home again

and here are the things i missed the most: trees and air conditioning. i sure didn't miss the humidity!!

so on the first flight yesterday, i sat beside jess: a girl that was on staff with me. i'm glad we had the same flight cause it made it a little easier to leave COS airport. i have two pages left in mere christianity that i need to finish before we leave for hilton head... not sure what book i'm going to read next. either abolition of man or love the lord with all your mind.

when i got to the airport, my sister and taylor had signs to welcome me :) and they had written all over the car. it said "welcome home! finally" then we went to p.f. changs and it was delicous. i had the chicken lettuce wraps. yum :) and clay, brian, and mckenzie came to say hello. then on the way home we listened to the new elevation cd twice.

the plan for the rest of the summer: hilton head for a week. i get back to ltown next sunday. then chill with friends till the 29th or something close and go to New York City. ironic STORY kinda made me feel a little famous. which is weird. then get back to ltown around aug 2nd or 3rd and then school mid august!! which i am excited about cause i am a nerd.

i don't know if i'll continue blogging or not. i might just do it for therapy. but i'll prolly start another one so this one stays for summit. might need it next year :)

sweetest small group :)

they blogged.

sweets in large doses

yesterday i made: over 200 rice krispie bars for the picnic, over 200 cookies for the staff auction, and watermelon limeade with the leftover watermelon from the picnic. it all was delicious.

i can't believe graduation is tonight!!! so strange to think that 24 hours from now i'll be in an airport... ugh. but i'm ready to go home. i'm sad that people have left or are leaving me. i think i would rather be the first to leave so i only say goodbye once.

oh what a day...

so i slept late again. got up, took a shower, and went to work. tonight we made spaghetti and meatballs. it wasn't as good as my mom's... but that doesn't mean it wasn't good :) i made french bread sticks FROM SCRATCH for the first time!! with real yeast and everything. it was quite exciting. and i made nine pans of lemon bars... but they didn't have enough lemon in them ugh. still good though.

the students tonight ate SOOO MUCH. we ran out of noodles halfway thorough which is annoying because we made TONS and i'm not in charge of the kitchen so i couldn't have foreseen it and fixed it. one day... lol. but we finally finished and cleaned the kitchen and i was done around 6:30ish. so i washed my face and then got on the computer... talked to andy and wished him happy birthday :) then talked to my dad about all sorts of things... including school this fall which i am PUMPED ABOUT! i'm such a dork.

instead of staff small groups tonight, all the girls went to mrs. honken's house and had girly food: chocolate covered strawberries and cherries, all types of fruity sorbet and gelatto, cheesecake bites, etc. it was really sad when i walked down the steps to her house cause it reminded me of opening when we would eat lunch and dinner at her house... i got pretty emotional. then after a while we started talking about our first impressions of other staffers... it was hilarious. apparently... i appear 24, smart, sweet, and that i have it all together. LOL. i must seem older than i am, because every session someone asks me, "have you finished your degree yet?" i'm like.. no not yet... have a while to go. as for the smart and sweet thing...

before i had gone to the girl thing... i started watching the newspring service from this past sunday... oh my goodness... i thought, "no they didn't. but, yes. they did." i laughed soooo hard. and immediately started texting people asking if they had seen it.

then tonight the students watched the abortion video... the ones that stayed late for the optional part three of the video got a surprise afterward: COOKIES AND MILK! yay. they weren't mrs. fields cookies, but they were still good. i'm gonna get that recipe too.

i also got a three page letter today from taylor... lol i love her. and her letters. thanks :)

suprise day off!!

so i thought tomorrow was my day off... but it turns out... ITS TODAY! yay. so now that i have realized this, i don't know what to do. i have been working on my schedule for school this fall... i now think i am going to minor in business administration. cause i talked to kevin bywater yesterday about oxford and stuff. he said that if he could do it all over again he would double major and get at least two minors.... so i don't know what i would double major in but i do think if i'm going to choose actuarial science as my emphasis, business administration can't be a bad minor. that is a lot of big words all in a row.

i made ten gallons of sweet tea last night and coffee cake with the left over topping from the pumpkin pie we had for thanksgiving dinner last night. it is amazing how fast it all disappears. i left the cake out for nightwatch cause they let me stay in the kitchen a little past 11 sometimes if i'm waiting on water to boil for tea. it turned out pretty good... another thing i can make at home now. i'm really going to wish i had a kitchen this year at school... i'm just going to have to use someone else's.

i'm currently listening to old school amy grant cause that song Baby, Baby came on the radio the other day on the way to sports time and it was fun. i'm going to have to get her christmas cd this fall cause it is the one we used to listen to when i was little.

i'm really hyper all of a sudden but i still don't want to do anything cause now i know i don't have to. it is kinda chilly outside today and not very sunny so i don't want to go to the pool. some girls are going to go downtown but i don't know if i want to spend money either. ugh what a tough life :)

Independance Day

what a day!! i woke up around 10 and read some and then went to work at noon. then i spent FIVE HOURS in the salad pit slicing fruit and then making watermelonade. i'm pretty sure that fruit salad was worth hundreds of dollars... it had strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, green and purple grapes, and this melon called santa claus... no i'm not kidding. we also had brisket, potato salad, pasta salad, and deviled eggs. i mean we made 300 deviled eggs! that is a lot of eggs. i made sweet tea and then the watermelonade which was DELISH! i'm totally making it when i get home... it is made of real watermelon and fresh lemon juice... yum. it was gone in a flash! it is amazing how you can spend hours in the kitchen and it is gone in 30 minutes. and then for dessert we had strawberry shortcake. the cake was made of like sweet biscuits with orange rind in them... so good.

