2 down and 1 more to go

Boy's basketball ended off on a great way today. The final basketball league championship game was almost as loud as any other highschool game i have been to. The game was extremely close with the team i had picked to win 62-61.
Overall, in the personal work environment I have had a hard week. I have wanted to quit my job on numerous occassions this week, but i stuck with it through the frustration, through the mental breakdowns and through the tears in various locations and with various people as a support to lean on. Thank you to all who helped me get through the rough bits of the week - Much love to you all!
Overall, i have had the most fun with boy's basketball camp. These boys were ages 11-18 and were just a blast to have and be around. For the most part, they made me laugh. Their mums would be proud to see how they can treat a lady with respect and still have some fun with her. It was great to see the 17 and 18 year olds that i had first met as 11 year olds (made me feel so old) and how they had changed not only physically and mature wise, but in their strength of character and relationship with God. The guy that I had wanted to be Camp MVP was choosen to be it - i was thrilled. He won it not for only his skill and leadership on the basketball court, but for his initiative off the court as well - last night he pretty much single handedly helped me set up for snack at the fire pit - and i didn't even really need to ask for his help. He had over heard me telling people what i needed done. He might come play basketball here after he has graduated which would be a cool thing to see!
One more camp to go, and i think it might be the hardest for me personal wise - please pray once again for more patience. Ciao

Another Camp

Boy's Basketball Camp has begun in all of it's sweaty and stinky glory. We officially have 110 boys registered for camp, which is great. However, 110 boys in a +35 degree gym that doesn't have air conditioning is not going to be always pleasent. It was even hotter in my office because it is on the second floor and hot air rises. The joke amoung the coaching staff was that they had lost 10 pounds that afternoon just from sweating so much.
Boy's camp i think is going to be super busy for me, but also a lot of fun. I am one of 2 girls working camp this week and the rest are all male. They seem to be a pretty good bunch of guys though. Please pray once again this week for no injuries, and for patience for me as i direct the traffic of schedules, meals, snacks, running the camp store and keeping on top of all the paper work!

Let It Be Me

There are many things that I want to be
Let me tell you in case you don't see.
Because I want to be...
The shoulder you cry on when nothing goes your way
The person who tells you...when no one else will say
The one to catch you when ever you may fall
If ever you need anything I'm at your beck and call
The first thought you have upon waking
As long as you can give I'll keep taking
I want to be your joy when you have pain
Your sunshine when you are soaked with rain
Your strength when you are weak
The one who loves to hear you speak
The reason for the smile upon your face
The one you run to when you have been disgraced
Let me be your reasoning when you are confused
Your comfort when you feel your being used
The one who holds you when you are afraid
The one who does the things you never said
Let it be me because
I know you see
Let it be me...because I want to be

author not known to me.

No Old Folks Home for Me!!

I got this from a friend and thought it was good. As well, the picture is of the Rice Krispie Boys if you know who they are from the cereal in their old age!

2 years ago my wife and I were on a cruise through the western Mediterranean aboard a Princess liner. At dinner we noticed an elderly lady sitting alone along the rail of the grand stairway in the main dining room. I also noticed that all the staff, ships officers, waiters, busboys, etc., all seemed very familiar with this lady. I asked our waiter who the lady was, expecting to be told that she owned the line, but he said he only knew that she had been on board for the last four cruises, back to back. As we left the dining room one evening I caught her eye and stopped to say hello. We chatted and I said, "I understand you've been on this ship for the last four cruises". She replied, "Yes, that's true." I stated, "I don't understand" and she replied, without a pause, "It's cheaper than a nursing home".
So, there will be no nursing home in my future. When I get old and feeble, I am going to get on a Princess Cruise Ship. The average cost for a nursing home is $200 per day. I have checked on reservations at Princess and I can get a long term discount and senior discount price of $135 per day. That leaves $65 a day for: 1. Gratuities which will only be $10 per day. 2. I will have as many as 10 meals a day if I can waddle to the restaurant, or I can have room service (which means I can have breakfast in bed every day of the week). 3. Princess has as many as three swimming pools, a workout room, free washers and dryers, and shows every night. 4. They have free toothpaste and razors, and free soap and shampoo. 5. They will even treat you like a customer, not a patient. An extra $5 worth of tips will have the entire staff scrambling to help you. 6. I will get to meet new people every 7 or 14 days. 7. T.V. broken? Light bulb need changing? Need to have the mattress replaced? No Problem! They will fix everything and apologize for your inconvenience. 8. Clean sheets and towels every day, and you don't even have to ask for them. 9. If you fall in the nursing home and break a hip you are on Medicare; if you fall and break a hip on the Princess ship they will upgrade you to a suite for the rest of your life. Now hold on for the best! Do you want to see South America, the Panama Canal, Tahiti, Australia,> New Zealand, Asia, or name where you want to go? Princess will have a ship ready to go. So don't look for me in a nursing home, just call shore to ship.

Mickey the Mouse Escapade

Last night at midnight, i was minding my own business upstairs in the athletic department's lounge, when a mouse crossed the middle of a room and went under the couch opposite of the one i was sitting on. For those of you who know me, you know i have an almost borderline psychotic dislike of mice - so me being who me is, i of course screamed - which didn't help me at all because anyone who was in gym at the time were on the gym courts playing a late night basketball game. Thankfully someone distracted me finally after laughing at me for quite a while - it's not like they could have helped anyways, they were online with me at the time. But thank you anyways - you know who you are. Mickey took his time disappearing last night, but he hasn't made an appearance since then either.
In other news, Girl's basketball camp is done and over with thankfully. Guy's camp starts on Sunday. I'm working late tonight so i can take most of tomorrow off hopefully, but we'll see how that ends up turning out.

