Busy life and writer's block

I know, I know, it has been quite a while since I have last blogged. I have trouble finding stuff to blog about, but fear not my six faithful followers, (and even more due to those who follow without their loverly faces appearing under “Stalkers,” life will be probably getting busier for me...I’m not sure if that mean I will blog more, because there is stuff to blog about, or if it means I’ll blog less because I am too busy to blog. Either way, my life will be more eventful, which is the important thing.

 Anyhoo, some exciting things to say. First off, guess what I got to do a week after spending six weeks in Latvia helping out at a camp? I got to go to my church’s family camp! Despite being a little tired of camp, I had a great time there, hanging out with my friends and family.

 And now for the exciting news. Notice the picture below.

That is the header for a new column called, (you guessed it,) Writer’s Block, (which, by the way, is supposed to be a pun.) Because I use the other columns soOOoo much, I wanted to add this one. Writing is a huge part of my life, ad in fact it was for that part of my life I mainly made the blog in the first place; (it was called, “Random Scribbles then.) I thought this column would help. I have started doing daily, (well, every couple day) writing exercises in my journal. In fact this started with the writing themed thirty day challenge I did. I really enjoyed doing those random exercises on regular bases. Under Writer’s Block you will see more of those exercises. Not all of them mind you, just the ones I like best and think are particularly good or unique. Also, under Writer’s Block, will be random thoughts I have as a writer; tips for other writer’s, struggles I have, opinions on writing I would like to share, and the sort.

And as a final treat, here is the first Writer’s Block. I had to write something that declared the glory of God’s works.

Formless, cold. Nothing but water stretched for mile after mile, darkness enveloped eternity.

The first day there was light.

By light we see and know the world. It pushes back the darkness that would otherwise blind us. Light offers us guidance where we would stumble, and direction where without, we would be lost. The light made day, so there could be night. The darkness was no longer endless.
And it was good.

The second day there was sky.
The sky is open and free. We reach up to touch is, but never quite make it. It gives us freedom to move and wonder where we would be confined. It is a place for clouds and dreams to rest, gives us on opening to gaze upon the world and feel small.
And it was good.

The third day there was land and sea, and plants to grow to fill them.

By the land we live. We make our homes and we thrive off the dirt. By the waters we live. The clouds release the rain and it waters the dry land. The seas roar with all their power, giving us not only the vision of power and beauty, but moister and food as well. Trees grow from the earth, branching out and growing. Flowers opened up in an expression of beauty. They offer food for the hungry and they decorate the earth.
And it was good.

The fourth day there was a sun, and a moon, and the stares.
By day the sun governs, shining with glory and power. It reaches down its rays and touches the earth. Sometimes gently, small caresses of warmth; sometimes fierce, beating down on the land with wild heat. The sun drives out the cold and offers life. The moon governs the night, offering a gentle light, even as the night brings a cool touch to our world. The stars guide us, showing us our way when the land becomes a blur, or go on and on without direction.
And it was good.

The fifth day there was birds and fish.

The first creatures to be created. One to fill the open sky the other to fill the roaring seas. The birds ruled the sky, flying high in the air, beating their powerful wings. The fish rule the seas, swimming through the waves and fill the waters of the earth with life.
And it was good.

The sixth day there were beast of the land.

They roam the earth, giving cycle to life. While they feed us they can also offer companionship. How diverse they are! They come in so many shapes and sizes, they fill the land with wonder and beauty.
And it was good.
Also that day there was man.
Created not only to live, but to love, created in the image of God. Not only existing, but thinking. Able to see and comprehend, and gibe back ot God with praise and worship.
In the image of God was man created.
And it was good.

A Retrospect

It felt so odd, the last few days I was in Latvia. It had been a lot of hard work, and I really wanted to be home again. I missed my family and friends, and I looked forward to starting up "normal" life again, (for lack of a better word.) Yet...I knew I would miss the people I had met in Latvia. In six weeks they had become more than friends, they are brother and sisters in Christ. In a way, Eagles Wing's camp had become home, and that is in fact what we all called it. I was so excited to get back home, but I didn't want to leave.

Those six weeks were life changing. They were hard and at times I wasn't sure what I should be doing there, let alone what I was doing there at all. Frankly, I was in over my head much of the time, but God still managed to use me.

And God changed me as well. I'm not the person who set out seven weeks ago. I'm not the person who first arrived at camp, jet lagged and just starting the journey. Six weeks of hard work and fun later, and I am more the person God created me to be. It was quite the adventure. There were trials and challenges which tested me, but there were also times of fun and fellowship.

Now, back home, I still feel strange. Everything seems slightly different than when I left it. Some of those things have changed, but I know it is mostly me who is different now. I only pray that I am able to take the past six weeks and have them affect my choices and my life; that I am able to take what I learned in Latvia and apply it to every facet of my life.

The very last camp

So here I am, done with the last week of camp and hanging out at the Peterson’s house, and let me tell you something, the last week of camp was extreme. Literally. It was called extreme camp. Why? you ask. Well, let me tell you...

First of all, I don’t have any pictures for you guys. I know that is pretty much all I’ve been giving you till now, (because I’m too lazy to systematically explain every day,) but for reasons you will soon know, I did not have my camera with me on extreme camp.

The first day we were all divided up into four teams, and in our four teams we had to accomplish four different challenges. Each team got a different amount of points, depending on which place they came in on each challenge.

