great is thy faithfulness

remember back in february when i started this blog that i was going to so faithfully post on?  summer got so crazy and chaotic and i never got the chance to write -- our camp internet situation was no help either.  i have survived ten weeks of summer camp and a week-long celebration of echo ranch's 50th birthday and have thankfully found myself in a few days of rest before our three week fall retreat season starts.

i don't even know where to start, but i guess a picture is worth 1,000 words so maybe this will save us all some time...

tiffany and I the night before the counselors flew home

campers around the campfire on their last night of camp

kimberly and i getting ready to guard for Mission Impossible -- a night game that we play with junior and senior high

after paint war with haley and elena

allison (a counselor) and i with two of our junior counselors

denali, a colt camper (7-9 year olds) and i on the sports field during relays 

the lifeguard chair on the beach during sunset

kristen, one of the counselors, and i at their thank-you banquet

allison and i at their good-bye bbq

these are a few glimpses of what summer looked like at echo ranch this summer.

 840 campers 

10 weeks of camp

lots and lots of rain

i've been so blessed by the five years of camp that i have served here so far -- i've seen God work in tremendous ways in my life and in the lives of others.  

last week we had a week-long celebration of 50 years of God's faithfulness to the ministry at echo ranch.  most of our past directors and many past staff members, campers and volunteers came to share parts of the week with us.  the week was full of stories of how God has been working here since the beginnings of this ministry.  it was so encouraging to hear all the stories from the past and share what is currently happening in the ministry, as well as our vision for the future.  

tomorrow we start our fall retreat season with a group from the juneau charter school.  the next three weeks we will have groups from the community joining us on retreats before we close up for the winter. 

hopefully now that we are transitioning into less of a chaotic season i'll become a little bit more consistent of a blogger again, but until then...

xoxo

a typical day

people so often ask me what a typical day at camp looks like and i never have a good answer for them.  we've been at camp for a week now, opening up camp and hosting our first retreat of the year, for the montessori school in juneau.  looking back on this week, i'm reminded again of how there's no good answer to that question.

a typical day at camp looks like....

folding shirts, folding shirts, folding shirts

running the dishwasher many, many times

tables up, sweeping, mopping, tables back down.... and repeat a few hours later

a few hours in the camp store.... explaining to a little boy that we don't accept iTunes gift cards, seeing tears in his eyes as he looks up, and giving him ice cream for free.

sharing ice cream and giggles with a two year old

holding hands in a circle on sundays and singing the doxology before dinner

laser tag sign-up

coffee, lots of coffee

watching whales and sea lions play

taco bar and monster cookies

progressive cleaning parties

early morning times with Jesus in the dining hall.... with lots of coffee

friends coming 'home' for the weekend and then singing 'go, tell it on the mountain' when they leave

so that's what a typical day looks like at camp.... at least for this season.

the balance

two weeks from today i'll already be moved out to camp and hopefully things will be getting unpacked and ready for the summer.  i really can't believe that i've been back in juneau for over a month.

it's been full of people and an obscene amount of coffee.
i seriously drink so much more coffee when i'm in juneau.

this is partly because life is so busy and i need to stay awake somehow and partly because i have been meeting up with people and catching up on life, mostly over coffee.  this is definitely one of my favorite things to do while i'm in town.
i love hearing about people's lives, hearts, joys and frustrations.  our lives are so vastly different, yet something deep down inside of us is exactly the same.  

i went on a walk with a friend since being back. we talked about life and transitions back to juneau.  we talked about attempting to balance life. balancing working and people and errands and everything.

it's so hard.

i'm so thankful that my job involves SO much time with people, but something my friend said has stuck with me in the last few weeks.... 'i know i'm not going to get to the end of my life and think 'i wish i would have worked more'.'   she is so right.

there's lots of ordering and office work and emails and phone calls.... and there is literally a pile of to-do lists sitting next to me as I type this, but none of those things are going to last.  they're important and they will get done, but they're not the most important.  

i'm beyond thankful for these senior high girls that i get to pour into and so, so thankful for all those people who pour into me.


here are a few of the blessings i've been experiencing....

this week it's turned to rain, but before that we had weeks and weeks of sunshine. so rare.

i've been so blessed to have time to do things like visit my friends and their kids... and meet some sweet babies that were born while i was gone.

i made this last night to put in my apartment out at camp.  home sweet home. i love how this turned out and it's so restful for me to have a break to do something crafty.   

