Well, as soon as I got back from camp that first time, I couldn't wait to go back.
Daniel and I began emailing each other, he provided a lot of encouragement and advice. A good example of showing how older believers are supposed to encourage the younger ones.
I began my freshman year of high school, which went okay for the first semester. I continued writing for the local newspaper, doing the sports, I was learning new lessons and gradually overcoming my shyness.
On December 11, 2008, around 11:30 p.m, Mom was feeding my baby sister Amy, and watching John McCain, the recently defeated Republican presidential candidate, on Letterman when she smelled smoke coming from the kitchen. She hollered for Dad, I couldn't sleep, so we both came running to see what was wrong. The inside of our refrigerator was on fire. I grabbed Amy, Mom woke up Courtney, and the three of us dashed out into the frosty cold of the van while Dad called the fire department and Mom went back and forth, trying to help. Caleb and Trevor were still asleep. The firemen got there, they wrestled and hauled the fridge out into the driveway, then ran a check to make sure nothing else was damaged, shaking their heads as to why the inside of a refrigerator, of all things, should catch fire. Courtney and I shivered and watched, trying to keep Amy asleep, and ourselves from panicking, we turned on the radio. I still can't hear Kenny Chesney's "Don't Blink" or Tim McGraw's "Back When" without remembering everything that happened. They left, and we swept up the kitchen, wondering how when we were going to have time to shop for a new refrigerator and put the oven back into it's place. We played Uno for an hour, then went back to bed around 3:30 a.m.
I wake up around seven, and I check the news and play a computer game while I wait for everyone else to get up, Mom starts about fixing breakfast. She grabs the oatmeal from the pantry, leaving the light on since she'll probably need back in there pretty soon. We tell the boys what happened, Caleb goes around looking at stuff, when he says: "Mom, why is there smoke in the family room?" This is about 8:10 a.m. She laughs it off, "No, that was last night, there's nothing there now. Too bad you missed it." But she goes to check anyway. The pantry door is glowing. She opens it a hair to see what's going on, then shuts it quickly because of the heat. Our psycho cat Liesel shoots out the gap and flies for her favorite hiding place, under my bed. Mom yells "The house is on fire!!! GET OUT NOW!!!!" We scramble out, I'm barefoot, wearing an old hoodie and ripped-up jeans, the only thing in my pocket is my phone. It's like forty degrees outside, so we all pile into the van again and turn the heater on. Dad comes flying home from work, the firemen sail back(though it felt like they were crawling, since they were working on a grass fire on the other side of town), I call my then-girlfriend, some way or another everybody from church knows by that afternoon.
The house is burning from the inside out, and we can only sit and watch helplessly. About three hours later, it's mostly out, safe enough that we look around. It wasn't a pretty sight. Everything coated with black smoke, our Christmas tree melted, the couch is crispy to touch, a VCR/DVD player is a shapeless warped collection of plastic and fried electronics. Pictures on the walls are blistered, their images unrecognizable.
We were stunned, really, unsure of what to do next. Some people from the Red Cross gave us a check for enough to spend the weekend in a hotel, so we down the highway to the next town over and stayed there, trying to figure out what to do next. We numbly finished a meal at Burger King(I've always hated that place ever since, tastes like smoke and feels like flames), then sat around and answered phone calls from worried friends, wondering how they could help. My grandpa's trailer was empty for now, the guy who'd been renting it had moved out a few months earlier, he offered it to us as a place to stay while we figured out what to do next. All during this time, I had Tracy Lawrence's song "Find Out Who Your Friends Are" running through my head on nonstop repeat, and you know what? It's one of the truest songs in the truest genre there is, country music.
We went to Wal-Mart and got some new clothes for all of us that didn't smell like smoke, while we were out, some friends of ours had dropped off a gift basket of things like snacks, soap, and toilet paper, and a note that said: "So sorry to hear about your loss. Here's some stuff that hopefully will help out, and here's our number, if we can help in any way." That was the first of many incredible actions we saw, that we don't really understand other than some of God's grace and mercy. The daughter of a couple we knew had her church organize up a small fund for gifts for us, since it was Christmastime, we'd only met her once. Half a dozen people that Dad worked with went through their closets for old things that didn't fit or they never wore anymore, that was basically how our entire clothing inventory was restocked.
My aunt and grandma had taken charge of the move-in, from a nasty, uninhabited doublewide, they fixed it up in two days into a liveable house for seven people. Walls and floors were scrubbed, calf food was hauled out, the appliances were tested, furniture was donated; just like that, we had a place to go. It was an amazing testimony to God's provision that we didn't expect. We even had a Christmas tree, which was about the crowning touch.
