"It's called zoomed in candids. It's this thing I made up."

When camp friends get together you never know what's going to happen. Maybe a whole table of girls will break out in singing Johnny Appleseed for grace in the middle of a crowded restaurant.

 

Maybe Monica and Courtney will jump and demonstrate the choreography for all of "I believe in a thing called love" in their new musical Shrek. Maybe Odle will launch little balls of paper at you, aiming for your plate, all of dinner. I just never know what to expect.

Emma Flynn's birthday was last week and it made me realize it had been far too long since I'd last seen the Cathedral seniors that go to Tecumseh. Tonight Maddy and I drove down from Fishers together to meet Odle, E Flynn, K Max, Court, Monica and Anna for Noodles. They're loud and fun and just hilarious.

All seven of these girls are working Day Camp this summer and they're stoked. They're already planning Tecumseh County Days and brainstorming DC awards. I'm so excited for them to be counselors and for them to work with all the new members of the staff.

Today I'm thankful for old friends, being real with Maddy, warm weather, cute aggression, strawberry lemonade and being lucky enough to live close to so many Tecumseh people.

"I went to Riverside too. I think we were friends."

Smoon and Vettie's room at Drake was filled with cool crafts. I took pictures of a couple that I wanted to try to duplicate. After school today I made this one and I love it.

 

It's actually a lot easier to make then you would first expect.

1. The glitter background is actually just a piece of glitter scrap booking paper that I found at Michael's.
2. The words are paint penned on the inside of the glass. Smoon and Vettie had an anchor on theirs and I found these words online. I figured out how to flip the image before I printed it off to make it easier.
3. I taped the flipped image to the front of the glass so it wouldn't move around as I traced the letters on the back side of the glass.
4. Put the paper in the finished frame and you're finished.

I've also found a use for all the scraps I cut off the end of my friendship bracelets. I've got a huge bag of the short pieces now. I'm braiding them together into several super long cords that will be the lanyards for wooden name tags this summer at camp. I'm predicting they'll be the next big thing.

Today I finally gave friendship bracelets to the rest of the 8th grade boy Lunch Crew. Two had already "earned" them with a 360 basketball trick and by making one for me, but I had boy-colored bracelets for the other five guys. Their reaction was one I won't soon forget. These 13 and 14 year old boys were beyond pumped to get a bracelet. They were freaking out as they had me help tie them on their wrists before they ran to class. One of the boys came back twice in the afternoon to say thank you.

Young Life is the best. Or in the words of one of my YL girls, "Young Life makes Mondays suck less." She's right. After a week away on Spring Break I was more than ready to be reunited with this Young Life family. Natty, Maggie and Maddy all had stories of their adventures. I love that Abby and Nat Rat weren't even trying to look like twins but it just happens because they're soul mates.

 

I've so missed the freshmen girls Julia, Olivia and Kaelyn. Tonight I got to meet Morgan for the first time. She was on Spring Break with Julia last week so of course Julia told her all about Young Life and taught her how to make bracelets. I was thrilled when Morgan pulled out a zig zag bracelet for me at the end of Campaigners. We're officially friends now.

I'm thinking Nick, Ryan and Carter need to form a band. They were all just jamming out at the beginning tonight and then Ryan invited them to play the first couple songs with him. Their trio was a sweet thing to watch. I hope they'll do that again soon.

I love getting to lead with friends like Jackie and KCraig who love God and these kids so much. Their faith just oozes out of them and you just know that they believe with all their heart. I'm so thankful that our leadership team just keeps growing and evolving. Tonight we had three new potential leaders come to check things out. Sometimes we freak out about how many kids we have compared to leaders, but God is good and faithful and he will continue to meet our needs here.

We read through John 19 together tonight. The chapter is an eyewitness account of Christ's trial and death. It was really cool to just read the whole text together, stopping to talk about confusing things or to ask questions.

These girls each have a foundation of faith--they go to church, have been coming to YL, went to camp or read the Story with us last year. The more that they hear the gospel the more it takes root. There are still some things they're not sure of but they are so much more confident in this story than they were a year ago. Now they can articulate the facts and what it means to them.

"I think I saw pioneers here once." "You mean Amish?" "Oh yeah, they were Amish."

I was back home in Fishers this weekend and the fun of Spring Break was not over yet. Saturday afternoon I picked up Brookie to play. We went exploring in the woods, found some cool rocks, climbed a tree, balanced on logs, learned about "Yes" sticks and avoided the mud. We got milkshakes afterwards as we talked about Disciple, Spring Break and coming back to life here.

