Half Way!

Well...the fourth week of camp was quickly followed for a week off. In my efforts to remain unplugged and get some much-needed rest, I neglected the blog. Sorry guys. :)

Week four was pretty awesome, though. We had a short term team from Massachusetts that led a great luau for us on Friday. We had a blast that included hula dancing, leis, and water balloons. They continued the theme of being open, willing, and servant-hearted. The Lord has definitely spoiled us when it comes to our short term teams! 

Here are some brief updates from Week 4:

1. We quit the very frustrating food program we were a part of. Now God's people are feeding God's children and it's a wonderful, beautiful thing! We celebrated the big move on the same Friday as the Luau and deemed it Freedom Friday. 
2. The blacktop flooded (again) and we swept and swept and dug another trench. This one seems to be holding up well. Pray that the weather stays in our favor the second half of the summer!
3. We've had some trouble with break-ins in the concession stand (which is our headquarters). Because of damage to the lock, only my key seems to be warped in the right way to get us going every morning. Pray that we are able to continue having the ability to lock and unlock this very important door. 
4. Collectively, the kids' dance moves just keep improving. I love watching them have fun! 

Teamwork makes the dream work. 

We called it Freedom Friday and fed the kiddos
pancakes for breakfast!
Bye-bye Toastio cerial!

There was the added bonus that awesome Luau/Freedom Friday of camp in the form of some very special guests. A large chunk of my family came out for a visit. It's so great to share this part of my life with them. And what I love more than just having them there is hearing them describe camp and my job to the ones who've never been and seen before. My family is so cool. :) 

Speaking of family, Garrett and I added a member. Lily has been a wonderful addition to our home. She's a sweet, cuddly, quiet pup who is not so sure about walking canes and facial hair. She's a 2-year-old rescue from the local shelter and we seriously couldn't be happier with her! 

I mean seriously...look at those eyes!

I'll be honest. Another reason I've been avoiding this blog is because I feel like I need to have a response to the current events that have taken over our country. There's a lot to sort through when you look at all the news stories, social media posts, conversations with friends and strangers, and even sermons. I know personally I'm still processing through everything. I recently read something in Proverbs that helped me overcome my need to have a statement, though, and I'd like to give you this food for thought instead:

"A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opnion."

-Proverbs 18:2

I'll leave you with this video of a book we read to campers during character education. I hope you enjoy! 

Week 3

Some of you might know the parable about the Widow's Offering in Mark chapter 12. It's one I've always loved. This week, I felt like I saw it in action all around me.

First, there was the gardener who has a plot at the community center. She sits out there in the heat and works on her garden for most of the camp day almost every day. She's out there in the sun with us pulling weeds in the heat and listening to our kids play as she waters and weeds and does everything necessary for her plants to grow. As she was leaving one day, she handed one of the staff a couple of her tomatoes. "So the kids can put tomato on their sandwiches," she tells them. When we thanked her for her generosity, she looked back in her basket and gave us two more. I'm pretty sure it was all she had. "There's a lot of kids," she told us as she continued to take her supplies back to her car. I don't know this lady's name, but I know she put so much work into those tomatoes and then just let them go to help feed some kids she doesn't know. That's pretty sweet.

Then we have our high school helpers. I told you about the saving of the kitten last week. But this week, one of our high schoolers overheard one of our staff talking about having a hard time paying for her husband's surgery. This one particular high schooler has a job where she gets a decent paycheck let me know that most of what was left after she paid back her aunt for what she owed her, was going to help pay for the surgery. I know that most high schoolers would spend their money on shoes, hot cheetos, and electronics. In all honesty, I don't know what this high schooler is responsible for paying for on her own, but I know that giving the amount she wants to give in proportion to what she makes is huge. I was humbled in awe of the maturity and generosity she showed. What a big heart.

Then we have our campers. Who daily create for us (staff, volunteers, whoever) trinkets that they work so hard on. They pick flowers for us, make bracelets and necklaces. They draw us pictures and write us thank you notes. Our smart, beautiful, wonderful children find the most creative and innovative ways to give us gifts and thank us. They share their talents of being able to tell you what day of the week a date will occur on, or awesome dance moves, or the ability to create beautiful artwork. Sometimes, they just give us the precious gift of time as they teach us the right way to dance, braid our hair, or include us in their games. When a little first grader is on their way full speed to a game of ninja, a hula hoop, or four square and they stop to say good morning and give you a hug, even that is huge. They take something that is so important to them and stop thinking about it for a minute to give you their attention. How sweet and valuable is that?

