Tenth Avenue North and Dance Camp!

So the week I was at Leisure Ministries, I was asked to come back to Aldersgate the next week and counsel Elementary Dance Camp, so I definitely wanted to. So the Saturday I was to leave LM, my whole family came and picked me up (well, my sister was there for Princess Camp that wk too) and we went to Uncle Lee and Aunt Debbie's house in Lexington. Staff and volunteers have to be back at camp on Sunday evening, so there was no reason for me to go our 2 1/2- 3 hr drive home that night and back the next day, so I was just gonna stay w/ Aunt Debbie and Uncle Lee. But of course, all I had with me was the stuff I'd had for LM that wk, so I did some laundry really quickly, then we went to the Tenth Avenue North concert I'd been waiting on, and it was so incredibly wonderful! I finally got to see my favorite band in concert, and I was soooo happy. The words to their songs were projected hugely on a wall in the auditorium so everyone could sing along if we wanted, and that was super cool. They were very very good. They were very down to earth but very sincere in living for Christ. It was an amazing concert.

After their concert there was a really great speaker who was absolutely hilarious and really really good. I can't remember his name at the moment, but I'll put it on here when I find out. He knew what life was all about- Jesus.

Then there was like an intermission, then Sanctus Real had a concert. I've seen them a couple times in concert, but they're really good too. So it was a wonderful night! And afterward, I got to meet my favorite band! Yeah, I know! I was pretty excited. Ok, really really excited. And when I was standing in line to meet them, I saw Nathan from my small group at Sr high camp, so we talked for a couple minutes. And then when I met the band and told the lead singer Mike that they were my favorite band, he was like "Really?" I think he was pretty shocked. But I don't know why cause they really are good. So I was like "Yeah," and I talked to him for a few minutes (well, seconds probably). But I explained that I loved their songs because when I hear them they are like God is speaking right to me, and Mike thought that was great and said that he hoped I was as impressed w/ and felt the same way about their next album coming out soon. So I'm super excited about that!

So after the concert my parents dropped me off at my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Lee's house in Lexington, and I spent the night there, went to church w/ them the next morning, then went to lunch w/ Uncle Lee and Andrew's youth group at Gatti Town. I ate a lot of food.

After that, we went back to my cousins' house, I quickly packed up the laundry I had hurriedly done that morning and night before, and we packed up and drove back to Aldersgate. I fell asleep on the way because I was so tired from my extreme, adventurous, epic week before. lol.

We got to camp, I unloaded my stuff at Uncle Lee's house, and I went up to the lodge to eat the delicious dinner the cooks had prepared for us. Lasagna! Yum!

Then we went to the chapel where we had worship, went around and said our name, where we were from, what we were doing that week, and what our favorite head covering was (such as a hat). I said mine was my neon orange fuzzy hat. Hey, actually I have a pic of me wearing that last summer. (I'm actually just putting this on here because I didn't get any pics of us that wk at dance camp, or many at the concert, but I like putting pictures w/ my posts, so I'll just do this one. lol) But anyway, here's my favorite head covering:

I spent the night at Uncle Lee's house, then had our breakfast of biscuits and gravy the next morning at the lodge, got moved into our cottage, made nametags made for the kids, and had lunch. Then Thom and I (Thom was going to be the guys' counselor that week, although there only ended up being two guys coming to dance camp- they were brave little souls) went back to the cottage and awaited for the arrival of the nine kids that were coming. It turned out to be a fun week.

So Lauren Lile, a cook on staff, was the dean of dance camp because she danced for like 12 yrs and she is really really good. She taught the kids a dance that they performed at the end of the week, and they did so well. They were really good dancers. One of the little guys (he was about 10 yrs old, I think) was an amazing hip-hop dancer. He could dance so well, and he made me laugh a lot.

Since I was still tired from LM the week before, though, I found times to squeeze in little naps, like one day at pool time, and another day when we were letting the kids watch Monsters Inc. It was kind of a muggy day outside, and the kids were exhausted, so they all got in the floor of the cottage in their sleeping bags and were allowed to rest and nap if they wanted to during the movie, and I ended up falling asleep on the couch. It was a nice nap.

But although I was kinda tired, it was a very good week. One day I got to the lead the kids up to Sugar Camp Cave, and another day to the clay wall, and I led a couple Bible Studies. So I had a really good time. And even though sometimes I tried to nap at pool time, the kids really wanted me to swim, so on Friday, since it was the last day, I decided to get in. I didn't really want to at first, but then when I did, the water felt really good, and I played football w/ Shumar and Roberto (the two boys), and it ended up being really fun. So that week went well, and I had a really good experience counseling. I enjoyed it, and the kids were good too. So I had another very great week, and I was so glad that I got to spend it at Aldersgate.