THE DAY THAT DETERMINED THE REST OF MY LIFE...or at least the next chapter

Last week I was given 4 days off to go home to Gainesville to take my NCLEX (nursing boards). I was sooo excited to go home and get a break from camp life. It wasn't, however, anything like I was hoping it would be. I was stressed out to the max, thinking that I'd have to cram tons of crap into my brain the 48 hours I had before my test. As much as I wanted the 4 days to be filled with visiting friends and hanging out with family, my free time was very limited. I have never been more scared for anything in my life. Never felt more unprepared and unsure of myself and all of my abilities and knowledge! When I went into the testing center at 7:30 Friday morning the nerves and anxiety that had been wrecking my entire insides for the weeks before had some how subsided. I felt calm and ready to face this thing head on! Unlike most of my friends who got done with the test with 75(the minimum) questions in only an hour, I took my time and was stuck with 211 questions (265 is the max) and took a total of 4 hours and 12 minutes. Before submitting each answer after I reached the 75th question (it's a computerized test) I prayed that the test would shut off and it would be over. Friday night my mom made my favorite dinner to help calm me down. I went to go hang out with a few of my friends to debreif from the horrifying feeling of failure. Two of my friends I was hanging out with had already taken the boards and knew exactly how I was feeling. The worse was the people asking how it went. Honestly, if you dont walk out of that test feeling like a failure something is wrong! I had to come back to camp Saturay after I took the test not knowing still if I passed or failed. Sunday afternoon the anxiety crept back into me and made it hard to do my job here at camp. The thoughts of having to face that test again and telling people I didn't pass were taunting me. I made my friend Kim check the website to find out my results for me. She looked it up and called me right away. She called me 2 or 3 times in a row but I refused to answer! The fear took over! She texted me "ANSWER YOUR DANG PHONE!" She called one more time and I still couldn't answer. I knew it had to be the worser of the two results! She texted me that I PASSED and I couldn't believe it! I called her and then had to check for myself. It's funny because I've actually check the site multiple times since then to make sure it wasn't a computer glitch or all a dream. I'm so thankful the Lord was with me on that day of the test. The peace he surrounded me with as I was testing had to be only from Him. To top it all off. As I was leaving the testing center I found on the ground a small 1 inch figure of Jesus in a red robe with his hands raised in the air in praise (it could be a pencil topper)!! I put him in my pocket and wanted him to be present with me for the rest of the day! After this really long post.. The point to the story is this.. I'M A REAL LIFE REGISTERED NURSE.. BIATCH!

Rubber Gloves

Things here at camp have stayed consistently busy and interesting. I'm finally over being sick and have for the most part my energy back. I don't always get the amount of sleep I need, but when have I ever? This Saturday marks the end of session 2 which means we have had 7 full weeks of campers. Approximately 415 campers each week x 7 weeks = 2905 campers that had the opportunity to hear the gospel. How exciting! 3 more weeks to go! It's hard to believe it's coming to an end.

I haven't blogged in a while, so of course I have some stories to share, but for now I'll leave you with this one. The other day I was hanging out at the snack bar in the game room because it's only 7 feet from the infirmary and easy access to pretty much anything I might need. While I was sitting behind the register with the snack bar girls a camper came up to me (maybe 15 or 16 yrs old) and asked me for a rubber glove. Having access to rubber gloves, I was curious what he was going to use it for before I gave him one. The camper said, "Well I need to go to the bathroom really bad, so I need a rubber glove." This made me even more curious. He then explained that someone had clogged the boys toilet with paper towels because there wasn't anymore toilet paper in the stall. I immediately grabbed my radio thinking about who I could call to come fix this problem. The camper said it wasn't a big deal and he'd unclog it himself if I just gave him the gloves, that he was just in a hurry. I was not comfortable with this idea... A camper having to stick his hands down a toilet on his 2nd day being at camp, I mean that sure sounds like the "BEST WEEK OF MY LIFE" too. Wearing my blue shirt, representing Sharptop, I decided I needed to step up. Come on, a clogged toilet isn't the worse thing I've faced in my career of nursing. I put on the surgical gloves because they come up almost to my elbows and went fishing. The camper held the trash can close as I pulled the 6 3ft paper towels out of the toilet while avoiding... The both of us were gagging and laughing. I've come to a conclusion that many have probably already made, BOYS ARE GROSS!

