I should be in bed...

...But instead I thought, "hey, I should blog." I'm sure I'll regret that decision tomorrow morning, but this should be quick and painless.

As Summer 2010 nears an end, I'd love to provide you with a glimpse into the thoughts circling my mind.

-I'm glad I don't have any flights booked in the near future
-I have to book a flight to Colorado for October (dang)
-I miss being on assignment with Robert. That was the best ever. Maybe we'll get a chance to do that again sometime in the next 3 years.
-I love my husband so much.
-September shouldn't exist as a month. I think we should just go straight from August to October and forget about all of the transition hoopla that exists in September.
-I wish my birthday wasn't at such an inopportune time when everyone is out of town. Because go-karting isn't quite as much fun when you don't have people to beat.
-Am I really turning 30? Because that's insane.
-Barely containable excitement for my friends Reid and Katie and Libbie and how God has been at work in their lives this summer. Makes me smile and believe more.
-I love my sister so much.
-I want to have GAME NIGHT every night. Ideal world. Best argument for living in a commune.

That's it for now. Pretty ridiculous, I know. Feel free to weigh in on the ridiculousness.

Such Bad Bloggers

Seriously, we're bad at this. Or maybe our infrequent posting is a good sign - we aren't too narcissistic for our own good. Oh wait, I just wrote that, so yup, we are those narcissists. Riiiight.

So we're back. Italy - check. Yellowstone - check. Georgia - we'll get there soon enough. 8 flights in less than 30 days, and I am happy to take a 12 hour bus ride to Sharptop on Sunday morning. No, really. Because none of my high school friends will have the nerve to take their shoes off while sitting in the row behind me, and rest their nasty, swollen, recycled air feet on my armrest while I'm trying to sleep against the window. And touch me. I didn't think it would happen, but it did. Yes, that happened to me on a recent flight. Who does that?

Back to our summer of chaos. Culminating thoughts from Italy? RICHNESS. You know, when people ask you to sum up an experience with one word? Well they didn't need to ask, because I already had the answer. Robert and I experienced a period of RICHNESS. No, everything didn't go perfectly, or even as planned. And yes, there were some really difficult things to work through. Yes, we were in a beautiful place, and yes, we were sleeping in a middle school classroom (thank you, Mr. Robinson). In the midst of beauty and struggle and clarity and confusion, Robert and I were able to experience a place we love (at least in hindsight) - our divine intersection. A place where we're pulled out of our comfort zones and forced to depend on Christ. A place that draws those differences out, and minimizes them by instead focusing on what we're being called to. A place where God enables us to understand one another and walk together in His purpose. I like to think that walking in our divine intersection is our best place. And looking back, it often is. However, most of the time while we're going through it there's a constant struggle of wanting to be individuals and do things our own way. Italy was different. It was as if we knew that we couldn't do it alone, and that in fact, God had sent us both there to do it together. So although I'm sure we each could have survived and maybe even functioned well enough at our jobs individually, God painted a much more beautiful picture in what He did through us.

Yeah. That's some of me, processing for you. I'm confident there will be more, but in the meantime, it's time to take my own kiddos to camp. Beautiful stories to be written and told next week. Can't wait.

So it's been a while...

Wow, over a week without any sort of update. Sorry about that. Internet access while we were on base was really limited. In fact, "limited" is the word I'd use to describe just about everything we encountered during this assignment here (Work Staff and MCYM Logistics team excluded - they were unlimited in performance, heart, and ability). I'd find myself responding to leader questions with the same song and dance - "We're sorry, but that's a limitation we're going to have to deal with." And we did! Over and over again.

