"Baby you're CILT-tastic"

Today was a very big day...

We had our first chapel in the River Village Green Cathedral. I love this place and the way the light shines through all the layers of leaves. Singing The Desert Song made me feel like we were back home while also making me miss Jamie Z.

At the end of chapel Scott announced that the Village Directors had stolen the cabin assignments and were hiding all over River Village. The counselors had to sprint out of chapel to find the directors and a clue that would lead them to their partner.

Their clues were pieces that were half of a puzzle that would complete their cabin name. They need to find the person that had the other half. Once they figured that part out, they would also know what unit they were in.

CILT counselors already know where we'll be, but we get to watch the joy as everyone else finds out. Tucker and Dan in Blazers, Emily and Margeaux in Warriors.

I wish you could have been there to see Kevyn and Soaps realize they were Brave partners. The girls freaked out-- screaming, jumping on one another and pushing each other away in disbelief.

Maggie and Amy are in Teton with Steph and Claire next door in Seminole.

Molly and Suzanne are going to be partners in Catawba. More disbelief and utter excitement from this pair.

Abby and Grace Coffey are together in Seminole.

Katherine and Allison are in Blazers.

Becca, Maeve and Linsey are a triple in Cherokee.

That means these five are all sharing a porch together. I'm a bit jealous of how much fun they're going to have.

I'd also love to be on this porch with Amy, Steph, Claire and Maggie. Anna and Natalia are together in the OT.

I'm afraid Ellyn might try to sneak over and join their cabin. 

Erin O'Awesome and Aline are together in Blazers. Liz Koch and Abby Murin are in Pathfinders.

Ellyn and I wanted a oh-my-gosh-I-can't-believe-you're-my-partner-picture so we made it happen. Laurie and Becca are back together for summer number two.

Emerson, Riley and Kyle are all together. Alli and Abby are so excited to be in Fox.

We saw all the Warriors at the tennis courts.

Said hello to the Pathfinders over at Irving.

Then it was time for the CILTs to get in some quality CILT Pack time.

Mel told us that our unit is stacked this summer. I like to think so too. I'm so pumped about getting to spend the next six weeks working with Arielle, Smooney and Mike.

The Longhouse is always my favorite place and I can't wait for our first 30 girls to check in five days from now. We're ready to lead devotions, dance parties, adventures, conversations and snack times with them. 

While everyone else was with their units we finished and perfected our Staff Training CILT Cheer to the tune of Classic by MKTO

Oooh CILTs you're shining,
like those brown t-shirts you're rocking.
Not doing clinics like you used to, the Riv's still so in style.

Ooh CILTy babies,
this camp will get crazy,
Extreme backpacking, singing dancing.
We just wanna make you smile.

I wanna play with campers, I wanna be your best friend.
Tecumseh is our favorite place, please let us stay.
We'll always be fun like this.

We're here for two weeks, it's gonna fly by.
Braves, Blazers, Warriors we're gonna survive.
Those Brova boys, and the girls with mad tricks.
Baby you're CILT-tastic, Baby you're CILT-tastic.
Baby you're CILT-tastic. Do Good! Have Fun! CILT Pack!

Bonus points to you if you noticed that our CILT hats this summer have changed to teal. We're pretty pumped about them.

For the past 24 hours the LV pop machine has been out of Diet Coke. Imagine my surprise when Molly walked into the fellowship room holding a can of DC. She saw my shock and said, "There is a God and he lives in River Village." I immediately headed outside to get my own DC and met up with some other Diet Coke drinkers. Cheers!

Some of the greatest people I've ever met are Camp Tecumseh people. Women like Abby, Claire, Anna, Liz, Jackie, Arielle, Erin and Alli are the kind of people you want to be able to hang out with all summer long. Their kindness, energy, positivity and genuine love make this community even better.

Linsey and I get excited every time we see each other and I'm thrilled that she's going to be here all summer. Erin O'Awesome the Junior Olympian is one of my favorite people not only because of her love of Great Danes and her ability to start a conversation with anyone.

Ellyn and I spontaneously made up our own cheer for ourselves today to the tune of "My Favorite Things,"

Will Smith and Young Life, and Sponge Bob and 7th grade
Cold Sprite and Diet Coke, and Nerd Ropes and Snap Backs
Bright friendship bracelets all tied up with string, these are a few of our favorite things
When you're ELLYN, When you're SARAH
When you're in Choctaw, we simply remember our favorite things and then we don't feel so sad. 

Arielle finally convinced Scott to bring Boone over to camp so he could hang out with the CILT Pack for awhile.

Four rotation groups came to hang out with us this afternoon.

But the best part was after dinner. The CILT counselors raced on the Optimist Challenge (Mike won) and then our 5-person CILT Pack completed Ants On A Log. We let our last group attempt THE Puzzle and they finished all of the levels.

While the group worked on solved the puzzle, Arielle and Ellyn were busy with a nature art project.

Arielle had a whole Acorn Family Hand-- (left to right) Dog, Mom, Dad, Too-Cool Son, Angsty Teenage Daughter.

They had a whole collection of rock people including the baby in the cradle and multiple pairs of conjoined twins. This is what creativity looks like.

The highlight of the night was the Partner Pow-Wow. Each unit sent partner pairs up front to compete in the Newlywed Game. I got to participate in the first round with Ellyn and then later with Arielle. We dominated the competition-- Ellyn loves Nerd Ropes, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, not cleaning things up right away and doing the motions at chapel. Arielle knows I love Love Tanks, I'm usually the person doing the chapel wrap-up, and that if I have a nights off request I'll just come talk to her about it.

Liz, Anna and Molly led a really cool devotion for our two cabins tonight. They led us on a prayer walk to a couple different locations around Lake Village. We prayed for activities, chapels, campers, kids' families back at home, and our co-counselors. Lastly we wrote letter to ourselves that we'll get back later this summer. I love this time of day and that it's such a priority here at camp. I just know that God has big plans for all of us this summer.