Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set the example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity. I Timothy 4:12
May. 12, 2009
Finishing the Wonderful Weekend
Now that we've all moved on, especially since the Browns are in CA and I haven't updated my blog in a week (again), here's the rest of the story:
There was great indecision between Courtney and I as to who would play the main girl part in I Surrender All, but after great debate (or lack thereof), I did it. Ryan had the main guy part since Jo didn’t really know the song – he took the God part. Emily and Rachel were statues with Courtney. I quickly discovered that I knew the song very different than the Browns did, but we worked together pretty well and mostly told each other that we didn’t care, so we went with the Brown’s ending and sign language and chorus but some of my tweaking for the main parts. It was a fine compromise.
It was also amusing that at the end, after we’d put people in the right places and told Jo what to do (while the music was playing), Ryan and I did the classic raise one arm to Jesus, bow down on one knee, raise the other hand, and drop the head. At the same time. Without previously talking about it. I guess you just had to be there. It was almost as classic as praying at the end of every patriotic song.
Well, we finished practicing around 9ish and headed into the living room, where Dad, who hadn’t expected us to spend so long on something for two sets of AIM parents, looked up expectantly. The time had come for the roasting of the marshmallows.
What’s a camping trip without s’mores? Somebody had built up a nice fire in the fireplace; Andrew and Rachel had retrieved the hot dog skewers from the camper, and with chocolate, graham crackers, and marshmallows strewn all across the dining room table, we were set for a genuine camping experience. Those of us who aren’t too keen on marshmallows sat on the couch and watched as Courtney almost melted her marshmallow into the fire and Rachel neatly set her two marshmallows on fire. Yersiree, it was just like camping. ‘cept we had a roof over our heads instead of a starry sky (which at that point was not starry but cloudy and still dripping), and we had a couch, and carpet, and air conditioning… OK, so maybe it wasn’t like camping. But it was fun to call it camping!
It was Dad who put the finishing touch on the atmosphere by turning on the noisemaker he and Mom use to fall asleep – he turned it to summer night and suddenly the crickets and spring peepers had entered our living room. Pathetic, yes, but also pretty much amazing. He got this set up while the s’morers finished cooking their marshmallows and then we started one of the highlights of the weekend: Barnabas time.
Barnabas was the nickname given to Joseph, an early apostle, and it means Son of Encouragement. A few years ago Dad started this tradition that at Christmastime we would all go around, family member by family member, and each say something encouraging about the other people. It’s turned into a treasured time that requires a lot of Kleenex and really brings people together, but I’d never done it with anyone who wasn’t related to us before, so I was excited (social animal that I am).
We each picked a card and started in order from lowest to highest. We started with Mr. Brown – he had a two – then on to Rachel, Mrs. Brown (the Browns mostly had low numbers), etc., etc. When we got to Courtney I started crying. I’d known that I would cry two times at least that evening – when I talked about Courtney and when I talked about Dad. They ended up being back to back. I told Courtney that she was a Godsend for me. When Katie left, I was desperate for someone to talk with. It’s just not the same over the phone. Melissa and I could talk a lot but this is her last session and then she’ll be gone (OK, not forever, but eventually she will be). I feel like God put Courtney in my life to be my new Melissa, and that’s what I couldn’t say without crying – first because it’s terribly sad that I need someone to talk to because KT’s gone, and second because Courtney means so much to me. I know she gave up SO SO SO much to come here from DE and it means the world to me that she’s willing to take on another friend so quickly and be so supportive and encouraging and understanding. We don’t know each other real well yet but I’m eager to get to that point. So anyway, that was a roundabout way of saying that I cried.
Then there was Dad and I cried (of course) because he shares my passion, my vision, and supports my dreams. And he’s my knight in shining armor that’s going to protect me until God brings me another one. I love Dad soooooooooo much.
I ended up being the last one to be “Barnabased” – a new verb – I had the jack of spades. It was very week and we all enjoyed ourselves so much that none of us noticed the time and therefore were somewhat stunned when Mr. Dave said, “And it’s only a quarter of twelve!” Good night alive – we’d been talking for two hours! Incredibly no one had fallen asleep and there had been no complaining. It was a sweet time of fellowship and something I will treasure for a long time to come.
Mr. Dave and Ms. Sue slept in KT’s room; Jo and Ryan in Jo’s room (Dad wanted them to sleep in the camper but Josiah adamantly refused); and the girls back in my room again. This time Emily and Rachel were in the bed, while Courtney took the cot and I enjoyed my couch cushions again. Rachel fell asleep almost right away and Courtney, Emily and I got to talk a bit. It was a nice quiet relaxing time – we don’t get to “just talk” much at all because at AIM we’re always doing something, so it was nice to just talk.
The next morning breakfast was supposed to be at nine and the guys were supposed to cook it because the girls had made all three meals the night before. At 8:30 or so I went upstairs to shower. Andrew, Jo and Ryan were all still in bed (or on the floor, as it were). Dad was the only one downstairs cooking. Mr. Dave and Ms. Sue headed downstairs soon afterwards, however, and they were Dad’s assistants in the preparation of (drum roll, please) strawberry pancakes and sausages! YUM!
