Goin' thru old pictures and just had to share this one from when I was little. It's the oldest 9 grandkids (there ended up being 25...lol) but I loveeee this picture. There's nothing like coming from a close family that still to this day gets together at holidays...look to each other for advice...give it even when we're not asked :)....help each other out and defends each other to no end!
Mahleah, Cristy, me holding Rafe, Jr. holding Connie, Tiffany, Becky and Shawn. What a bunch!
Interesting question I have not quite come to have an answer for yet...
Would Jesus have been a Democrat, Republican, or Independent?
even bathroom accidents!!
This is a story from the Kids Kamp experience...it is long...but there are some background details that are pertinent to the story, so please bear with me.
One of the young girls in our group was the odd man out. Most of it of her own doing. She is a home-schooled child (now please know I am not bashing home schooling here---I know there are many families that do a great job with home schooling, however, there are also families who do not) that seems to never have been taught social appropriateness, how to share, how to work together on a team to learn, how to raise her hand, how to let others finish speaking, how to not be perfect...no concept of group dynamics. The other 5 girls simply were not endeared to her. And I must admit, neither was I. During our counselor morning devotions I asked for prayer specifically that I could love her. I knew she was just a child (just 9 years old)...had high family expectations to be perfect (I know of this family from working in Children's Ministry)...and I wanted to leave at the end of the week knowing that I loved on her.
Throughout the beginning of the week there were repeated incidents where the drama ensued. Oh ladies...having a particurly mild mannered daughter and three wild boys...I was not fully aware of the drama that a group of girls ages 9-11 can have. Was I aware---of course. Fully aware? After being exposed to it for 24/7 for a full week...I can say I was not fully aware...lol. She was constantly losing something and blaming others, walking away from the group and then upset we left her, attempting to bully the others into doing what she wanted for free time, interrupting excessively during group bible study. And I prayed. And prayed. And prayed.
Then came Wednesday night. The evening activities were always really fun full camp games. Everyone would often be off on their own, or in small groups because there was staff/volunteers everywhere. This was the evening of the Mission Game. As the game was ending and the children were being ushered into Cross Timbers for worship and teaching...my little friend was nowhere to be found. Initially this was not suprising because on Monday and Tuesday she was always the very last child to come dashing in...lol. So I kept an eye out but got the others in the group situated. As we were waiting for things to get started two of the other girls asked to use the restroom. After it seemed they had been gone quite a while, I left Jordyn in charge and set out to find the missing Divas. I crossed paths with the two and they let me know that *Jill* (name changed for obvious reasons) was in the bathroom and had an accident. They also let me know that they had gone to the cabin to get her some clean clothes and a bag and that's what took them so long. One even said, "Aren't you glad that we were nice to her because she is never nice to us." Wow.
So I venture to the bathrooms to see what's up. As I enter the bathroom I am overtook by the intense smell of something so retched it simply couldn't have come from a little girl. Obviously, some boys in the camp have been collecting their bowel movements for the entire week and chose this moment to empty them into the girl's bathroom. Unfortunately no...lol. I tenatively call out for my friend..
"Jill? Jill?"
"Um..hello, yes? Mindy? Um...hi...be right out." The hurried, frightened voice stammered out.
I see her shuffling feet, dirty clothes and yes...the mess (which I will call it from now on) all over the stall floor. Poor thing.
"No hurry, hon. I'm here to help you."
"Oh..I don't need any help. Just fine thanks."
Mercy.
"Well, let's check it out anyway."
I enter the stall next to her and sit on the toilet. I lean against the wall between us and can hear her soft crying and hiccups.
"Jill, will you let me help you? I saw the girls on the way back to Cross Timbers and they let me know what happened."
"Oh. They did. Oh. Um, well I'm okay."
"You have clean things to put on?"
"Well, that's the thing...(big sigh)...they picked something I already wore, it's a little dirty."
I'm thinking, sister, it's 4 million times cleaner than what you HAD on...lol...