 

Maggie and Elise both just returned from their trips and I spontaneously went on a bike ride with them. They live just a neighborhood over so it was super easy to meet up with them and then ride past our friends' houses.

Lulu and Beau were home with their dad so we stopped to hang out with them for a little bit too. We practiced riding hands free and pedaled hard up the big hill.

Katy P was at a softball game all afternoon but it worked out for us to have a spontaneous (are you catching on to the theme here) dinner at El Rodeo. I miss seeing her every single week but love when we get to hang out like this and get stuffed on Mexican food.

Sunday morning I went to Northview, happy to be back at my church. The sermon was all about taking the risk to invite someone to church or tell them about your faith. There were new stories and good ideas to think about.

Julia returned from Gulf Shores this afternoon and a trip to Michael's was a necessity for both of us. After a week of friendship bracelet making our supplies were both almost empty. She had a couple shades of green left and I had two things of red string. Can't do much with that.

We sounded like such bracelet nerds as we picked out the string saying things like, "Oh I love this shade of coral," and "I'm such a fan of navy lately. It's just such a good accent color." We've replenished our supplies and should be ready to bracelet again with any color combination possible.

Spring weather was in full force this afternoon and I even went out for a run around the lake. While I watched more of Parenthood Season 5 I started a new project. I've figured out a use for all the string scraps from the end of finished bracelets. I'm turning them into the long necklace cords we put on our wooden name tags at camp in the summer. I have a feeling these could be a hit.

Tomorrow we'll go back to school and real life after being on break for the past ten days. It's normal to complain about that transition but I'm excited to go back. I love my life. I can't wait to see kids and other teachers at school. Tomorrow night I'll get to go to Young Life and later this week I'll see more Indy friends. If your life isn't something you're excited about then maybe you should change it.

Top 10 Things Nobody Thinks At Camp Tecumseh

Handwritten letters have always and will always be one of my favorite things. One of my pen pals for the past couple years has been a camper from Tecumseh named Carolyn. She is a rock star camper and a phenomenal human being. I love getting to know her more through the written accounts of her life when we're not living the dream together in the summer. Carolyn and I have been including Top 10 Lists in our letters to each other for awhile now. Today I got a letter from her that contained this list that made me laugh out loud. I had to share it.

Top 10 Things Nobody Thinks At Camp Tecumseh

1. Wow, she's probably a terrible person.
2. I hope it rains today.
3. This fountain water is amazing!
4. Let's not put flies on anyone today.
5. Sleepouts are so warm.
6. No one wears Crocs anymore.
7. Let's sing quietly.
8. Will anyone notice if my socks don't match?
9. I can't wait for Saturday.
10. Did I finish my homework?

"Good thing you guys aren't the SS. Cause that would be bad... Nazi jokes... Ok bye."

Wednesday and Thursday in Des Moines with the Mooney sisters were filled with more of my favorite things. I got to sleep in, hang out with these friends, read, watch Parenthood, make bracelets and go on some adventures. The girls took me to this really cool coffee house called Smokey Row. If I went to Drake I would totally come here to study all the time too.

Thursday night I got to visit their church Hope for a mid-week service. This place is one that Sar talks about so often and I know that it means so much to her. The sermon was all about the body of Christ and using our gifts--though it's a fairly common topic it was done in a fresh, new, inspiring way. I would love to use the content as a Club talk this semester or a devotion this summer.

I'm so thankful for the time I got to spend with Michelle and Sarah this week. They are awesome friends and I love getting to just be with them. I'm beyond thrilled that they'll both be back at Tecumseh this summer.

Friday morning I woke up before the crack of dawn to start driving back to Indiana. Oh holy, I never realized how far away Iowa really is. I listened to another book on tape, grabbed lunch and somewhere around 3 in the afternoon I made it to Alpha Phi in Greencastle. Many Tecumseh girls have called this sorority home over the years but today I got to see my friends Chrissy, Mary and Molly. They were getting ready for a Derby themed informal and the house was a whirl of activity. It was a quick visit but so, so good to see all of them.

Arielle, one of my very best friends, still lives in Greencastle so we met up to hang out for a little. Arielle missed camp last year but is coming back to CILTs again and I couldn't be more excited. Sitting with her this afternoon was such a reflection of the things I love most about our friendship. One minute we're talking about something really serious and important, the next we're laughing to the point of tears over the ridiculous idea of CILTs serving their cabins like waiters with towels over their arms. I can't wait till we're every day kind of friends again soon.

I jumped in the car again and drove North to Purdue for a camp friends dinner. We packed Noodles and had to split up to different sides of the restaurant because there were so many of us. Not everyone even made it in the picture, but it was quite the grand finale to my spring break road trip. I love sitting around a table with all of these people listening to multiple conversations at once and getting up to hug each new person that comes inside.

