night I went to the park with some friends and then watched a movie. Here are a few of my awesome friends:

Hiking!

Yesterday I got to go on Hike #2 for this summer. The original plan was Ramsay Cascades in the Smokies, but plans had to change after we were stuck for over an hour in traffic due to a bad wreck. Plus, there were a few wrong turns on the way up that made it too late to begin what would have been an eight mile treck.

Instead we decided on the Chimney Tops Trail. It is only 2 miles each way, but is a pretty vertical ascent. Very challenging. I was exhausted when we got to the top, only to find out that we had to rock climb the last part. Terrifying, yes. But well worth the view from the top. We enjoyed lunch and a long break while taking in the gorgeous view of the very green Smoky Mountains. The trip down took about as long because it was too steep to go fast. The weather was perfect though, so it was nice to spend time in the trees enjoying the nature. Here are some pictures from the day:

Clay, Anne, me, Garrett, Joel, Andy, Bobby, and Adam at the top of the mountain.

Anne and me taking a break after making it to the top.

Joel, Anne, me, Clay, Bobby, Adam, and Garret on a bridge over one of the many waterfalls on the way down.

The view from the top.

From the other side.

Keepin' it Real

It has been brought to my attention several times in the last month that I never get upset and I never "lose my cool." The truth would actually be that I just don't show when I'm upset. The people that know me well can testify to this.

So...lest anyone think that I have it all together, let me tell you some of the other stories about how my first week with kids went.

Monday was rough. Really rough. I left work Monday extremely discouraged and wondering how in the world I would ever survive an entire summer working with middle-schoolers each day. Before Monday, I honestly thought I was prepared. I have worked with middle school kids extensively and typically build rapport with them quickly. However, what I failed to think about was the fact that I have never had to be in an authoritative role. I am always in the role of friend, with the purpose of building relationships, and therefore don't have to give a whole lot of direction. Very different than being in more of a teacher role.

Part of my job this summer is teaching academics. I was assigned reading and so I spend three 45 minute rotations twice a week working on vocabulary and reading. I had chosen Prince Caspian as the book and was very prepared for my lesson. However, the kids got there and reported that they had already read the book in school and had no interest in reading it again. Then two kids absolutely refused to read. And when I say refused to read, I mean they told me "no." Of course, I was stressed out, didn't know how to handle the complete disregard for authority, and became quite flustered. They never did read and I left wondering how I was going to survive the summer.

Things got better on Tuesday. We went on a field trip and everyone had a great time. No incidents and all of the kids obeyed very well.

Thursday was the next day for academics. During the week, I reassessed how I wanted to approach reading, keeping in mind that it is summer and learning is not their favorite thing. I even decided to switch books. We are now reading "Forty to Life," a book they started last summer and loved. Great decision. More kids read and best of all, they were engaged in the book. Listening intently even as I read to them and remembering all the details of the story. I was so encouraged! While I am somewhat disappointed that not all the kids will read, I recognize that some kids are not going to be comfortable with that and I still think there's value in me reading to them (most of the kids still read Thursday).

So, I am still a little unsure about how everything will work out, but I am very encouraged and looking forward to the challenge the middle-schoolers bring to life!

JustLead, Nashville, Young Life, & More.

I honestly never thought I could be so worn out! I am LOVING my internship at JustLead, but I have been working 10-12 hour days and it is wearing me out! We have kids there 3 days a week, and on those same 3 days I have swim practice. Surprisingly, swimming has turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the job. It's a very different dynamic with the kids, but I have successfully taught 3 kids how to swim! Swimming was actually a requirement to be on the team, but we let it slide for 3 kids, so I have swim lessons while the head coach has practice. My 3 are now on to basic freestyle stroke. They have the arms down well and we are working hard on breathing. Any suggestions on teaching a kids to breathe to the side? They revert to the tried-and-true doggy-paddle each time they need to take a breath.

Suprisingly, a lot of people I know are or have been heavily involved in swimming competitively. I've recruited several of them to come out and help with practice, and that has made a huge difference in our kids' abilities. I so appreciate their willingness to give up their time to come and work with these kids.

First meet is next Thursday. I'm just hoping that every kid can finish their races without being disqualified. We'll be competing against kids who are very well coached and have been swimming for a long time, so it will definitely be a challenge, but I have confidence in our kids!

Last weekend I went to Nashville with some friends for a Hillsong United concert. We left Saturday morning after a great breakfast and drove to my Great-Aunt Jene's house. We had lunch with her then went to the mall and REI before heading to the concert. The tickets we bought were general admission, so we got there pretty early to get a good place on the floor. We ended up being about 5 rows from the stage and had a great view of the concert. It was 3 hours long and we stood the whole time, so I was exhausted by the end, but it was well worth it. Everything about the concert was really great! Here's Anne and I waiting to go on. We got to sit inside for the first hour of waiting and then we stood outside for the next hour.


The weekend before, I spent 4 days at Sharp Top Cove in Jasper, Georgia, serving our high school students who were at camp. It was great fun, but extremely hard work. My muscles ached every night and I definitely have a new respect for servers at restaurants! I got to spend great time with other people from Fellowship's college ministry and we shared a lot of laughter over the course of the weekend. Monday morning we got up at 5:00 and went on a hike to the top of a mountain. The trail was straight up and we were exhausted and starving by the time we got to the top, but the view of the canyon was well worth the pain! I didn't get a picture of it, but it was gorgeous!

Going hiking again this weekend and hoping to catch up on sleep. I'll try to get better about putting pictures up with my posts.