At this moment, the bathroom door swings open and some girls come in.
"Oh--my gosh--what in the world!"
"It stinks!"
"Ewww...that's nasty!"
Oh. My poor Jill. My heart is aching at this moment. I hear her deep breathing start up again. I stand up and go to the outside of her door. I motion to the girls to be quiet. The bathroom is now continuing to fill with girls as they have apparently been let on a bathroom break. Each one comes in with a louder yelp of disdain for what they are smelling. I hear Jill start to cry again.
Very quietly I lean away from the door and to the girls, "Shhh...be kind. You need to stop. Someone is sick, you need to show compassion." One girls says, "Oh...I was in here earlier, is that the little girl who was crying?" I nod. Now God bless this little girl because from that moment on as new people entered she quieted them. I had to turn away to laugh at one point because someone came in saying, "Why does it smell so awful in here!" and she responded, "It's a bathroom, duh!" lol
Back to my friend. I asked her to open the stall door just slightly. She did.
I have never been so consumed by compassion for someone before in my life. Her tear stained little face looking up at me, the pitiful state of the stall, clutching her nasty little bag of messy clothes...she said in a hushed voice,
"Please don't make me leave Mindy. I can't go out there."
"I'm sorry Jill. You're going to have to leave. We can't stay in here all night."
"Oh no. I can't walk out there. I just can't."
"Yes you can. Here's what you do. Take a deep breath. Look straight ahead and just walk quickly right out of the bathroom. You can walk right outside and wait for me by the rocks."
"What are you going to do?"
"Well, I'm gonna see about cleaning this up and then I'll meet you and we'll go back to the cabin."
"Oh, no...we don't need to, I'll just carry my bag."
Oh no you won't sister....lol.
"No, I think we need to go back to the cabin and take care of everything. But I'll handle this first. Go on, you can do it. Take a deep breath & walk right out." And she did.
So I turn to the stall and tackle my own private torture...cleaning up the mess. There is mess EVERYWHERE. On the floor, on the walls, on the toilet seat...Lord Jesus, what in the world was she doing in here? I start with the plunger and alas, it is torn and so not functioning properly. This leads me out to the kitchen to request another from the staff. I have the sense to ask for a pair of gloves as well. I return and for the next 10-15 minutes do my best to clean up, disenfect and scrub that little stall.
As I walk outside, I see her there. All curled up waiting for me. We walk back to the cabin hand in hand and I make small talk to distract her. The tears dry up. When we walk I tell her to have a seat on her bed and I'll be right there. When I go in, she looks so distraught and sad, my heart can't help but break a little for her. I sit down next to her and put my arm around her.
"Now what happened? Can you tell me?"
"Well, I've been constipated for a few days. The food here is not conducive with my normal diet. I could tell that I needed to go. While we were playing the game I felt it. But I thought I had enough time. Then I couldn't find a bathroom, why don't they have more bathrooms around here. I couldn't find one so I knew I had to run to the main one. So I was running and then so many people were in my way. Then some girls stopped to ask me something. I totally didn't have time to stop and talk to them, but I did. So then I knew I wasn't going to make it. And then it was too late and I...."
"Jill? Jill. It's okay. You had an accident. Accidents happen sometimes. You don't need to feel bad, or embarrassed...do you know that you aren't even the only one who has had an accident this week?"
"Really? Who else has?"
Mercy.
"Well, that's not important, what's important is that you know that you aren't alone. There's nothing wrong with you...you don't have to worry about it. It's ok."
"No it's not. It's gross. It's been years since I've had an accident. I can't believe it...it's so gross and then you had to help me...I'm so sorry you had to help."
"Oh no, don't be sorry. That's why I'm here. That's what I'm here for...to help. To take care of you. To make sure you're ok. It's all a part of it."
"Ok."
"So..now let's get you and the clothes cleaned up so we can join the rest of the group. I'll clean your clothes while you wash up and change."
She gasped and looked at me with horror in her eyes.
