(NOTE: THE "J"s in the following document are supposed to be smiley faces. Or frowns. Sorry for the inconvenience, there was some mix up between computing.)
“My Cup Overflows”
“My cup overflows,” Psalm 23:5d
They say that blessings come in all sizes, but I believe there isn’t such a thing as a small blessing. I am so blessed that I don’t know where the blessings begin or end… Most likely at the beginning of my life is when blessings were first bestowed upon me, but that’s way too far back to rewind. Being more reasonable, I’ll start with Oklahoma Family Camp, back in April of this year. Even that seems like such a long time ago, but I’ll manage somehow!
Early April… SPRING BREAK! Finally, a spare moment away from the books! J Something that I’d envied for a long time! Since around Thanksgiving time it’d been school non-stop, and then when Grandma got sick it was all just havoc. Continual this and that, always taking care of one thing or another, just never a break from one thing to the next. After we’d taken Grandma back home in mid March things began to settle. Spring break was truly something I craved!
Packing up our suit-cases and vehicle, I prepared for our long-awaited trip! J Once we had everything lodged in and snug, we hit the road, stopping about half way for the night.
The next morning we got up fairly early, after a restless and sleepless night, and traveled on, completing the last leg of our journey to family camp! Reunions, hugs, and laughter, filled my heart and I just lavished every second with my dear friends-the main highlight of the trip!
When we first got there I was waiting around, looking for a particular friend. Finally I saw their car drive by, and I, leaving my parents without any notice or hesitance, ran out of the auditorium through the double doors. Yelling to my sister, who was nearby with some horses, I heard my name being called. Looking to my right, I saw my friend! J It was like as if we were in slow motion, running to one another with arms opened, ready for a jolting embrace! That’s exactly what happened too! Happiness was all my mind knew! J
Then we, literally, ran into some other friends, almost knocking them down with our enthusiasm as we headed over to the cafeteria/lodge to help set up for the lunch meal.
With that through, my sister and I went to help our friends set up their tenting quarters with the contents from their vehicle.
Next came the thunderstorm! After completing the necessary tasks for that moment, we made our way to a cabin where we hung out with old and new friends for the next hour or two. J Fun times! J The rain was torrential. In fact, if I remember correctly it was partly hail at one point. Or maybe that was later on, or both. It was ugly, how it came down so fast, steady, and in such dense quantities. We gladly waited it out in a cabin!
Finally, dinner and the evening meeting! Such great & amazingly inspiring sermons we enjoyed, which would continue four times daily, through Sunday morning.
Thankfully, after the meeting the rain had subsided for the most part and we retreated to our cabin for a disturbed sleep.
It was already late once we got everything situated and in its proper home inside our reserved, temporal space. It must have been near eleven PM by the time I curled up in my sleeping bag, ready as ever for some quietness. But no, it wasn’t to be.