We actually had all varieties – plain, strawberry, strawberry nut, strawberry banana, banana, and banana nut. I went for strawberry every time. We had a lively debate over how to pronounce syrup (is it see-rup or sur-up?). We did what made you smile yesterday, and answers varied from “the hike in the rain” to “seeing Ryan do a backflip” to “Virtuoso at highspeed,” to “the Barnabas time last night.” I said it made me smile when Mr. Dave played the winning chip in Sequence and only had two cards left.
After breakfast Mom, Ms. Sue and Mr. Dave cleaned up as all the kids retreated into the playroom to practice. We weren’t exactly prepared. We smoothed over a couple of cues in I Surrender All and a lot of technique in Faithful until we felt prepared. Church started a bit late, but proceeded thus:
We prayed to open and spent time thanking God.
We sang – Indescribable (Courtney), As the Deer (Courtney, Jessica, and Emily), Give Thanks (Courtney, Jessica and Emily), Here I Am to Worship (Courtney), and another one I can’t remember. It was difficult but definitely a neat experience and a cool time to work together and worship God.
Then Dad preached on faithfulness versus fruitfulness – he taught this at a doulos meeting not so long ago and had mentioned it to me, but it was still good stuff. We discussed a bit after he finished preaching – what stuck out to us, etc. I think it was quite appropriate.
We presented Faithful first and then I Surrender All. I’d been wondering about how we were going to relate I Surrender All to the message because we didn’t know what the message was, but as it turned out the song went with the message quite nicely. We talked about surrendering our desire to “bear fruit” to God’s sovereignty and trust that as long as we’re faithful He’ll deal with the fruit. I was kind of out of it for that song but I really love the song and think it fit well, which was totally unplanned, but awesome.
As soon as we finished that we had communion (with grape juice we bought up at Gateway and bagels that the Browns brought), and Mr. Dave served it. Courtney told me later he was a bit nervous because it was his first time to serve communion. From what I could tell, Dad sorta sprung it on him at the last minute, but he did a good job. He read the Scripture from Corinthians and then served it individually to each of us, at Dad’s request. Andrew was prepared with a crazy straw to sip his grape juice, but I glared him down and mouthed that that was a bit inappropriate. I think he got it, because he just took a sip when Mr. Dave served him the cup.
After our “service” nobody was hungry yet, and since Dad said lunch would be at 1:30 or so, we girls headed into my room to stare at each other again, but in the process of staring at each other we hit upon an idea. They were talking about polishing their nails and I told them we should draw stripes all over our faces and Courtney said that we could do that with all kinds of different colors and then I remembered I had a bunch of colored clown makeup from my clowning days. In 4-H. Yeah, back in the dark ages. Not a time that I like to remember. But anyway, I had the makeup – in white, black, red, yellow and blue – and so we took advantage of it.
We closed all the blinds. Emily positioned herself in front of the mirror by my door, I took the bathroom, and Courtney flopped on the bed with a pocket mirror (these AIMonites are always so equipped). After much inner debate I decided on yellow and black (I powdered and now my powder sock is yellow). Courtney decided to be a girly girl – i.e. WAY too much makeup. Emily said she looked like a prostitute. No comment. Emily decked herself out with a beard, moustache, and eyebrows. All bright blue. Oh yeah.
We had a couple interruptions by Rachel, during which we all retreated to the bathroom and leaned against the door should Rachel try to come in and discover what we were doing. Of course this entire time we were laughing hysterically and asking questions like, “How does my beard look?” “How do you put on eyeliner?” and “Should I have eyebrows or not?” When we finally finished and came out into the living room, Josiah and Andrew both screamed.
I guess they had good reason. After a random lunch of lots of hot dogs, apples, and whatever else we had on hand, prepared by the guys, we went back into my room, dressed up to better match our faces, and went outdoors to take pictures. We took a picture sequence of Bluebeard the Flyswatter beating up Cruella de Vil, and also the Miss Innocent attacking Bluebeard. It was quite dangerous, actually, because Bluebeard was in possession of Ryan’s Honduran machete, and we were “stabbing” each other left and right. Kinda bloody for girls, but then we were in a weird mood.
We were going to have a “teaching time” where the Browns taught us What Would You Do For a King and we taught them Our Turn Now, but most people didn’t feel like it (and we were on vacation, so we could do what we felt like), and Josiah really wanted to play kickball. As it had quit raining and we’d been hoping to do this all weekend, the girls agreed and soon the five of us were standing out on a lawn that desperately needed to be mowed, placing bases and discussing teams.
Obviously, five people is not enough to divide into teams, so we decided that whoever wasn’t kicking would be fielding and vice versa. I was designated pitcher. Emily shot the first two pitches foul and then the third one she kicked a little dinger towards me, on the ground and a bit to the right. Courtney was at first, Jo was in the outfield, and apparently Ryan was somewhere behind me and to the right because as I ran for the ball, he did too.