so after dinner was worship and after worship the staff choir sang Battle Hymn of the Republic acapella. WE GOT A STANDING O FROM THE STUDENTS! it was so weird and made me miss performing a lot. i'm really excited about singing for graduation also.

then i read some more. when it got dark outside, everyone went outside the front of the hotel and watched fireworks. the city of manitou springs fire department does fireworks off a mountain next to the town for everyone and they were really good fireworks!! one was orange and purple :) after the fireworks we had all the students go through the kitchen cause we had brownies and ice cream for them. and a girl on staff got glowsticks so we raved all over the hotel... it was funny. so all in all... it was a really good day. best independance day ever!

last picture day

i've been having weird nightmares lately... i think it is because i have this foreboding fear of leaving summit and the wonderful people that i love here. but i am ready to go home and spend time with my family and friends whom i also love.

today was the last picture day so it was the last time i will get on the roof :( but enough being sad. here are some pics from the summit photographers :)

Garden of the Gods!
Choir during Graduation


Slicing bread in the kitchen lol
Staff Small Group! not the best picture of me but i still wanted you to know what everyone else looked like lol
me introducing myself. that's right i'm in the front.

flying W and such.

today was a short day of work... since we had dinner at the flying w tonight, all we had to do was clean up lunch and then we were done. so i did that and then read some and napped on the couch... then i left for flying W and had fun! they actually needed four volunteers to help serve food, so jen, laura jane, whitney, and I served food. i dished out some applesauce and it was a good job cause the apple sauce is the only cold item on the tin plate so everyone loved me cause they could carry their plate without burning their hands off. but i do think i don't want to say the word applesauce for a very long time lol.

tomorrow is my day off... but like all days off here at summit, i have plenty to do!! i think i might go to the pool tomorrow before lunch then have lunch then sports time then dinner then worship then staff small group then my small group then lights out. wow that is a FULL DAY!! ahh.

i just found out today that i will be flying back into charlotte and not charleston so dad said we will prolly catch some P.F. Changs on the way home or something... yummy :) although working in the kitchen here has made me not hungry a lot. i don't remember what being hungry is like. i think i need to fast some.

oo and the first girl i met in the airport two years ago when i was first a student is HERE!! andrea is her name and she now goes to school in florida and was in a track meet at clemson if february!! can you believe it?? and how she is a student this session and staying to be on staff for the second half of the summer!! i was so excited to see her... a familiar face lol.

hoedown to the EXTREME.

so today was changeover day and this morning i was on towel duty with steph. we took ALL the towels to the coin laundromat and spent like sixty dollars doing laundry for three hours. it was nice though cause we had breaks while stuff was washing and drying. then this afternoon, i watched hairspray with laura jane, jess, and anna. then i got ready for the hoedown. i totally represented tonight... orange skirt, purple tank top, white shirt, and purple bandanna. yeah i did. it totally wasn't really "western wear" but i still got an honorable mention in the western costume contest... go figure. the square dancing was fun and the food was good. the girls served the boys dinner and gave them encouragement notes that we had written for them. and we had bottled root beer so i got to use my reefs to open some. it sprayed everywhere!! yazzie made dessert... which means it was five star dessert. literally. cause he works at the broadmoor.

we get students tomorrow to begin fourth session... two weeks and then its over :( i'm getting to the point where i'm almost ready to go home... but am going to bawl when i have to leave here.

prayers for energy tomorrow would be GREATLY appreciated :)

yay for day off! cept not really.

yesterday i worked in the morning and then around one i fell asleep on the couch in the staff lounge and woke up at six! slept through sports time. so today was my day off and i went out on the town with whitney, joy, steph, and paul. we went to banks, walmart, sonic, and the gas station... it was fun. then tonight we have choir, small group w/ pizza, and staff auction... i think i'm doing it this time with becky and steph. cookies maybe?

post number 30.

yesterday i got a lot done on websites... felt good to get things accomplished. i can't wait to get my new computer and my big screen back so i can really make things look good!!

we had the picnic yesterday and then mike haley spoke last night... heard he deserved a standing O. he always does! one of my favorite testimonies of God's persistence.

i get really sad thinking about leaving summit and the people here... really sad. but i am still excited about moving on and coming home. guess i'll just have to look forward to next year!!

heather honken coker came and brought kate perry with her... she looks JUST like her dad. i feel like i'm looking dr. clay right in the face. adorable!

today is turkey day! i don't know how we do thanksgiving dinner every two weeks! but we do. and it smells amazing.

i'm almost done with my book... i feel bad i haven't finished it yet. so i'm going to do that now.

time is flying!!

i can't believe it is halfway through third session... time is going WAY too fast! wednesday was a good day off... i slept late compared to the usual 5:30 and read by the pool. then lunch and my "evaluation" which didn't have much to do with my job at all. i just talked to pat about how small group is going and such. i wish i could get some constructive criticism from someone. i never seem to get any... then at 1 i hiked the punch bowls at glen eyrie with my staff small group. hence the pictures...

