Skillz

I have come to the realization that I have a very unique set of skills now that my time at Cho-Yeh is over. Some are highly useful and some not so much, but I’ll let you do the deciding on that.

An inventory of skills and talents:

1. Navigating muddy trails and/or roads: Cho-Yeh has many pockets of swamp land and when it rains it seems like this is what the entire camp is made up of. Mud-sliding becomes the fastest way to get anywhere and I have gotten the truck (and my shoes!) stuck more than once. So, I've become much better at working my way around giant mud pits.
2. Tying knots: I got Level One Ropes Certified which means I can tie some pretty bad-ass knots. Ok, just two. But, STILL.
3. Building Campfires: I mean, I knew before camp how to build and light a fire but now I know how to do it with flint and steel, so yeah.
4. Fletching arrows: This means essentially gluing plastic feathers to arrows but it sounded cool.
5.  Knowing exactly where/how people need to land/sit on the blob for best trajectory: I frequently facilitate the blob, meaning I tell people how they need to land and then where to sit in order to get premium height and awesomeness.
6. Making up games or game rules on the spot: Because sometimes a game doesn't go how you planned.  Someone breaks a collarbone playing a night game with glowsticks (true story) and while they are running off to the hospital the other 50 kids still need something fun to do.
7. Throwing tomahawks: Ok, so I'm not great at it, but I've hit that stump a few times so it’s worth mentioning.
8. Eating an entire meal in under 5 minutes: Most weekends were packed with activity and we'd hardly have time to eat before heading back out to set up the next event. So, we all eat like we haven't seen food in a week. I'm also pretty sure it’s really attractive that I can eat a taco in two bites. 
9. Having a Plan B: As the aforementioned night game that didn't go as planned, we have a lot of events that don't work out like we think they will. The weather is unpredictable, groups are late to activities, staff forget where they are supposed to be, and a back-up plan is important. Otherwise you end up standing around awkwardly wondering what to do with your hands. Ok, I do that a lot anyway.
10. Naming trees: I now can point out the sweet gum, magnolia and walnut trees. It’s the little things.
11. Launching things with a 3-man sling: You see, we have this giant water balloon launcher that we use for all kinds of fun and games and I'm getting particularly good at launching eggs at people.
12. Spotting: More Level One Ropes stuff. I am even authorized to teach others to spot. Fancy, eh?
13. Hitching up AND Driving a truck/trailer: I am probably the most proud of this. Before working at camp I couldn't hitch up a trailer let alone drive one and forget about backing it up! Now, I’m a pro. Except for when I hit a tree because I'm being a show-off for the work crew kids. Don’t tell my boss.
14. Telling Cho-jokes: Cho-Yeh is notorious for adding or substituting “cho” for EVERYTHING. We even have a whole section on our website about “Cho-Lingo.” Now I constantly find myself holding back saying things like, "Cho me the money!" or "I was cho-happy, I could have died."  
15. Making a fool of myself and not even flinching: See this post. Daily life, y’all.

Missing you, Camp Cho-Yeh 

(Photo creds to Morgan Maddox, Marketing & Communications Coordinator)

The Boat

I'm going to be honest, I've been struggling a lot lately. Our summer staff is almost all here and campers arrive in just a few short weeks, so I want to be excited and ready. Yet there is one glitch. I was supposed to run our camp store, the Trading Post, this summer and I am. BUT, I'm also still working on scheduling and detail coordinating for retreats. This means I have essentially two jobs this summer and I'm already close to what I feel may be my breaking point.

It's very hard for me to say no, to ask for help, to be honest about how I'm doing. But lately, I've been trying to let others come alongside me as I'm faced with a work load that appears the size of a mountain. Maybe the Lord is trying to break me of my prideful nature in those areas. Maybe He is teaching me to humble myself, and to be vulnerable.

All I know is that our retreats director, Guy, put it perfectly when he said, "It's like you're getting into a boat and you step into it and realize it's a little farther than you thought. You're not quite sure if you can make the jump, but you also can't bring your leg back up to the dock, so you use all your strength to pull the boat back towards the dock. We're going to do our best to keep the boat as close to the dock as possible, even though you've still got a foot in each place."

So, if you think of it, say a prayer for this gal, awkwardly straddling the the water for a whole summer.

The Boys & Lately

I cannot believe how long it has been! I don't have anything spectacular to say today (or most days!) but thought I'd share a little bit of life lately.

Lately...I've been hanging out with these two jokers, Nick & Matt. It's amazing how you start to think you can't learn anymore from people around you and God just shatters that notion and makes something wonderful come alive right in front of you. 

I will always be a proponent of opposite sex friendships. Especially (and importantly) when you are single. I hardly ever feel that tug for a boyfriend when I have so many great guy friends that I know won't be in my life forever. I value the closeness of their friendships and adore each and every one of my guy friends in a unique way. God has totally fulfilled that ache in my heart for male attention, affection, and companionship with these guys. There's really no reason to want anything else until the time comes.

For now, I want to travel, eat, and have fun with the boys. I think they kind of love me too, because the other day we were talking about planning a road trip and Matt says, "I want to plan a bro-trip! Ashlee can come too." 

To my best guys, Nick & Matt.

Stuff Campers Say: Third Edition

For the third time during my days at Cho-Yeh, I was blessed to counsel the Gummies, the youngest little campers we have. They are always making me laugh with their innocent and blatant honesty as well as the way they process the world around them. Here’s the round up of funny things that came charging out of their filter-less little selves during Midwinter Madness 2013:

“To wake you up, do we give you mouth-to-mouth?”