One: Doing seven events on the ropes course, each person one event-timed.

Two: Accomplishing the natures walk, four people doing each even-timed.

Three: Climbing wall, people going up it twelve times, could be everyone twice, or one person twelve times-timed.

Four: Going down the zip line while hanging upside down so you could scoop up water with a cup since the zip line goes over the lake-judged by how much water each team got.

The first day wasn’t even the extreme part. The next day we all set out at about 9 in the morning for the extreme hike. Over the course of the next two days, there were seven “check points” each team needed to find. At each check point there was a jar with maps to the next check point. Following these maps we had to go through woods, across creeks, over hills, around lakes, not on roads because that wasn’t allowed, and through fields. Originally there was supposed to be raft building, to cross a lake. In fact, out points were to “buy” things for this raft, but then every single team got last between check point number two and three on the first day, so there was not time to build a raft. Instead we were driven around the lake in a pickup (the first team to get there got to ride just by themselves, but the other three times had to ride together, which meant about twenty-five of us were piled in the pickup at one time.)

In between the two days we got to camp out at the lake. I almost enjoyed this more than the day; sitting around the camp fire, eating food made in metal cups over the flame, sleeping, (or not sleeping, since it was really, really cold, and a lot of us couldn’t fall asleep,) in sleeping bags. It was so much fun. Now my sweater smells like smoke to remind me of that night every time I put it on.

To say the least it was very extreme.

This post is actually about the amazing weekend we all had here in Latvia. The 14-17 camp ended on Friday, and Family Camp didn’t start until Thursday, which meant we had a five day weekend, (or six, depending on how you count it.) Saturday and Sunday was spent just lazying around, but on Monday the real fun began.

On Monday we got to go to Old Riga and the beach. We did a little shopping, a little tourist-ing, some hanging-out-at-the-beach. Here are some pictures of that.

Then on Tuesday, several of us got our hair done. It was so fun.

My new hair

 Clark's red mohock.

Unda's hair, very red

All of us were supposed to get before and after

pictures, but Shelby and Paige were the only

two who did.

Before

After

To tell the truth, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like my hair or not. I went in with a certain idea of what it was going to look like in my mind, which was pretty much the hair style I had, but trimmed a little and with some tame, auburn highlights. There were two hair dressers, and I was one of the first people to go. Undja translated to the hair dresser for me what I wanted, and the hair dresser started to put dye in my hair. I was really excited and a little nervous, because I had never had my hair dyed, or even highlighted, mostly because I don’t like having to put effort into how my hair looks. I was very jittery as the hairdresser took off the towel to cut my hair.

After several moments of garbled communication on how to cut my hair, I made the mistake of saying that as long as she stayed in the spesifications I had given, the hair dresser could do whatever she thought would look best. Next thing I know, she is giving me something completely different from what I had originally wanted. Plus my “auburn” highlights were red, and the “light tone” were...really light, almost blond. Not to mention she cut up my bangs weird. I began to get a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. It looked like I was going to have a hard to up keep, brightly colored, not really me-ish looking hair style.

When the hair dresser was done, I wasn’t sure if I liked my hair or not. As time went on though, I began to like it more, and realized my initial hesitation was due to getting something I wasn’t expecting, not that I didn’t like it. The hair cut looks like me, just different from what I’ve had before. I think it will even air dry nicely, which for me is very important, as I only blow dry and straighten my hair occasionally. Now I love it.

Making up for last time

Hello everybody! Sorry that the last post was not very good. I was going to do what I had done the time before, but the internet was really slow so the pictures weren’t loading. Instead of writing something, I just gave up. These next two posts I plan on doing though should make up for it. Or at least a little bit.

After the 7-10 year we had the 11-13 year olds. This was by far the biggest camp as in there being the most kids, and it seemed we had a very small amount of leaders to go around. It was pretty basic week. Games and crafts and swimming and ropes course. Here are some cool pictures from the week.

Me looking "smart"

Paige on the bottom, Shelby in the middle, and Agrita on top

                            Rock wall

                                                                           Ropes course

                                                                           Fun during big games

The week after that was 14-17 year olds, which for me personally was probably the hardest week, but it was still fun.

                                            This actually wasn't during a camp, but all of  girls

                                             got all dressed up and took random pictues.

                                           

                                                                                               

                                                                                                                      B kool

                                                       Breakfast in the meadow.

There is one thing that I do not have pictures of that I would like to tell about. Night games. The idea basically is to make the kids so tired that they don’t try to sneak out during the night. Unfortunately that meant that all of us leaders were also really tired. Night games would not start till around midnight, and they would then go till about two. Then there was even sauna afterwards for half the camp. The first night it was capture the flag, where I pretty much stumbled around not doing anything effective accept make a lot of noise. The second night was more fun though. We played a game call “stations,” where the four teams we were decided into had to find random fires. At each of the fires there was a quest we had to complete. That game I had quite a bit of fun with. Tromping through the fields in the middle of the night was quite enjoyable actually.

To end things, here is a poem I wrote the day after the 14-17 year old camp.

I'll always come up short

Failure branded in my heart.

I fall back down again,

Before I even start.

I'm too week to even stumble,

Through half my own ambitions,

Too blind to even see,

Past my inhibitions.

But you're stronger than my weakness,

More glorious than my shame.

The faith to move a mountain,

Rests only in your name.

You've broken through my bitter faults,

Made a miracle of me.

For the power that spoke the universe,

Is the power holding me.