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Lance2france
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Interests: I enjoy reading, movies, a good cup of coffee (actually several of those), "Playing Station" spending time with friends, and all things football (American) I have a few "hobbies" and they all revolve in some way or another around football. For example in the off season I collect rookie cards and solve the Cowboys draft issues. During the season I follow my teams, the Miami Hurricanes and the Dallas Cowboys, and dabble in fantasy football.
Expertise: Ha Ha...that's a good one.
Occupation: Pastor
Industry: Ministry
Message: message me
Member Since:
3/31/2005
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| Sunday July 12I actually had mixed feelings. I was raring to get home as I missed my girls very much. But at the same time I had invested a little, into lots of boys. Plus, I'd invested quite a bit into a handful of boys that I thought needed the extra attention. I was actually going to miss some of them and was curious to see how camp turned out for some of them.
After breakfast and before the morning chapel service, I packed up my stuff as best as I could. Then after the service I changed into something more comfortable and completed the packing. I ate a quick lunch before everyone else, then Paul took me into Cahors, to the train station. A few minutes before the train arrived, I got to chatting with the lady next to me. I received a wonderful (albeit indirect) compliment, when she kept trying to guess where I was from, based on my accent. She couldn't believe I was American, which was a good thing.
The train ride was uneventful. I should have slept the whole way home. I was certainly tired, but I cracked open a book and got hooked. I practically finished it on the 6 hour train ride home. If the Blackhawk Down story has ever interested you, then the book "In the company of heroes"is a must (and excellent) read. It's the story of Mike Durant, who was shot down and captured by Somalia militia in Mogadishu.
Once I got to Austerlitz Station, I walked the 15-20 minutes over to the Gare de Lyon and hopped the first train home. When I walked out, Amy and the girls were pulling in. It was actually quite busy, so we didn't have time for hugs and kisses and all that fanfare. I just hopped in and saw Kirianna and Aliyah go bananas that "Daddy's HOME!" It was already well past their bedtime and they were in their pj's.
Up next will be my wrap up and commentary on my week at camp. You will hear some very positive and interesting stories about some of the aforementioned characters, like Cadmiel. (For example, for talent night he did a rap in English. I have a copy of it and as you'll see, it is reminiscent of Romans 7 where Paul talks about doing the things he shouldn't do and sometimes doesn't want to do....
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| Saturday July 11
It was weird for me, but we started the tournaments today. Change doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing right? Because I was leaving soon, I actually hadn't been given any tournaments to organize. But since Angeline Ross went home with her parents for the weekend, I took up her Hotshot tournament. While I was overseeing the Hotshot tourny, I'm afraid there was an slight incident with Gregory.
Up til now, I hadn't really talked much about Gregory. I'm not sure if he has a learning disability like the twins do. What is clear is he's different and a loner. He spends most of his free time by himself, engaged in imaginary combat against the evil hordes of the enemy. For awhile I guessed he was a samurai or a Jedi knight, since I'd see him swinging an invisible sword around. But then recently I saw him spraying a machine gun around, so I guess he's flexible. In any case, he's in Carrey's tent, so I really hadn't had a lot of dealings with him; until today. Tania, one the female counselors, has tried to approach and befriend the lad. She's actually gotten him to come out of his shell a little bit. Well today she came up to me and explained that the lad hadn't taken a shower all week. I told her I'd take care of it and went and told him that now was a very good time to get 'er done!
Apparently, because he hadn't taken one yet, he'd forgotten the rules for returning to the tent after a shower. I was nearby, overseeing the Hotshot, when I looked up and saw him walking back to the tent wearing nothing but a towel. That is not done at The Good News Camp, for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, the biggest and most obvious reason came to fruition....
That's right...he lost control of his towel. He had his dirty clothes in one hand and didn't think to drop everything, to secure the towel when it came unraveled. Fortunately for him, there weren't many girls around and very few people ended up seeing what nobody wanted to see. I rushed over to him and helped him put away the full moon and such. I then reminded the lad about the proper/improper ways to travel to and from the showers. Ay Caramba!
Cyril and Betty finally arrived and got settled in. One of the positives of this was that my boys could finally go to the pool as they'd been going crazy waiting for the lifeguard to get there. I got in w/ them, but didn't stay long as it bothered my ears, just like it did last year.
