I think I'm ready now.

One more week and I will be in the beautiful Northwest. Oh how I have missed thee.

As the title of this blog states, I think I am ready to talk about last week. Where to start?

The girls really weren't too crazy, it was more about me feeling completely overwhelmed. Most of the day (and night) I felt like I was doing 10 things at once, plus counseling 10 girls myself. I say night, because I was always having to put logs on the fire in the middle of the night to keep the fire going.

 

   On the subject of the fire in our cabin, I have come to find that our cabin "smokes out" very easily. On Wednesday night I had to fan at the smoke detector for about 15 minutes. On Thursday I came back from my day off (which was actually more like 45 minutes) and our smoke detector was going off again! To say the least, I was completely exhausted at this point because that day my co-counselor was quarantined (had a fever), I had to keep the fire going all by myself, I had to get about 3 wheel-barrels of wood, I had to do laundry for the girls, and do all 10 of the evaluations because my co was sick.

The fire alarm continued to go off about 10 more times on Thursday night, so we just decided to let the fire go off. At this point, my adrenaline was off the charts and I couldn't go to sleep. At every moment I would lay my head down I was afraid the detector would go off. I just wanted to get the girls to sleep because they were so tired from a long week. Every little sound, whether it was a cough or the heater kicking on, my heart would stop for a second. At about midnight I got to bed after the fire was safely out. On a good note, I did get some help from the two other female "rovers" when my co got sick. So, on Wednesday and Thursday night I wasn't trying to deal with it all by myself. And they both gave me hugs as well, which was nice. :) Oh, and I didn't get any of my evaluations sent back to me to correct! I only had to shorten a couple of them because they were too long. I'll take that any day though.

   The week really did end well though. It was really nice to have Heather and Jennifer helping me and the girls got ready so quickly in the morning that we got to play some games between class and going to lunch. Heather had the brilliant idea to play Statue. Statue is where one person says something like, "Act like a gorilla with fleas." The girls then do that until the leader says "freeze!" Then they have to freeze like a statue until the leader says relax. If they move at all they are out. One of the girls named Aniyah always found a way to freeze on one foot, which was pretty entertaining. I have never seen a group so good at statue!

  This third week has started out well so far. I have today off, so it is nice to relax a bit. On Thursday a group called, "Woodsmen of the World" come out to camp and give the kids gifts and buy pizza and soda. It is a big party, and I am so excited. The group has been coming out for about  8 or 9 years and they keep coming back because they know how much it means to camp and to the kids. They probably pay about $1,200 by the end of it, but they keep on coming back to give to the kids. It is truly a blessing.

  Even with the tough week last week I know that it is teaching me new things. I am learning to communicate with my co more and am getting much better at group management. Thank you to those of you that let me vent (especially you mom!) I am looking forward to the rest of week, but most of all I am ready to get home to see those people in the Northwest I love so much!

Peace.

...

I sat down this morning in a little coffee shop to write about this second week with the girls, and to be completely honest, my brain is still a bit too fried from the past week. I don't even really know where to start. What has been refreshing for me this morning though is this good cup of coffee and listening to Sarah McLachlan on my laptop. I think I shall call my mom next. Then later I will collect my thoughts and share about my week. Thank you for your patience :)

First Week-Session II

The weather man said a 100% chance of rain on Monday...but he didn't say it would rain 100% of the day! I think this is really what Arkansas is supposed to be like in the fall. Arkansas was actually in a drought (and it still might be I guess), so it is good that we got a lot of rain. Unfortunately, the added element of tons of rain made us have to adjust our plans a lot. Good thing we here at Pfeifer are flexible. We practiced building tents in the pavilion, played games on the porch of the classroom and spent some time looking at the Geckos in the Kaufman Building. The girls didn't seem to mind too much and they did very well going with the flow. It is a great thing that we constantly have fires going in our cabin because it helps to dry their stuff out whenever we are in there.
My new group of girls is really doing wonderful so far. They are, for the most part, respectful and eager to learn the ways that we do things at camp. Today is their first full day in the classroom, so we'll see if they keep on liking it :) Last night we got to decorate the cabin and the girls decided to go for a "Santa's Workshop" theme. They made it look very nice. It is interesting seeing the things that they come up. They are definitely full of surprises.
Tomorrow will be the first time we camp out as a group, so I am excited to see how it will go. It sure is getting cold out here, so we just need to make sure our girls stay warm and safe! Keep us all in your prayers, as I keep you in mine.
Peace