I've been convicted this week. As I'm surrounded by these sweet beautiful people, some are friends, some are campers, some are volunteers, and some are strangers, I just think of how greatly blessed I am to work in this place. It's no secret that Clarkston is a place where there is all kinds of poverty, but occasionally when I look around all I see are people sharing what they have (snacks, money, time, knowledge) to help bring someone else up. I still have so much to learn, but I'm thankful for the learning process. I can confidently say that I am rich in examples of the Widow's Offering and that is something that brings me great joy.

"And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
Mark 12:41-44

Mad Science Week!

This past week of camp had it's curve balls. Rain in the early afternoons had us going home a little earlier than usual, but there are some really great stories from the week.

Thank you!
We had a volunteer team from Perimeter Church that continued the trend of best volunteers ever from the week one group. They just fully dived into camp life. They interacted with children, got to know High School Helpers, and encouraged staff all along the way. They really bent over backwards to be helpful and their humble, servant hearts shined all week long.

One of their team leaders shared a story at the end of the week about a conversation with one of the younger Muslim boys at camp. He was insisting that all Christians are bad. The volunteer asked if he knew camp staff was Christian. He said he didn't and then changed his statement to "Christians not at camp are bad." While we need to be praying for this camper's heart, how encouraging to hear that we are showing the right example within camp. Praise God.

Story Time:
My favorite moment of the week had to do with our same little friend from the previous story. The Chick-fil-a cow had come for a visit, and in his excitement, my little friend stepped right into an ant pile. Annalisa swooped in and saved him. After his shoes were off, we found that he was fortunate to have only two little ant bites. Annalisa then washed his feet. She was so gentle, even cleaning his toenails, I couldn't help but think about Jesus washing the disciples' feet. It was a sweet, sweet moment.

I also had quite the adventure with a few of the High School Helpers this week. One of our guys found a starving kitten on the side of the road and just couldn't leave it. So naturally he brought it to camp. A few of the High School Helpers worked hard to build a box out of broken down boxes to keep the kitten safe through the camp day until one of them could take it home. As hard as they tried...the little cat was a master escape artist. Thier perseverance was impressive, though. We ended up bringing our new little friend to a neighbor and friend of camp who had some tuna to donate to the cause. After our little feline friend had a snack, we decided Annalisa's porch was the best place to keep it until it had a home...at camp it was quite the distraction...
I am happy to announce that Avalon now has a happy home with her rescuer. She's in for a long, spoiled life I'm sure.

Best Friends

Friday I was having was a rough day. It was a "got up on the wrong side of the bed and forgot my lunch" kind of day. One of my long time camper friends was just the trick to make me smile. He built a rocketship out of legos and was telling me all about it:
"It shoots magic!"
"It can headbutt its enemies!"
"It can go into hyperdrive and travel to the future!"
"AND...Ms. Emily look...IT CAN SELF-DESTRUCT!!!" *broke it into so many pieces it would never look the same again
It was just what I needed to get out of my slump. These kids that I spend every day with are crazy...but they are also creative, loving, welcoming, goofy, imaginative, and some of my favorite humans on this earth.

Lately, there has been a trend among anyone who visits camp for a few minutes or week. They all have the same thing to say. They walk onto the field and it's chaos with kids and toys everywhere...but they feel like they belong. They feel welcomed. And I could quit my job happy now. We've successfully created a space where anyone from anywhere can walk into the middle of our day and feel like a part of our mix-matched, loud, messy, hot, crazy family. Don't worry, I'm not actually quitting my job, but I am busting with pride over the shout outs campers, high schoolers, and staff receive. They are the best. I am honored to be a part of this summer with them!

Many hande makes for quick work de-flooding the blacktop

Week One: DONE!

Well, folks. We made it! the first week of Summer Spectacular 2016 happened!

You might think "happened" is a funny word to use to describe such an exciting event as the start of camp...let me explain.

Some of you might remember a few months ago when we weren't even sure we had a location to hold camp this year. There were several weeks of desperate prayers, phone calls, emails, and meetings trying to secure a location for over 100 Clarkston youth to come together with staff, interns, and volunteer teams to come together and make this program happen. As of a few weeks before camp, we had about 2.5 interns (which for the record is not enough). We even went into the first week of camp with no food provider. That means we had no help from the state in feeding all of our kids breakfast and lunch every day.