the water was soooo cold!!! it reminded me of both rock hopping in NC and the Dominican waterfalls. mix the two together and make everything steeper and that is the punch bowls. then the hours from 5 to midnight FLEW way too fast. i don't even remember what happened.

then yesterday was work from 6am to 1pm and then sports time at 2:15. followed by dinner and choir and small groups. we talked about How good do you have to be to be saved? What is the minimum requirement to be saved? and How does a person know for sure if they are saved? fun stuff.

today was work and then now. it is cooling down outside and starting to thunder... prolly going to rain. i might go to the mill tonight with laura jane which is new life church's college ministry. it is also ryan's birthday so i called him. and i got my financial aid statement for school which always makes me happy. i'm such a dork! i miss school.

you know you're at summit when... part two

you know you're at summit when six people go out for coffee and talk about emotionalism in the church for HOURS. it was a good and heated conversation... i think we all were agreeing, but just not listening well enough or articulating well enough so it seemed we were not all agreeing. this can be frustrating but it is fun that we can all be friends no matter what dumb things we say lol.

i'm back on morning kitchen and i think i like it better cause i have the whole day after noon to chill with students or watch sermons online.

we watched zorro last night before coffee and i had a text convo with taylor, evan, and allison all at the same time. i miss them!!

we made one of my favorite lunches today... cornbread and chilli. but not normal chili. the best chilli ever. i'm so winning the next chilli cook-off.

we have sports time in ten minutes. tonight is small group and i think i'm going to make them cookies.

i talked to kathryn today :)

and i'm excited that i get to go home... just not yet.

changeover day

so today was pretty good. started off with cleaning the hotel from 8 to noon when we had lunch. cleaning for four hours is cake compared to opening so it wasn't that big of a deal to me. then at one i went shopping with laura jane, shannon, and mish in Denver!! there are so many more mountains there!!! and a really great mall... reminded me a lot of the mall of georgia... same layout, different decorations. anyway, i got some sweet tea and waffle fries with polynesian sauce from chicfila. it was QUITE the big deal. i also bought some clothes cause i didn't bring enough "nice" clothes with me. mostly tops. but i did get and ORANGE skirt. yes clemson orange.

tonight we went to 36 acres again and had gumbo and rum cake. and a bonfire with lots of smores and singing.

tomorrow is STUDENTS! and there is a kid from easley coming... but he's homeschooled so we'll see how it all works out :)

i'm going to be leading my own small group cause it is going to be a full session (180+ students) and i have FIVE girls!! ahh memorizing names is not my strong point but i'm getting better.

pics from the professionals

since i'm not good at taking pics all the time... here are some i'm in. more at HERE.

this is session 1 graduation... choir singing. i'm in the back right.
russell counting the girls off for speed volleyball... i'm guessing i was number five... don't ask.
me and becky!! i'm pretty sure kirk took this one and not rowan.

it was a good day off

so yesterday(tuesday) was my day off and i woke up early. go figure... i had a one on one with a girl in my small group at breakfast and then i watched the last newspring service which was AMAZING and i looved the decemberadio song they played about being dangerous. then i went out by the pool and read some more of my book. then lunch. then sports time when i played volleyball for hours. then dinner.

then when we got back... we realized we had two girls staff meetings... one at 8 and one at 11. this seemed a little strange to us. i mean, why not just have one? so we had the meeting at 8 and talked about the feminar(which had gone really well... thanks for the prayers) then we just sat around and had fun with the students till 11. i started noticing that the staff guys were really dressed up compared to usual… and i figured something was fishy. then we went to the meeting and it was Judson and Dustin asking us how the guys were doing. What do they need to do better? What are they doing well? Etc. so then after we gave our little report, they said they had another surprise for us in the lobby. So we all walk down to the lobby and all the guys were dressed nicely and playing music and they had SOO MANY good desserts laid out on the front desk that they had made themselves. So they said thanks for being such great women of God and good examples to us blahblah and then gave us food. And waited on us hand and foot till it was time for lights out. It was soo sweet.

One thing i figured out though is that my future guy sure has a lot to live up too. Even though this gesture was really sweet, i kept thinking to myself that it was really for the other girls on staff that i compare myself to all the time. And that only one or two of the guys had come up with the idea so we can’t give the rest of them too much credit. There i go being all analytical and cynical when all the guys were trying to do was make us feel better… or fatten us up with sugar… either one.

Anyway. Then today(Wednesday) i got way too much sleep this morning. I slept till 11:50 and then went in to work at noon. I made hummingbird cake and salsa. We had fajitas for dinner. I kept having to explain that there are not actual hummingbirds in the cake. And i got my first battle wound… burned my arm on the cake pan. Then we filmed our new kitchen video after dinner in which we are all superheroes.

Choir was at 8 and i discovered what my pet peeve is. Finally. It is when people are talking when they shouldn’t be. Such as during choir practice. Calloway would have never let us talk as much as we talk during practice and it makes us so unproductive! I find myself saying SHH which only annoys me more that i have to say anything since i’m the youngest and everyone else should know better.

The last small group meeting was tonight and we had pizza. And diet dr. pepper. Which spewed all over me when i opened it. It was quite comical. After small groups, we had the staff auction again. I didn’t do it this time… but it was funny nevertheless. Nightwatch went for over 1000 dollars. Who said teens don’t have any money? And why do people want to stay up all night after being sleep deprived for two weeks?