The other exciting event of the day involved a bru ha ha with Cadmiel and Samuel. I didn't see how it started and details were pretty sketchy afterwards. What I do know is that I heard Cadmiel screaming like an infant as he began rolling in the dirt of the tether ball court. Paul appeared as if by magic and poured a large basin of water on him. He became, well, muddy. To make a long story short, apparently Samuel ambushed him and punched Cadmiel in the ear or face somewhere. Apparently it not only stung, but he was fighting the urge to jump up and squash Samuel, which he could have easily done. He apparently took some grief over not retaliating from some of the high schoolers. Later I told him I was proud of his showing restraint. (Now there's a phrase I never thought I say.)
That night something amusing happened. Remember, Jean Francois is a rookie this year. He's trying to learn how things work, but he's incredibly naive and gullible. At one point as I was trying to get the tent calmed down for bed time, Josue and Pierre Eric were whispering and talking down at the far end of the tent. That end sits right by the forrest. I told Joshua and P.E. that nobody was to be talking and that they needed to zip it. Of course their response was "We didn't say anything!"
Remember, no one is guilty in this country. So in a sarcastic tone, I said "Of course! The voices I just heard were from the people that live in the woods right over there!"
Jean Francois immediately piped up, with a great deal of concern in his voice "There are people that live right there in the woods!?"
I kept trying to explain to him that I was being sarcastic but he just couldn't get it. Most of the tent got it and they tried explaining it. Finally we just had to Pete and Repeat...
"Laisse tomber Jean Francois!" (Let it go J.F.!)
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| Friday, July 10
During the lunch announcements, Paul announced a coming fire drill. Knowing Paul I was 96% certain it would be during sieste. So as we were settling down for nap time, I told my lads what I expected of them. It then occurred to me that Ethan might not have been told in English what was coming. I happened over to his tent and sure enough, no one had remembered to fill him in.
Eventually my boys began to settle down and relax, so when the siren went off some were actually a bit sluggish. Although sluggish is not the word to describe Daniel Brazda, who was next to me. He was absolutely unconscious. I yelled his name, then I had to shake him; alas, there was nothing. He was deeply in LALA land. So my next course of action will shock some of you and will make countless adults down over the years very happy. Now before I tell you what I did, understand that I know his parents well and they would've approved of what I did next. He was sleeping deeply on his belly, so I hauled off, swung high, then smacked his bum HARD with my open palm! Ha ha, you should have seen him! He raised up on his elbows, eyes absolutely bugging out of his head and then he turned to look at me with utter confusion. You could see the question marks floating all around him. "Where am I? What's going on? Why does my rear sting?" I told him that it was the fire drill and that he needed to boogey. Then the fog cleared and he got with it. If you've ever spent any time around Daniel, you'll know that alot of adults would've said he had that one coming, as he is probably the most rowdy out of the Brazda Brothers. That my friends, is saying something.
The activity for the Ados that afternoon was a softball lesson. Apparently it really caught on, because after the activity time, they started an actual match. The problem was, it was so popular, it involved alot of the adult help. At 5:45pm, the gym has to be set up and stuff has to be put away for chapel. Needless to say, at 5:55pm the game was still raring on. Half the camp was either playing or watching the game and poor Carey didn't have a single musician to start the service. I told Carey I'd try and see what I could do to get them to wrap things up. I was on my way to find "certain people", those responsible for keeping these running smoothly. I was going to be nice, but I was certainly going to let certain people know that the best example was not being set at that particular moment. I had just arrived in deep center field, when Paul arrived in his van. He looked at me, looked at his watch and said, "That's not normal." He promptly called a halt to the match, but by then, the damage was done. The musicians weren't ready at all, so it was decided to skip the music and for Carey to launch right in to his sermon. The kids had a hard time settling in, with no transition and Carrey looked very awkward. One of the things that didn't help was the sudden need for the camp nurse. We'd gone days with needing Jean Marie and then suddenly he was in great demand. First off, Cadmiel had a doozy of a nose bleed. As chapel started, he was lying in a sizeable pool of his own blood which obviously caused some distraction. Then Jean Marie got to attend to Kevin, who was lying in a heap, holding his badly sprained wrist. Anthony, his kid brother had run up and kicked him really hard in the arm for no apparent reason. Anthony and his twin sister Sarah have been quite a handful and they've taken up a great deal of time and attention. They are both slightly retarded and have been a handful. I've got to believe that Paul will quickly regret having allowed them to come. We're just not equipped to handle a pair like them, as they require so much extra work and attention.