Oh, and my family lost a loved one last week. The drive to Kentucky and back to spend time with family and celebrate Roger's life is something that I wouldn't miss for anything. The lost sleep and time away from camp was worth it, though it added to the week one madness.

See what I mean by week one happened?

But let me tell you, the Lord provides! 

Not only do we have our first choice for camp location (the Clarkston Community Center field and Northlake Church of Christ) we added some indoor space from Clarkston International Bible Church so all the kid can have some inside time during the camp day. Parents have been asking us to find a way to do this for years!

We also have a team of interns that is one of the most prepared, competent, passionate, excited group of interns I can remember. All the intern teams I've worked with have been special and awesome, but something about this one let's all know for sure the Lord has big plans for them this summer. We have an intern per grade plus an extra one even to help with administrative stuff! Praise the Lord!

Not having food last week means that our wonderful food coordinator facilitated over 100 people getting two filling and nutritious meals a day. That's a feat, my friends! As my wonderful husband would say, "teamwork makes the dream work!" There were a lot of people that came together to make sure we had more than enough for campers to eat this week and the state food start next week! AND we have people willing to help supplement the meals so the kids will have more options and healthier choices.

I also found myself surrounded by the best as we celebrated Roger's life. Getting to see so much family that we normally see once a year or less just a month after the wedding was truly a blessing. And though our reason for being together was sad...I just feel blessed to be a part of such a big and loving family. All of us putting everything aside (work, school, etc.) to come together and greive and laugh and eat and catch up is just what all of us needed I think. So while we are missing Roger here on earth, we also can't help but smile knowing he's got the better end of the deal living it up in paradise with his son. Thank you so much to everyone who called, texted, facebooked, or made it possible for all of us to leave and be a family.

Story Time
I know this is really why you read my blog...so here's some cute pictures and a couple of funny stories.

One of my new little first grade friends who happens to be Muslim came running up to me the first day of camp. She jumped on me, grabbed my cross necklace, and said, "you are a Christian?" I told her that I was. She looked confused. "So you are Napoli?" "Nope, not Napoli, just American." She still looked confused and finally concluded, "You're just Christian, not Napoli..." I confirmed her statement and she ran off to play with her friends. I sometimes wish I could understand their logic...but mostly I am just entertained by these little moments.

A couple of my 2nd grade friends helped me add some beauty to camp in the
form of chalk art. I love quality time with these two!

Another new camper who is older was having a hard time obeying his intern. Instead of listening to the Character Ed story, he wanted to make paper airplanes. I asked him to return and sit with his group. He stared at his feet and didn't move. The standoff continued for a little while. After about the fifth time I asked him to sit with his group he finally looked up at me, "are you Ms. Emily?" I told him I was. He sighed and went and sat with his group. Apparently my reputation proceeds me!

This little buddy of mine never fails to make me smile.
He's the camp goofball for sure (or one of them).

Pray for us!
Week 2 will be a blast. As we all now better understand our role and are getting to know each other better pray that relationships form. Pray for opportunities to share with the camper and their families about Jesus. and Pray especially for our Muslim friends as they fast for Ramadan and continue to play hard at camp (we don't want any dehydration issues or heat stroke!).

Thanks, guys! You're the best!

May Madness?

May has quite possibly been one of the craziest months of my life.




Let's start with the first weekend in May. We threw this big party we have been planning for a year (aka a wedding). It was beautiful and perfect. I am still so thankful for all the people that made it the best day ever.

Then there was Ashville. Where Garrett and I ate all the good food and saw all the best sites (up and down Blueridge Parkway, at the Biltmore, and a state park full of waterfalls). We had the best time. It made it hard to come back to real life.

Real life started the third week in May. Interns started arriving, registration for camp was in full swing, and there was no more waiting and looking for something to do. Garrett went straight into classes and I hit the ground running in Clarkston. We also had this low-key event to attend where accepted a True Inspiration Award for empowering youth and creating young leaders. Nbd. 

The fourth week of May has been just as exciting. There was the early coming of the precious and perfect baby Cooper (making it a nice and even 2 nieces and 2 nephews). THEN we had Molly's graduation. Now there are officially no more Buck's at Collins Hill High School for the first time in over a decade. Crazy, right?

