TEC

I don't even know where to begin. Okay, how about... here: As many of you know (and many of you probably don't), I worked a TEC weekend this past weekend in Belle Prairie. Yes, I took off the busiest weekend of our summer here at the Resort to go to a church retreat, and I have ZERO regrets about it. This was my third time making an appearance in the old Belle Prairie school house, and it was just as great as the other two times I was there. I got very little sleep, but had tons of laughs, hugs, sways and prays, singing circles, cries, hours of work.... I could go on and on. I met over thirty new people this weekend, and left with at least twenty new friends. We worked hard, prayed hard, made a lot of people very happy, and had an all around amazing weekend. I can't even explain to you how wonderful it is to take a part in something that is so much bigger than I am, nor can you ever understand the intense feeling of peace that comes in such a short time (unless you've ever made a TEC of course), so I'm not going to try. Suffice it to say, that leaving the newest additions to my family last night was tough. It was hard to leave the best source love that I've ever found outside of my blood family to come back up here to my lonely cabin, and I'm already counting down to August 8th when I get to go back and see everyone again. I met a bunch of people around my own age, and a number of them live in the St. Cloud area, so I'll be seeing a lot of them when I get back to school- yay!- and I also met the Epiphany Church Ladies of Coon Rapids, and have plans to go down and visit on my short break in between work and school. But, as hard as it was to give those "one last hug"s and to drive away, it was still great to get back up here, call work, and find out how much I've been missed. These next two weeks will go by fast, and then it's back to school, so I'm going to do my best to enjoy the remaining time here. If you've never made a TEC, I strongly encourage you to consider it, and if you have any questions about it, ask me- I can talk about the TEC experience for a very long time.

I love you all!

Painting

This week has been an adventure at work unlike any other week of work here. If that makes sense. Anyway, we sent all of the guests packing early this week (aka they checked out) and haven't checked anyone else in. Except a little old man in his camper, but I haven't even seen him at all, so it's kind of like there's no one here. All of the cabins are empty, and things are super quiet around here, so we've been tackling jobs that wouldn't normally get done. I've done multiple small jobs: picking up sticks after the big storm that went through Sunday morning, hauling 40 lbs bags of softener salt, moving furniture, cleaning lots of box fans, and whatnot. But my big job for the week, which took up the first three days of it, was to paint. I let it be known that I love painting a while back, and since Bunny hates it, she took advantage of my love and set me to work. I started off just painting the bathroom in cabin 14, which was surprisingly harder than I had anticipated. Those bathrooms are tiny, and there isn't much room to maneuver. I spent a lot of time precariously balanced on a wobbly ladder, trying to make sure I wasn't getting the dark sea-green paint on the ceiling. I worked for a few hours, getting the first coat on, and then came back in the afternoon to do the second coat. The next day, I started in on the main rooms in the cabin. I spent well over five hours painting, up and down the ladder, trying to stay somewhat cool in the insane humidity.... I couldn't finish it all in one day, so I got up and came over in the pouring rain yesterday morning to finish up in the kitchen. It was satisfying, as painting always is, and I love how the place looks now. I got to bring over my iPod, and listen to music and dance around, when I wasn't on the ladder. My body is sore, and I have a big bruise on my left calf from where I had to lean on the rung of the ladder to keep my balance, and I would do it all again if we didn't have a gigantic group of people checking in on Saturday.

Three weeks left.

love Rach

Stuff

I have officially set the date for when I come home, and it is coming up way too fast for my liking! I am hoping to get LASIK eye surgery done before I go back to school, and my pre-op exam is on August 6th, which makes my return home date August 5th. It's still three and a half weeks away, but it feels like that's no time at all. Anyway. I'm in a list mood again, so here's my list for today:

* I am almost done with my online class (yay!) I just have the course final left to take and a short essay, for lack of a better word, entitled Taking Psychology With Me. I assume that this is just to get feedback on the course.

* The weather has been gorgeous other than the big storm we had last night that blew down some trees at the resort and left me without power once again, this time for six hours.

* I mowed the lawn for the first time in over a year on Friday. It wasn't my favorite experience in the world.

* I've been trying to get back into running for the first time since I quit in 8th grade. Any tips for making this an easier task would be greatly appreciated.

* Even though I don't really want to leave here, there are two things that are making it appealing right now. One is that I'm lonely. And a little bored. The other is that I'm really excited to move into my apartment and finally live with Erin again.

* As much as I can't wait to get back to school, it's going to be weird because a lot of my friends will be abroad. This fact is starting to sink in, mainly because my first friend to go goes tomorrow, and I really don't like it.

* It's also starting to sink in that this is my last year of school ever, unless I decide to go to law school someday.

* I'm sitting at work, completely alone, and I'm really bored but I can't think of anything else to add to my list.

So I'm done for now. Enjoy the weather as much as you can (I know it gets stickier the further south you go) and I'll see you when I see you. love to all.

Summer Ups and Downs

Time is flying by this summer. This is the fastest I've known a summer to go in my 20 short years, and it's an unsettling feeling. Anyway. The weather has finally taken a turn for the beautiful. For the past five or six days it has been warm, sunny, and absolutely gorgeous (although a little windy). I have been enjoying spending time reading outside in my hammock and on the dock, an activity that never fails to remind me why I chose to move up here again this summer. A more disliked activity is doing my homework for Psych. It's time consuming for one thing, and for another, as soon as I think I have everything figured out and going smoothly, something weird happens with the online programs and I get frustrated again. This morning when I logged on to write my first essay of the summer I checked my grades, as I always do, only to find that the online activities that I have to do with each chapter are not showing up in the grade book for three chapters and are showing up as zeros for two more chapters. I sent an email to my professor, and am now waiting for instructions as to what to do about this.