“Oh, your hair does not taste good.”

“WHOSE HAIRBRUSH IS THIS?”

“I heard you talking but I was staring at those rocks.”

“Can that squirrel boy stay in our cabin with us?”

 

        What a cutie! (via http://pinterest.com/)

Silly & Stupid

(Image via Pinterest, text added by yours truly)

Never has this statement been more true than when working with kids at camp.

Never have I had more fun, never have I given and received more joy and love than when I am forgetting myself. Forgetting that the cute camp staff boy with the winning smile is in the same room, forgetting that pink feather boas are not my thing, forgetting that letting seven-year-olds fix your hair never means magazine-worthy, but loving every single second of it.

There’s always some resistance, some thought that says, “You’re an adult, you’re acting immature, people are staring,” and then there’s the smile of a little girl whose mom sent Groucho glasses for the whole cabin. There’s the joy at losing yourself in a dance made up by little girls unblemished by self-conciseness and peer pressure.

The fear of letting go of looking silly and stupid is constantly holding me back. But the moment I give up my resistance the Lord allows such an indescribable excitement and joy. It's the fullness of life all crammed into the moment you're dancing like a lunatic or attempting to cartwheel because you've lost it.

Gregory House puts it perfectly when he says this:

(Image via Pinterest, text added by yours truly)

Africa

I can’t pinpoint exactly when I started wanting to go to Africa. I don’t know who inspired it, I don’t know why I so easily fell for Kenya or Uganda, or why the only kids I’ve ever wanted to hold are African.

I also don’t know when or even if I will go there. I don’t know what I will do there or how it may happen. All I know is that for the past week at Cho-Yeh, we’ve hosted the Mwangaza Children’s Choir, an initiative of Africa Renewal Ministries and our Retreats Registrar, Miss Faith, put it so perfectly when she said to me, “When you can’t go to where your heart is, the Lord brings your heart to you.”

This makes me wonder, where is your heart? Think about it. Is it a specific place? Is it with specific people? Where are you home?

And then enjoy some of the beautiful sounds of an African choir.

Check out Africa Renewal Ministries for more information & to catch a performance! http://africarenewalministries.org/

My Christmas Letter

Recently, someone suggested that since I had now arrived at the very adult and mature age of 25, that I should start the good ol’ tradition of the annual Christmas letter. Not really having what one would consider a “normal” life for someone my age I considered what exactly this letter would report and came up with the following.

Dear Friends & Family,

Since the holiday season is now upon us I thought I’d take some time to share of the bolder highlights of my past year.

As many of you know, I am still currently employed as an Event Manager (fancy title for a glorified intern) and the year started off with yours truly getting her Level 1 Ropes Certification. This basically means I can not only belay but also hang out in what we call the Crow’s Nest and transfer climbers to the zipline, all the while pretending that I am cool and also not afraid of heights.

Soon after I got to counsel for the first time at Camp Cho-Yeh during our Midwinter Madness. I counseled the gummies, our youngest campers who would say things like “I found this candy on the ground, but I washed it off. Can I eat it?” And also called us out saying “You’re whispering. That means you don’t know what to do.”

The spring was full of projects, like remodeling our camp store, going to planning weekends with the summer leadership staff, and experiencing my first “Cowboy Church” for Easter. And then I got a tattoo in Galveston and it made me feel really hardcore for a while.

I traveled to Las Vegas this spring to watch my brother compete in the World Pizza Games (this is not a joke). He came in second in the fastest box folder competition. I was mega-proud. Then we all got drunk and ate a huge pizza.

All of the sudden it was summertime & one million college students came to work at Cho-Yeh and I started working as an office assistant, only adding to my disconcerting notion that I am getting old. I got to counsel the very last week & again had the lil’ gumdrops who constantly told me “You dance really funny!” and asked me “Do you like being tickled?”

After transitioning back to retreats I was offered a full-time job here at Cho-Yeh & also applied for (and was offered) one at a Conference Center in Oregon. I turned both of them down, due to the fact that I am young and/or afraid of commitment.

However, I’m still going to continue my current job through May of next year. Can I get a whoop-whoop for job security? And also a hoorah for the hundreds of tacos I am sure to consume at our favourite Mexican eatery, Los Pinos. Most of the first draft of this letter was just a gushing about how good their guacamole is. (YOU CANNOT EVEN KNOW).

In other news, I have watched seven whole seasons of Criminal Minds. It is safe to say I am now extremely paranoid about being murdered AND that I am officially obsessed with Spencer Reid/Matthew Gray Gubler AND that I am confident that I could easily work for the FBI as a profiler.

For Thanksgiving this year I went out to California to visit my sister at her camp, Forest Home. Sometimes I feel like we are living the same life, except she’s doing it way better and with more money/stability/beaches/mountains/hot college guys. So, not really the same at all. But a girl can dream, right?!?!

Oh, I also tried to go gluten-free this year. I’m not the best at it, due to the fact that cookies & pizza was pretty near all I ate last year. I also started running more (we’re talking a whole 6 miles a pop, people!) while shamelessly blasting Justin Timberlake and/or music from the hit television show, Glee.

All in all it’s been a good year. Most of my money went towards plane tickets, tacos, and patterned socks.

Happy Holidays!