So that was my story. Tomorrow should be fun. We have a huge picnic in the park so hopefully i’ll get some more volleyball in tomorrow.

I think i’ve figured out what i want for my birthday.

dry hands

so yesterday was amazing. i got up around 10. laid out by the pool and read my book. then went to work at two to make turkey dinner. and last night i saw kung fu panda... amazingly funny movie! and then we had sonic on the way home.

today was not quite as good. got up around 10 again. watched elevation service which was good. and then work at noon. and i've been on my feet for six straight hours. ugh. but its ok because tonight is feminar and small groups again. please pray for me cause i'm talking in the feminar again :)

tomorrow is tuesday and it is my day off. i am having breakfast with a girl in my small group in the morning. please please pray my day off is filled with perfect weather! cause i want to lay by the pool again. and go to sports time so i can play speed volleyball some more.

random morning post

so many things to do this morning. i actually got up for breakfast cause i had a one on one with a girl in my small group. i'm also going to class this morning cause hugh hewitt is here today. everytime he comes it is like a celebrity is here and doc freaks out. also, an author that is a pretty big deal is coming today... don't remember her name but i'll let you know.

i also have a laundry list of items to do including laundry. writing letters :) and reading a book: Suprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis. it is kind of an early autobiography that talks about why he converted from atheism to Christianity. It is pretty good so far. I like his humor... he said he thinks one of the reasons he is scared of ants is because he has the fear of a society ruled by a woman haha.

so now i'm going to sit in the classroom. i might post later today... just depends.

really hyper day

yesterday was my day off and so i slept till eleven and then got up, had lunch, moseyed around, went to the pool, and then to laurajane's house. whitney tried to play pingpong with me, but its just not the same. i have decided we really need a pingpong table at summit. it would be such a bonding experience for both students and staff. one day when i make a lot of money i will donate a table to summit. maybe i'll just use my salary from this summer. i mean, who needs money when you have a meal plan?

anyway. then we went to target and i got bright pink nail polish. my favorite color. and some girls went on a shopping spreee... don't worry dad. i didn't by any clothes :) not yet anyway. i think i saw some outlets by focus on the family....

wow what an ADD post.

so then last night i went to bed at like 12:30 and woke up at like 3:30 and couldn't sleep. then i slept some more and got up with the sun (aka 6am) when i didn't have to be at work till noon. craazy i know. what was strange is that i usually don't talk in the morning unless spoken too. but today i was sooo full of energy all day! even now. i'm typing crazy fast lol. so i helped morning kitchen cause they were so behind cause they had new people and then i poured up the sweet tea for lunch and they drank it all. then we made parmesan chicken and rice pilaf and veggies. and we got to go to sports time cause most of the work was in the oven. i made the apple bran cake which was delish.

sports time was two hours of speed volleyball. first time this session i have really been able to get to know some students. i did ok today with the volleyball thing. played back left. then we came back to serve dinner and it was good.

tonight was staff small groups and then student small groups. now i'm in the lobby hanging out with the staff and they are all crazy i've decided. but that is ok.

so its been a while...

sorry. a lot happened this weekend!! thursday night was testimony night and a few staff and students gave their testimonies. then doc gave his and God moved!!! three students decided they want Christ in their lives for real and told doc they meant business :D

then friday was graduation... always bittersweet. the staff choir rocked it and the staff video was hilarious. doc gave his speech on "what is right with america" and once again mentioned SC as one of the nation's most generous states. then we had ice cream afterwards. then come all the pictures... sooo many! i put all of mine on facebook. i'm going to miss my girls from session 1!!! love you girls :)

saturday was changeover... aka clean like madmen. my main job was scrubbing every inch of the steamtables in the dining room... they were gross! but they are not anymore. then we had free time till 5. i did laundry for the second time this summer lol. i was low on clean clothing... and i made cookies for the staff. brad tried to help... he really tried but the blender doesn't work so well without a blade. so at 5 we all went to chipotle for dinner and packed out the restaurant (it was ok but i like moes better) and then putt putt... which was sooo funny. i won out of out little group of four woohoo! then some of us went to the movies. some saw indiana jones... but since i haven't seen any of the first three, i saw ironman. i actually liked it. it wasn't realistic... but what do you expect? when we came out of the theater, the people i was with were talking about how they really didn't like it so i felt weird saying i did like it. but anyway, then van 2 went to sonic and i got a lemonberry slush. YUM.

when we got back to the hotel, i put notes on my new small group girls' notebooks and then went to sleep. now it is sunday and new students are getting here!! oo and i am now on afternoon kitchen. turns out they switch you back and forth from morning to evening. so now i get to sleep in!! or wake up and go to lectures. but i don't get to go to as many sports times. but its ok because i am so excited about the people i'm working with. and i don't think it is quite as much work as morning kitchen. we're making lasagna tonight.

feminar & manfrence

sorry its been a while... i get into this routine and time just flies!!

we had a staff meeting tonight and we shared different things that God has been doing in the lives of the students here this session and it was really cool to hear the stories of people glad to be here. then eric(staff director) told us what a great job we were doing but that we are going to be held accountable face to face and stuff. i'm glad we are! its too easy to get complacent when you're on the job. oo and i found out that both joshua harris and donald miller have worked at summit... weird i know. we also had a guy here to do music this week... http://www.joshbales.com/ he was really good!!