"Oh no way. I can't let you clean my clothes out!! I'll do it later"
"No, no. I'm going to do it. No questions asked. You're going to let me help you. I want to. (I want to? Did I just say that? lol) I have cleaned up mess before and Jill, it's not a problem. Now we're not going to argue about it. I'm helping take care of you. You can wash up and I'll wash out your clothes"
"Well, um....could you leave for a minute and then I'll meet you out by the bathrooms? Um, please?"
I'm thinking that the bag of mess is hidden somewhere in the room so I leave. We meet by the bathrooms and she says,
"I really wish you wouldn't do this."
"I know. But I'm glad you're letting me help you. It's really okay Jill. I'm a mom, I work with children, I used to be a CNA...I've cleaned out many sets of clothing in my day. No worries. You wash up."
As I open the bag I see the severity of the mess. Oh Lord, just take me now! This is definately a toilet washing job. So head over to a stall and gingerly start to take each article out. Now some of you might not know the toilet washing method. You put the clothing in the toilet water, shake it all around, flush the toilet and as you do let the clothing fall slightly down the drain (hold on tight) and pull up on the clothing. Repeat again and again until the mess is gone.
Jill approaches as I'm on the last article of clothing.
"Wow. That works good."
"Yep. It's a mom trick. The best way to clean up messes and see it's not even really gross for me to do it. Nothing to worry about. It's getting nice and clean."
"Um...so did someone teach you that? How do you learn how to do that?"
"You know what...I'm not sure how I know it. I just know that just about every mom I know...knows how. It's one of those mom things."
"I don't think my mom knows how."
"Oh, she might. If not, maybe you can teach her."
"Naw...I don't think so."
We go to the sink to get a final good hot water rinse and squeeze out the clothes. I let her know that we'll let them air dry and then find a plastic bag to put them in.
"Oh no we can't. Then my mom will know. I can't let them know."
"Why? It was just an accident. Accidents happen."
"Please no. Just don't tell them. It's horrible that it happened. It is so embarrassing and gross. I shouldn't have done it. Please don't, Mindy, please don't tell them. They can't know, they just can't."
She is pulling on my arm and looks like she is going to cry again.
"Will they be mad? Will you be punished?"
Social worker always kicks in.
"No...not mad...just...probably disappointed. It'll be so horrible for me. Please...please."
Shame. Oh why do we parent our kids with shame.
"Alright Jill. I won't tell them. But I do hope that you someday will. You have nothing to feel bad about or ashamed about. Accidents happen."
As we are walking back to the room to hang the clothes to dry she now has her arm around me. I have never seen her this close to anyone. We tidy up her area, make sure she look acceptable and hang the clothes to dry.
As we are heading out she stops me.
"Oh!! I have something very serious to ask you Mindy."
Mercy.
"Um...do I smell?"
"Do you what?"
"Do I smell? I feel like I smell? Do I?"
I lean in a little and take a big whiff.
"Nope. You don't smell."
"Well, I wouldn't smell up there."
Mercy.
So I lean down slightly and take another whiff.
"Nope. You're good to go Jill. You don't smell at all."
"Are you sure? I mean, I think I would smell a little. It was so gross. And I just really don't feel clean..."
"Jill, would you like a little of my raspberry body spray? That might do the trick. Sometimes at camp it's hard to feel clean...but I promise you, that you don't smell. But if you'd like some body spray, we can make extra sure."
"Oh that's a good idea."
So we walk back to my room and I spray her.
As we are heading out again...holding hands...she stops me again. She grabs me with both of her skinny little arms and pulls me very close. She buries her head in my belly and squeezes as tight as humanly possible.
"Thank you Mindy. Thank you for helping me. You're the best leader ever. I love you."
Mercy.
As my eyes well up with tears, "You're so welcome Jill. I'm so glad that I was here for you. I love you too. You're a very special girl and I'm so glad that you're in my group."
