1 second = 1 minute

let me just say that, even though it's tuesday, wednesday night bonfires are the most fun ever.  i mean we do s'mores and have a fire and roast marshmellows and throw football and frisbee and do ladder ball and i'm gonna pull out the giant lawn jenga and we get to know people and.... yeah!  the picture, from right to left, is ashely, jacob, forrest (aka farst) and diana.  

i had a daydream about the funtrain today whilst out on the beach with cole.  (the fun train is a lawn mower with a fiberglass casing which makes it look like a train and it pulls carts that people sit in!) some people were playing horseshoes next to us and i heard a "DING" which sounded horrifically close to the "DING" of the funtrain, and i thought it was coming for me.  i jerked up and sand went everywhere.  ....that's kinda the end of that story.  now that i think about it, that's a pretty dumb story to blog about, i'm sorry for those last 37 seconds of your life that i just wasted!

ok so.... i was getting ready to eat this frozen cookie dough sundae, and it looked kinda iffy, and it ended up tasting kinda iffy too, but the box said that you could leave it out for 5 minutes in room temperature to thaw, or microwave it for 5 seconds to thaw.  i didn't believe it one bit.  so i put it in for 5 seconds, and i'll be dad-gummed if it didn't thaw!  in other words...1 second in microwave = 1 minute of room temperature.  so obviously, if water boils in around 2 minutes in a microwave, you leave water out for 2 hours and it also boils.  this, also obviously, is the case with my shower now.  something went horribly wrong.  there is now no "cold" setting, i turn it on, and no matter where i turn it, it's absolutely scaldingly piping hot!  the first day i waited for 10 minutes for the hot water to run out, and it never did, so i stuck my head under for a millisecond, then screamed, then threw some shampoo on, stuck my head under, screamed, stuck my head under again, screamed and yelled, and shut the water off.  unfortunately shutting the water off required my hand to go under the hot water so i also screamed then.  so the past few days my voice has been shot after the first 15 minutes of my day!

i bought bananas last week.  i forgot about the bananas i bought last week.  i remembered the bananas today.  the bananas are still good!   we got 14 comp. tickets to the outer banks music showcase tonight!  YIPEEE!!!  i'm super excited!  i also think i'm going to go out on the beach tonight with the 4D maglite, which i found batteries for at the dollar store, and i'm gonna do some crab hunting, or at least have fun chasing them around.  you are all invited.  after maybe possibly applebees for the half-off appetizers.  that's all for now!  if you can fix my shower i'll help with gas. 

continuation of continuing

so....i think i'm bipolar.  maybe not on a need-medical-attention-immediately level of bipolarness, but a definite bipolarity of some sort.  the day will start out with me getting up...which is never good, because i can't ever get as much sleep as i need and i can't ever seem to pull myself out of bed at the right time, so the beginnings of days are never quite good for me.  some people have good days and bad days....i have good minutes and bad minutes.  it's like a wooden roller coaster, i mean it's all shaky and bumpy and crazy and you're always halfway scared that this thing is completely gonna break down and you're gonna go smashing toward the ground taking 40 million 2X4s with you.  it goes from super excited in the first minute, deep loneliness even though i'm surrounded by people in the second minute, frustrated in the third minute, energetic in the fourth minute, and back to exhausted in the fifth.  sometimes the second and third minutes last a little longer than the rest, and occasionally the first and the fourth will combine to make one super awesome minute!

an example of a super awesome minute....skit show last night.  we probably had 120 people around the stage watching us do our craziness.  Go Ministries came and did a few skits during the show and it was great!  here's a picture from me and ryan's old lady / funny hands skit!   i'm also going to upload audio from another chris/ryan skit called the drive thru to my facebook page, but i probably won't get to that till tomorrowish.  YAY for days off!  i've gotta go see Get Smart.  but i'm running out of money.  Even though i've been working for like 2 months, i've lost money being down here!  gas, food, trips, food, gas, gradually paying off things, gas, food.  crazy.  

