Smile because it happened....

     Evening activity around camp is always super fun but one of the nights the kids look forward to is camper- counselor switch. For the last hour and a half of the night, we put the campers in charge of instructing exercise classes while the counselors had to participate. The only rule was that the campers had to participate also so they wouldn’t make us do pushups or burpees the whole time. When the campers wanted to begin the activity all of the counselors started complaining that our ankles hurt, we were sore, we didn’t want to do pushups or we had to go to the bathroom but the kids did not pity us. They told us we had to do the activity. Throughout the night, many counselors used common complaining lines that the campers often say during activities to illustrate to them how annoying it can get after a while. After the activity, we had a debriefing time and it was super funny to hear the campers reactions. They simply asked how we do it all the time and how we stay so calm. It was super humbling to the campers to see how their attitudes affect everyone at camp.

Fun times at the farmers market with some great counselors!

       This week, if all the kids completed certain task that were asked of them, they got to go on a surprise trip which ended up being a trip to the farmers market on Saturday. It was a beautiful day that we got to enjoy at the farmers market and sample some delicious fruits and vegetables. It was also Garlic festival weekend so we even got to try some raw garlic, which was super good but defiantly cleaned out the system.  Another wonderful sample that I tried was some fresh peaches. They were super soft, juicy and ripe which makes me excited to go peach picking when I get home. 

Our wonderful walk along Lake Michigan

On Monday night, we had a chili cook-off between the four groups at camp and it was super fun. All the groups chose recipes and made alterations to them to make the healthier. Not only did they make them healthier but they added secret ingredients such as mustard, orange juice and even CINNAMON! It was a super fun night and the group that ended up winning had used this recipe.

White bean and Turkey Chili

                                        2 cups diced yellow onion (about 2 medium)

1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder

     1 tablespoon minced garlic

 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

  3 (15.8-ounce) cans Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained

4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

3 cups chopped cooked turkey

1/2 cup diced seeded plum tomato (about 1)

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

8 lime wedges

Chicago for the day!

     On Tuesday, everyone took a field trip to Chicago for the day and we got to go shopping and tour Navy Pier. It was a super fun day to be in the city and just out of camp for a while but while we were walking we passed many homeless people on the street corners asking for money and help. It breaks my heart to see people suffering but I asked myself what should do to help.  In the bible, Jesus tells a parable in Matthew about helping the poor and when you help the least of these you are bringing about Gods kingdom. As the story goes on, Jesus says ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ At the moment all I did was give a pregnant lady an apple but I am really wanting to do more to help homeless and poor people live a better life. I found a blog that we very interesting and talked about the problems homeless people face with malnutrition, no health care and the worst of all, obesity.  Take a look for yourself here…http://blog.crchealth.com/2012/06/11/homeless-malnourished-obese-a-surprising-revelation-about-poverty-in-america/

Counselors in Chicago after a great day in the city 

      Time here at camp is quickly coming to an end. All the campers are leaving on Saturday and I can hardly believe I only have four days left. I am sad that is ending so quickly but I am so glad that I got this experience to learn so many valuable life lessons here at camp. Thanks again for reading this weeks post!

Updates and new challenge!

One thing I never imagined I would be doing is giving a splenda speech to the campers. Splenda is offered in little packets at the coffee station but kids have been taking it and adding 10-20 packets to anything and everything that they eat (smoothies, potatoes, milk, strawberries, etc.) This week I challenged my group to not use splenda at one meal and it was a huge challenge for them. I decided to to do some research and found out some terrible facts about artificial sweeteners and I decided that I don't want be putting these into my body. I am challenging not only my campers but myself and anyone else to train your appetite to appreciate food and find the natural sweetness in them instead of covering it with sweetener.

Many people know that it is hard to motivate yourself to do a workout but once it is finished, the feeling of accomplishment, confidence and energy is well worth it. During this past week, I have really focused on positively encouraging, and pushing campers to work hard and run farther then they think possible for themselves. After running over a mile with a camper this week they looked at me shocked and said “I never have done that before.” I also get to teach the campers some simple tricks that I use when I run such as focusing on someone in front of me and catching them or setting a goal and not quitting until you get to the destination. During a run this past week, another street runner passed us and did the little “runner's wave”. The camper who I was running with looked at me and asked if I was in a secret club or something because all the runners waved to us and I said “it's a runners wave and now you get to do it.” The camper thought it was the coolest thing ever to be considered a runner.