We began the long, long process of remodeling, starting with sorting through the things that could be saved, in January, without any electric. So, it was really, really cold. Then came the demolition, we had a ton of help with that, and we got it basically finished in one day. A lot of last-minute decisions, things that technically could be done by other people, but would be cheaper to do ourselves. We learned a lot about home construction. Going back and forth daily, at one point, Caleb and Trevor had a conversation like this: "So, if you were going to take a nap in the car, where do you think you'd wake up?" That pretty much summed up our life. And we had our regular schoolwork to do when we could.
There were some lighter happenings, though: I set about learning how to play guitar seriously, with a bright orange acoustic that'd been given to me as payment for cleaning after an ice storm. It was neat having so much extended family nearby, we could just run over to sit and talk if/when we needed to. And there was American Idol. Those who know me know how closely I follow that show, and my mom's cousins and I had started emailing each other, play-by-play and analysis of every episode. It's a really neat discussion group.
It was a little hard to be stranded from my friends at home, knowing that they were going about their lives, and ordinary things, like the homeschool group's play, though.
Most days the tension was through the roof, and I had no idea how we were going to survive. But I knew that God brought this disaster to teach us something, and to grow me as a person, that He'd get us through it. I just had no idea how that was going to happen(and sometimes I wondered if it even would happen). Then it came July, and that meant camp.
From our group, there was Bryce, Josh and I, and then the girls coming were Caitlin, Corinne, Justine, and Kerra, and Ana Marie was going as a counselor again. We stopped at the world's largest McDonald's for breakfast(a sausage biscuit and Diet Coke for me), and then got there about 11 or 11:30. As soon as we arrived, it was a weird feeling, much like the start of a new football season: A whole new ballgame, but some familiar faces and people you know. We were assigned the same cabin as the year before(and actually found it with no trouble this time, haha) and settled in.
Lunch went well, we listened again to Tim's orientation speech, then went to group sessions(held in the dining hall this year), and then sing/swim time. This guy named Matt J. was in charge of leading music this year, and he did a fantastic job. Not only did we have terrific songs, both familiar and new(You Are Holy, In Christ Alone, Wonderful Merciful Savior, You Are My All in All, and more), but the singing was powerful, most people were into it, it was a good time of worship each time. There was this one song, based on Isaiah 43: 1-3, that was so incredibly overwhelming. "When you pass through the fire, you'll not be hurt/And the flames they will not overcome you/Do not fear, for I have redeemed you/I have called you by name, you are Mine....For I am the Lord your God(repeat x3)/(I am) the Holy One of Israel, your Savior..."
It's such a great song, I'm interrupting this post to post a link to it, take a listen, please: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23jeSAlB_GE
Reading those lyrics for the first time as we were singing it, I couldn't help it, but just started crying, there was this overwhelming sense of gratefulness and thankfulness, that out of everything we'd been through the last six months, we were still here, together, and there was progress on this project, and that God had gotten us this far, He'd see us through to the end of this, and then on past to whatever came ahead on down the road. I still can't read those verses, sing it, play it, or even hear it without crying. That was one of the things I've gotten most from 2009, was that reminder that God was working everything just as He'd planned it, and this was just a challenging section of improv. Some of the tools that were used to help were camp friends, they were a huge encouragement. I talked about those verses in a post a few months ago, in March.
Dinnertime came next, and (of course) ping pong. And it started RAINING. A steady, drenching rain, that kept going, and going, and going...so the UVC portion of the Tourney Challenge was rained out. (Complain, complain...) There wasn't much else to do but sit around and talk, take pictures(the lighting made it an impossible task), or watch and play some table tennis. This is where my education in ping pong got it's application started, from just observing the year before. Plus, the camp pastor was about seven hours late in arriving, so general session that night was about an hour behind schedule.
Tuesday started like any other day, waking up two hours before everyone else, with devotions at seven, breakfast at eight, general session at nine, and then Tournament Challenge at ten. Black and Blue played Ultimate Frisbee, my Green team beat Red in volleyball 15-11 in a drizzle, the net was literally falling apart; and Yellow won over White in cabbage ball 4-3 in extra innings.
Then it was the BPG, Black won the lowest-scoring game of Bible trivia recorded, a 3,400-3,000 victory against Yellow, White had eleven wins in ping pong to Red's ten, and Blue beat Green in golf 672-686, the rain was coming down in sheets. The carpet on the holes is already wrinkled and worn, and then the trees had dropped all these seed pods onto the course, and the raindrops pouring down were soaking us all, and it was COLD!!! And we seriously had to shoot through PUDDLES!!! It was an awful experience to play through, but one of the most memorable experiences any of us who went through it have ever had.