We both slipped on the wet grass and I practically did the splits as my bare feet slid through the mud, and both of us missed the ball. Emily was safe at first and I was in pain on the pitcher’s mound. Nobody seemed to care, though – they were all busy laughing hysterically. Especially my loving brother. Somewhat indignantly, I pulled myself to a standing position, wincing a bit, and informed Josiah that I’d had quite enough kickball for the afternoon (my reasoning being that if two people slipped that badly on a slow ball right towards them, we might have more trouble when the guys got up to the plate and sent the ball soaring over our heads into deep left field). After he quit laughing and regained his breath, he reluctantly agreed and we all headed back inside after 1/8 of an inning, muddy, wet, and laughing.
Next it was pool. Jo and Ryan had been playing ping-pong every spare moment all weeked, but pool was a game that everyone could play, and since we were all together while the adults talked, it seemed best. We played pool. Well, most of us played pool while Courtney painted Andrew’s face at his request. Yes, it was the school readiness fairs all over again.
Jo got knocked out of the game relatively early – we were playing five-way Cutthroat, so it was inevitable that someone would get out quickly. I was next, then Rachel, then Ryan – and Emily won! Yay for Emily… and yay for the girls!
We then all trooped back into the living room to see what the adults were doing and if they wanted us to do it with them. They were talking and politely told us to go away. We sat in the dining room for a few minutes eating junk food and wondering what to do, and then Courtney, Emily and I went into the playroom for them to teach me What Would You Do For a King. Jo didn’t want to do it in a major way, so we figured it’d just be the three of us. Courtney and Emily got set up – a two man mime they were going to do – with Courtney as the king and Emily as everybody else. Just as they started Ryan walked in, and after assuring herself that he was there to help, Courtney told him that HE could be the king, thank you very much, and she’d help Emily in being everybody else. Shortly after his mentor came in, Josiah sort of meandered into the room and plopped down on the couch next to me to watch, apparently resigned to his fate.
The song is really quite attractive. I really enjoy the music and the mime is quite simple but the message is strong. Maybe AIM Branson will learn it sometime. Anyway, Courtney taught me the stage left side and Emily taught me the stage right side and Jo just watched and learned the king part. Then Jo and I sort of kind of showed them Our Turn Now, but it was evident that at that point everyone wanted to do something else, so we quit and played…
… Bible freeze! Now, the first time I played Bible freeze was on the ECMT06. Jorge successfully played Mordecai (“Essie, you never have to be afraid to do what’s right”) and Eve. We were all in stiches. This time was no less fun – well, except for the fact that we were all slightly less inspired. Of course we did Balaam – no game of Bible freeze is complete without Balaam – but I was the donkey and after three or four “freeze!” cries with me remaining on my hands and knees, I had visions of being a pack animal for life. Somebody got me out of it, though, and the one we ended on had Emily playing Ruth and me playing Boaz. I actually kissed her on the cheek. It was pretty funny. Dad came in and saw us and you should have seen the look on his face. “Uh, guys? Want to play Guesstures?” he asked hesitantly, clearly wondering if two days with each other non-stop had driven us over the edge. We all eagerly agreed to the game and back into the living room we went.
It took a bit of time to get started because we were all getting our junk food and Dad was getting everything set up, but we eventually did start. Mr. Brown was the highlight of the guys’ team – he was just too funny to watch, especially since I mostly know him as serious and reserved. The girls were behind by a pretty large margin most of the game, but when we went to the harder cards the girls pulled ahead and won 89-67.
After Guesstures it was the time that nobody likes – the time to say goodbye. Everything was quickly packed up and hauled out to the van, and after checking to make sure nothing was left, we all trooped out onto the porch for a group photo. Of course this took a good ten minutes since it was on a tripod and we were all standing on the porch steps trying not to fall off on top of each other. Then, with regards and various exchanges of the AIM catchall goodbye – “I’ll see you Thursday,” – the Browns departed and we were left with an empty feeling and burnt pizza for dinner.
Naw, it wasn’t that bad. But the next day wasn’t that great – you know how it is getting off vacation, especially a vacation as awesome as that weekend. And of course this is only a partial chronicle because I’m sure that Rachel and Andrew did all kinds of stuff while we “big kids” were hanging out that I don’t know about. I know they went bike riding a couple of times and spent quite a bit of time hanging out in Andrew’s room. All in all it was quite the enjoyable camping trip and quite worth the trip down to AR and back. It is my fond hope that one day we will do this again.
haha,Jess you've hung out around me to much you said "pretty much amazing" haha. Emily won ping pong wow, that's an improvment from last time I played with her, yay, that's cool!!
I'll be remembering / The dark night; the hard fight; the long climb up a hill knowing the cost / The brave death, the last breath, the silence whispering all hope is lost / The thunder, the wonder... the power that brings the dead back to life!
Posted by Melissa 
May. 13, 2009 - Untitled Comment