And now there's a loft full of interns laughing, eating, and learning together as hey soak up all the information we throw at them during training. Let me just tell you, this group of interns is awesome. They are positive, flexible, fun, smart, and totally ready for the summer. We are blessed.





Through all the chaos and craziness, I find myself thankful. Thankful for family who likes each other enough to hang out every weekend this month, friends who are like family, and a community of people (some who I barely know) who have been encouraging and congratulating us through it all. I got a Happy Mother's Day text from a camper, a shout out from a barista at the Coffee Truck, and the promise of free shawarma from my favorite place. All on top hundreds of conversations in passing, Facebook messages and comments from friends and family near and far, campers and their families, and even acquaintances who are just so kind.

Camp starts in less than a week! Pray for us. Stay updated via this blog, Instagram, and Facebook. It's going to be an amazing summer. :)

Planning for Perfection

You know how sometimes when you have planned for things to go a certain way (like a lesson in a classroom, or a birthday party, or a meeting with a specific agenda) and then you get to the event and nothing goes right? Not a situation where you just move on to Plan B, but not a single thing goes according to plan. No one shows up, you get rained out, and you end up with a parking ticket.

Well, that kind of day seems to happen a lot around here. We plan for 100 youth to come to an event and 5 show up. Or we plan for 15 and 80 show up. The gym catches on fire and we become nomads looking for a space to hold our programs. You have the best intentions of feeding 20 girls a healthy dinner and you end up with 6 Little Ceasars pizzas. You tell yourself you'll update your blog every other Friday and then you go a month without updating it because you get sick and life get crazy... Let's be honest, I almost left the house for work without shoes the other day...adulting is hard. 

In those moments where plans start to go off track, we've been teaching our middle and high school girls that you can have one of two perspectives. You can label it an ordeal, stress about the details, and conclude that you failed. Or you can call it an adventure, roll with the punches, cut your losses and look for a win another way. This lesson has been one that pops up over and over and over again for us here. Not just with youth programs, but everywhere. 

There is value in a good plan. Having appropriate expectations, knowing what needs to happen, and making sure you have the right space and resources to make everything come together is really important. Having a backup plan or two is also important. You just never know sometimes what could derail even the most perfectly thought out plans. 

BUT, being able to scrap those plans and move on when the situation just isn't allowing it is something to be admired in my book. Not everyone is gifted in adaptability and flying off the seat of your pants in a stressful situation. I'd argue that it takes a strong person to scrap those plans they've spent hours, days, or weeks on to make the most of what the moment has to offer.

Maybe because I've spent the past year planning for After School, Summer Camp, and a wedding my perspective on planning has changed...but there has been so many time recently when the Lord has reminded me that I am small with a limited view of the world and He is big and can see everything. His plans really are always better than mine. 

Story Time

Just last night at tutoring group we had given the girls a 5-minute warning to clean up dinner and head to the couches for Share Time. We said when this song is over I need you to have thrown away your trash and be at the couches ready to listen. I pressed play on Pandora and it was probably the slowest song on Ed Shereen radio...not the upbeat "hurry up and throw your stuff away and get over here" song that I was hoping for. But then, something beautiful happened that none of us could have planned. The volunteers started teaching the girls some ballroom dancing moves. I looked around the room and saw plates still on tables, cups all over the room, and volunteers and girls smiling, dancing, and singing along to the song. Whoever knew how to dance got the opportunity to teach a friend and the group came together in a way that all I could do was stand back and admire. 

So it took an extra 5 minutes to clean up and we were probably already behind on our schedule. But those girls and volunteers have a sweet memory that's worth much more than anything I could plan for. 

That's just a small example. But I encourage you to remember (and to remind me) that sometimes there are more important things than trying to achieve perfection. We should work hard, we should plan well, and we should stay open to the what the Lord might telling we need in the moment. Maybe we would all benefit from more dance breaks. 

On that note, the Kid President has been particularly encouraging to me lately. It doesn't really have to do with anything in this post, but it is encouraging and there is dancing. Enjoy!

Special Days

For a long as I can remember, my grandparents have done this really cool thing where they take each of their grandchildren out one at a time and let us pick everything we do that day. We got to pick where or what we ate, a big activity (like bowling or visiting the Yellow River Game Ranch), go shopping, and spend the night if we wanted. They called them Special Days because it was on those days we were special and we knew it. Cousins and siblings could choose to combine days and enjoy the day together, but often the one on one time was something we didn't want to pass up. They would come up around birthdays, the start of school, Christmas, or sometimes just because we could. As we grew up, Special Days followed us to college with care packages, a trip to the grocery store, and dinner on them. All of us love and look forward to these special times with Grandma and Grandpa because we love spending time with them and who doesn't want to feel special?

