Transformers

It's 2:26am and the interns have just gone to bed. After our intern bible study we headed to Canton, Ga to watch the newest Transformers movie! Well, I'm going to give it a two thumbs up! It was pretty freaking awesome! It was on the long side (especially when you see it so late) but oh, so enjoyable! I actually wasn't going to go with them to the movies, but rather come back home and study then go to bed. I am so glad I chose to be spontaneous instead!
I kind of wish I had a giant machine bot to take care of me and protect me when my world seems to be attacked by crazy aliens or even just the common upper respiratory infection (URI). I am not invincible as much as I like to think sometimes. I happened to catch this horrible URI 2 days ago after treating approximately 35 kids with the same thing. It was inevitable. 425 kids here this week and 35 with URI's breathing all up in my infirmary, and spreading their germs on every surface of camp. I didn't just get the URI, it brought some friends with it, tonsillitis and pharyngitis! With the help of the Zpack and my Rx cough syrup I will be back to work tomorrow.
As far as transforming.. I really hope that I am transforming this summer! I want to be a changed person. Not stuck in this hole I've been in for so long. We're already going into week 6 of being here and my daily prayer is for transformation.

Pigs and homemade bombs blow up the camp

This is going to be quite the quick little entry, but let me just tell you how crazy it's been this week. Session 1 ended on Saturday. It was a relief but also SO sad to have to say goodbye to all of the summer staff, work crew and assigned team. The month was full of craziness but we got through it and a part of me misses that craziness. We're in a whole new ball park of craziness for this month. The new summer staff, work crew and assigned team started off this Sunday as well as a whole new week of 424 campers. I was on call Saturday night and worked all the way thru Monday morning. It was the longest shift I've had since I've been here. Tuesday night some high school boys thought it would be a fantastic idea to create and set off a homemade bomb made some how from electrical tape, a coke bottle and some cleaning chemicals. The explosion was so large the fire ball was probably as large as a golf cart. It was so loud that you could hear it for 2-3 miles out. I took of running after hearing and seeing the explosion. I was so scared people had just blown up in the game room and I alone would have to attend to their wounds! Come to find out it was boys being rebels...but it could have been bad. 15 feet from where they set off their bomb was a VERY LARGE propane tank.
I don't know if you're fully aware of the pandemic that's sweeping the country.. but the SWINE is out to get everyone it seems like. There have been 3 different cases at YoungLife camps this summer already! Let's just say we had a pretty large scare tonight. My life was pretty much hell for almost 5 hours! FYI SharpTop does NOT have the swine flu!

Breathtaking!

The title of this blog is exactly how I'd have to describe the last 2 weeks! Absolutely breathtaking! The schedule hardly permits one to breathe! My anxiety level is constantly through the roof, thus making my chest feel heavy, physically making it hard to breathe. Then, the beauty of the mountains and the love of people around me overwhelms me daily. But even more, I have been reminded how breathtaking it is to see God move in lives of kids who didn't understand what FULL life is really worth. To see kids pile in buses and drive hundreds of miles to get to camp and act a fool the first day or two and then transform throughout the week because God's heart is penetrating theirs to the point where they are hardly recognizable after 6 days of love by a father they weren't aware was there for them. God continues to amaze me. Here I am at Sharptop, pretty far from where I had planned on being this summer. Pretty far from all expectations I had after graduating nursing school.. but SO close to everything HE wants for me! WHO knows where I'll be in August when I leave Georgia? Or what I'll be doing? Who knows other than the one's who's plans are to prosper me and not to harm me! I will take hold of that!

BTW its 2:18, I'm awake- should be sleeping because my alarm clock goes off in less than 5 hours! OH and I really really miss my 10 lb dog, Joey and snuggling with him at night! :(

Today could not have been any more ridiculous

It's 1:21 am and instead of sleeping like a sane person would be, I'm blogging about my incredibly awesome day. I hope you can sense the sarcasm in my words. Instead of having the morning off like I thought I did, I woke up at 7:30 and just felt the need to check my schedule one more time. Good thing I did, I had to be into work at 8. I jumped in the shower and rushed out the door. The day was filled with fake injuries of kids that just wanted attention. I was given attitude by a lot of the kids when I told them that I didn't have the supplies they "needed" but could improvise with something similar that would do the same trick. When I gave them the second option they said, "I think I'll be ok." I can't tell you how frustrated I was with kids today. They tried my patience all day. I tried to keep a smile on my face and love in my heart for them, but it was hard. I had a diabetic start crashing this afternoon with a blood sugar of 42. That was scary, but I gave her some OJ and crackers and she was set to go, back up to 94. (for all you non medical people a normal blood sugar is 60-120, 60 being close to problematic). Handled that just fine, deal with that in the hospital settting quite a bit. Something I haven't dealt with too often is separating 140ish urban kids from fighting. I was scared for my life. But I managed, then treated the wounded. Then after that drama, we were setting up for carnival and one of the summer staff got bit by a COPPERHEAD! I kept him calm and cool and rushed him to the thriving city of Jasper where the closest podunk hospital is. It's a good 25 min from camp. He's going to be ok too. But I didn't get home from the hosptial until 12:30. My adrenaline is still pumping from the day. Haven't stopped thinking about how stressful and upsetting the day was. But I should, because its 1:30 and I have to be up for work at 7 am. OH Lord be with me! Amen!

Did the girl conquer the mountain or did the mountain conqeur the girl?

So it's the end of day 3, week 1, session 1 of urban camp. Let me just say one thing first.. I have never been more exhausted in my life. Campers started arriving at 2pm on Sunday and didn't finish getting here until around 6. I had 4 hours of going through every health form of the 460 kids that are here this week to check for allergies, health conditions, and insurance. OH tons of fun! Urban camps tend to run approximately 15-30 min behind schedule, so when it came to the obstacle course (OC) that was supposed to start right at 10 it didn't begin until 10:30. And when it was supposed to be over at 11 it didn't end until 12:30. It was kind of crazy. Both EMT/Nurses were to be working that night because OC night is known for having a lot of broken bones and sprained ankles. Sunday night, Nate and I were so excited to hear that not even one person reported injuries that evening. I was spreading the great news all night and some more on monday morning at work crew/summer staff breakfast. It wasn't until after camper breakfast that I was oh so wrong! The injuries flooded the infirmary one after the other. From things as simple as a splinter to a possible wrist fracture. Working as camp nurse has been a lot of fun, but definitely tiring. For urban camps they split up all of the activites by guys and girls. Today was the girls hike up SharpTop mountain. It's called SharpTop for a reason. I took 260 girls up the mountain with the help of 2 of the head leaders, a program member and one of the ropes interns (my roommate). It was a hike that would take the average person 1 hour hike up to top and back to the bottom but took us 3 hours to do. I was bringing up the rear with the girls who were struggling. My fight was mostly that I was being called on the radio ever 5 min that another girl was having an "asthma" attack and forgot her inhaler. There actually was one real emmergency that we had to send to the hospital, but she's ok. Anyway, I wasn't planning on writing this much. I'm exhausted and need my beauty rest for tomorrow.