So for those of you who were praying - we had a beautiful break through on Day Three of Week Two. I'd say about 70% of the leaders at camp were returners from the previous week. Can you imagine taking high school kids to a semi-Young Life camp at a military base (including day trips to Lucca, Elba, water parks, the beach, and Cinque Terre), completing the double-digit hour bus (or plane) ride back home, taking one day off, and doing it all over again with middle schoolers? And if you were my friends Laura and Jennifer, catching a gas station on fire on the way to Venice on that one day off? Riiiight, I'm pretty sure we'd all pass. Anyway, back to my returning leaders on Day Three. Patience was running thin and emotions were running high. What would have been seen as a simple complaint at a traditional YL camp literally blew up into a ricochet of verbal gunfire, taking many casualties. This was, of course, Robert's first time emceeing a Leader's Meeting (fabulous). As crazy as it was, the crossfire enabled a true Holy Spirit moment. I'd prepared Ephesians 2 for our devotion that morning, and just started giving it a little bit early in the schedule. I cried (which many of you know, I hated). But I cried because I was so convinced of what the Holy Spirit could do in the lives of these leaders and the kids who they brought with them. And the Holy Spirit worked. Like crazy. The rest of the week was so different, and the balance of truth and unity that I'd been praying for was realized.

I know I know, that doesn't leave you with a lot, but it's 11 PM here and we have to catch a train out of Cinque Terre tomorrow at 6 AM. To catch a flight at 1:30 PM. Yeah, tomorrow's going to be fun. Anyone seen Leap Year? We're picturing that kind of ridiculousness given the fun we had getting to Cinque Terre from Pisa. We'll let you know all about it.

PS - here are some more pics. AND yes, Robert will post sometime. Tonight he asked if I'd started blogging. Right. Love him! And his posts will be funnier, no doubt.

PPS - we attached our lock to the Via dell' Amore. Cheesy and fabulous? Yes! And we loved doing it! Shout out to Mom C for the lock and idea!

A Week in the Life of an MCYM Beach Break Camper...

So here's what last week looked like. Or should I say last month, because that's what it felt like!

Day One - campers arrived, with buses and planes coming in from all over Europe (Turkey, England, Germany, Italy, Belguim). Campers slept on a gym floor because of thunderstorms. The next day they traveled to Lucca (one of the remaining "walled" cities) and moved into their own Tent City when they returned. We had Club that night, and got ready for Day 3. Day 3 was a trip to Elba. It went far better than we had anticipated, with only one bus driver getting stuck and ripping off his rear bumper because he went the wrong way (oops). Elba is a beautiful island, with a gorgeous beach full of sea glass. We dipped into Napolean's palace (not too shabby) and traipsed all over the Medici Fortress (the best view on the island).

Day 4 was the waterpark. We didn't go because it was our day off, but kids loved it and had a great time.

Day 5 = the best. Cinque Terre. Seriously, if you've been there, you know that words can't describe the beauty of these 5 towns scattered along the coast of the sea. Shout out to the Knott's for recommending a place to stay - we can't wait to go back at the end of our trip. But really, picture cliff jumping into crystal blue waters, beautiful beaches, adorable shops, and fantastic food (mostly pesto). We wish we could just bottle it all up and take it back to the states with us. Alas, you'll all just need to go visit...

Day 6 was either the beach or Pisa or both. I took 3 buses full of kids to Pisa, which was nice, but overrun with pushy vendors and pickpockets. Don't worry, none of us were hit, it just made walking around a little less comfortable. The leaning tower and Duomo really are beautiful, they're just overshadowed a bit by a tourist culture on the rampage. From there we took all 375 campers and leaders to the American Beach, had a cookout, and then Club. Then right as the sun was setting, our speaker shared about Christ's appropriation and gave every camper 15 minutes to spend with God. Imagine sitting on a beach, crystal blue water in front of you, with the sun setting on the horizon of the sea. Breathtaking. Then campers had "tent time" to discuss what they'd heard with the leaders and friends. We left the beach feeling like the Lord had accomplished much.

On Day 7 that was confirmed. 25 students stood up to Say So (publicly confess they had made a decision to follow Christ), and over 200 raised their hand to say that they had already made that decision prior to coming to camp. There was one young lady, Emily Hall, who I really connected with. The circumstances of our meeting were less than desirable - she had taken a glow stick to the eye and I had to take her to the doctor with a cornea laceration. I checked in with her constantly, and while at the beach I saw her crying hysterically. I ran over thinking something had gone horribly awry with her eye, but started laughing when she reassured me that they were tears of joy. Her little brother had just decided to follow Christ, and she was overjoyed. Seriously, picture bliss and that's what I saw on Emily's face. It was absolutely beautiful.