..

My new co-counselor Trisha who is such a great example, counselor and fun person to be with. This week our challenge is to not use any splenda but also not chew any gum!!!

Speaking of running, I have had so many things on my mind this past week that I love my runs because I can go out and run until my brain stops thinking about everything and I can focus on Gods voice and just worship him. The verse of the week for me has been 1 Timothy 4:12 “Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.” I Timothy 4:12

Another exciting fact is that I signed up to run my first marathon. For those who think I am crazy, I want to let you know that there is an opportunity to support my craziness because I believe I can use my running to impact others. As many know, a marathon is 26.2 miles which will not be easy but I am looking for people to support me every mile. I am hoping to raise money for a charity (I have a few in mind but suggestions welcomed) and have different individuals support each mile. If you are interesting (Big or small) please let me know! I am super excited.

The training plan I am following is: http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51137/Marathon-Novice-1-Training-Program

I have also realized that foam rollers are a runners secret weapon and I try to use one everyday for at least 10 minutes. I have learned how to foam roll from some of the counselors but also look up some tricks online. 

Foam rolling!!!

Also at camp we get some interesting food but the other night we had some brown rice snaps which were really good. I later bought some hummus and salsa and had combined the two which made a perfectly healthy snack!

Step By Step you lead me LORD! (Average steps/ day is about 27,00) 

Listening to a sermon on Habakkuk, I learned quite a bit because I never knew a ton about the book. First thing I learned is that the name Habakkuk means to wrestle or it means to embrace. The only difference between these words is that to wrestle means to struggle but to embrace means surrendering. Throughout the book of Habakkuk, Habakkuk is frustrated with God because he is not answering his prays the way he intended them to be answered. The Lord's answer back is that a righteous person will live by faith which means trusting God REGARDLESS the situation. During this week, I have been struggling with staying positive, patient and encouraging but I realized I need to surrender everyday to God and he will provide me with the needed tools I need.

Day off getting coffee along the lakeside. Also wearing an awesome shirt Mary sent me in the mail, THANKS :)

On my day off I got to go out to coffee with a co-worker and we had a great discussions while watching some sailing lessons. It was a beautiful day along the lake so we took a long walk to a local ice cream shop about four miles away so we could justify eating some ice cream.

Awesome view- watching some sailing lessons

This week at camp has been super different because I have a different co-counselor, over half of the counselors left and we also have new campers. The last three weeks is the smallest so different activities take place and you can do more activities. On Saturday, I decided to walk with my group to the farmers market downtown (about three miles away). The walk was so much fun but the best part was the farmers market. It was HUGE and had over 100 vendors who all had samples. One man came up to us and asked if we wanted some fresh blueberries so I asked him where they were from he told me Allegan, Michigan. The man told me that the best blueberries come out of Michigan because the pH in the soil is above 6.7. They tasted super good. Also another vendor was selling sweet corn and had samples raw. It tasted so good raw I bought a whole bag full. Another great stand we stopped at was a stand selling Kombucha. I had never heard of it before but it is a raw, naturally effervescent tea that is craft brewed with probiotics, organic acids and cultures. The tea is created to help balance your body and create good gut health. It tasted very interesting but was $4 per bottle so I wasn't going to buy any but after talking with the ladies about gut health for about five minutes they gave me a free bottle to have. 

Kombucha and Sweetcorn!

This place had goat milk, lamb chops, eggs and many other animal products. It also had smoked salmon :) 

We have had some great circuit workouts this week and also had great fitness center times. Here they have treadmills that are woodway brand. They are different from the standard treadmill and have different traction. It is a softer landing for your feet and I have really enjoyed running on them!

Treadmill running! love these 

This past weekend was parent weekend at camp which is a great because they bring out all the good food but also a very stressful time as the founder of wellspring comes to evaluate camp. During the parent weekend, I had the privilege to give a nutrition presentation to the parents about the program. During the presentation I covered how the body utilizes the food we eat starting with the three macronutrients and how they break down in the body. All my biochemistry was being put to practice when I had explain how Acetyl CoA is a metabolite process involved in a number of many important processes. Many of the parents where wondering if you can gain weight after eating a low fat diet because you are not consuming fat. I kept it simple but explained how your body converts extra calories into stored fat or it is converted to ATP which is the bodies fuel source. After the presentation many parents had questions but they were all very good and lead to a great discussion. Many parents asked what they could substitute peanut butter with because peanut butter is very high in fat. I suggested using PB2 or Better then Peanut butter. Personally I personally enjoy PB2 because it has No additives, it is all natural and 85% less fat calories. Plus it also taste like peanut butter. 