Success Story Session I

Each Session at camp we are asked to write a "Success Story" about one of our campers. Here is mine.

Katoryis arrived at Pfeifer Camp with a shy smile on her face and a quiet demeanor to match it. In fact, for the first few days or so, she did not do anything especially right nor wrong. She slipped right under the radar; a learned trait to help protect her from any kind of attention in general. She was the kind of camper that makes life easy for a counselor that has to give their attention to so many other campers. As her counselor, this realization of how easy she was making life was the first red flag that there was more going on inside her than she was showing. The thing about Pfeifer Camp is that it forces a bunch of children to get out of their comfort zone by challenging them in the classroom and in group building and self-discovery. All of the comforts and distractions of home are taken away and then they are faced with the habits that have been formed in their lives. For Katoryis her habits were self-destructive and she was crumbling from the inside-out. She was the perfect camper for so long because she was putting up a front of being happy and content. In reality, she was breaking and was having the most difficult time keeping up her façade. She was bottling up her emotions and when she was finally faced with them, she slowly got to feel the experience of living her emotions. As the oldest child in her family, she had to put on the perfect face to not make anyone upset. She had to keep her feelings inside because no one had the time or energy to deal with them.  Along with this, she didn’t have enough people telling her how amazing and how strong she has been. Gradually, she learned healthy ways of dealing with her emotions and she started the process of loving herself.  She learned what an authentic life can look like, which led to a renewed view of herself and therefore a better ability to connect with those around her. She discovered that she had things to share with the group and that the other girls looked up to her for her strength and hard work. The world outside of Pfeifer Camp may not have changed, but Katoryis has. She has found a new voice. A voice that is not stifled by the world, but instead a voice of self-assurance and pride.

What an amazing job I have...

Wow, what a ride?! This first session of ACE is officially over and the camp is now only inhabited by us crazy AmeriCorp people and the Administrative Staff. Here are a few of the fun things that my group of girls did this last session...

The Adventures of Cabin 6!

1. We sang cheers and songs as we walked from place to place. Cheers: "The Beaver Song", "Banana's Unite", and "O-Adele" Songs included: Beyonce's "Halo", "My Girl", and "Lean On Me"

2. We got to watch a movie in our cabin on the last night because we won the Clean Cabin Award!

3. We played so many games after long days working hard in the classroom.

4. We camped out on Wednesdays

5. We had a "Ladies Night" in which both of the girls cabins got to lay out sleeping bags in one of the building and eat snacks and watch a movie together.

6. Lastly, we got to do many team bonding activities that helped us all get to know and love each other.

All of our girls graduated at the end of the session. It was such a joyous occasion. The kids come in and leave to the song "Eye of the Tiger." It gave me the chills and almost brought a tear to my eye as the kids' faces were beaming with pride and their families and counselors were cheering for them. Here is a picture of where all the kids sat. I can't include pics of the kids just because of privacy issues. All of the parents sit facing the kids. 

Sometime soon I will have to include the "Touch the Ceiling" poem we say during Graduation as well. 

This first session was full of fun. I learned so much from the girls and my co-counselor Jennifer. Since as long as I can remember I have wanted to make an impact in the life of a child. I have wanted to be a role-model and teach them the ways to succeed and love each other and themselves. With this job I feel like I am finally doing it every day. I am feeling fulfilled and challenged to be the best version of myself. This job is great and the people that I work with are so inspiring. I am energized everyday to keep going and am so excited to get my new group of girls in a couple weeks.