The stupid rat-the stupid, stupid RAT! This little guy (luckily, I never personally encountered “him”) perched himself right above where my head lay, gently, yet not so quietly, scratching at the ceiling. For what seemed like forever, but probably only 10 minutes or less, he was contentedly knawing at the boards above. How annoying the little pest was. At first it totally freaked me out; I was ready to have my dad kill the guy. I even tried knocking on the ceiling, trying to scare him away, but no, that didn’t work either. Finally I was sick of him, and scared he would land on me somehow or someway, but I managed to drown out the sound and muffle the noise, sleeping until… L
So… I’m a morning person, for SURE! It’s just a dead, permanent fact. Well, I know that sometimes my family sometimes gets annoyed with me when I am bubbly in the mornings and they want to sleep (maybe I’m a little annoying too). But I got to experience it for myself. We had this one girl in our cabin who was all jibber, jabber from 5 AM until breakfast at 7:30. Now, I had already dealt with a mouse preventing sleep, and now this… with only 5-6 hours of sleep. I couldn’t believe it! This girl went on and on about her hair, and her sister and this and that. NON-stop! I just wanted to sleep in as long as I could, but no. The showers were running from before 5 until breakfast; there wasn’t a chance I’d be getting up earlier than that to take a shower, it’d have to wait until the short break between breakfast and the first meeting. I was in misery! Tired, groggy, and a little upset, I somehow made it through the rest of the day! Adrenaline can do wonders sometimes! J Tasting my own medicine was not that tasty or fun! But I still enjoy every minute of being a morning person! J
I won’t go on about the meetings, you’ll just have to come next year to experience them for yourselves and I’ll drag you there if I have to! J (Yes, it’s THAT GOOD J)
The food there was fabulous! J
After lunch, the few of us who were available (my sister, 2 other girls, and I) ran down the hill to the lake. We were planning on going canoeing. But when the guy asked us if any of us were over 18… we had to reply with a reluctant “NO.” I didn’t have my cell on me (I’d given it up for fear of ruining it in the water), so I borrowed one to call a friend. No answer. So we quickly ran back up to the cafeteria; time was short, they’d be closing in 20 minutes or so. One of our friends was too busy. Finally, I spotted a friend I’d met the year before. Running up to him, I inquired to be sure, that he was over 18. He was-so we ran back down to the lake with the promise that he would meet us there a couple of minutes later. Once he got there, we were all loaded with the necessary equipment and ready to go. But only 10 minutes left before closing; it’d have to be a very quick trip. We actually were only out for about 7 minutes, but it was fun! Except that one part…L
My friend decided that he was going to rock the canoe, back and forth, from side to side. Now, for those of you who don’t know, I am terrified of water. Any body of water that is deeper than I am tall, murky, or slimy, just plain freaks me out. This was a stretch for me to be out not even in the middle of the lake, though I thoroughly enjoy canoeing with all my heart. With the rocking of the boat, I just was terribly scared. I struggled to express patience! The other three girls screamed at the top of their lungs, but I remained deathly silent. After what seemed forever, it finally subsided and we returned to a somewhat balanced state of being. He then realized that I hadn’t been a participant in the noise of the choir. I then stated that I would appreciate if he didn’t do that again… And what do you know… Before I could explain why, he did it slightly again. After it had once again calmed down, I continued to explain to him to not rock the canoe. He finally figured out that since I was so quiet, that I must be scared of water or really wasn’t enthused by it. Thankfully after that adventure, we rowed safely back to the shore. We quickly exited the craft and made our way to the afternoon meeting.
(Later, come to find out - There didn’t have to be an 18 year old in the canoe, just supervising and watching over (even if from the shore). Oh well, we had fun none-the-less).
On Thursday, Friday, and Sunday there is typically, weather willing, family freeze tag in the afternoons. Thursday, however, was soaked with a torrential (literally) downpour. It hailed so bad over the auditorium, which has a metal roof, during one meeting that we actually had to postpone the meeting because we seriously could NOT hear the speaker over the booming. It sounded as if we were in a tin can, being rolled over a gravel pit. It was horrible, but thankfully our car wasn’t dented. A friend of ours’ tent was slightly damaged though. It rained and hailed like giraffes and elephants (the hail was the size of walnuts) for quite a while, resulting in NO freeze tag. The alternative was “Land (,/&) Sea.” It’s a game where all of the contestants stand on one side of a line. One side is determined to be “Sea” and the other “Land.” When the positions are called out, you must move accordingly. If you move incorrectly, you’re out. Playing with 200-300 people is really interesting! J I didn’t join in until the last game or two. One time I made it to the last 10-15 people. I had just been unconsciously moving back and forth. I decided that I better start focusing on my movements more and more. Well, wrong-o. As soon as I looked down at my feet, I instantaneously messed up and was out. Oh well! It’s just a game! But hey, I beat the rest of my family! J That’s better than nothing.
Friday was an extremely jam-packed day. We had meetings, as usual, and went canoeing for about 10 minutes again. But this time freeze tag was permitted! J I actually was able to participate this year, whereas last year I was down with a cold and stuck inside, looking on at the racing crowds. We must have played for an hour and by the end I was exhausted, yet refreshed all at the same time.