Aside from class, I've been keeping myself occupied. I went out to dinner with Bunny and Jordan the other night (Steve's in Wyoming for the week) at Jerry's Bar in Boy River, which was fun even if it was a little weird. My roommate Erin and her family (plus her boyfriend Will) are staying in Longville this week, and I finally got over to see them last night. It was a short visit, but we all got ice cream at the local ice cream store, Frosty's, and caught up a little bit. I can't wait to go back to school so I can see them all the time again! Otherwise, I've been hanging out here, practicing guitar, biking, running, etc. etc.

Bunny just got back from town, which means it's time for me to go home for awhile, until I'm back later for my night shift. I hope that you are all grabbing chances to get outside and enjoy the beauty that is God's creation. xo

Quirks in 218er-ville

One of the most charming things about living up here can be found on the roads. Whether you're in a car, on foot, or on a bike, everyone here seems to know everyone else, and they all wave at each other (and me!) whenever they pass. I think I may have mentioned this last summer after I got home, but it struck me again today how neat it is. It doesn't matter if you'll ever meet them in person, everyone here is an acquaintance to some extent. While I know this would be impossible in a larger town, I just think it's so great how much people seem to care. Because we all know, even something as simple as a wave and a smile can make a gray day a little brighter. Does that make sense? Well, it does to me! xo

Camp and Such

I guess a year is the perfect amount of time to forget exactly how exhausting working camp can be! I had a wonderfully full, exciting, exhausting, and long week, starting last Friday, when we lost power for nine hours due to a tree falling on the power line. That was a bit frustrating, since I wasn't really able to get anything done to prepare for leaving my cabin for almost a full week. I went to bed early, but didn't get much sleep since I was worried about missing my alarm. Saturday morning started with an early morning cleaning job at the Resort, and then I went back to shower, do my hair, and pack for camp. I headed out midday, and made it to St. Cloud around 3:30, at which point I met up with Jordan Craig Wetter for a late lunch at Applebee's, and a couple of hours of hanging out and catching up. Then it was down to Cottage Grove for Seth's wedding reception (a good friend of mine from SCSU), which was a lot of fun. I didn't really know very many people, but I stayed until 12:30, dancing and talking to those folks that I did know. I spent the night at my aunt Tesa and uncle Paul's house, since Joe and Scott (a cousin on my mom's side) were having their grad party down there on Sunday. We had wonderful weather for the party, and it was fun to see everyone, especially my newest cousin, who has changed a bunch since I saw him last (and his sister, who came with me on an adventure to find hand sanitizer for the outhouse). I had to be back at school by 5:00 to kick off camp, and that drive took over two and a half hours because of the road work on I-94. I finally made it up there, and thus began the craziness that is a camp for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. I was a lead counselor this year, which meant that I didn't have my own group of girls, but instead I was in charge of all 60 girls and their counselors. I had a cohort, Beth, and we both agreed that while it was fun, we don't want to do it again. We'd rather have our own groups, and have someone else worry about all of the nitty-gritty details. (And the staying up until 2:45am doing laundry. And the sleeping on the floor outside of one of the campers' room because she was so homesick.) It was an exhausting couple of days, days that I only made it through with the help of massive amounts of caffeine, but it was also a fun couple of days. I met (and re-met) ten great women, who were the counselors, and I met a lot of great girls that I hope to run across again some day. After the girls left, the counselors headed out for pizza and talking and laughing before splitting off for either home or wherever we were spending the night. Since my drive was so long, I chose to spend the night at St. John's, which was fun. I got to go see Karen, who has been there for two weeks at her own camp, and see a few people that I've been missing. Jordan and I both fell asleep around 10:30, which was crazy because I had a TON of energy when I got there, and pretty much slept through the night. Yesterday, I got up, visited two more friends, got my hair cut, picked up a few things, deposited my check, and headed back up here. I'm still running low on sleep; I think I could have slept all day today and been happy, but it's been nice to get back to work. I'm up here now until August.... And I'm going to stop writing now, because this post has been full of different things, and because I'm tired. Love y'all!

Summer Update

Well, despite the rain, I have been enjoying myself so far this summer. Here are the updates:

*Work has been good; a little slow, but good to start seeing some of the guests that I recognize from last summer.

*I've been working hard on learning the guitar, which is proving to be slightly difficult due to the lack of songs to play and people to play with, and a neck that's a little too wide for my hands.

*My class has proved to be easy in content and difficult in understanding the programs that I'm supposed to be using, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. It's about three and a half hours of computer time for each week's assignment, and I have to do it all at work, so that's a little weird.

*I was home the weekend of June 4th for Joe's graduation, and I stayed home to report for jury duty in Milaca on Monday morning. I was glad that I could make it home for graduation; it brought back some pretty strong memories of high school and I was really proud to see my brother graduate.

*I'm up here through Saturday morning, then I'm heading down to Cottage Grove for a wedding, the cities for Joe's grad party, and St. Ben's for the camp I'm leading before heading back up here.

And that's about it. I hope that y'all are enjoying life, and I'll see some of you soon. xo