Here are a couple pics from our first session and Graduation Day...

Jennifer and Me

Joseph Pfeifer AmeriCorps Members

Back Row L to R: Scott, Melody, Meghan, Tony, Andre, Michael, Troy.

Front Row L to R: Heather, Jennifer, Adrienne, Tracy, Chris







My home away from home!



Our Cabin!



Changes

   As the colors of fall are changing, so are the campers' lives transforming here at Pfiefer. I have been watching these four trees since the leaves have been changing on the trees here at camp, and have been mesmorized. The colors have been changing from the right tree to the last one on the left. It just seems the perfect juxtaposition with life here. One person takes the first step and begins to change. Soon those besides them change as well. The girls in my cabin are truly modifying their behavior and growing leaps and bounds academically. They are becoming a beautiful group of young ladies. We have this last week left, then they get to graduate as "Pfeifer Camp Kids" on Halloween Sunday. It will be a Blessed event and I look forward to sharing it with the girls and their family and friends. In the next update look forward to an overview of this past 5 week session.

Loves to all and pray for Camp Pfeifer as we look to graduate our first group of ACE Campers this year.

  

Erika's Wedding

As many of you may know, I had the opportunity to spend this past weekend in Napa, CA for Erika Schmid's wedding. She is one of my dearest friends, so I am extremely grateful to Pfeifer Camp for letting me leave camp on Thursday afternoon to be in the wedding. Here's a brief overview of my weekend!

  

After too much time traveling on Thursday I finally reached the Sacramento Airport at 10pm to be greeted by Erika's father, Mike and her sister Heidi who had just flown in from Irvine, CA. After another hour of driving, we finally reached Napa! First, we headed to the Schmid household to say hi to the bride and groom, then I went to Lily's parents house which was where I got to stay for the weekend.

Lily's house is also called the Trubody Ranch and her parents grow and sell wine grapes. They used to run a Bed & Breakfast there for 19 years, but found they could make a living just by selling the grapes. The picture up on the left is a view of what I woke up to on Friday morning. It was a beautiful morning.
  Friday pretty much just consisted of wedding stuff. Setting up the gym for the reception, rehearsal, and rehearsal dinner. It was a long day, but it didn't matter because I was with such wonderful people.

This is us setting up for the photo booth- which served as the Guestbook.

Left to Right (Eli-groom, Erika-bride, Lily-maid of honor, me- bridesmaid)

Here are just an assortment of pictures from Friday:

Danika and Heide: Erika's sisters.

 Laine- Reader for wedding and dear friend of the Schmids. Josh- Groomsman and DJ for the wedding.

Elliot and Lily

Erika and me

Location of Rehearsal Dinner: Carpe Diem Wine Bar

AND NOW ON TO THE WEDDING DAY!

Gettin so fresh and so clean clean.

Erin all the way from Knoxville!



Almost ready!



Okay, so I don't actually have any pics from the ceremony or of the happy couple...but they really did get married :) It was such a joyous occasion and I feel blessed to have been a part of it. Prayers and much congrats for Eli and Erika Stepp.



Oh wait. Maybe I do have a pic of the lovely couple. hehe.



Love you E!

Pfeifer Camp Intro

Here are some pictures from around Pfeifer Camp for those that want to see them!

The wonderful POOL. It goes to 12 ft deep and is one of the only remaining pools with diving boards at a camp in Arkansas! It sure was a great place to relax and get to know each other on the weekends during training. It was consistently in the high 90s for the first couple of weeks here, with the humidity being at about 90% as well.

Below is Cabin # 6. I am currently living in it with my co-counselor Jennifer (from CA) and the campers during the week. Each cabin has a fireplace, a ceiling fan, and during the ACE sessions they hold 2 counselors and 10 campers.

