Breakfast was interrupted with the Cluck Commander characters and Uncle Pie on his riding recliner. They announced that this morning we would all be competing in the annual volleyball tournament. We had to race back to our cabins to get dressed in a uniform for the games.
White River came back as a whole bunch of Waldos. I think we look pretty good.
And we're pretty good at hiding. Where are the 18 Waldos?
I LOVE getting to lead with Hannah again this summer. She and I balance one another so well and I always feel like we've got each other's backs. We're in this together. Even though she doesn't get to see these girls all year long she's still totally invested and cares so much about them.
I love getting to see Ella and get to know her better this week.
All of HSE grouped up before we started competing against one another. We're a pretty good looking crew.
The girls took the initiative to stretch out before we began.
The Sweet Water girls were looking really great and ready for competition too.
We practiced our pyramid building and found that while this might not be our strength we are good at enthusiasm.
We could win sloppy points by winning tug of war, catching frisbees, home run derby, telling jokes or doing stupid human tricks.
It didn't take long to figure out that we're REALLY good at the tug of war. We went undefeated all afternoon which was as surprising to us as it was to everyone else.
We also played three different volleyball games against kids from other schools.
Our girls dominated the court and did such a good job of working together.
On the Other court we won again and had so much fun.
Our group did cartwheels to earn some tokens...
We were just running all around the area getting tokens and winning games. It was easy to spot all of our friends in our matching Waldo outfits.
The boys did such an awesome job in their games too. Our cabin won the girls tournament, our other girls cabin won the most tokens, and one of our guy cabins won the boys tournament.
It's our second year together at camp and our tradition to go climb a tree after the team tournament. Last year we were inspired because Alli Bell had never climbed a tree before. Now she's not afraid to try anything.
We had time to play before lunch and everyone headed down to the pool.
These gymnasts and cheerleaders are beasts on the diving board.
Nat Rat is my favorite at this-- girl has the moves down.
It's so cool that we get to be here all week with our best friends. Sometimes we have scheduled things to do and others we get to just hang out, but I love that we can experience all of this together.
Seriously the flips and jumps were insane.
Everyone is already having so much fun and it's crazy that we've been here less than a day.
We spotted Sunny walking across camp and got a celebrity picture with her. I love that we get to see the assign team out and about during the day.
When people didn't double tap during lunch today they could either chug the rest of their drink or take a dare. Haley's turned out the prettiest for sure.
We had free time all afternoon and headed to the Giant Swing right away with our friends.
Me, Audrey and Nat Rat
Kyndal, Soph and Payton
Butler, Haleigh and Hannah
Ali, Marie and Allison
I'm so glad that Hannah is here with us this week and that she is finally getting to experience camp. It's sweet that she, Haleigh and Butt are all on the same cheer team this year and that they get to bring the culture of YL with them.
Olivia, Haley and Jenna were so nervous to go.
Their faces as they dropped were priceless. Then a bunch of us went to try out the climbing wall.
The girls were all stoked to scale the wall like a boss.
We headed back out to try more of the things all over camp. They have two wet willies that you can go down head first or somersault down or stand up and slide down.
Next we all headed over to the giant blob to rocket our friends into the sky.
You jump off this huge platform, crawl down to the end and then get shot into the air.
I wish you could hear everyone screaming, "WOOOAAAAHHH" as each person flew through the air.
We got to go down the zip line a couple times too. You walk a path through the woods and up a hill to a giant tower. Your harness gets clipped onto the zip line and then you just jump off. I love the first part when you're flying through the trees so high above the ground. You crash land into the water and though it's terrifying it's not that bad. Once you go once you've got to go again.
I found Ella and Nina on the pool deck starting friendship bracelets. I taught them how to make the hardcore and we hung out for awhile. This pair is so great, I'm a big fan.
After dinner Ryan made a comment about how it would be fun to flip down the hill. I challenged him to actually do it and got Hannah, Stephen and Ryan to do it too.
Champs. They're hardcore.
I ran into the guys who were dressed up in their best shirts and jerseys. They'd all just bought matching sweatbands from the camp store.
Hannah and Chad are two of the sophomores that have been a huge part of YL all year long. These two are leaders at school and in our group and I'm so thankful for both of them. Natalie and Audrey never miss a moment at YL and have grown so much in their faith this year.
I got to be triplets with Nick and Jake tonight which was such a good time.
The work crew brought out an incredible dessert tonight-- a pan of sugar cookie topped with strawberries, ice cream and cinnamon whip cream. We all dove in with our forks at the same time and devoured the whole thing. Delicious.
We had just a little bit of time before club started which meant we had the perfect opportunity to take more pictures with our friends.
There are perfect spots to rock and talk all over camp. I love spotting kids just hanging out and watching camp happen all around them.
Our kids packed into the front of the Club room tonight and went crazy singing the songs and going crazy together.
JoJo got super close to Olivia which she thought was awkwardly hilarious. JD and Ben got to be in the first game up front.
Ben was attached to a rope so he was suspended in the air. JD then pushed Ben into the wall so that he could hit all the lights to turn them on. They won their first battle and got to go to the championship round.
We heard more from Crock about the person of Christ tonight. He told us stories that show how Jesus was popular, compassionate and powerful. When we went back to our cabins we got to dive more into those words and where we get our impressions of Christ.
I love the lyrics of this song, especially these last lines, "I just wanna live my life like it was meant to be." As we sat in a circle in our cabin tonight that was absolutely the underlying theme of what the girls were sharing. In our conversation walls came down and we were vulnerable and honest with one another. We talked about image and confidence and perfectionism and how following those things just leads to brokenness, feeling even more empty and like you'll never measure up.
We kept talking and sharing in our circle so long that we didn't go back to the Club room for the talent night. But you know, I'm so confident that being together in that room was exactly where we were supposed to be. Tonight God did some major work breaking down walls around our hearts and opening our eyes to see more of what life should be about, what freedom might feel like. Christ's love totally works like these lyrics, "Like a wave crashing on the shore, your love carried me home to you." For many of these girls they've felt like they're getting thrown around in this deep ocean and it's hard to keep their head above water, but Christ is their the whole time. It's when they stop trying to fight the waves that they can actually be carried back home again.
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