Week 8's Greatness

Where has the time gone?  Week 8 has come and gone.  If camp is a marathon, this is the sprint to the finish.  Some people will see the finish line and go on cruise control and then other counselors, great counselors, will see the finish line and run through the line, finishing strong and leaving it all on the table.  These weeks are hard for other reasons, besides everyone being dead tired.  Usually the campers that come towards the end of the summer are younger, newer, and it's harder sometimes to keep showing the love when you have told them countless times to do a task or they don't do their chore to the level you are expecting.  That's when you have to remember to keep showing the love, to have the same patience you had week 1, and to consistently ask God for strength, love, and patience.  It's hard, very hard.  But I can say that my counselors did it this week.  Now for the recap.

Sunday check-in went as usual and Amie and I got out the door that evening at a very acceptable time.  We weren't even the last ones out the door and I was home by 10 pm to watch some Olympics.  My parents stopped by during check-in on their way back from Turkey Run and it was nice to see them and to have them see me in action, doing what I love and seeing why I am so busy and my ministry.

Monday morning went well and was a little busy with 2 different groups doing horsemanship period 1.  After the morning, we went into our usual clipping/braiding, vaulting, race relay, and medieval game clinics.  I did some chores and brought up round bales to put out in the paddocks.  After dinner and some time talking to Sara and Amie after dinner, I went to the mini-farm to feed the calf and pigs, clipped the rabbit's nails, and finished putting out the round bales.  Then it was back to Amie's to watch the Olympics until 1:30 am.  We watched the eventing portion (cross-country) of the equestrian events.  I knew the next morning would be rough but it was worth it!

Tuesday morning I woke up and headed to the barn for the Cayuga early morning trail ride and as I was driving over, saw some very dark clouds.  I checked the weather on the phone to see if I could see where the system was moving and then back to home to see it on the bigger screen.  I made the decision to cancel the ride as I saw the system moving from Chicago to the south and it extended across half the state.  Cayuga was already at the barn so I drove back over to tell them to head on back quickly as there was already lightning to the north.  I headed to the south pasture to make sure that the cabin out there was safe and accounted for and then headed back home for about 30 minutes to sleep a bit more.  Then it was back to the barn around 8:30 in the pouring rain to bring in the ponies.  The rain let up and all groups got to ride.  We played pony olympics that morning and April did a great job designing a cross country course for the kids.  I got to take lots of pictures that morning and it made me want a new camera (but that will have to wait until the truck is paid off!).  That afternoon was our last set of clinics and in the evening we went to Winnie's pink flamingo party at the TLC and then it was off to watch some more Olympics (see the theme?).

Riding in the Oak Forest

Wednesday morning was Crow's trail ride and lessons went well.  Rachel took some pictures of us down in Ghost Creek Valley.  I did a few chores in the afternoon then drove Sara to IRUS for her two Nancy lessons and I worked on a friendship bracelet for Momma K and balanced my checkbook.  We stopped at Wendy's for dinner and then came on home to watch, you guessed it, Olympics!

Thursday was Cayuga's make up trail ride and that went the way that rides should go....leaving on time.  ;-)  I spent the morning running around trying to not only get the kids out the door but to also get us ready to go to Winamac for some trail riding.  I hooked up the trailer, filled tires with air, made sandwiches, and got everyone loaded up and off we went.  It was a great day of trail riding.  It was also a great day to connect with my two assistants up top-Steven and Rachel.  Just good honest conversation, laughter, and letting them know how much I love them and appreciate them.  A great end to the week and hard to not be sad that we didn't have more moments like that.  Crap that occurred during the summer threatened those relationships and threw my focus off at times so it was good to reconnect and just let them know they were loved.  We got back and unloaded then Amie, Sara, Ben, kids, and I went to Kathy's as has become our Thursday night ritual to drink a bit, relax a lot, and be away from camp.  We left around 12:30 and it was a bedtime of 1:30 after getting home and showering.  Unfortunately there was one more early morning ride to get up for...Iowa.







True to form, Iowa was rough getting out the door.  Kids who couldn't figure out who their horse was and others who tried bridling their horse before they even tacked them up left me shaking my head and asking Rachel to help us get out the door.  We made it through safe and sound and it was off to our last day of lessons with the 6 counselors all together.  It was a nice time that morning with everyone and chatting it up with Rachel and the horsemanship kids.  I took one camper from first period horsemanship to the RV trail ride so she could experience that instead of the pony games since she had done that her first week here.  She had a good group of HMS kids and it was nice to hang out with them a bit and get some of them excited for equestrian camp.  We made it through and then I had a chat with the counselors one last time to explain how the next week was going to work with 4 counselors.  It was hard to split up a few cabins but I did what I thought would be best.  Usually, there are a few counselors that make it easy to decide who needs to go to resident camp but not this time.  It was hard, very hard to make the decision as I truly loved and cared for all of them and not one of them got on my nerves.  :-)    Kept working on chores that afternoon and on to the theme dinner for the week, sports mania, in honor of the Olympics.  That evening, Sarah and Karissa volunteered to do the horse parade and it was weird to not be walking it.  We handed out awards and it was off to grade a bunch of tests (some from last week) and to chill with the staff.  I left the colt and yearling tests to grade till the morning and by 1 am I was off to bed.  I get a text right before drifting off to sleep that Amie needs me at the house a bit before 8am.  I had been hoping to sleep in till 8:30 after getting up the last 4 morning so early but I stumbled out of bed and was able to get there.  Sleeping in would wait till Sunday.  Saturday morning brought me a chance to deliver tests, feed the horses, sweep the barn, and chat with a few parents.  I didn't get too many chores done with Steven at the lower barn doing the trail rides but we got enough done and I started compiling my list of chores for the upcoming week.  At 11:30 am we met up with Ben and Adrienne to go over the trip stuff while eating at Mitchell's in Delphi.  It was a good time chatting with some good people and by 2 pm we were back here.  I sat down to watch Olympics and during the water polo match, I fell asleep and I honestly have no idea how long I was out.  Amie and crew made some good food and it was a night for Olympics.  It's the end, it's going to be a great week 9.  It's going to be awesome!