I will forever remember that little girl. That moment. I don't know what she is returning home to. I don't know if the small moments of peace and comfort and love she felt at camp will drastically alternate her life right now. I don't know if she learned that being perfect and right doesn't matter. But I do know for that moment...she knew.
Here is the just of that moment...
I deserve no kuddos or praise for anything I did. Because that was nothing short of God in me. I don't have patience like that, I didn't even realize how much I actually cared for the girl, I normally would have tried to rush back to worship because I was missing singing...
But for the Holy Spirit.
A friend who was at camp and knew the story told me, "Don't you see? At that moment you were Jesus to her and she will never forget that."
It made me cry. And humbled me.
I am so not worthy to be His vessel. I am so not holy enough, compassionate enough, righteous enough...and yet...He sees fit to use me.
When I allow myself to be open to the Spirit...to draw close to Him for strength...to follow His prompting...He will do amazing things.
He will love a little girl who is hard to love and He will show me how to love her too.
There are many, many times in my life that I don't get it right. I lose my patience, say the wrong thing, judge another, hide in my pain, look the other way. But that day, that moment in time...I am thankful that I was obedient and followed His leading instead of my own.
I am grateful for a God who can see past my inadequacy and use me just the same.
To God be ALL the glory!
Is your bra pink? in my jammies. sans bra. (sorry for anyone who offends easily...lol)
Are your toe nails painted pink?
nope. red. i'm a diva remember ;)
Has a boy put their arm around you in the past 5 days?
yeppers. boys and a man!!
Has someone ever called you beautiful? yep
Are you wearing short shorts? nope
Do you enjoy wearing dresses? yes...i love dressing up
Ever turned a boy down you shouldn't have? honestly? yes.
Are your fingernails painted black? no
Do you straighten your hair often? naw...don't have enough to really straighten
Is it cute when guys kiss you on your forehead? no...i think it's geeky
What would you do if you received a long love letter? get all comfy and read it over and over
Who was the last person to text you? and what does she/he said? not close to my phone so who the heck knows....lol
Would you ever leave the house without make-up on? certainly but there was a time when i wouldn't have
On a scale of 1-10 how much do guys confuse you? depends on the guys. some 1...some 10!!
In the last 48 hours have you hung out with a guy? Jordyn and I are in a house of guys so that's pretty much a given
Do you like to hold hands? yeah..but my hubby doesn't!!
Who do you tell everything to? God and most things to my sister
What color is your hair? black right now
What makes you happy? singing praise songs
Do you miss someone? yep
What are you excited about? starting this intern class at work on monday
Do you have any tattoos or piercing?only my ears...i let my nose close up years ago and tattoos are so expensive. but i do want one
Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance? in life yes. in relationships...it depends. for example...when i was in an abusive relationship, i forgave him...but i couldn't give him a second chance because i knew i would never be able to trust him again.
Where is the person you want most? at the moment i most want marlon's granny here to bounce some ideas off of...so i guess heaven
Where will you be 2 hours from now? in my bed
What are you doing tomorrow? WORKING
Where were you at 9am this morning? service was just letting out
Do you fall for people easily? used to. haven't fallen for anyone in YEARSSSSSSSSSS
Is there something you wish you could tell someone but can't? no..i'm usually pretty straight forward
Do you have anything in your pockets right now?No pockets.
In the past week have you gotten sick? nope
On a scale of 1-10, how good is life? 8
Who's your best friend? sister and mom are givens.... Jackie, Amy
Where would you go right now if you could go anywhere? anywhere i could get a good massage
Do you want someone you can't have? nope
Whats your favorite smell? oh...i have a LOT of smells. i like the smell of freshly washed babies, lilacs, a scrubbed clean house, bleach, warm cookies, a clean cut just showered man, coffee, mexican food... Smells are good. I love that one of my senses. :)
Had to be a proud mom and show off Jordyn's senior pics :) Her uncle is a photographer and took her pics this afternoon. He took probably close to 100 pics...but these are my favorite 5. 
Such a lovely young woman!!