These cabins have been at the camp pretty much since it started. They are very cozy and are starting to definitely feel like home to me.

To the left is the bathhouse and AmeriCorps shed. There are no bathrooms in the cabins, so we always have to walk down to the bathhouse. To help you picture the camp, the cabins are all to the right of this picture up a little hill. When I took this picture I was standing where cabin 4 is, which was where us lady counselors stayed during staff training. On the right of the bathhouses is the equipment shed for game and camping supplies. This includes tents, tarps, sleeping bags, balls, cones, etc. We camp out with the kids every Wednesday night to help them learn outdoor living skills. We use OBIS activities (Outdoor Biological Instructional Strategies) to help them become closer with nature. I'll have to fill you in on some of my favorite OBIS activities later :)
Above is the Stanford Tollette Pavillion. It is an open building that is mostly used for Arts & Crafts. It also has a fireplace in it. We haven't used it much for ACE, but I hear we use it more for Summer Camp. I really love all of the stone they use in the buildings.


This is the Classroom for the kids. During the week they go to school from about 8:30am to 3:15pm, with a bathroom break and a lunch break. I will take a picture of the inside later and post it. It is very unique inside and I love that it is a one-room school house. You just don't see those much anymore. There are 2 teachers and 40 kids max with numerous helpers throughout the day. The curriculum includes Math groups, Reading groups, Social Issues, Handwriting, English, and Spelling, and much more.



Alright, I think that is enough for now :) I am glad to be sharing this experience with you, and look forward to updating my blog whenever I get a chance. Oh wait! I'll give ya one more picture...the wonderful ladies that I work with. We call ourselves WOMP. Maybe I'll tell ya what it means later. We pretty much just created a group because the guys were always having "Man Meetings". We have a code, a mascot, and a mission statement :D

In this pic we are at Community Bakery in downtown Little Rock. It was sunday afternoon and we were planning for the next week with our campers.

It has great sandwiches and desserts!

(From left to right: Jennifer, Melody, Tracy, Heather, me)

...can't...sleep...

5:50am.

That is what time the pretty little green microwave numbers indicate as I finally start writing this first post of my adventure. I just started the coffee pot because with all of the thoughts rolling through my head, I don't think I am going to go back to sleep like I once planned. These thoughts have in fact had me up since about 4:50am.... it only took about 30 minutes of tossing and turning in my bed before I decided to just give up on the extra sleep and start on my blog because I have been putting it off for the last couple of months. The last 30 or so minutes have been formatting and changing the title and picture and information of my blog and blogger profile, eating cereal, and letting Marco and Dilly (parents' cats) in and out of the back door. Now I sit down (after even more procrastination) and attempt to feel at least a little bit productive this morning. More than anything, I am really trying to use this blog as a coping mechanism right now for the anxiety that has steadily increased the last few days as unexpected events toss my plans all over the place. If you had the chance to talk with me about a week ago, I probably said something along the lines of: "Ya, I'm feeling pretty good about being ready to move to Arkansas for a year. I am really taking the time to work on what I need to get done and I am feeling pretty organized." Now I am kicking myself for once again believing everything would go so smooth.

Although it is true that life has gotten pretty hectic the last couple of days and I continue to realize the things I haven't finished, I think about all the experiences I have had the past year, all the wonderful people that I have had the pleasure of getting to know, and the time I have had with my family. And of course, I make myself think about all the things I did accomplish. What I am even more excited for though is the chance to start more projects and meet even more wonderful people.

I am ready to continue sharing my passion for helping children, and I am ready to continue meeting and working with people that share my passions and can spark in me new passions as well.

So even though my crazy thoughts have gotten me up at this hour, I sit here writing this post feeling oddly content because I know tomorrow morning about this same time I will be hopping in the car off to my new adventure.

6:53am.

Lordy, I hope I get better at this whole posting a blog thing. A flippin hour to write that much...yar.