so tonight was the feminar and the manfrence which is when the guys all meet in the classroom and talk about who know what and the girls all meet in the dining room. a couple of staff girls all share something they have struggled with. i love it at summit because we are not afraid to talk about things that the american church avoids. NO sin is too dark or disgusting for God! he wants to bring ALL of them to Light and heal us. so i actually shared about my experience (or non experience) with the whole dating relationships ordeal and the loneliness and depression that can follow. i'm really grateful for all of the public speaking experience i've had because it made it really easy to just share my heart with the girls.

then we had small groups with the students to talk about the things they heard in the feminar. i made white chocolate peanut butter and sliced apples and mish made nightwatch iced coffee... it was soo good. the girls really opened up tonight about stuff they struggle with and things their friends struggle with that they don't know how to handle.

two more days till i get a day off... i think i can make it!

lemons out of lemonade

haha! so today we made this really amazing chili at lunch and we also made cornbread from scratch. so i put all these ingredients together in the mixer bowl and asked abby(the boss) how to work this particular mixer. apparently she didn't remember to read the directions on the tape on the mixer... she she turns it on and the batter flies everywhere! including all over the people... i kept finding cornmeal in my hair all day. but we laughed about it instead of crying about it... and lunch ended up being reallyreallyreally good. so hence the post title... lemons out of lemonade.

today at sport time, i was going to nap on the grass... but then it started raining. so i went up under the shelter and ended up talking to two students for the rest of the time. it was fun :)

we have had staff choir practice the past two nights. the staff sings at graduation each session. its pretty fun cause i haven't been in a choir in a long time.

i'm getting really tired... i need to catch up on sleep, but there seems to be no time. i'd better figure out when to rest now cause i have a while left to go. and i'm supposed to climb the incline tomorrow with my girls. so maybe prayers will help me get up that mountain. i purposefully didn't play sports today at sports time so i wouldn't be so sore tomorrow i couldn't do the incline.

so i'm going to go to bed. gnight.

ok so i finally took more pictures

today was my day off so i didn't wake up and cook. i got up around nine and went to the classroom to hear dr. bauman make the students really mad by playing the devils advocate. he talked about the meaning of meaning, the problem of pain, and then augustine vs palegius. that last one really gets them riled up! but is a debate that has been going on for over 1600 years... wasn't solved today.

sports time this afternoon was fun. it rained on us for a little while, but that always happens here. we played right on through! i played volleyball for three hours and the time just flew. tonight, we had staff small groups and then student small groups. i'm in jen's small group and it was really fun. we went to the mate factor and then we all just talked about really random things like is God really omnipresent? and why are guys so entertaining? then for student small group, me and mish took our girls to the mate factor... so two in one night for me! we all shared our "spiritual journey" and it is amazing how well i identified with different things in each girls' story.

you might be wondering... mate is a tea full of chlorophyll and antioxidants and is a really popular drink in south america. i had hibiscus-lime mate cold and it was soooo good. twice. it was deep pink in color and tart/sweet.

now i'm exhausted from my day off so gnight!

first real day of kitchen duty

so in the kitchen at 6am here is like being in an 8am class at home... so its not really that bad. we made french toast with french bread this morning and sausage... and it was sooo good!! at least that is what i heard. i didn't eat much of it because when you cook it, you aren't as hungry for some reason. but it was a lot of fun getting to know the people i'll be working with. there is one guy on morning kitchen crew and his name is wesley... but ms. honken kept calling him paul. over and over. so now that is what we call him sometimes and its pretty funny. idk maybe you had to be here.

then we made lunch which was tacos. 50 pounds of hamburger meat! that was fun to cook. and i found out that salad bars can be most tedious. after i got off work which was around 1 after lunch, it felt like it was 6pm or something. it felt like lunch was dinner. then i talked to mom on the phone for a while and stuff. i got this amazing care package from the fam that had cookies and a large plastic tarantula in it lol. and a really sweet letter from taylor :) thanks so much!! i love mail.

tonight was praise and worship then staff meeting then girls staff meeting to talk about the feminar. i'm pretty excited about the music situation this summer... definitely better than the last two summers!

i also made sweet tea today... yeah amazing i know. i'm finding all the staffers that love sweet tea and sharing the love because withdrawl symptoms are brutal.

first students are here!!

wow it has been two whole weeks! and students are finally here... what in the world did i do for that long? work part was not too bad today cause all we had to do was put stuff out for sandwiches. but this is summit, so we had to slice all our meat like a sub shop. no fingers gone yet!

after i got off kitchen duty, i went to find students to talk to... and it was so much fun!! its amazing how much easier it is to make friends here when you are wearing a staff polo :) this session is the one a lot of homeschoolers come too because a lot of other schools are not out yet. i don't think there is anyone from south carolina here this session... at least i haven't found them yet. dinner was lasagna and it was SOO good. afternoon kitchen did a very nice job with their first meal. then we had orientation and it was so good to hear Doc-isms again. the staff introduced themselves at the end and then we broke into our small groups. i really think my small group girls are amazing and so diverse! one plays ice hockey! how nifty. anyway, then we had the "hall meeting" which means guys meet in the classroom to talk about who know what and girls meet in the dining room to talk about mostly dress code. we do this little fashion show to show them what is not cool like rolled up shorts or inappropriate shirts and the skit involves two boy characters played by girls to gawk at the models. i got to be one of the guys and it was sooo hard not to laugh!! but i did it. and it was funny.