(Side note on my teammates: Of the fourteen people on our team, ten had names beginning with either J or M. Jake, Jed, Jojo, Josh, Maggie, Marshall and Nathan were all on my team, it was neat getting to know them all deeper.)
Since the rain washed out last night's UVC, that was made up that night after dinner, replacing the first of the Worst/Firsts. In that action, Yellow took Ultimate 15-13 over Red, White topped Blue on the volleyball court 22-20, and Black won cabbage ball(it was still raining, it's hard enough when it's dry!) over Green 14-11 in five innings.
Wednesday's highlights included Blue and Red playing cabbage ball, Yellow beating 21-3, 21-11 in volleyball, White won the most defensive game of Ultimate ever recorded, we were pounded, something the 5-2 final score doesn't really show all that well. Also, the rain finally stopped, and the sun came out!!! Red and Black played golf, Blue's paddles were flying faster than Yellow's winning sixteen games to their fourteen, and Green won Bible trivia over White by a 7,700-0 final score.
Talent share practice was held during rest time, so I went down to the tabernacle to work on my song to keep from getting yelled at for talking too much. Jammed around with Daniel on his mandolin and Keely on her viola, that was interesting. The fellowship this year was really great, got along with nearly everyone on my team, and there were a lot of friends on the other teams, too. More last-second practice after dinner, I took advantage of that, since I was going first that night.
I had the right motivation for singing, to spread God's glory, but I didn't have the skills to back it up and make it good, since I was winging it on the learning guitar thing, just teaching myself, with only a poster listing of chords and the radio to go off of. In other words, I had started to take it seriously and learn and everything, but I had no idea how to actually play. So, I apologize to everyone who had to listen to that version of "In Christ Alone". And I was nervous. Other, much better acts included Tim's juggling, Nathan and Jed each blowing us away with their keyboarding, "Are You Washed in the Blood?" on two fiddles, a cello and piano, Willa running through the Peanuts theme, bringing smiles to all our faces, and the Davis twins' take on "Who's On First?", which had the audience roaring in laughter. Some interesting comments, though afterward: Miss Kathy said that it was a blessing to have me sing, that she was able to worship from that, and Madelyn stated that "It takes courage to be the first".
In the cabin that night, Cody was horsing around with Marshall, getting him to show off his tae-kwon-do moves, and although there's some dispute over whether they were punched or kicked, there ended up being holes punched in both the floor and the wall, the wall-hole still hasn't been repaired.
For general session Thursday morning, a missionary named Trevor Johnson gave a talk about what he was doing in his place of work, Indonesia, and the ways God was working and the challenges that he and his team faced, then later there was a question-and-answer session, which was interesting, finding out exactly what was needed, generally, to go out on the mission field. I have an Indonesian-made bookmark, constructed out of some kind of bark, in my Bible that I picked up on the way out.
In the UVC, Blue played Yellow in Ultimate, Black and White battled it out on the volleyball court, and Red beat Green in cabbage ball(amid much complaining that we had to play it again, though it was dryer) by a 4-2 score.
White and Yellow played on the golf course in BPG, Red and Blue measured each other's retention of miniscule and monumental Biblical facts and truths, and Green got a bit of payback towards Black, winning 20-17.
Jessica and I talked some at lunch about the week's experiences and the differences between life in Oklahoma and life in Wisconsin, her dad had worked to help me become a better ping pong player most of the week. I'd also at various times hung out with Ash, Matt F, Daniel, Daniel F, Jed, Olivia, Cody, Ray, Madelyn, Marshall, and Jake, plus others. I asked Madelyn to the dance again, since I don't much like change, and I felt more comfortable asking her than anybody else. I made it through without stammering this time, and the afternoon went by pretty well. The theme was "Fictional Character", so I went as Peter Parker. I pulled off looking nerdy, but instead of looking cool, somehow it was just dorky-looking. Other characters attending were the Flintstones' Pebbles, a pair of cowboys, a fifties greaser, "National Treasure"'s Riley Poole, Dr. Suess' Thing 2, Ella Enchanted, "Home Improvement"s Al, a Puritan girl, Minnie Mouse, Little Red Riding Hood, and "The Chronicles of Narnia"s Queen Susan.
The Virginia Reel was good, that was with Madelyn, then Matt and I again switched partners, people still had trouble mastering the steps of the Gay Gordon, so Ash and I had some time to catch up on life, I'd had a fire, she had new twin sisters. I set out the third to rest, then danced the last time with Lauren. It was a fun night, followed by book signings and laughter.
It was such a blessed time, overall, and then having gotten on Facebook about a month earlier(another result of Marie's sales pitches), I started adding camp people, and that's been a neat way to keep in contact with everyone.