Right afterward, we barely caught the last hayride for the day! J Pulled by two Clydesdale horses, we relaxed on bales of hay, enjoying the peace, solitude, and serenity. It’s amazing how those huge draft horses are capable of pulling literally a TON (in lbs.) of people on such a rugged road.
Dinner was fabulous! HAYSTACKS, my absolute favorite Adventist meal! J You wouldn’t believe how high I stacked my (first :D) plate! Then came seconds! J I have a feeling they probably lost money on that meal! KIK (inside joke, for Nana! KIK)
Sabbath morning I amazingly made it to the showers before breakfast. Some gracious soul preserved enough warm water too! J What a thought!
The campus held many more people that day, as many just attend for the weekend.
Here is where the adventuresome scene comes in! After lunch, most of my friends hit the water. But my parents had restricted us from going today. They had explicitly announced for ONLY FAMILIES to be canoeing, TOGETHER. Several of my friends disobeyed, but my sister and I stuck to the rules. One of my friends, however, stayed behind with me! Thanks for that! J
As we sat in the leaky sailboat and watched those who were out, skimming the tide, we decided to scout out the lake. We only had 30-45 minutes, so we couldn’t dilly-dally, but we believed we could do it! J We skirted around the shore, amused by the zillions of seashells which must have been imported to this manmade basin. There is an old truck on the adjacent beach that we had investigated the year prior, and I wanted to see it once more. I thought it would a good place for a photo shoot of my friends and I; portraits as groups and singles. Unfortunately (Or was it very fortunate? You’ll soon find out!) I had forgotten my camera back at the auditorium. Oh well. I was quite upset when I saw a picturesque setting… There were two geese resting in tall grass on a hill next to the reflecting lake with trees just beyond, bright blue skies; it was a beautiful moment! Then the geese took off, flying low over the lake across the opposite side. I just wanted to slap myself for my “mistake” or forgetfulness, once again. I also saw a lovely butterfly on a flower, but it was all in vain. I must stop wishing for my camera. Surprisingly the shore was hardly muddy at all, as we thought it would have been. We finally reached the rusty, old, broken-windowed, half-sunken into mud, International truck. It wouldn’t be a good place for photos at this point in time. It was a little too muddy from the recent rains and the weeds were a bit high for any real convenience.
Glancing at the time on my phone, I realized that we had better be heading back if we wanted to be on time for the following meeting. We were just about to turn back, when my friend estimated that we were about “half-way” around the enclosed (visible) reservoir. We guessed that it would take us about the same amount of time to complete our journey, by just continuing forward. Ha ha! Big joke! But we wouldn’t find that out for some time yet. We quickly set out on foot, counterclockwise, to circle around. Soon after that we encountered a barbed wire fence, which we had to safely pass under. It wasn’t long after that either, however that things got messy! And do I mean MESSY! J
We were just a “tad” (KIK) wrong about it being muddy. At least up until this leg of the journey. It wasn’t too terrible to begin with, but a turn-for-the-worse was just around the bend. Crossing leaky streams of inlets of water, we soon discovered the ground was extremely wet; almost entirely! We had to leap across miniature ponds, trek over little rivers, yet we assumed it would be somehow “drier” (understatement :D) underneath the fallen leaves and brush. Finally at one point, past the point of no return, we struggled to find narrow-enough passages to traverse over, yet it still only looked as if we were half way around. Weird thought-it must be our eyes playing tricks on us! Well those leaves that we judged to be hiding drier land underneath were very deceptive. They misled me quite a bit. As I ventured over yet another flowing stream among dozens (at least), I made some miscalculation and landed on a WET patch of leaves. Sliding and slipping, I struggled for my balance as my shoes sunk into 3 inch deep mud! My white shoes that weren’t so white any more, I suctioned out of the gapping earth. I checked the time again. We would be late at this rate, but it shouldn’t be much further. We ended up going farther and farther from the direction we should have gone, due to the fact that we didn’t want to have to swim our way there. We hadn’t been able to see a section of the lake that was very low and just little inlets here and there, but un-passable. We had thought it would be a clear cut around.