surfer steve is out teaching a few of the summershiners how to surf as i type this, and JASMINE, our newest summershiner is watching the pools!  She is super super super cool.  Guys night out was last night and we went to hot tuna for burgers and fries and saw some drunken islanders doing karaoke.  quite the thrill!  we seriously are having an amazing turnout with all the activities and stuff.  i mean the whole campground is filling up, and the whole campground is turning out for stuff.  if there are other summershiners reading this, don't get discouraged!  we had our weeks with zeros.  and even if the massive numbers come, what ultimately matters is the families you are getting close to and what kind of impact Jesus is making on families at the campground through you.  

continuing!

well, i think everyone's had time to read my last post.  time for more blogging!  we are having so many people at activities! sometimes it slightly scares me that 60 people are that into parachute games, whether actually playing or just watching!  also scary:  pirate parades.  i absolutely know that i'm gonna be pulling that pirate ship and some little kid is gonna ride his bike and get piratically smushed by it.  

i was in food lion today, getting food to put in my fridge that i finally have, and the lady checking me out at the register said "you need to get a wife!"  when she saw all my microwavable stuff.   i said...."well....maybe just a working stove for now."  good one, huh?  ALSO OF NOTE:  the post office here is ridiculous, i will be using KOA's box still instead of getting my own.  i mailed my first letter today...ever.  EVER.  for real.  i had to call my mom just to make sure i only needed one stamp.  what a loser.   how crazy is that?  so if anyone, family, friends, is sending me mail...just let me know and i'll bug the fire out of the managers to go check the mail, ok?  k! 

visitors!  this weekend surfer steve, a work camper who the summershiners were able to point to Jesus my first year, is coming to visit for the weekend!  the Virginia Beach summershine staff is also coming down to see us and vacation on either sunday or monday!  or both!  and chris thore is coming on a date that i shall not yet mention just in case any obx staffers are reading this!  woohoooo for visitors!  tuesday night we're going to the outer banks musical showcase thing again for staff night out, last year it was a blast, let's hope the same for this year!  we have a group of about thirty 18-29 year olds staying here this weekend, and they're involved in Go Ministries, and they've gotta band and drama team and they pretty much rock.  also....Jacob's youth pastor named Mister Tom came to visit monday-thursday!  he was a pretty incredible guy.  he gave me the coolest necklace with a cross on it.  and i have been wearing it, and i am super pumped about it.

and i'm super pumped about it because now i'm not just in yellow with koa clothing all over, i am clearly labeled as a Jesus-follower.  and i hope and pray God works through me wearing it, and that will further point people to Him!  

crazy wednesdays!

so, my wednesday actually started out in myrtle beach!  yeah...i took some days off and went and stayed with the myrtle beach summershine staff!  so i got up about 645am....30 minutes later than expected...but still got out the door by 715!  

the real reason for writing this blog is so rumors don't spread with the wrong info about today's events!  me and jenny have ended our dating relationship as of a telephone conversation today on the way back to the outer banks.  it's been coming, i didn't see it as soon as i should have!  important lesson for guys:  love can be smothering.  even when you think you're doing all the right things, sometimes too many right things can be a wrong thing if the other person in the relationship starts feeling overwhelmed.  and that's what happened with jenny and I....i was so caught up loving her that i tried to ignore the warning signs that our love was becoming uneven.  i don't think either of us ever wanted that to happen, but it did!  so breaking up was a mutual thing.  her desires were leaning toward other things, and it was hard for me to accept that, because my love for her got in the way of me REALLY seeing what she needed.  and what she needs right now....is not me.  jenny is a woman after God's own heart.  and she is actively pursuing Him and what He wants out of her.  and that is awesome.  this is just a step we took along the way.

