Final Week

The last week at camp was a lot of fun. We had a lot of lasts and a lot of treasured memories. We were three interns down and I missed them all dearly. It was a sad and reflective week, but we also had a complete blast because we wanted to make the most of it. Many mixed emotions.

My last night was a ton of fun! We went hot tubing in the pouring down rain, which was awesome!
We then went back to Hawk's Nest (where the interns live) and built a HUGE fort in our lobby and all slept in it cause it was a bunch of people's last night.
We watched a movie, and then at three in the morning we made our way over to the camp office where we decided to leave a little gift for our fantastic bosses. :)
The Guest Service office got about 1,000 plastic spoons put in it. In coat pockets, desk drawers, file cabinets, windowsills, anywhere and everywhere! Even on their porch outside. It was tons of fun and hopefully they will be finding spoons for years to come. That way, they won't forget us :)
Then we decided to "post-it" Chad's office. Chad is the head of Lake Champion and we covered his whole office in 5,200 post-its. It looked awesome!

It was a ton of fun and a great way to end the summer!

The next day we had the whole camp with absolutely no campers, assignment staff, summer staff, or work crew. It was awesome! Back to how things were at the very beginning of the summer. We took the boats out and played. I took Melissa for her first boat ride at Champion, we went tubing and wakeboarding, fished, went on the zip line and just hung out. It was awesome!

We then went out to dinner at Olive Garden and stopped to take pictures on Hawks Nest road on the way. I've wanted to take pictures there all summer. It is gorgeous! Yes, that is a VERY large drop behind us. I was a little nervous. That is also the Delaware River behind us, which we canoed down at the very beginning of the summer!



Love them and miss them so much!

Intern Banquet!

Well, I really wasn't good at keeping up with my blog this summer, but hopefully with school I'll be better. I can't guarantee it, but I'll try.

A week before camp ended we had an intern banquet to close out the summer. It was SO much fun! We all got dressed up and had a really nice dinner. We did worship, wrote each other notes and watched our intern slide show from the summer. It was a great start to our closing of the summer.

I thoroughly missed Krissa because she had already left, but I survived. Our group didn't feel complete, but we still had a lot of fun.

It was an awesome time of reflection and seeing all that the Lord had done in my life and in our group. He is so faithful! During worship I was overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness that God brought me to camp for the summer. It was such an amazing opportunity and I learned and grew so much! (future blogs will go further) The banquet was so awesome though!

Me and Annie (my roommate!)

Me and Lisa. I miss her dearly!

All the girls (minus Krissa) at the lake

Me and Britt

CHOCK!

Way too much trouble for one picture...

Matt ShorTTTT

The whole gang! Krissa is in there in spirit!

Charlie

Kyle and Kathy! Two of my favorites ever!

Changing

Well, all the babies are gone as well as my dear mother. They left a while ago, I just haven't had the time to write. Young Lives always seems to be my favorite week, and I was sad to see them all go. It was a fantastic week. It was a great break on the waterfront, we got to sleep in a little more, and I loved loving on the babies and girls. It was so much fun. I got to hang out with Kia a little bit and have been praying for her. She has my email and phone number, so hopefully we'll stay in touch. It's kind of crazy that God has placed us in each other's lives. She really has a place in my heart.

Me and Kia!

Another really fun thing was that my mom was able to connect with one of the moms in the pod she was in. Douglas was her favorite and she prayed for that little boy and his mother like crazy. His mom didn't stand up for the say so, but she seemed to have a little more of an open heart by the time she left. She seemed to really like my mom, but hey, who can resist. (Mom, did you write her yet?!)

My mom didn't want me to take this picture, but isn't it priceless! This is her with Douglas and his mom.

It was so awesome to see and hang out with my mom! I had so much fun. I got to see her more than I was expecting. While I was working, she would visit at the waterfront, and while she was working, I would go hold babies. So much fun. I love that she got to see the inside of Young Life and see why I'm so addicted to it. I get to be a part of people's lives changing. It's amazing; and it's all because of Jesus.

Me and Douglas! He is so adorable!

Last week and this week we've had Urban Young Life and there was a bit of a transition in our schedule. We're back to the 5:45 mornings with canoe breakfast and wakeboarding and late nights with the pool and hot tub open. Last week was definitely a challenge, but it really made me rely on the Lord for strength. When I have sleep taken away from me, I'm not such a happy camper, but last week I really felt the Lord asking me, "Do you trust me? Do you really trust me enough to meet every need?" I really felt the Lord last week and he got me through, I don't really know how. But that's the Lord for ya. Beyond what we think we know.

Today is day 4 of my last week here. We have a great group of campers here, ones I've been waiting for all summer. There is a group from NY that I remember really well from last year, and they've been a blast to have around. So a great week to end on, but as it comes to an end there is so much to reflect on, and so many good byes. I leave in four days.

Krissa left about a week ago, a little unexpectedly, too soon, but it was where the Lord wanted her. She had a good friend, basically a brother cause he used to live with them, pass away a couple weeks ago. So she went home early to make it to the funeral and being from California, it wasn't worth it to come back. We miss her dearly. The good byes already started.

Me and Krissa! I miss her!

Four days ago Sam and Chocklett both left. Two of my favorite people. They are awesome and it was a blast hanging out with them this summer. It is just so crazy that it is all ending. It FLEW by. Faster than I thought it would. It's been such an amazing journey. I've learned a lot and I think I have a lot to take away from it all. Before Sam and Chocklett left we had our final intern banquet. It was awesome, but I'll save that for another post.