reading over that sounds weird... but it has a purpose lol.

then we had a fire alarm which sounded like a dying duck.

now lights out for staff is at midnight but since i have to be up early, i'm going to bed.

by the way. tomorrow i'm going to have my phone with me from 2-5 my time in the afternoon... so call me if you want. that is mountain time so it would be 4-7 eastern. i think. maybe.

i GET to wake up early

yes, you read correctly. i am on morning kitchen staff. so my hours are from 6am to 1pm. i am actually really excited about that because i get to sit in the classroom during my time off. and i won't feel like i've wasted the morning hours! and i get to learn how to cook a really good breakfast :)

today we had more staff training in the morning and then lunch and then prince caspian!!! i liked the movie. a lot of people didn't like the ending... i don't want to spoil it, but it reminded us of PDA on graduation night here in the hotel. after that, we went to 36 acres for dinner, which is a piece of land owned by summit with a little one room building for the faculty and staff to enjoy. we had steak for dinner and it was like my dad made it! and a guy named phil from NC made SWEET TEA. i think i was going through withdrawls... i'm going to have to just make some. and i can now that i'm on kitchen staff :) doc showed up and said a few words. i looove it when he talks because you never know what he is going to say! and i could really tell he cares a lot about the students and only wants the best for them... which means a lot of hard work on our parts.

i got my official summit polo today! don't worry mom, it is a large. it is navy with a white logo... and it is so surreal having one! i wear it tomorrow because students arrive tomorrow. actually, one student got here tonight and experienced 36 acres with us. lucky him. anyway... i'm thinking i might just watch a newspring service online for church in the morning because i have to be in the kitchen by 11 tomorrow. real work starts monday. i do get one day a week off... but it will probably be filled with appointments or something of that sort with the girls in my small group.

speaking of small group, i'm co-leading with mish!! my roommate. she's amazing and i'm soo excited! we wrote notes to our four girls tonight and put them in their notebooks on their desks and prayed over their desks. wow, talk about powerful. they are going to go through a lot in those desks!

so that is pretty much it for tonight. cept i got a really sad voicemail from allison that she left while i was in the movie... I LOVE YOU ALLISON!! MISS YOU TOO!!! i'm sure stuff will start happening soon... you should call taylor or LG and go to grouchos for me :)

beaver

sorry its been so long since i've updated... once staff training started, time seemed to disappear!! its been fun though. lots of intro stuff to the rules and the basics of worldview stuff... always good to review. last night we took a personality test and i am a beaver. this means i'm organized and i think that there is a right way to do everything and i want to do it that way. beavers also desire to solve everything... hence the math major :) they do not like sudden change and need reassurance. so comment on my blogs to reassure me. my strengths are high standards, order, and respect while my weaknesses are unrealistic expectations of self and others. it also said i was too perfect... but whatever. i thought it was pretty accurate. there are not a lot of beavers here, but there are a lot of otters. those are the silly ones that love to be the center of attention and make everyone laugh. this is fun because that means i don't have to be much of an otter at all.

anyway, if that made any sense then congratulations because i'm still thinking about it! we have also been reading some C.S. Lewis essays about getting along with others. one called The Problem with X and the other called The Sermon and the Lunch. look them up and read them if you're interested or just really bored cause its summer :)

we just finished lunch and are about to do some MORE cleanup work... we made all the beds yesterday and it was such a blessing to have so many people helping! not that they had a choice... its just that before there were only four of us and now there are over 30.

we are going to the park tonight for BBQ dinner and "play" haha this should be fun. maybe its supposed to be like sports time or something. i still don't know what work crew i'm going to be on, but i think they take into account the personality test so i'm not too worried.

i can't believe students get here on sunday!! crazy how fast the summer flies...

couscous!

so today was fun. we finished up a lot and are almost done cleaning... i'll try to get pics of the finished product up soon. today i replaced light bulbs for at least five hours all over the hotel. my arms were tired is an understatement! but at least they're doing something.

saw chuck edwards today and he said Go Cocks! i thought he was saved...

dinner was amazing again tonight. ruthann said she felt heavy cause of all this food and i have to agree... time for smaller portions.

then mish and i went to Starbucks for coffee and i had a honey latte(amazing). there were some pretty strange people there... then we went to walmart(our favorite place) and got a fish!! its name is couscous and i can't really explain why except to say that we eat a lot of it here and it is really good.

i heard we got a lot of new staffers tonight, but we got in late(like 10 something) and so they have all gone to their rooms... so i'll tell you about them tomorrow.

gnight!

one week down...

monday. that pretty much describes it. it was a good day overall and went by really fast compared to saturday. i cleaned the laundry room and then proceeded to do laundry in it for a few hours. i wasn't sore today from the hike on the incline... and that weird cause i expected to be dying. i guess going to clemson did me some good! just found out today that a group on their senior class trip from Oklahoma is going to be staying here until thursday morning... kinda feel like we are going to have to reclean a lot of stuff, but that just means everything will be extra clean! we should be really close to done by tomorrow night, which is good because a lot of the staffers get here wednesday. we start "staff training" wednesday night. i'm looking forward to everyone being here.