Now here's the story behind how this picture became available for the world wide web.
You may have heard of Facebook. Well I belong and of course little by little, my friends old and new find me there. One such person is Curtis Olson. Curt's older sister (see her pictured below...lol) was one of my best friends growing up so of course Curt and I added each other as friends. Curt also knew my sister well and added her. He has such fun childhood pictures up on his page. One that he has is a class picture from the year my sister was in his class. She left a message for him saying, "Thanks for posting that picture and reminding my sister of how she used to tease me for my Mary Lou Retton hair cut and smile!" Or something like that. This was all unbeknownst to me.
So imagine my suprise when the next day as I log in to Facebook, I see that he has added this picture with the caption, "For making fun of Mary Lou Retton" Hilarious! This kid had a great sense of humor then and I see he still does! I was like, how in the world did he know I used to tease Connie about that? lol
Anyway...the picture made me laugh so hard that I had to share it. This was during A Chorus Line, the summer of 1987!! Crazy huh? Ah how I wish eyebrows like that would come back in style. It'd make my life a little easier!!
The day after we got back from Kids Kamp, Marlon and the boys left for Urban Camp. It was quite a relaxing week for me and made such a great atmosphere to process and rest after my long week. Here's a little of what I've been up to since....
Sarah and Rob (camp staff) got married!! It was such a fun wedding and so sweet to see young, positive people so in love!!
My mom, Jordyn and I headed to Minneapolis for a college tour and of course a little shopping at the Mall of America. It was a great time and the school is amazing! Jordyn said that she could totally see herself walking around the campus and living there. The thought that I have a senior kind of blows my mind. Man does life fly by.
What an amazing week! And tiring!! Don't let me forget to add tiring!! lol
Part of what has kept me from blogging is that I haven't really been able to formulate the entirety of what I experienced into words that would justify the experience. Dana---thanks for your encouragement to just get back on here and get started! In the days, weeks to come I will share different moments and how they touched me...affected me....but for now...here are some pictures to show a little of how the week went!
Here's some pictures of our group of ladies. I love them each and can't wait to follow up on them and see where God takes them. Wednesday night is always the evening we share the gospel message and then ask if any of them would like to accept Christ in their life. Four girls. Four girls accepted Christ. Praise to God!!
One of the best parts of the week was getting to serve with Jordyn. As counselor and intern, we really worked hard to bring Christ's love to our group. I was amazed daily at Jordyn's heart for these girls and boy did they love her. She has a gift with kids and just a natural ability to connect with them.
Right after lunch the counselors would leave for a meeting and the interns were left to hang out with the cabin until free time. After the first day I realized that Jordyn would take funny pictures with the girls. It became such fun for me each day to check the goofy pictures when I'd get back.
Jordyn and I. Okay-so maybe we do look a little alike...lol!
Jordyn and two of her friends (amazing young ladies that I LOVE!!) Brooke and Mali. It was fun to see teen girls who have a heart for Jesus and aren't afraid to be themselves.
I knew that Jordyn had accepted Christ years ago when she attended Kids Kamp. As we walked into our village, Ponderosa, she went running to this spot and jumped up and down. "This is the exact spot where I accepted Christ Mommy!!" Yes. Tears.
Jessie Sunshine (as I like to call her) My roomie for the week. I've known Jessie since she was just a middle schooler...well, really more knew her parents...but through camps these last two summers I've really gotten to know her more. She is an amazing person through and through. We stayed up wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too late, talking wayyyyyyyyyyyy too long and laughing wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much! I will forever love her and hold dear the time we were able to share together at the last Kids Kamp!
Snakes anyone? Yes I conquered my fear of snakes during Kids Kamp. Here's how it came about. Mattie had held a snake in the morning and was so proud of herself. I was on my way to the animal building to check on another one of the campers and ran into Mattie. She asked if I was going to hold a snake while I was there. I told her that I didn't really think so because to be honest I was afraid of snakes. She looked at me and said, "Well, you know what I did? I was afraid too, but I prayed and asked God to give me strength and He did! And it wasn't scary! You should try that...why don't you pray and then God will give you the strength?" How in the heck do you say no to THAT! So I took a deep breath and gave it a shot and you know what? I LOVED it. They are so soft and really quite personable.