For sake of time, I’ll spare you of going on for the rest of the length of our adventure. But as you can tell, it was just that, an adventure! For sure! We finally made it back, 15-30 minutes late, with mud on the hems of my pants, in my shoes, and flicked over the back of my shirt and sleeve, from when I yanked my foot up backwards. Yet for fear of being scolded, we hurriedly rushed to the auditorium where we knew our parents would be wondering about us. It was fun!
Except… J Two days later… Back at home on Monday afternoon… We were just unpacking everything and getting back into a routine. When I noticed what looked like a scab. I thought, “That’s funny, I don’t remember doing anything…” Well for some reason I picked at it, but it wouldn’t come off. I finally got tweezers and pulled it off. Taking a closer look, I screamed when I realized it had legs! Legs-that were moving and kicking about. I ran to my mom and asked her what kind of bug it was!?! She replied, “That’s a tick. Where did you find it?” I freaked out! I immediately had my mom search my head for any others. She then said, “Did you know you have a scab on the back of your shoulder?” Knowing I had mistaken the other for a scab, I screamed in horror. I panicked suddenly and began screaming! J Dead serious! That un-tolerable sound you heard the beginning of April, that was me believe it or not. I called to my sister to grab the tweezers, and my mom yanked it off after the 2nd try. I literally screamed at the top of my lungs until the ordeal was over with. Anyway, I was glad that was over with, but still freaked by the whole experience and still am to this day. The really scary part is that they carry Lyme disease, which can be gruesome in some cases. No symptoms have shown, and it’s almost 2 months later, so it seems to be all clear! J The bite, on my shoulder, though is still irritated sometimes, but I keep picking at it, so that may be the cause. I’m allergic to band-aids (the adhesive), so I can’t even put one on to keep my poking fingers away. The only thing I could think of, although they warn you at Family Camp of ticks, is that I “contracted” them from my experience in the woods/swamp that Saturday. L
Every year at family camp, they serve a light, complementary meal of popcorn, fruit, and salad on Sabbath evenings. Last year they couldn’t have it outdoors because of weather issues. This year, however, J they were able to and it made the moment even more memorable.
But before the supper, all my friends and I gathered together behind the cafeteria (overlooking the lake, from up on the hill) at the gazebo for the portraits that I’d been planning on doing. One of my friends, who wasn’t included in our GIRLY gang J, was gracious enough to take the group pictures for/of us all! Thanks, man! All of the pictures turned out exceptionally well, but I have yet to send them to their rightful owners! My bad; sorry guys, I’ll try to do that soon!
Dinner was so scrumptious! It was so cool to see a couple hundred people gathered about on the lawn (I’ll post pictures from a view taken from down below). Very memorable! J
Sunday morning, that’s the tear-jerker. It really is! The splitting of bound friends, it’s just very emotional. At the very last meeting they always have EVERYONE gather in a big circle around the auditorium to sing “Family, We are Family.” I kept thinking all through it, “I’m not going to cry.” But then when my sister broke through and at the end my friends were crying, I couldn’t help myself. And I just have to say it again to y’all, “I am truly blessed to have each and every one of you guys as my friends! You each have a special place in my heart! J”
We then returned to our lodging places and loaded our vehicle, preparing to leave when it was time. We ate lunch in the cafeteria and then with final fare-wells and many tears, parted to our different homes!
That’s basically the end of my story! Wow, 5 pages long and I’ve finally completed explaining about a 5 day event! KIK J
Hope you all enjoyed it. And for those of y’all who went, I hope you enjoyed reminiscing! And to those who haven’t yet gone, PLAN TO! You won’t have any regrets!
Have a great rest of your day!
God bless,
`janelle`
(p.s. I guess I’ll have to tell about more “recent” events another time. At least this is a start; a long start, but a start! J)