Getting mail at camp is awesome and the other day my mom sent me a quote which reads “Nothing is impossible. The word itself says I'm Possible” (Audrey Hephurn). It just happened to be on the day that it was super hot out and the energy was really low at camp so it was super helpful to receive a great quote! 

The campers had an opportunity to sign up for a 5K if they wanted to run it this past Saturday. One of the campers asked if I would run them and help them through it. I agreed to it but let me tell you it was one of the hardest things to do. The course was an out and back so you everyone passed you on the course heading back but the girl I was running wanted to do a run/ walk. I was so proud of her finishing in 50:32 but it was so hard not to take off and run with the other runners. Again I was reminded that this summer I am working to help others and sometimes it requires sacrifices but they are worth it. 

Pete Sake 5K

Camp was also different this past week because we had color wars. The camp splits up into two teams and the teams do everything together. The best thing about color wars is that the campers have silent meals so they can't talk at all the but counselors can talk all they want and try to get the campers to talk. This was when we got to annoy them and ask them what workouts they wanted to do. We decided they wanted to do laps around the track with push ups and Burpees! It was a super fun week and we had a ton of field game activities we got to do. 

Color War

During the parent weekend, the counselors decided to combine some songs and do a flash mob! It was super fun and the parents and kids all enjoyed watching!

Flash mob at Breakfast! 

For the past week I have been looking at what it means to be righteous and Psalm 37 really helped me understand this better. It illustrates this by saying:

Trust in the LORD.

Take delight in the LORD.

Commit your way to the LORD.

Be still before the LORD.

Trusting God with my life implies that I need to give up control and trust in his plans for my life. Delighting in God means that I will happily hand over my worries and commit to the ways of the Lord. The last challenge is so hard and it is to be still here at camp. My goal is to challenge you to be still before God and time to take delight in Him this week. 

Thanks again for reading!

The true blessing of camp!

Sunday morning started off with a great eight mile run with some other counselors through some trails in hot and sticky conditions but cooling off in cold lake Michigan felt so refreshing. After getting ready we headed to church but instead of taking our usual four kids, twenty-three kids signed up to go to church. Even though them may go to church to get out of a workout, I prayed in the morning that they Lord with open their hearts during church. The service was centered around Matthew 10:16 which says “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” I talked with some of the students on the way home and they were expressing interest in learning more about Christianity and what it means to follow Jesus. This just blew up my world and I felt super privileged that campers wanted to know more about Jesus. I didn't think my day could get any better but it did. We arrived back to camp just in time to join in on circuits around the track in the sweltering heat. Even though it was hot, I encouraged a camper to push herself and keep up. She was doing great and we were almost done and she goes “Becky, I need to tell you something” and I was thinking she was making an excuse to stop so I kept jogging but she stopped and started crying. Through her tears she said “Becky, you are my inspiration to work hard and loose weight because I know you had to work hard but you never give up and you always encourage people to keep going.” BAMB, it hit me out of the blue but this moment was unreal. I have never felt this way before. The feeling that I was making such a direct impact on someones life by simply being myself. Suddenly I realized why God placed me here this summer. It wasn't so that I could workout all day or get away for a summer but it was to use my passion for creating healthy lifestyles through every aspect of your life and being able to model it to others. Not only do I get to encourage campers but I get to see the change happen because most of them are here for nine weeks.

Emily and I tend to get a little competitive during team hand ball!

Now trust me, it hasn't been all sunshine and butterflies especially with teaching some nutrition classes to sixteen year old boys(just think attitude). Also some campers could care less about anything you have to tell them and roll their eyes at you but that is when your co-counselor jumps in and uses her patients because she has way more then I do.

Emily is the nicest/most patient/funniest person I have ever met! super thankful 

On my day off I decided to take a nice 10K run on the University of Wisconson- Parkside course. It was a beautiful day but the day before we had a ton of rain and so the trails were super muddy which resulted in a slippery run. Towards the end of my run, a class young kids were walking along the trail and they saw me coming so they all stopped and cheered me on besides one kid who decided to jump out and race me. Ignoring his teachers who were yelling “RYAN, RYAN, get back here,” he proceeded to run for a good 200 yards before he stopped and was out of breath. Little sporadic things like this make my day

. Getting back to my bike I headed down some roads and get lost but I was just biking around and eventually found a grocery store and bought some lunch. After lunch I headed to the beach to enjoy a nice afternoon. While on the beach some walkers strolled along the beach and once they thought they were far enough away they said “wow that girl has a huge sock tan.” Yes I take pride that I wear tennis shoes all day, thank you very much!