Special Days Athens Edition

Her first Pumpkin carving experience.
Oh what an experience it was!

When I got to college, I volunteered for a mentoring program called CrossTrainers. I was paired with a sassy, beautiful, hysterical 3rd grader that I spent my four years in Athens getting to know and love. Once a week, or sometimes less often, we had our own kind of Special Days together. She had my undivided attention as we played Connect 4 at Menchies (she always beat me!), made cookies and cupcakes, took countless trips to Zaxby's, and the many other adventures we went on. She taught me so much about how important intentional one-on-one time can be for a person. It was good for me and it was good for her. Our last year together was a busy one and we didn't see each other as much a we had in the past, but the times we spent together were more precious because we knew it wouldn't last forever. For whatever reason, in our last few hangout times, she let me know that everything I had been trying so desperately to tell her for the past 4 years about family and friends and her bright future she understood and was putting to practice. Watching her grow in maturity, patience, and self-control was more than I could have ever hoped for. It took everything in me not to cry tears of joy in the middle of our favorite Zaxby's as she said, "You know, you're right. I don't want to try to be popular this year. I just want to be around a few people who actually care about me instead of a lot of people who get me into trouble." There were so many times that I wasn't sure my presence in her life was making any difference. I was alright with that though. I'm not her Savior. I very selfishly prayed that God would let me see the fruit of seeds that had been planted in her life someday. I never imagined that He would be so good as to let me spend our last year together seeing the fruit of the previous three years and that she and her family would give me any sort of credit for the positive changes in her life. Special Days are so important.

Special Days Clarkston Edition 

Love catching up with this girl over dinner.

These days in Clarkston, I can't spend one-on-one time with each youth every week. There's so many of them. Every now and then, though, I get the chance to take one out for a Special Day. Most recently, was a trip to the China Buffet with a camper I've known for a very long time. Her family in particular is where I pull from when there's opportunity for a Special Day. There are five children in the home and really only one parent. The children do everything around the house as far as day to day making sure everyone is up, fed, and bathed. They are a resilient, loving, compassionate group of siblings. They don't often get one-on-one time with anyone because there are so many. In large groups the younger ones in particular are quiet and shy. As they hop in my car though they start talking and just don't stop. They'll update me on the family, school, sports, crushes, and neighbors. We'll reminisce on camp in years past and talk about the upcoming summer. Sometimes we just sit in silence. Always, we spend hours in the China Buffet (their top choice for a dinner out) after we are finished eating because they just don't want to go home yet and I don't have the heart to make them. Spending time with the oldest sister recently we were trying to remember as many summer interns as we could. She didn't remember several of them which prompted her to ask, "Why don't people who work at camp every come back for more than one summer?" I did my best to explain that interns have school and other jobs and some live really far away. Then she said, "You moved away for like 5 years and I didn't forget you because you always came to visit." I was reminded again of how important intentional investment is.

The Essence of Special Days
Considering that it's impossible to give hours of uninterrupted, intentional time to each youth in Clarkston, it seems as though we have found a way to capture the essence of that special time in our programs. Whether it be a short, yet intentional conversation in the car on the way home or making sure we celebrate birthdays, we strive to run programs that promote dignity and every youth involved feeling loved as an individual. Having amazing staff and volunteers makes this possible. But one of the youth recently gave us the highest praise I think we've ever gotten. Understand this, this particular youth used to be a apart of Summer Camp and the Friends of Refugees family, but in moves and changes in structure and leadership, this particular youth slipped between the cracks and we have only recently re-established a relationship with their family. This youth has every reason to hold bitterness towards us. What they said though was along the lines of, "A lot of times in Clarkston people only go half way. Because it's Clarkston they think things don't have to be nice. Friends of Refugees always goes all out, though. They always do things high quality which I appreciate." To receive this high praise from a youth means we must be doing something right. We do care to operate the highest program possible for the community. Knowing that our heart is recognized in that is an awesome feeling.

So thank you, Grandma and Grandpa, for teaching me about the importance of Special Days. Know that even though your youngest grandchild is a junior in high school and that we are more spread out than ever, Special Days still happen and have grown to include more people than ever. I love you!