Day 2 is in the Basket (no pun intended)

Basketball Camp is about all different skill levels attempting to learn new skills so that they can take their game to that next higher level. For some campers, they already know the in's and out's of this game and progress rapidly through new skills. On the other side, they are some players who prehaps need a 3 foot basket (even though we of course do not play on a 3 foot high basket - that's just silly). It's kind of neat to see the girl's already improved ball handling and dribbling skills. It will be even more neat to see how improved they are by fridays championship games.
Day 2 is done and still no injuries! Tomorrow is a sleep in day and a trip to the swimming complex!

First Day

Exhausted doesn't even begin to explain how I feel at this specific moment in time. First day of camp went amazingly well and smooth - no injuries on the first day!!!
As i have said before, i am the camp manager, but with 2 hours to go yesterday before campers were due to arrive, i was asked to become a dorm chaperone and sleep in the residence with the girls because we were short one female coach. Not the exact way i wanted to start off my first week of camp, but i do get to stay in the brand new dorm and i do only have 4 girls at the moment in my care. I am glad Day 1 was a good day - it sets us up for success on Days 2-6! Please keep praying though, we all covet your prayer support

Clipper Camps

Clipper Sports Camps start on Sunday. I am the camp manager and it is my first time working in a sports camps setting. My program director job at Camp Arnes was a similar role to what I am doing right now, but very different in many ways. I am looking forward to the next 3 weeks of camps - 2 basketball camps and 1 volleyball camp. Please pray for safety of the youth that come to camp and for no injuries. Please pray for us as staff as we coach these kids in their sport, but also as we share with them about Jesus and what it means to be a Christian Athlete!

Have you seen my Rubber Boots?

Rubber Boots. That is the one item of clothing i wish i had had last night as the biggest storm of the summer hit Caronport last night in torrents of rain, wind and quite impressive thunder and lightening bolts. I normally love thunderstorms, but not last night. Last night because of how quickly the rain shucked down, our garage flooded not once, not twice, but 3 times. We were lucky to have noticed it when it first happened or otherwise the damage to the garage could be a lot more than what it actually was. The first flooding took almost an hour to get undercontrol and wet vac everything up along with laying towels down along the garage door to prevent the water from just rushing into the garage. The second and third floodings happened between the hours of 12:30am and 3:30am. The other storm damage came in the form of tree damage in the back yard. We have (or had) A massive Weeping Willow Tree in our yard and it has 2 main big branches coming from the base - one of the main branches cracked and started to tear away from the rest of the tree and the part that was starting to tear away started to rest on powerlines - not a good thing! So, at 11pm with the thunder and lightening literally all around us, my dad decides to climb up a 12foot ladder and start to trim off the branches that he could reach with his shears - he definately needed a taller ladder, but we got the bulk of what was dangerous off of the power lines. It has and will leave a huge gap in our backyard for quite sometime. I'm just glad that i am not home to see the tree when it gets cut down.
As annoying as the garage flooding and our tree coming down is, the storm gave me a whole sense of appreciation for the power and glory of God - it was breathtaking to hear the crack of loud thunder followed by a complete white flash across the sky of lightening. God is all powerful and amazing. The storm also gave me an appreciation for how safe we really are from these elements. To think that i thought this was a bad storm, but when comparred to Hurricane Katrina last year, this was nothing in comparisson. My house is still intact and all my posessions are safe - they were left with nothing. Some times i think God needs to give us some teachable moments and lessons in our lives, and he uses some pretty unique object lessons to do it!

Quarter of a Century - How time Flies!

On Monday July 10, i turned a quarter of a century - yes, i am now 25. Lots of people made jokes about getting old and what not, and at first it did bother me, but now it doesn't. Someone told me on Monday that life gets better as you get older because you get to experience so many other things: marriage, family, jobs, travelling and even growing in your relationship with God! There are so many things to look forward to in the coming years.
My Birthday was a great day overall - lots of surprises from people and dinner with my family. I was truly blessed with what I recieved.
25 is going to be a big year - many changes and challenges ahead of me for this year - some are going to be very expected and can be planned for accordingly and others are going to catch me off guard and some of them will be most welcome and prehaps others won't. The reassuring thing through this all besides having family and friends who i love support me, is that God is continuing to mold and shape me into the woman he wants me to be. And that i think is the most important thing i can do and be.

Strike another one off the List

Found out this weekend that I can no longer eat egg yolks and definately should not eat cherries. This was a sad revelation, but they are definately items that need to be taken out of my allowed foods list - they make me completely sick. Crohn's is an ugly thing to have and having to adapt to it isn't always fun, but i am determined to not let it get the best of me any longer!

Above and Beyond the Call of being Polite

When I am not enthused about meeting a person for the first time, i tend to go overboard polite - almost borderline fake (which i know is a bad thing, but i believe it's a coping mechanism). This is how i reacted to the new guy in the office who somewhat booted my dad out of his position, but it's really not the new guy's fault at all - he's just caught in the middle of a stupid political game. However, it hasn't stopped me from feeling somewhat negative to this guy and when he came out of his office to ask who i was and what i did in the department, out came my fake smile and laugh (yes, i have a fake laugh). He asked countless questions about stuff that really has no bearing on him or his position, but he sure did act like it did. I was told that he would have no involvement with my job directly or indirectly - meaning he is suppose to stay away!!! Oh well. I'm praying God grants me patience and a genuine attitude of politeness and being nice.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANADA!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!! Today Canada is 139 years old. I know Canada as a nation is very young, and that we don't have a "proper" sense of history. I am proud to be Canadian and associated with all the little quirks that make us canadians unique. So, here's to you Canada - "The True North Strong and Free"