Me and Sam!

Me and Chocklett!

Baby Central

Camp has turned into baby central, and I love it! The past couple days have been really easy and relaxing. The pace of Young Lives is much much slower than normal Young Life. There are a ton less campers, and they all have kids, so things are done in a nonchalant way. And there are babies everywhere! It is awesome!

Tuesday we turned camp around in order to get ready for 100 babies on camp. There are strollers, pack n' plays, diapers, toys, high chairs, bottles and babies everywhere! It took a good chunk of the day to get everything set up and the campers got here yesterday.

My mom is a caretaker this week and when I have free time I get to go to her pod and hold babies. Best week ever.

My friend Kia, from last year, is here! Praise the Lord! It was so great to see her, and I really hope I get a chance to get to know her better this year. Please pray for her. Her daughter didn't come with her because she is too old and she is currently pregnant, so there are a lot of activities she can't do. Please pray that Jesus captures her heart.

Please pray for all the girls. When their lives are changed, their babies lives are immediately changed. We're dealing with generations. The Kingdom is going to be growing this week! Thank you Jesus. Please pray that the girls would be open to the Gospel and recognize their need for him. He is a worthy God.

Full of Family Fun!

The past couple days have been amazing! The Lord continues to bless me in so many ways and makes things work out better than I could have imagine.

Monday was my day off, so the plan was that Sunday night I would go to Uncle Ted's (mom's brother) lake house in New Jersey, hang out on Monday and my mom and I (who was dropped off by my dad) would drive here to camp. My mom is helping out with Young Lives this week as a babysitter. Young Lives is for high school girls who have kids, so they need babysitters for when the moms are in activities. So that was the plan.

Well, Saturday as we were closing we had both of our boats break. They have had trouble starting for a while, and it just came to the point that they wouldn't start anymore. So as Lisa and I are finishing up with the boats and everything we have to do to take them in to the shop, she tells me that I should just leave that night and take Sunday off. I told her it was fine and I didn't need to. That went on for a while. We now had two extra summer staffers because we weren't going to be able to drive tubes the next day and so she would be fine on help. Her and Bob are always telling me that I need to take a day off and that I work too much. I kept saying that it was fine and I didn't need to. I finally told Lisa that I would call my parents and see what they were doing and where they were. The original plan was that they were going to see my Aunt Judy (mom's sister) for a night before they went to the lake house, but as things go in the Leach family, plans always change. So I call my parents and they were on their way to my aunts. I ate dinner and left.

My Aunt's house is only about an hour and a half away, which is nothing here considering it takes 30 minutes to get to the smallest town ever and an hour to get to normal civilization. So I borrowed Lisa's car and Doug's GPS and headed to New Jersey. I got to see my Aunt, my two cousins, my second cousin and my dad, all of which I wasn't expecting to see! It was awesome.

We sat out back and just talked and had dessert and got to spend time with the fam. I loved it. We all stayed the night and then my aunt and cousins were leaving the next morning to go to the beach. So my mom and I packed up and headed to the lake house and my dad headed home to get back so he could go to work the next day.

Kim, Aunt Judy, Madison, Me and Nicole

Me and Madison!

We picked up my grandma and headed to the lake. I love my uncle's lake house! I love being there. My cousin has a lake house two houses away as well (the lake house my mom had growing up) and it is so much fun there! It was pouring down rain, so we were just inside talking and hanging out. I got to see my cousin Teddy who I love, and his three kids who are growing up so fast! I love spending time with family.

The rain stopped at one point and Teddy turned to me and asked if I wanted to go play on the Jet-Skis. A question like that does not need to be asked twice! My uncle has one, Teddy has one, and one of Teddy's friends had one stored at his house. We went out on the lake and it was so much fun!

I even convinced my mom to come! That was a miracle. I told her I would go slow. That didn't last too long. It was so much fun! We just drove around for a while, then Teddy, his friend and I took them out around the whole lake. It was awesome. Being on the water is literally one of my favorite things ever. It was so much fun. I enjoyed every minute of it.

My mom and me!

All of this excitement wouldn't have happened if I didn't get Sunday off. God is so good. Both boats broke on the same day, within 30 minutes of each other, because of something that had been getting better and worse all summer, and because of all of that, I got to spend some really amazing time with my family. I loved playing with my second cousins and hanging out with everyone, it was a fantastic weekend and a great time away from camp.

Then Monday, my mom and I left the lake around noon, which was earlier than I had originally planned because I was able to spend the day before hanging out. We left and stopped off at a little shopping village on the way that my Aunt Lynn had told us about. It was the cutest little shopping place ever and it was so much fun! There were really awesome deals and I got some great things for teaching. My mom and I just got to hang out all day and it was awesome.

And now my mom is here for a week! I am so excited that she gets to see the inside of Young Life and see how things run and what exactly goes on here. Young Lives is my favorite week and I am really looking forward to these amazing girls coming and the camp being filled with babies! There was a girl named Kia that I really connected with last year and I am hoping and praying that she comes again this year. Last year we had both talked about being here this year and I really really hope she comes and I get to see her.


I am trying to be better at all of this, sorry they get so long. I love details and I tell long stories. That's just what you get with me :)