There are so many more details, and I'm sure that things will change as middle schoolers arrive today, but I wanted to paint you a picture of what we've been experiencing and how we've been serving.

Thanks for checking in on us and reading these novels. Will try to post more frequently this next week. Love to all of you back in the states!

Bed before 8 pm? Yup...

So it's been a week and this has literally been my first opportunity to find the internet. Yes, find the internet. Because that's not something that's easy to do around here.

In the last week of having leaders and campers here I've gotten approximately 27 hours of sleep. That was the cumulative count up until last night. There are people who ate more scoops of gelato than that during the week (Our director is up to 68 for the trip). Talk about exhaustion! But yesterday campers left (around 30 of the 275 met Jesus, and over 2/3rds of them apparently already knew Jesus [who knew?!]) and we saw the sun set. Actually, we didn't, because Team Clifford was asleep by 7:30. We missed gelato, we missed the Italiano/Americano Fest, but it was 100% worth it. So here we are, 12 hours of sleep later, and on our way to a vineyard on our day off. We'll update later with more pics.

In the meantime, try not to be too jealous. :)

Haves and Haves Not

Haves:

-Room to sleep in
-Air Mattress to sleep on
-Food
-Gelato
-1 shower for 30 girls and 1 shower for 20 guys
-1 broken printer for our entire assignment team
-103 tents set up for campers who arrive today
-Approximately 3 inches of rain (see pic)
-40 fabulous college friends who are working like crazy to still make today a fabulous arrival day for campers.

Haves Not:

-1 functioning printer for our entire assignment team
-a dry place for 357 students and leaders to sleep in when they arrive in 4 hours (see tents above, and pray that the rain stops)

Glad that the "Haves" list is outweighing the "Haves Not" list today. Seriously, our Work Staff team is doing a phenomenal job working with limited resources. With everyday of being here I'm more and more amazed that this is just how things go for our Young Life/MCYM staff overseas. I will no longer be taking our beautiful Young Life properties for granted...

So one might ask what it is that we've been doing for the past 5 days. Here you go. Traveling. A lot. Eating gelato. Often. Oh yeah, and working too. Like setting up 103 5 person tents, cleaning and organizing an entire middle school kitchen from scratch, cooking 2 meals a day for 50 in that kitchen (tonight we start cooking for 400), setting up a paintball course and schedule, setting up a frisbee golf course, setting up a club room from scratch, practicing songs for club. Moved into one classroom to live. Moved into the Chapel to live. Moved into another classroom to live. Went to Pisa. Set up a Leader's Lounge. Okay, so you get the picture...

Lots of work, lots of fun, lots of gelato. Did I mention we've had a lot of gelato?

Oh yeah, and there's an Italian Carnival on base while we're here, with a "Discoteca Mobile." I'm sure some of you were wishing you were here right about now. And our team had an impromptu street break dancing party last night in Tirrenia. The locals didn't know what to do with us. And someone on our team may have left the parking brake off in one of the vans and had it roll forward, just inches from hitting an Audi. Good times...

All that to say, we're grateful for having so much, and praying that our campers experience abundance and richness while they're here!

And So It Begins...

Lots of new beginnings tonight...

1 - this blog exists. We're anti-twitter, and Robert is avoiding facebook like the plague, and yet, we now have a blog. The irony.

2 - We may have found a place where we can actually serve together and both feel like we're walking in some sort of calling?! Three words:

-Italy
-Young Life
-the Military

One may ask how it is that we were able to find a one size fits all option? Last September we were asked by Young Life to serve in Livorno, Italy with a team of folks from Military Communities Youth Ministries (MCYM) to create a YL camp-ish experience for the children of servicemen and women overseas. We really had to think about it. No we didn't. We said absolutely, and started planning immediately.

So I'll leave you with a thought from Robert on the eve of our departure - "we've spent so much time and energy planning this trip, it's almost as if the serving part will be the easiest facet." Let's pray his thoughts ring true!