Once we got to Tulsa, it was straight to the BOK Center for the American Idols Live tour, with Mom and the Wichita Gang. Scott McIntyre's piano playing was amazing to see in person, I'm still not sure how a blind person can play piano and guitar. Michael Sarver was good, Megan Joy Corkrey's dancing was even more terrible in person, Allison Iraheta did a good job, so did Anoop Desai, Lil Rounds and Matt Giraud were boring, Danny Gokey did a great job, Adam Lambert put on a good show, I'll say that for him. Kris Allen was a little anticlimatic on the ending, but he did well, it was neat to listen to. It was a really neat experience, especially coming right on the heels of camp. Season 8 was the second-best season of AI that I've seen, only slightly behind Season 7. The one downside? The roof was thirty feet above our heads, and the seating was extremely steep; like, you were afraid to stand up.
# # #
(NOTES FROM CAMP BOOK)
(Counselors)
Terry B - Jed's mom, real nice
Kelsie C - Kelsie's crazy, yet lovable
Rick T - Easy to talk to, good at ping pong and guitar
Tom E - Photographer
Luke N - Neat dude
Mack T - Good preacher
(Campers)
Ash H - Ash is just a good person to talk with
Maggie H - Quieter, but still nice(Green teammate)
Emily N - Like her brothers, real cool
Amanda T - Hilarious
Jessica T - Quiet at first, but really neat once you get to know her(Green teammate)
Lauren W - Good dancer
Cody B - Cody...crazy, yet great to hang with
Jed B - Good pianist, good guy(Green teammate)
Jake B - Cool guy(Green teammate)
Nathan B - Nathan is good to know(Green teammate)
Marshall D - Marshall is cool, kinda like his sister(Green teammate)
Matt F - Matt hasn't really changed. :)
Rich L - Didn't show up
Daniel N - Daniel = good advice
(CAMP BOOK SIGNINGS)
Hey Wesly keep playing that guitar and singing, see you next year. In Crist, Jed Boyer
Hey Wesley, hope you had another great year! Matthew Freeland
Hey, it was great to see you again. :) Great job in the talent show! Come back - Jorgi
Hey buddy. Dude, you make camp so much fun. Can't wait to see you again. Cody Bieber
Hey Mom! You are awesome and you can sing too! See you next year, man! Andrew Ashe
Wesley, It was a blessing to meet you and talk with you at camp. May the Lord God bless over this next year. Bro. Rick Taillefer
Wes, you did a great job on your guitar. Looking forward to seeing you again next year. Jonathan Smith
Hey Wes, glad we were on the same team and hope to see you next year. God bless, Willa Gregg
Wesley - You are definitely one of the bright spots during Bible Challenge! Keep learning - next year you answer them all right! Terry Boyer :)
Hey Wesley! It was great to finally meet you! Daniel had told me so much about you so I was looking forward to making your acquaintance. Seek God, and the rest will be found. In Christ, Luke N.
(Marshall Davis' signature)
Take care Wesley, JAKE
Hi Wesley! I LOVED Dancin' with you! Your so sweet! Joanna!
Hi Wesley, Glad you got to come to camp again - hope you learned a lot! Kerra
Wesley, it was great to have you at camp again! Thank you for sharing your talent and glorifying the Lord at the talent show. Keep on growing in the knowledge of God! Ana Marie
Thanx for dancing with me. I'll see you next year! - Madelyn Davis
WESLEY! :) Your good at guitar! :) Shari H :)
(Phillipa Wright's signature)
It was very fun being on your team this year. I hope you were encouraged in the Lord. Col. 3:2, in Christ, Maggie
Wesley, Great to see you again brother. I pray God's greatest blessings on you in the days to come. Email me any time you have a question. God bless you, Daniel
It was nice seeing you again this year! It was fun dancing w/you. Will we see you next year? Ash(little flower drawn in here)
Wesley, you are such a sweet guy and you have a kind heart. I loved your outfit as Peter Parker and your talent show. I hope and pray the Lord uses this week to strengthen your love for Him. - Olivia Wilbanks, Pebbles
We did a GREAT job finding our cabin this year. See ya Sunday, Josh Ferguson
hey thanks for the fun dance Lauren
Wesley, Enjoyed your music and letting me take your pic.Tom Ehlers
(Bryce Becker's signature)
Hey Wes, it was great to see you! I wish we talked more, email me, ok? I'll be waiting to see you next year :) Ray
Hey Wesley! It was great to meet you! I really appreciated and enjoyed your performance in the talent show. Keep up your Christian testimony. - Dylan Underwood
Tim Nehrbass, Psalm 1:1-2
(Madelyn Minner's signature)
Nice guitar performance! Had a great time! See ya next year! - Connor J. Smith
Pretty good story about the fire and aftermath.
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