short post. i think we're going to watch horton hears a who. thanks lindsay for the movies :)

the incline... ugh

so i climbed a mountain today! actually its called the incline and it is 1 mile long and you go up 3000 feet in elevation. yeah, ridiculous. but it was pretty fun! i went with angela(ohio) and jess(florida). i almost didn't go because i wanted to take a nap, but i'm glad i went and hopefully i will catch up on sleep later. not that i'm behind on sleep, just tired because, well, i climbed a mountain. we said we are going to try to do the incline at least twice a week and do pike's peak by the end of the summer. i think we can do it :)

this morning we went to a church called woodmen calvary chapel. it was pretty cool. the guy taught from romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. so it was all about hope and wether or not we have any. after church we had cereal and raspberries for lunch. then we did the incline. then when we got back, we had a new staffer!! his name is trevor and he is from pensylvania and he goes to Auburn. so we had something in common. he is a gymnast and on the cheerleading team so he was on the field at the bowl game. pretty cool huh? he is a finance major and will be a senior next year.

tonight's dinner was salmon and couscous and asparagus and amazing fruit salad. yes. i think i'm going to have to make sweet tea soon because this whole green tea thing is just not the same. i think i am also going to have to make some ms. field's cookies soon in this very large kitchen we have.

tomorrow is more cleaning. yay! hopefully we will get a lot done with the new help we have. there is so much left to do. staffers get here wednesday so we need to be done with most of it by then. prayers for energy and motivation are appreciated :)

yay saturday!

so today we had the help of jen, olivia, and tori from the office... what a day off for them lol. so we pretty much finished the third floor and most of the second floor, aka the dungeon. yes that is what it is called. the room that the 16 year old boys stay in, aka the princess room, has three bunk beds in it. there are all sorts of things written on them. one of them said Spartan. one said Kennan, lord of the nightwatchmen, bestowed mercy on us... blahblah it was kinda funny. some of the things written on the bathroom were just crude. silly boys.

today we got another staffer!! her name is jess and she is from Florida. but she has never had sweet tea, so she doesn't count as a southerner. she is pretty neato. tomorrow we are supposed to get a boy... oh what fun. i'm not sure what we are doing tomorrow... seeing as it is Sunday and all, i think we might not be working. but we might be. i really don't know. shold probably figure that out soon.

we just went on another walmart run. this time because jess didn't bring any toiletries. so we all went and we all got stuff even though we just went two days ago! we are such girls.

you know you're at summit when... part one

i have a feeling there are going to be many posts like this. so here's the first.

you know you're at summit when the after-dinner conversation is all about "what is art?" is it anything that is created? the phonebook? is it anything that conveys a message? the crucifixion? is it ordered? tessellations? is it self expression? the angry carrot at Winthrop? :) is there a difference between good art and bad art? should bad art really be called art? what about movies? are good movies only movies that make you think? is there a place in art for nonsensical comedy? this conversation went for at least an hour. so much fun!!

funny story. so i just walked into the room after that convo at the honkens and i said to mish, "its only 10? it feels like midnight!" and she said, "are you used to the time difference yet?" and then i was like, "DUH it is midnight where i'm from." so the moral of the story is: i'm not used to the time difference yet. that is why i'm so exhausted even though it is only 10pm here. that and we work our behinds off every day. so since i'm so tired, i'm going to go to bed and get 10 hours of sleep :)

AHHH the high tomorrow is 56!! that means the high on pikes peak tomorrow is 29. ridiculous.

third floor fun begins

so today was full of fun. not really lol. we started on the third floor and then after lunch we got the wonderful job of putting blankets, pillows, and mattress covers on ALL the beds in the hotel. on all four floors. it was quite exciting... and so we felt like we had accomplished nothing on the third floor. but after we were done with all those linens, we went back to working on the third floor and now we feel like we accomplished something. the boys' staff lounge was the dirtiest room we have done so far! why are boys so dirty?

when we were getting ready for dinner (spaghetti) the song 24 by switchfoot came on. i have always loved that song, but these lyrics really stuck out to me this time:

I want to see miracles, see the world change

Wrestled the angel, for more than a name

For more than a feeling

For more than a cause

I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You

And You're raising the dead in me

Twenty four voices

With twenty four hearts

With all of my symphonies

In twenty four parts.

I'm not copping out.

Not copping out.

Not copping out.

a second spring

just got back from the first walmart run! i got cute sticky notes so that i can leave notes for my girls in my small group on their binders. i also got some andes mints :) when we were walking back inside the hotel, we were talking about how we are experiencing our second spring of the year because the leaves are just starting to sprout here. its so brown! but green will come. it always does.

today was cleaning the fourth floor. that might sound small, but it isn't. we wiped down all of the furniture and walls and floors and baseboards and scrubbed all the bathrooms and vaccuumed all the carpets... etc. it was quite tiring but it went by fast! tomorrow is the third floor.

we met brian's girlfriend today, rachel, and she is really cool. she biked over here from focus on the family. she asked really good questions while we were cleaning together like "if you could do anything in the world, what would it be?" "if you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?" etc. they really made me think about what i want to do with my life. i feel like i get asked a lot about what i want to do after school because saying you're a math major doesn't give a clear picture of one certain job. i kinda like not knowing exactly what area of business or education i'm going to go into beacuse i am the kind of person that would go straight into that job without asking God if He wanted me to do something else.

anyway, its not even nine and i'm exhausted. so time for bed.

hail

so this morning at like 5am i was awakened by the thunder and lightning! the building literally shook from the thunder and i thought the lightning was outside my window. pretty crazy! not to mention, the sun is up by 6am every morning so i was up early today. when i looked out the window, i discovered that it had hailed last night. or snowed or something.

