My last Camp Noah - for now

Wow, what a week. This Camp Noah was the first bi-lingual one for me. The CAMP was bi-lingual - not me. I'm "language challenged" and am just amazed at bi/tri/quad lingual people. To me it's like watching Tiger play golf - it's just a skill to which I can't even aspire.

But the hugs - and tears - are universal. These kids, and the Camp Noah counselors were so loving and I received so much more than I gave. The site coordinator, Nichene and I made a SUPER team and kept everybody fed and happy.

I've been promised pictures from Becky, the head counselor. I'll put them in a later blog.

For now, here are some photos from the previous Camp Noah that I got from their website.









See what I mean??

So this was the last Camp Noah for me, for now. Like everything else in my life, I have no idea where and when I might find another opportunity like this.

I'll spend the next couple of days helping Karen at Camp Hope. Karen's mother had surgery this past week. So one night I was the chef. Four amazing volunteers and I prepared a baked pasta dish, Italian beans, garlic bread and Caesar salad, along with the previous day's red beans and rice. And successfully fed 175 people. Very satisfying work - but still not like Camp Noah.

On Wed, Aug 1st I'll head north for a long weekend with Lesly and my Airstream friends someplace near Jackson. Then it's on to VA and Adam's wedding.

I said "Good by" to the last group of volunteers that I'll spend a full week with and it was really difficult because they were an AWESOME group. Three parishs from near Boston: St Anne's, St Mary's and St Matthew's; St John the Baptist from MN, St John's from NJ, St Joseph and Our Lady of the Fields from MD, and St Thomas More from Washington state. The kids, and the adults were so full of the Spirit of Christ and came here to serve in any way they could. Again it was VERY HOT. They worked outdoors or in houses without air conditioning and I never heard a single complaint. I asked a lot of different kids to help me do things like carry groceries, stack shelves, set up serving lines - things that I'm sure didn't fit their initial thoughts of "serving the Lord in Mississippi". But there was never a second's hesitation. Just, "Sure. Where do you want me to carry it?" WITH a big smile.

The leaders swore they didn't pick on the basis of looks but I'm not convinced. They were ALL so beautiful (or handsome as appropriate). Short redheads, tall blonds, various sized brunettes, they were all simply gorgeous. Maybe it was the inner glow, I don't know. And many are making plans already to come back next year.

They all wanted to know if I'd be here when they return. All I could say was, "I don't know where I'll be this Oct. So next summer's location is a little hard to guess."

Too many options with no commitments could be the definition of

"Life is good !"

Camp Noah Biloxi

Many of you have heard my favorite marriage quote - "The secret to a long happy marriage is Low Expectations."

I went to Biloxi on Monday prepared for being told, "You're not on our list. Please leave." I didn't have Low Expectations, I had ZERO Expectations.

This one is being held at another Lutheran church, but it's "LCMS" and all the ones I've been doing were "ELCA". Don't ask me, I don't know and it turns out, I don't need to know.

The first person I saw when I walked in the door was Karen, a lady who had volunteered at the camp I did two weeks ago. She is the Site Coordinator at this one and welcomed me with open arms and some well placed sarcasm. So I felt completely at home.

The next person I met was the lady who is the Site Coordinator for next week and she immediately invited me to work there, too.

The inbetweens just keep comin'.

This week's camp is about 2 miles from where Karen Parker of Camp Hope works her regular job and next week is actually at the Church where she works. So my truck AND motorcycle are not getting much use for a couple of weeks. After breakfast I ride the Honda 3 miles to Karen's house and then ride with her.

Ivy, her 11 yr old daughter is attending this week and having a ball. She wasn't here for Katrina. Her parents sent her to Tallahassee with her grandparents while they stayed here. So my first thought was, "She wasn't really impacted that much." Then I found out that it was 5 1/2 days before she and her grandparents found out whether her Mon and Dad were alive. I don't know if it will last, but I sure see a much happier kid after just two days with these wonderful volunteer camp counselors.

Of course, I'm still helping here at Camp Hope in the evenings and in the morning before I leave. It's starting to wear me down a little, but I get so much energy from the kids that I think two more weeks is very doable.

And there are only 85 to feed instead of the 172 last week, so it seems a lot easier.

Just to recap - I started off the week not knowing if I'd get to do another Camp Noah before I left MS and by 9am Monday I knew I was doing TWO more.

I've a new phrase,

"Life's not fair. THANK YOU GOD."

Because if life WAS fair, I'd not be having NEAR this much fun !!!