The Night That NEVER Ends

Today is the day at camp that kids are introduced to their own sin. They're called out for who they really are and what they really are made of .. and for being completely separated from God because of it. It's quite a downer to hear, so naturally they make the rest of the night one crazy night of organized chaotic fun! They get dressed up and have bbq up the mountain at a little place called pioneer and then have what they call opera, which is just the program guys putting on a show. After opera is the square dancing/hoe down, followed by an insane carnival (that gets set up in just about an hour) in the gym where kids get to play games for tickets to exchange for the privledge to pie a leader in the eye or dunk them in the dunking booth. Oh what a night! Tonight we had a visitor up at pioneer that didn't seem to want to leave. He was a large black bear that took many gun shots to try to scare away. He left temporarily for campers to be able to eat dinner, but showed up on the road only 15 min later eating the trails of peanuts left behind from campers. Luckily no one was injured, bear or human. Last week there were a group of adult guests who dressed up like this..

I have been to Young Life camps a million times and can't believe I forgot my 1800's attire this year! I'm stuck wearing my blue polo. Oh well.

Independance Day!

My roommates are decked out in their patriotic attire and flare and working while I have been taking another sick day to get well from yet a new illness. My bosses made me go to the doctor yesterday to get tested for Type A flu and told me I was not to work today. I'm enjoying my day off. I slept in late, showered, studied, called some friends, and now I get to blog! Kelli told me I haven't been nearly witty enough. I blame it on the lack of energy I've had lately.
Friday the interns and our bosses went into the thriving town of Jasper for a cookout and the Jasper Fair. I have never seen so many: mullets, mohawks, pregnant or teen mothers, morbidly obese, rebel flag wearing people gathered in such a small vicinity. We were given 15$ each to either get a pass for unlimited rides or get 15$ of fresh squeezed lemonade and funnel cakes. I decided to pocket the money due to the fact that I had a fever(and deathly ill) and was not sure I trusted the rusty metal light up death traps they assemble in 2 days that they call "RIDES". The pictures speak for themselves! I was kind of "mom" for the night. I stood by the gates to each ride holding multiple purses and cameras. After about two hours I had enough of that so my friend Amber and I went and sat in the grass to wait for our friends. We were having good conversation until my runny nose interrupted. *This could be gross to you! It turned into a faucet! Here is how our conversation proceeded... Me: Did you see that?(as I wiped the clear fluid that was dripping down my face) Amber: (without even looking at me) No, but Santa did! (as a large man with a bald head and a white beard down his chest walked by) We laughed together then there was this pause as I was thinking. Me: Yeah, because Santa is always watching! He watches to see who's naught or nice. (trying to sing the song) Amber: Uh..? Then there was a break of uncontrolable laughter and crying!Me, Amber and Bailey watching as some of the interns were on the octupus/spider rideThis is the front seat of one of the rides. CAUTION TAPE! No thank you!Jeff and Hannah showing their excitement for the spider/octopus ride. Brittany in the background not so sure about it.This picture captures the essence of the Jasper folk. If you look closely you can see the woman on the kiddy ride with the ballin' mullet!

Amber right before our moment in the grass.
Just another piece of scrap metal they like to call a ride!

Lungs- Don't fail me now!

Fact #1:Thanks to a group of campers who we thought were infected with the swine flu but really had upper respiratory infections (which might I say are quite contagious) I spent last week fighting my URI. 2 full days off of work and a full 5 days of my antibiotics I was SURE I was set. W R O N G!!! Often people who have URI's develop acute bronchitis 3-4 days after URI's peak! Well here I am... wheezing and hacking up a lung. Coughing to the point where I lose my breath and get light headed! Sometimes acute bronchitis can last up to 3 weeks or turn into chronic. Here's why this all sucks: I am a horrible sick person. I complain a lot. I also have to lead a group of 360 campers on a 1.5 mile hike to the top of the mountain tomorrow. You might ask, why can't another EMT/Nurse go on the hike tomorrow? Well, all of us are ill and I just happened to be scheduled.

Fact #2: there is a mouse in our kitchen and I can hear him scampering in the cupboards.

Fact #3: There is a corner of our living room which is known as the bug corner. In the corner there is a table with a lamp on it next to 2 very large windows. Some how there are bugs that can seep through the window and attack the lamp and other objects around the lamp.. such as my FACE! Outside of the window there is a very large spider that looks rather deadly that feeds off of the multitude of bugs that don't make it through the window into our house.

Fact #4: I shared a story with two of the Tawashi girls (housekeeping) when hanging out with them and getting to know them a little better. One of the girls was Sam Dillon, a high school wyld life leader from back home. Well, I had them all rolling on the floor laughing and disgusted at the same time..2 days after I told this story I had people coming up to me who weren't a part of that special moment asking me about more details of the story. Somehow the story had gotten retold from high schooler to high schooler to the point where things weren't true at all! I had to straighten them all out!

I must get to bed and try to stop hacking. It's taken me forever to write this post because of my limited lung capacity. Peace yo!