I was talking to Angela last night about the differences in our school and stuff cause she goes to cedarville (small christian school) in ohio. we talked about what God is doing in each place. so i told her about what is going on in clemson and she told me about this really cool ministry she's involved in that lets her "adopt a grandma." she gets to spend time with an elderly lady at least once a week and just spend time with her! i think that would be awesome. then i told her about how God revolutionized the way i look at prayer this year in NOLA and she shared this verse with me: In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. -Psalm 5:3 I think its really cool how when you pray with expectaion for God to do His will... He always does.

we finished cleaning the kitchen today! it is probably still dirty though compared to how it should be. oh well. everything is washed and dusted and mopped. woohoo! we are doing the fourth floor next.



ok time for dinner.

first real day of cleaning

so we are going to cleain from 9 to 5 for at least seven days. today was day number one! there is so much to be done, but it helps being able to take turns doing different things. we are about done with the kitchen after today. it was filthy! its amazing how much dirt blows in over the winter. lunch is each day at noon and dinner at six. i love mrs. honken's random hugs :) just as much as her cooking.

i took some pictures today... enjoy


here's the obligatory picture before i leave for the airport... thanks mom :)







this is landing in colorado springs. it is so brown here! and pike's peak still has snow on it. jen said that it snowed last week and it was 80 the day before! crazy weather.






this is the front of the hotel.








this is the dining hall. much work to be done!








top bunk! yeah baby. i love the pink they got for us :)









this is my room from last year! kathryn, i told it hello for you







this is the classroom without all of the desks out... weird








mish! one of my roomies. she goes to covanent and i heard clemson beat them in ultimate frisbee. she said when she visited clemson she thought, "what's with all the paw prints?!"






here's the top level of the classroom... and there are the desks! and a random ficus.






angela is on the right, ruthann is in the middle, and thats brian on the left. yay for cleaning the kitchen!

safe and sound

Made it safely to the rockies… and it is really weird being here before everything is set up. I mean, I am now allowed to go into the kitchen! Not only am I allowed in the kitchen, but we get to clean it. It’s like spring cleaning at the Summit Hotel.

The flights were good. I watched Enchanted on the first flight and I sat next to a little blonde girl named Ariel the second flight. She thought I was pretty funny. We talked about pets and she loved the fact I have a bird at home. When I told her it talked, she proceeded to repeat, “Hello Pickles” for the rest of the flight. I’m sure her parents will love me for that. Then when I got to the Colorado Springs Airport, Jen was there to pick me up. We got my (very heavy) luggage and came to the Hotel.

Now when I say “Hotel” I mean this amazing building built in the 1800s that is made completely of wood (no candles allowed). I’m rooming with three girls named Mish, Angela, and RuthAnn. They are pretty amazing as well. I went right to work with them cleaning the kitchen and they quickly pointed out that I have an accent. They had been working for a while when I got here, so we stopped around 5 and got ready for dinner at 6. Dinner was sooo good! Mrs. Honken cooked for us and we ate at her house. I can’t believe I get to eat her cooking for ten weeks… better start hiking up those mountains soon.

Now I’m exhausted… and its only 8pm here! But it is 10 at home and I had quite the day.

finally packed!

i am finally packed... this is a big deal for me. i am a procrastinator when it comes to many things, one of these things being packing. i had a hard time narrowing down what clothes to bring. mom made the comment that i wan't very observant of the staff the past two years because i really didn't know what to bring! but hopefully i will not be freezing. i'm not ready for weather in the 40s and 50s!

i'll try and post tomorrow during my layover in dallas and when i get to colorado so you know i made it safely. thanks for all your prayers!! i have a feeling i will be flying with an army of angels surrrounding my plane. pray that i am bold during my travels... i mean the person sitting next to me is stuck for a few hours... ;)

one more week

i've really enjoyed being home this weekend before exams... ugh exams. physics and calculus on wednesday and chemistry on friday. but then, i'm outta here! packing up the dorm room this weekend is going to be interesting... but kinda pointless since we're staying in the exact same room next year. so as it turns out, i will be the only person from SC on staff for the part 1 of the summer... not to mention the youngest. exciting much? gotta represent :) GO TIGERS!

i was watching the video from last year's graduation ceremony when alex introduced Doc and it cracked me up! good times.

random thought: the new album from search the city is really good.

mailing address:
Kristin Kay
c/o Summit Ministries
Box 207 (935 Osage Ave)
Manitou Springs, CO 80829

ok so its official...

I'M WORKING AT SUMMIT THIS SUMMER!!! i got the phone call on the trip down to NOLA on March 15 while i was in the van with my wonderful group... and i pretty much freaked out. i'm so excited about working at summit this summer and how big God is going to grow me in just two months. manitou springs is such a special place... in more ways than one lol. the two things i'm most excited about are 1)singing amazing grace every morning and 2)serving non-stop 24/7 with brothers and sisters in Christ!

so i fly out may5th... crazy soon! this month is going to be nuts with exams, packing, and saying goodbyes. but time has been flying so fast lately, i'll be climbing mountains before i know it!