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CAMP CHRONICLES 2009

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:40:14 GMT

Sunday July 12

I 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....

CAMP CHRONICLES 2009

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:26:01 GMT

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.!)

CAMP CHRONICLES 2009

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:31:21 GMT

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.

Camp Chronicles 2009

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:42:11 GMT

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.

Recent Happenings

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:28:50 GMT

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.

CAMP CHRONICLES 2009

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:52:19 GMT

Wednesday July 7

It's only Wednesday, but I had to have a chat with David about a number of things that need fixing. For starters it's obvious the high school tent next to us either has no adult in it, or it has Brice/Ethan as the adult presence. They are out of control and it's frustrating to run a tight ship in my tent, only to hear "Lance, is there no adult in that tent?"

The other thing in need of fixing is the shower schedule. Since the dawn of time, the high schoolers get up at 7:30 and head to the showers. They are expected to be out by 8, giving the Middle Schoolers enough time to get their showers. In theory we are all happily scrubbed and clean in time for breakfast at 8:30. Right? Wrong. I haven't been given a clear explanation, but apparently The high schoolers don't have enough time to get their showers and so now the middle schoolers are no longer welcome in the shower room before breakfast. It's now up to us to organize our boys to get their showers during free time. I'm going to be nice and not rail to deeply on what's wrong with this picture. But I find it hard to believe that for the first time in 25+ years, the high schoolers don't have sufficient time to get clean. Could it be that it simply comes down to the fact that nobody is making them get out of bed on time? Could it be....?

Unfortunately we've had our first bout of lice. Now all of sudden, the girl getting her hair cut by a counselor is making more sense. My understanding is, that they are now inspecting all the girls to see if and how far it has spread.

During sieste, I had to ride Cadmiel pretty hard again. He ended up doing A LOT of push ups for me and he was pretty tired by the end. I don't think I'll punish him that way again in the future, because he actually likes showing off and doing them. He actually kept asking if he could be punished with ab crunches, but I kept refusing since he was requesting them.

During the first activity time, right after sieste, I had a horrible allergy attack. It was one of the worst I've ever had and unfortunately I spent the next 8 hours sneezing; at times quite violently. My Benadryl just wasn't cutting it. Right before the evening chapel service I came upon Cadmiel, badgering Pierre Eric. He was calling him Einstein over and over and had reduced the lad to tears. Now Pierre Eric will just about cry at the drop of a hat, but still, the principle is there and so I had a long talk with Cadmiel. I would've preferred bonking him, but had to settle for a tongue lashing.

I ended up having to excuse myself from the evening chapel service because I was becoming a serious distraction with all the sneezing. After supper I ended up taking a double dose of Benadryl, got a shower and went to bed early. The other counselors handled the activity time just fine without me and I almost fell asleep in the quiet tent.

Once activity time was over, it was time to call it a night. We had our moment of prayer and such in the tent and then the last 'bonne nuit' was uttered. I had noticed during prayer time (in the dark) that a couple of boys complained about objects being thrown in the dark. I was willing to let it go, assuming the guilty party was getting it out of his system before bed time. However, after a good solid 5 minutes of blissful silence, something thudded onto someone's bed in the dark. The culprit wasn't done and so neither was I. I got out of bed and gave the person a slow countdown from 10 to come forward. Otherwise we were ALL going to go see David. (I would've preferred to sic Paul on them, especially since he hates objects being thrown in or around the tents. But he had to go back up to the Paris area to preach a funeral.) Much to the chagrin of the 10 innocent boys, the guilty thrower didn't confess, so we all put on our shoes and paraded up to the dining hall.

David was in the middle of another staff meeting, so of course he wasn't thrilled about what I explained to him. He paraded them out into the middle of the field, then spread them out with about 10 feet between each boy. He lectured the group, then grilled each one. 10 were innocent, but all 11 claimed to be. He left them standing there about 30 minutes while he went in and finished his meeting. When he returned, David reminded them that I had not been feeling well and it was very selfish to have drug me into this. He had them all file by one by one and apologize to me for the whole ordeal. The one I suspected was the only one that didn't look me in the eyes when he filed by to apologize. You can imagine that I made him come back and do it right.