so as you can guess, there was a time for mourning.  and i can already see several reasons that God had in mind when he opened up the door to go to myrtle beach, and one is the car ride back.  i had time to mourn and let what happened really sink in.  then when i got back to my house, about 20 minutes before candy bar bingo was to start, i had a mini-breakdown for about 10 minutes.  i think it's good to cry.  i think some of the best prayers come when you're crying.  for me, emotions can go no farther, sadness reaches it's peak with tears.  but you know what?  at 3 o clock, candy bar bingo happened.  it was there and there was nothing i could do to stop it from coming.  i went, and there were 20 something kids, probably a record at hatteras for candy bar bingo, maybe, and then scheduling and activity planning, fun train, then the s'more bonfire, and meeting with ryan and courtney, and chapel practice, and now here i am.  

in the incredibly wise words of my neighbor, larry mckinney, "well....life goes on."  i can't throw a pity party at my house tomorrow night at 7, because there's the pirate parade.  i am going to miss her, obviously.  i mean this is one of the most massive things that has ever happened to me, i've never grown so close to anyone, ever! 

 but you know where my hope needs to be?  (wow...i've never gone this deep in a blog before.)   my hope doesn't need to be that she'll ever love me again.  my hope needs to be, and has slowly become over the day, that God knows what He's doing, and He's in control, and that He is the pivotal cornerstone of my life.  now that, my friends, is real peace.  that's real joy.  that the creator of the universe is OUR friend.  he's rooting for jenny as she wants to grow closer to him, and he's carrying her through this.  and he's carrying me, and we're right in his hands.  i want that.  i want the kind of hope that sends me out with the gospel bursting from my mouth, and through my actions.  chapel practice was so refreshing...i hadn't played guitar or sang for 3 days, and singing and playing "for my God is with me" is one of the most incredible things, i can't describe it.  

so, morals of the blog: 

• love can smother.  
  
• take nothing for granted. 
  
• closely pay attention to every, and i mean EVERY, hint, whether it's in actions or words, because all hints mean something....and  
  
• don't let your love blind you to what's really happening.  
  
• be careful of what you're hopeful for.  
  
• there is a time for mourning.  (at least that's what that wise writer in the Bible says, and i believe it!).  
  
• so there is a time for mourning, but life and time doesn't stop at a red light for mourning.  it's a constant green light.  
  
• and now i have to get some sleep, because pancake breakfast happens at 7:30 am, and by the time you read this, i might already be parading piracy at 7 pm!  if you've read all this, please take an extra few seconds to pray for jenny in myrtle beach, and me at hatteras, and for all the summershiners out there this summer.  please!
  

UNEXPECTED FRIENDS!!!!!!

i found some new friends today!  first i've gotta tell you how i met them.....this morning we did wacky olympics on the beach, and that was a blizast!  (ghetto for blast)!  it was pretty super hot at 10 in the morning on the beach though so we found that many of our relays either started, ended, or took place while partly submerged in water!  after this we stopped by P&L for some F&D (punky and larry's for food and drink) and hung out with Wiggles, the coolest 15 year old blind and deaf dachshund (hotdog-dog)!!!!  he's the bomb.  he's awesome.  so after that, i went and started doing the new fun finder and the new summashine schedule and planning everything out, and let me tell you, this father's day stuff is gonna be ROCKING!!!  we're going to play Wii on the big screen (yeah....i have to give credit to the myrtle beach staff cause this was their idea...a father vs. son Wii tournament)  but we're STEALING THEIR IDEA!!!  MMWWAAAHHAHAHA!

anyways, i was planning and sitting there at the desk, and i had a ice coffee smoothie thing, and that's when my two unexpected friends came in.  Joy and Excitement!!!!  let me tell you, they are a crazy combination.  they just came right in, completely uninvited, and they have taken over my attitude, my day, and i hope they stay for the rest of the summer.  it's one of those completely unexpected gifts from God, that you REALLY REALLY need, but never think to ask for.  Thanks, God, for knowing exactly what we need even when we don't.  Now, a few blogs ago, i said i might put a picture of my farmers tan up for the world to see.  Here ya go.....please, ladies, i'm taken, ok?  If you'd like to fight for me, call Jenny and you can schedule a time.  Just don't expect to win!