Our PM activity was a walk to the nearby village of Vaylats. We had a number of adults help us with the walk, including Carrey's wife, Susan. She brought along those fun glow sticks/bracelets. Once at Vaylats, she passed them out and they became a big hit on the way back. Once in the tent, I had to have the boys put them away, or we would have never gotten any sleep. Daniel Brazda's broke open and his hands glowed in a really cool way. After awhile he got nervous about the chemicals on his hands and sure enough, the box said it wasn't a good idea to leave that stuff on you, so he got to go clean his hands off before we called it a night.
Once they'd fallen asleep, I went up and got my shower. I hadn't gotten the memo that there was a staff meeting in the mess hall, but as soon as I exited the tent, the delicious odor of mergeuz sausage hit me. So I knew what was going on. As soon as I was clean, I went to the meeting. While there I learned something that helped put some puzzle pieces together. You see when camp first started, I couldn't help but notice that one of the Ados boys reminded me of Teddy. Teddy was an Ados boy at my first camp, in 2003. I'd never forgotten him, for a variety of reasons and I couldn't help shake the notion that Adrian reminded a bit of Teddy. Well that night at the staff meeting I found out why; they are brothers. It's a small world.
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| Thursday July 8 After the 8+ hour sneezing fit from yesterday, I woke up with sore ribs. At least the sneezing has abated for now. One thing that hasn't abated is the conflict between Cadmiel and Pierre Eric. Today Cadmiel was out in the soccer field crying, saying that Pierre Eric had been saying mean things about him. It's like a couple of girls the way these 2 keep going back and forth. Sometimes it's easy to forget that Cadmiel is only 11 years old. As I was getting the boys settled down for sieste, Cadmiel said he had to pee. ("I do believe he said he had to pee!" I told him he could go, only if he hurried and I gave him 3 minutes. 3 minutes was more than sufficient for a round trip visit to the urinals. 6 minutes later I saw Cadmiel in a tree up by the laundry room. So when he returned he got to sweep out the gym for me. One of our former campers arrived today to help out as a counselor. Aurore will be helping us with the Pre Ados (Middle Schoolers). We had a quick staff meeting with David which went well. During the next free time, I ended up playing some volleyball with the high schoolers. I also wore my Tarzan and Jane T shirt today. It's always a big hit with the campers.
 Tonight's PM chapel service ended up being a disaster. The kids were already distracted and tired. But then near the end, one of the high school boys, Samuel Marino ripped a huge loud fart during a lull in the message. I felt terrible for Carey, who was trying to make an important point. I took Samuel outside and chewed him out and told him he needed to apologize to Carey. I'll encourage Paul to really let him have it when he gets back. Then, right before the invitation, a small group of girls got up and left! Apparently it was their turn to set up the dining hall, but that is supposed to take a back seat to the service. The rest of the evening was fairly uneventful, except for the poo. That's right. In one of the boys stalls, I found a large smear of poo on the seat. Not 20 minutes later, I found poo on the floor, in the adjacent stall. There are so many questions one could ask there..... After prayer time in the tent, I opened it up for a period of Q+A. It's interesting hear some of the questions asked by Jean Francois. It's his first time here and he doesn't go to church. It's interesting to watch him process some new ideas like creation for example. | | |
| I thought I'd put up a few (semi) recent photos to give you folks a snapshot of recent events. (Yes, silly pun intended) A while back we went to Paris and so managed to work in a quick photo shoot near some famous tower.
  
At a recent yard sale, we picked up a Princess dress for Kirianna. She would wear it everyday if we let her. Of course when she wears hers, Aliyah has to be a princess too!
 Speaking of princesses....We recently attended a friend's wedding. The reception was held at a nearby chateau. We were very impressed with the surroundings and ended up taking alot of photos.
Here are my lovely girls near the front entrance.
 Here's a cute shot of 4 toothy grins. Even the lion said cheese.
 The girls were very impressed with all the lions and insisted having their photo taken next to this imposing fellow.
I don't know what she was looking for, but Kirianna looked so sweet and innocent here; I had to snap a pic.
 In the back was a huge yard and beautiful pond. When I saw the toadstools, I had to snap a photo of Amy perched upon one.
This one is taken facing the back side of the chateau.
 QT with LiLi!
 Kirianna's birthday is in July, so we ended up getting quite a few packages. In one of them were brand new (and much needed) swimsuits for the girls. Of course, they are Disney Princess!
 I will leave you with a cute photo of the birthday girl, surrounded by several of her lil' friends at her birthday party.
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