CAMP CHRONICLES 2009

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:21:23 GMT

Tuesday, July 7

I quickly learned that David, Paul's son is taking on more responsibility this year. He is more or less Paul's right hand man. He called a "staff meeting" with the counselors. He explained that because this years camp theme is "family" they wanted to try and instill the theme into some of the activities. We were asked for this first week, to avoid any ultra-competitive games/activities. They want to avoid the whole "WE'RE GONNA CRUSH YOUR SORRY BUTTS!" type activities in the first week. I certainly understand the idea and desire, but at the same time it removes some obvious camp favorites like Capture the Flag or Dodgeball, for example. Within that same line of thinking, the sports tournaments will be started this week. Usually they take place in week 3 and culminate near the end of camp, with the awards night. Since I'm not going to be here, I actually wasn't given a tournament to oversee.

For the first time that I can remember, Paul grilled pork chops for lunch. We've had sausages off the grill in the past, but I don't remember ever eating anything like a pork chop. They were good and I was slightly stunned and a great deal disgusted to see how much meat was wasted by many, near the end of the meal. So far the food has been excellent and I may be over doing it a little .

Today was the first day we had nap time (otherwise known as 'sieste' from here on out). The rules during sieste are simple. One must be prone and quiet. One cannot write, but one can read. I rode them pretty hard during sieste, but it will pay off as the week progresses. Cadmiel tried playing the "I have to pee and it's getting real urgent" game with me. For awhile I enjoyed all his posturing, dancing and squirming. After awhile however, I began to think that he actually might be crazy enough to wet himself. So I let him go, but made a tent wide announcement that his was the only exception I was making that week. Take care of that business before sieste my friends.

I got a chance to visit a little bit with Ethan, the Dedeyans grandson. He's a good looking young man and I get the feeling that the language barrier is going to be frustrating for a lot of the girls here, including some of the single counselors!

CAMP CHRONICLES 2009

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:52:32 GMT

Monday, July 9

I ended up spending Sunday night at the church, since Paul wanted to load the bus at 6:30 am. To spare having Amy and the girls the grief of getting up before 4 am, they dropped me off the day before. However I was not the only one to spend the night at the church, so there were a number of us scattered around the property. I ended up spending the night in the old auditorium on the floor. Eliane was on a cot, just outside. I had set my alarm for 5:30, thinking that was plenty early. At 4:30, Eliane's alarm went off and since I was not sleeping well, it most certainly woke me up. I noticed she didn't stir, but since she's a big girl, I left her alone. At 5:30, mine went off and I frankly was glad to get up, since sleeping on the floor isn't my idea of a good time. At close to 6, Eliane started to come around. When she realized what time it was, she started panicking. As it turned out, SHE was supposed to wake Paul up at 4:30 after she got up. Needless to say we got off to a slow start since she slept in.

Everyone finally showed up and off we went. After a couple hours down the road, it became painfully obvious to me that it was going to be a long, long day. We were barely out of the southern Paris suburbs, when a little girl Sarah asked me, "Are we almost there yet?" She continued to pester. She decided that Eliane was her personal flight attendant and every 10 minutes would ask her about this and that. After awhile Eliane got sick of it and wandered off to talk to Paul. That meant I became her target. I quickly lost myself in my MP3 player and pretended not to hear her. That meant the boy behind me became her target. The bickering went on and on, until it hit me like a ton of bricks. They were related! Eureka! I quickly separated them and life got alot better after that.

Of course we eventually arrived. We unloaded the bus to discover that Françoise's luggage didn't make it on the bus. She was of course bummed, but what could you do? Paul was going back up to Paris in 3 days to do a funeral, so he was going to bring it back then. Meanwhile Paul had his annual pep talk with the campers, with a reminder of the rules, regulations and introduction of the adults. During it all, I noticed 2 young American young men who looked (A) lost and (2) bewildered. I recognized the look because I've been there and surmised they were there to help, but didn't know much French. After a couple minutes of looking at the one, I realized that he was a grandson of Paul and Alexis'. Not only had I seen his photo before, but I realized as well that he looked alot like his momma, Elise. When I got a chance I introduced myself to Ethan. He'd just graduated high school and was spending a good chunk of his summer with his family in France. Brice was there for the summer as part of his International Affairs degree. He'll be a junior in the fall. Having been where they were, I felt for them and told them not to hesitate to come to me if I could be of assistance.