from juggling sticks to juggling schedules.

dude.  i got some juggling sticks.  google it, i dare you.  you've probably seen them before, and they are suuuper cool.  we met this guy named chip who works at the kitty hawk kites mega store in nags head, and he taught me ryan forrest and tiffany all how to use them and learned us all some tricks.  da-gum, the last half of that sentence went totally redneck.  anywho this chip guy was also good at the sticks and juggling balls and pins and anything juggleable.  it was pretty sweet! and he works mon-fri so i'm sure we'll hang out again.  (we hung out in the store for like 1.5 hours)..... i also have a nintendo wii set up in my camper!!!  WAAHOOO!!!  

ok so the past few weeks have been like christmas, with new recreation stuff from corporate coming in like every day.  we got a parachute, a really nice pool volleyball thing, a Wii, huge inflatable STUFF, ladder ball sets, giant lawn jenga sets (i don't even know, they just send stuff and i guess we'll figure out a way to throw it in as an activity!)  and a few weeks ago we got the giant slip and slide inflatable thing.  needless to say we have like 50+ activities we could do in a week, but we have to narrow it down to 25ish.  father's day weekend is gonna be sweeeet...we're doing a father vs. kid wii competition on the big screen, courtney is in charge of craft and they're making like father's day tie's, but they're cards too, and it's crazy.  and i'm pretty sure we're gonna do some other random father's day things, like father vs. kid horseshoes or basketball or flag football or competitive sleeping, you know, see who can sleep the longest.  i think i'll be able to dominate competitive sleeping after this weekend!  

i'm gonna tell my saturday story, you ready?  i got up, and it was time for pancake breakfast.  we got there, and it was me ashley and anne-marie, and neither of them had done pancake breakfast before.  new adventures!  so we open at 8, and ray, the night security guard who is amazing, is hanging out with us.  as soon as we open the window we have like 5 or 6 families order pancake plates, so it was pretty rushed to begin.  then about 8:05 tells us "hey those girlscouts are getting ready to come up!  the whole troop!"  and we TOTALLY thought he was kidding, we didn't even know there were girl scouts on the campground.  next thing i know, we got ambushed.  attacked.  helpless.  they all ordered at once.  chaos.  madness.  by the time we got all the orders out at 845, we had a breather, and then pancake breakfast continued until 10:30 after clean up.  then i got the kayak info and flyer and sign up all organized and together, and then i was like "hey i've got from 11-12 before i have to be back to set up the slip-and-slide" cause i knew saturday is a day of seldom breaks.  so i got to my camper, and about 10 minutes into the stillness mo calls on the radio needing someone to cover slides.  here's some more background info....i desperately needed this hour.  i didn't know for sure what i was even SPEAKING on in chapel the next morning.  i knew that i wasn't going to have any more breaks until like 9:00 pm, and i was already worn out, wiped out, etc.  i went into a state of panic. 

 God then directed my eyes directly toward a flipped page in my Bible which said Luke 8, so i went there and immediately found Luke 8:22-25.  the disciples were on a boat, Jesus was sleeping, a massive storm came up, and they went into a state of panic!  they yelled, "Jesus, we're going to drown!"  he gets up, calms the wind and the waves, and simply asks them "where is your faith?"  it was like those 4 words were directed straight at me.  where is your faith?  the message version says "why can't you trust me?"   i knew God was in control of the time and the situations, but i didn't fully trust that He would give me enough time to get everything i needed to get done, done.  but man, oh man, does He provide.  so at 11:10 i simply prayed, "God, i'm going to drown.  help me trust you."  i smiled, walked out the door a few minutes later after a bite of lunch.   after getting the slip and slide set up, i was ready to stand there and staff it for about 2 hours.  mo simply comes over and says "hey, you don't have to stay here if you need to go do something else.  jacob and anne-marie can handle it."  it was like God just kinda said "you're not going to drown.  see how i provide?"  