  

 

reminders

i've been sick and doing a lot of sleeping this week.  nothing crazy, just a bad cold/sinus/sore throat type of thing.  catching up on sleep has been great, but also so very frustrating because there is so much i want to be doing and so many people that i still want to see.

yesterday i was feeling about a million times better by lunchtime so i got up and started running errands, etc.  in the evening i was out running errands with allyson, when i got a surprising text from one of my very favorite campers who lives out of town.  'you're in juneau now, right? i'm in the airport, but only for 20 more minutes. come now!'  we detoured to the airport, i ran inside, natalie ran out of security and i got to sit there for ten minutes hearing about her life.  ten minutes goes really fast at an airport, with the super long security line moving beside you, but i can't express how thankful i am for those ten minutes to actually see natalie, give her a hug and get to talk.  such a surprising blessing.

today was another day of errands and office work.  next week echo ranch is having a fundraiser for our scholarship fund (juneau friends--it's next thursday-saturday at waffle co. be there) and along with it we will have some giveaways from our camp store.  well, everything is out at camp in the store, so we had to go out and pick things up.  i had never been out to camp in the winter, so i was more than happy to go on this little adventure with allyson and kyler.  we headed out the road after kyler got home from school where randy met us on one of the ATV's to head back into camp.  we grabbed stuff from the store, chatted with the winter caretakers, Frank and Rose, enjoyed a delicious dinner (halibut? check.) and headed back around the cove while the tide was still open. short, but sweet.    

view from one of the staff houses at camp across the bay to lions head mountain 

view from the other side of that staff house

the horses were super hungry and tried to mob kyler and i at the trading post.
this picture may not prove that point, but it was a thing. 

as we were driving around the cove on the way out.
best work driveway ever?

it was so, so good to go out to camp.  i can't believe that in 6 weeks i'll be moved out there and that will again be home for 6 months.  i'm so thankful for these little reminders this week of why i do what i do.  i can't even believe the people i get to work with and the location that i get to do it.  i'm so grateful that God allows me to serve here.  He doesn't need my help, but He let's me serve in such a beautiful location, with so many incredible people, meeting so many new friends each year, just to tell people about Him.  i'm so thankful and so undeserving.  

xoxo

courtney

blessings and an iced chai

while traveling to juneau on tuesday i got an iced chai in the seattle airport.  i've had many chais before in my life, but the story behind this one will stick with me for a while.

my trip to alaska started out fairly routine.  my dad and our good friend paula drove me to the airport. we arrived in plenty of time and there was no one in line.

dad and i before i went through security 

 everytime i fly by myself i think it's going to be the most boring time of my life.  i anticipate that my flights are going to seem SO long and that i'll just be so bored. so. i end up packing way too many activities… and that's why this is my life on airplanes :

knitting, new girl and chocolate. to be more specific, a chocolate, peanut butter and banana candy bar. i highly recommend it.

i sat down on my second flight anticipating to spend it the same way.  the plane i was on was stopping in seattle and then continuing to honolulu.  i sat down in my aisle seat next to a couple and they asked me if i was continuing on to hawaii.  i told them no, that i was actually continuing on to juneau, alaska.  the wife exclaimed that she was originally from ketchikan, alaska (also here in southeast).  they started asking me questions about where i was originally from and what i did in alaska.  i told them that i was from ohio, but had moved to alaska to work at echo ranch bible camp, to which the wife said she had grown-up going to echo ranch in the summers.  as our flight went on they asked me several more questions about echo ranch now, how i got involved, and what i do there.  we quieted down for a while until we got closer to seattle.  they leaned over to me and handed me a piece of paper with their names on it asking me to find them on facebook so we could keep in touch.  they wanted to hear how they and their church could be praying for me and for echo ranch.  before we got off the plane they said they wanted to pray with me before i left.  when they got off the plane they first asked if i liked coffee, because they really wanted to buy me some.  they bought me an iced chai and then sat at a table and prayed for me, my travels, and the ministry at echo ranch.  

i can't tell you how blessed and encouraged i felt after this encounter.  the Lord is so good and sometimes it feels like the world is so small. how awesome to be able to meet someone who was blessed by echo ranch years ago, and who desired to bless and encourage me on our flight.  

this isn't the greatest picture, but this is my view this morning as i am writing this.  so thankful for sunny skies and living so close to the water and mountains. <3