This year I have the older batch of middle school boys. They are roughly 10+11 year olds. Carrey Abbott has the tent next to me, with the younger ones. I have Cadmiel in my tent and so he will surely reappear many times in this journal. He promises to be a handful. He clearly has no limits at home and he's very, very, very, very hyper. Did I mention the boy is hyper? He's 11 years old and has the body of 20 year old. He obviously works out and his a sculpted masterpiece. I'm sure the lad weighs more than I do. I tend to start out cracking the whip early in my tent and then easing up as the week goes on, but with him, I may have to ride him night and day like a wild bronco. At bedtime he had to push all the limits and buttons. He literally has no self control and will have to learn some this week. Once I really got on him, he finally shut up, but developed a nervous twitch. He literally scratched his scalp and leg for 2 straight hours until he fell asleep. Wow, it's gonna be a long week.

Last day of our 10 year anniversary weekend

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:04:44 GMT

The last day was much more laid back. We had some stuff we wanted to see and do, but didn't have to be in a rush. First thing on the docket was to eat at one of my favorite restaurants, Breakfast in America. It's an American breakfast diner, complete with American menu items (including free refills of coffee!)
Here is ze proof. I got a 3 play and Amy got a omelette.

Next thing on our list was the Middle Age Museum. It's a small building, but packed with lots of stuff. Here is Amy posing next to the main entrance...

Part of the museum is an original Roman Bath, that dates back to the time of Christ. They are still working and discovering neat stuff in that section of the building. Here's a look at how ancient that portion of the museum is.

I had to add a photo of one of my heros. Tis a statue of the Apostle Paul! Forgive me, I forget how old this likeness is.

After the museum, we 'dined' at Subway. Subway is still fairly new to Paris and so we had to eat there. Afterwards we wrapped our day up, by taking a "bateau mouche' (fly boat) tour of Paris and the Seine River.
Our particular tour started at the Notre Dame Cathedral. (Can you tell?)

Here is a photo of one of the prettiest bridges in the world. It's the Alexander the III bridge. Behind it is the Grand Palais.

The next 3 images will be of the famous Eiffel Tower, all taken from aboard our fly boat.

Fast approaching on your right will be the Orsay Museum.

As the tour was wrapping up, I snapped this photo of Amy. I love how she looks in the light of the afternoon sun...

I hope you've enjoyed the photos of our 10 year anniversary getaway to Paris. Here's to another wonderful 10 years with my lovely wife.

Day 2 of our 10 year anniversary (part 2)

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 11:38:25 GMT

Once we toured the magnificent chateau, we visited the gardens. I must add how annoyed and disappointed we were when we found out we had to pay to get into the gardens. Everything we read (website and brochures) said the gardens are free. But NO, they have a racket going. On the weekends, (when traffic is high) they charge admission. The reasoning is that they play classical music and run the fountains. Hold me down. We were not pleased about the racket, but we were there and so paid to enter. Moving on to the photos.

Here we have the first fountain outside the chateau. Looking back behind the fountain, is the museum.

It was my turn to say 'cheese' at the next fountain.

We had gorgeous weather, except it was incredibly windy. The fountains are supposed to be spraying straight up, but you can see them listing in the wind.

Now you'll see just a few of the images that moved me....

I've often said that God's favorite colors must be blue and green because there's so very much of it in nature.

I told the girls that this statue was "the people's elbow" which was a signature wrestling move by The Rock.

The next few photos I took in and around the citrus orchard. They have hundreds of lemon and orange trees beautifully arranged next to the castle.

I was especially impressed by the beauty of the citrus garden. That's why I've posted so many of this section.

The last 2 photos were of Amy's favorite area. T'was the "Ballroom" area of the gardens. It was set up for spectacles and is very impressive. It's set up in a circle, almost like a bowl.

Here she is, looking like a model inside the 'ballroom'.

There you are. Next up will be photos of our last day of the weekend. I hope you enjoyed these images of the gardens.