so i took of on my bike and went back to my camper and knew exactly what God had laid on my heart to speak.  it's a beautifully thing when you can push all else aside and listen for God talking to you.  The more i push stuff aside the more i realize i like listening to God more than all the other stuff that gets in the way.  i wish i would push stuff aside more often.  the rest of the day was quite hectic and crazy, but it makes a world of difference when you know you've got the Creator, Sustainer, Rescuer, and Manager of the Universe holding you in His hands, and if you let Him work the schedule of your day.  after all, i get more done when i trust Him to guide my priorities for every minute.  i mean there's so much to do!!!!  but God knows exactly what NEEDS to be done and He provides plenty of time to get it done.  how amazing.  i'm going to sleep now.  

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i just wanted you to know that i'm almost too busy to write a blog about how i can't write a blog because i'm actually too busy.  i mean i literally do not have any extra minutes at any time during the day.  i mean i have no clue how i actually just found an extra 2.5 minutes so i could tell you that i am a little too busy to write a blog saying "i can't write a blog right now because i'm too busy."  

i would say that i can wait till my next day off to write a blog....but last week i was doing so many other crazy incredible things, i didn't even have time to write a blog on those days off!  i mean, this is probably going to be the best summer i've ever had.  i wish i could tell you about it, but right now i'm pretty caught up living it every second, so hopefully soon i'll be able to write about something other than how busy i am and how i can't write a blog because i'm too busy, even one about how busy i am!!!!!!!!! 

 i dare you to keep checking back at random...soon....very soon.......sometime soon you might find a picture of my farmer's tan.  .......that might be worth checking back!!!

a few hours off!

i officially decided that i am going to take about 2 hours off.  right now.  this is it.  it's in between the horseshoe tournament and the flag football / bonfire that we're having tonight.  the past few days have been quite trying!   we'll have 1 or 2 come to an activity, then 3 hours later we'll have 30-60 show up, then a few hours later, nobody.  so it's like...prep...setup....nobody.  prep...setup...overload.  i am SOOOO EXCITED about a full two days off!!!!  

tuesday night for staff night out we're going on a sunset kayak tour!  really looking forward to that!  jake and mandi told me they were going to atlantic coast cafe for breakfast in the morning...so i'm DEFINITELY going with them because it's fantabulous.  and in between?  no clue.  i've been here like a month.  i might head into manteo and hit up the aquarium or go to the downtown sound-side / waterfront park which i've heard is SUPER cool.  also of note, i'm getting ready to eat some pineapples.  right now.

ok, so far, this blog has probably been pretty boring.  it's getting ready to get exciting.  you ready?  so one of the summershiners was in food lion yesterday, and she said this lady kept on staring at her.  and she said it was really really awkward, and she kept looking away but every time she glanced back she would keep staring!  they were in line together, and the staring lady was in front, and finally she said "can i help you with anything?"  and the lady was like, "oh i'm sorry if i'm staring, it's just that you look just like my daughter.  she died last year."  ....WOW.   so then she said "aww i'm really sorry to hear that!"  and the lady kept staring, and she said that the lady finally got to the register and started checking out, and the lady turned around and said, "could you do me a favor?  as i leave could you just say 'goodbye mommy?'  i never got to say goodbye to her."  ...double WOW.  so she said "um....not too sure about that" and the lady said, "please! it's just for closure, and it'd really help!"  so she said she kinda mumbled goodbye mommy under her breath, and the lady just walked out!  HOW FREAKY!  so then, she was going to check out, and she only had like 3 things, and the cash register person said the cost was like 75 bucks!  she was like, "no way, i only have those 3 little things!"  and the cash register person said, "aren't you paying for your mom?"  ..........yeah.  so she says be right back and she runs after this lady who is walking briskly to her car, and she almost catches up to her when she trips over a curb, then grabs the lady's leg and starts pulling her leg, just....like....i'm...pulling.....your......leg.    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA got ya!