Hello from Canada! We
are having a great time at The Malibu Club in British Columbia!
Here are a few of my observations so far about this
particular Young Life camp assignment:
- Traveling on a plane for two and half hours and then sleeping in the stairwell of a church, then traveling on a bus for two hours, a ferry for an hour and half, a bus for two more hours, and then a boat for another hour, over the course of two days is not that easy with three small children in tow. But, the view when we got here was totally worth. Totally worth it….and I’m not exaggerating. That’s how awesome it is.
- Island time is one of my most brilliant parenting moves ever. Island time = you need to be on your bed in your room and quiet and you may not get up for any reason (and I mean that, so go to the bathroom beforehand!). Beyond that, I don’t care what you do. Island time = reading, art projects galore, and “oops, I fell asleep because it was dark and quiet and warm in there.” (insert wicked laugh here)
- Loren is winsome. (I love that word!) And I don’t mean that everyone likes him because he always says what people want to hear. In fact, Loren says a lot of things that people don’t want to hear. But he is always hardest on himself, first. He always proves to be a co-laborer instead of just a boss. He is never selfish. And he’s funny. All of it makes people want to work for him. Want to do a good job. Want to love Jesus more. He’s winsome. I know this about him but sometimes I forget until I see how immediately people are drawn to him or until three random people in a day tell me how great they think my husband is. I’m so proud to be married to him.
- Women in the Pacific Northwest do not wear make-up because their skin is beautiful. Supple and infused with sea water. Glowing and healthy and rosy in all the right places. I feel beautiful here, and the sea water may have something to do with it, but it’s also partly because there is no real schedule, no demands other than those I have chosen for my life. These children and this husband. The pace agrees with me. More on this later....
- It feels luxurious here. All that rain, the going out and coming back in of the ocean, all the dark overcast skies. It feels rich and thick and gives everything a warm, sunset type glow. I’m sure you could get tired of that after a while. I’m sure people celebrate when the sun comes out. But, I have always liked time spent in a cocoon and then rejoicing when the sky opens up again. Life here feels a little like a cocoon as well. I am enjoying the walls being pulled tight in my world right now. And I know I’ll be glad when they are pulled back to reveal the full beauty of my life.
- Ava is my most outgoing child. She greeted everyone the first day with, “Hello, my name is Ava. I’m 2.” She has made the most friends (well…at least friends with the big people. We all know that friendships with people her own age are much harder for her.) and no one is immune to her charms. She will likely take it the hardest when we leave and she isn’t spoiled rotten all the time anymore.
- Bella has people the most intrigued. Work crew kids, I mean. She draws people in without really knowing why. They want to know her…because she is beautiful and shy and picky about whom she chooses to hang out with. I really like that about her. She also seems older to me here. She is old enough now to go with her big sister to club, without supervision, or to walk into camp to find her dad. And that girl has developed some wicked dance moves this year. Hope better watch out. :)
- Hope is here to serve. She has already jumped in with the work crew in the dining hall and in the snack bar and in the laundry and is always looking for opportunities to do more. Unbeknownst to all of us, she came here to work. And she works hard. She’s so much like her dad in that. And in other ways, too. When she prays for campers at night, I know it’s from the heart. This year, more than any other year, she gets it. She gets why we’re here and it’s so exciting to see her want to be a part of the mission.
There is so much more, but I’ll
save it for another day. I can’t wait to
post pictures when I get back. There is
not enough bandwidth (or some other fancy term) here to upload pictures so I’ll
have to wait. Cheers…and ahhh…yahhh…you
betcha. A little Canadian-speak for you. :)