There is nothing quite like seeing almost 300 kids listen attentively (okay sometimes not so attentively...lol) to creative, fun, biblical teaching. I couldn't resist taking a lot of pictures of them in their bibles, listening, praying...
Mission Night. This game was a riot! The kids are missionaries and have to take bibles (toothpicks) to the churches (identified areas around camp) while being chased and tormented by the military, government, spies, etc. of different countries that don't want the gospel spread. The adult/teen staff get to be the military, government and spies. When we "catch" one of the missionaries we ask them questions about their bibles and God and Jesus. It's so awesome to get a kid who can clearly and confidently share the gospel message with you and it's a privilige to talk with the kids who perhaps don't know Jesus and guide them into conversation about who He is.
Spa Night. Ponderosa chose a spa night as our village special. We all brought our pampering creams, gels, polishes, etc. and had a night of beautifying our girls. I loved every minute of it and they all felt so special and pretty.
If you've ever been a part of an overnight camp then you know that FUN is definately a major part of the week! Here are just a few snippets of the week...
The water slide was a riot! Of course I had to try it as well...lol. There was a really cool bridge to stand on so that we could get great pictures.
Who doesn't like the chance to get a lil crafty? (ok, ok...I know there are some of you out there!!) We had an Olympic Event night and each group got to decorate their Cabin Flag. There's nothing as much fun as puffy paint and glitter!
You can't have good fun without being a little goofy can you?
One of our favorite morning specials was waterfront day. One of the games was a contest for sand sculptures. We made a turtle family. Mom Myrtle and her children, Zyrtle, Chyrtle, Kyrtle, Pyrtle and Ted. :)
With a group of girls who had the most different personalities you've ever seen...there was undoubtedly conflict (as I'll mention)...so having bonding times of closeness and seeing them connect was definately so much fun as their leader.
The 8 of us on the last night at the final campfire. The song is right
I will never be
The same again
I can never return
I've closed the door
I will walk the path
I'll run the race
And I will never be the same again.
So tomorrow bright and early, Jordyn and I will head out to Camp Timberlee for a week of Kids Kamp, Elmbrook's overnight camp for kids entering 4-6 grade. While I've helped at Kids Kamp for evening activities for years, this will be my first year as a counselor. Jordyn is going to be my intern and we have 6 girls assigned to our cabin.
We've been busily planning the last few days (yes, can you say PROCRASTINATION!) and are about 99.9% ready....isn't there always a thing or two that didn't make it into the laundry and quickly needs to be thrown in mere hours before you are leaving? :)
The men will be here alone for the week (we are gone until the 9th) and so it will be interesting to see what the house looks like when I get back. The longest I've ever been away from all of them is just a weekend! Normally, Marlon takes great care to make sure that they get the house looking fairly decent before I return, but I am not sure how they will stay up on a week of dishes, laundry, garbage, cleaning, etc. They all leave the 10th for a week of camp themselves, so at least I'll have ample time to get it back into shape...lol!
I do have some specific prayer requests that if you would be so kind to lift up for me/us...I would be greatly appreciative. Thank you for doing so.
1) Please pray for safety for the 6 of us until we are together again. Pray that God would show us favor with health while we are apart.
2) Pray that I do not become overwhelmed by 6 little girls when I am normally accustomed to dealing with boys!! That I find joy and beauty in each of them.
3) Pray that Jordyn and I work well together and have peace that transcends all understanding. That we form a united front and this experience brings us even closer.
4) Finally please pray that I lead in His strength and not my own. That I rely fully on Him to get me through the week and reflect Him well.
Talk to you in a week!! Can't wait to post pictures and tell you all about it!!