Erin and Tina both drove over from their colleges today to surprise their camp friends too so it was an extra special reunion. They are both such charismatic, independent, kind and positive people-- I love being around them.

Lizzy and Karisa are rock stars and I love how they've become even better friends this year at school together. It's killing me that they won't be back at Tecumseh this summer but I'm confident that they will do great things. I'm crossing my fingers that they'll make it back another year to be on res staff.

I've missed Irene tons and it was so good to see her tonight. We both lived in the Longhouse last summer and I just love her spirit and heart. Sophie was a CILT last summer and will soon be working on the DC staff. She is phenomenal and I'm lucky to call her such a good friend.

Gabi and Julia don't go to Tecumseh but I've gotten to know them through Soph and I love that they were there tonight. We got fro yo and told more stories before I started the last leg of my drive back home.

This week has taken me all over the place, to see so many friends that I've missed lately. I'm lucky to know all of them and lucky that I was able to show up in their lives in the last couple days. The traveling part of my break may be over but there is still a weekend of adventures ahead.

"This goes against everything you stand for in the fb world."

Sar and I flew back to Chicago from TX on Monday evening. My next destination is Iowa, but I couldn't be in the city and not see camp girls. This means I woke up before the sun, drove to La Grange and met Chachi, Ella, Nina, Em and Kat at Starbucks before school. So early and so worth it. I loved being able to sit with them while they were still half asleep, Emily was finishing English homework, they're talking about class and Spring Break and just living real life. This is exactly what I get to do with my Young Life girls at home but it was special to have the chance to just be with these girls today.

I dropped Emily off at school early for test corrections and Nina and Kat told me to just come into school with them. I've had LT campers since I first started being a counselor and have visited this city a dozen times but have never actually been in the school.

Showing up at LT high school on a Tuesday morning is definitely a surprise. We spotted both Maeve and Val before they saw me. I called their names and then hugged them both. They each got tears in their eyes and were just so confused, "Why are you here?" Rain and Maddie knew that I'd be there and I luckily got to see them for a second too. I saw Blaze and met their friend Caria who has never been to camp but told me she loves Tecumseh and even pointed out that it's #tecumsehtuesday. When the bell rang the girls went to class and I headed back to my car. Such a great adventure before it was even 8am.

The biggest chunk of my day was spent in the car driving to Iowa. Never did I ever think I'd visit Iowa. My friend Brenna Boat at Hope was from Pella, Iowa and I knew Michelle and the Mooney's went to Drake. Other than those connections, I didn't really know anything about the state.

One of my goals for this year was to visit Sarah Mooney at Drake. She's a Senior and I wanted to be able to see her life and meet her friends here before she graduates. I remember when I was at Hope that I wished my camp friends could see that campus and the people that made it feel like home. So I set my GPS for Des Moines and headed West. My leisurely ride was filled with a book on CD (I felt like my parents), Diet Coke, pit stops at Subway and an outlet mall, and lots of wide open land dotted with silos and barns.

I made it to Drake and was elated to be reunited with Smoon, one of my very best friends. She showed me around DG and introduced me to a couple friends. Michelle, aka Peanut aka Sarah's sister, came over after class to hang out with us. Peanut is a riot and I'm so glad I'll get to play with her this week too.

Smoon and I were in Teton together in 2007 and have been friends ever since. This past summer we were CILT counselors together and I loved getting to work side by side with her. I'm so thrilled that we'll both be returning as CILT counselors this upcoming summer.

We ate dinner with Peanut which was filled with funny and random stories. I hung out in Peanut's dorm for awhile and met her friends before going back to DG for the night. Sar and I are just really good at being friends whether we're having a heart to heart or making lists or watching TV. I'm excited to get to spend the next couple days just being part of her life here.

I met Michelle when she was just a Blazer, later got to be her CILT counselor and these days she's on staff with me. Really crazy to think I've watched her grow up in a sense. She's precious and I'm so glad that I'll get to play with her here too.

We had been talking about April Fool's Day jokes but hadn't done one yet. I had the idea to post the following on Instagram at about 10:00. Smoon and I felt pretty confident that people would comment for a free friendship bracelet. We just kept hitting refresh on my phone as we watched all of the comments poor in. In just 15 minutes there were over 100 comments on the picture and only about 5 people that asked if it was for April Fools. 

Once all the comments were in I posted this to let people know it had just been a joke. Sorry I couldn't randomly pass out 100 friendship bracelets today but it was pretty funny.