For dinner I found a great sushi place in middle of the ghetto, no lie. When I was approaching the building on my bike, I look around and see police cars coming from all directions and I didn't know what had happened. It was a drug bust at the house next to the restaurant and I was a little scared but don't worry because the sushi was phenomenal.

After a great week at camp, I have been reminded through my devotions of Matthew 6:33, which reads “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” In everything I do, this is a constant reminder to seek God first and He will take care of the rest.

Halloween night with the counselors  

Halloween party dressed up like a princess ($2.05 thrift shop item)

Thanks again for taking the time to read about camp! 

Everyday activities

Waking up every morning gets harder and harder but remembering what I am doing motivates my sore body to get up. Often I listen to the song Step By Step by Michael W. Smith or the song You are my All in All, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC617kE1maU. Music is super helpful in the morning to wake me up and helps me get ready for the day which includes lots of steps.

Average steps per day is around 30,000 in this neck of the woods

This week at camp was battle of the bunks which started with a challenge called counselor celebrity makeover. Each group was randomly assigned a famous person in which they had to dress up the counselor similar too. The girls in my group were assigned SPIDER MAN and so they went to town and put together a costume for me and did my makeup within forty-five minutes. Then I was interviewed and had a character impersonation contest. At the end of the night, our bunk won the challenge...woah!!!

The counselors... can you guess who they are impersonating? 

  One of my new job assignments or privilege is that I get to teach nutrition classes at camp. This week was my first week teaching them all alone and it was challenging but I defiantly have lots to learn about teaching (maybe my mom can pass some of her awesome tricks on to me). 

Spiderman or should I say spiderwoman 

Teaching culinary classes 

If you need a good laugh, go watch this movie! 

  

Black bean goodness in a burger with avocado and grilled pineapple  

After another great week, a day off was much needed. A few counselors and I went to go to the movie "The Heat" which was hilarious. We also went to a burger shack and all got homemade black bean burgers which were out of this world. I decided to put grilled pineapple, jalapenos and avocado on my burger. I have never had a better black bean burger before especially with the avocado(some fat) made it taste superb. A day off is so great because you get to act normal, eat some fat in your diet and you are not asked a question every minute about what we are doing next, but it also makes you miss your kids.

Happy 4th of July to everyone! hope you enjoy it and enjoy some healthy treats such as this smoothie which looks delicious  http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2009/07/red-white-and-blueberry-smoothie.html

Twin Day with Emily

One of my goals coming into camp this summer was to inspire and help others change. This week has illustrated many examples that what we are doing here at camp is helping others . One night during a workout class, we were taking a water break and one of my campers asked “where you ever a cheerleader?” I looked at her with an sarcastic smile and said “no I was not, what makes you think that?” The camper replied I just thought you where because you are always so happy and encouraging.” Hearing this makes the long nights, hard days and unhappy campers worth every minute of it.

Great food on parent weekend!

This weekend was parent weekend so the kids got to see their parents and show off all the new things they are learning how to do. It literally brought tears to my eyes when the parents came up and started crying when they saw how their daughters have changed. Even though the counselors didn't have parents coming, we still were ambitious for the weekend because they bring out the best food during parent weekend. Having fresh blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries at my finger tips might have caused me to overdose on them a little.

Culinary Presentation 

Along with the parent weekend came presentations. Being the assistant culinary instructor and nutrition instructor allowed me to partake in two presentations in front of the parents and the founder of the camp. During the culinary presentation we gave the parents the opportunity to make a healthy bean and corn salsa (thanks mom for the recipe). It was super fun and many parents came up afterwards to ask for more ideas and simple dishes they could make. It made me realize that I am truly passionate about helping others learn of SIMPLE changes they can make in their diets to improve their own health. After the culinary presentation I got to do the nutrition presentation which went well but the parents defiantly asked many questions because we were telling them information that didn't align with what Dr. Oz told them.

To get a little stress relief around here, I often go running because it seems to keep me sane. During my period off, I took a nice run along the lake and ended right by camp and decided to take a quick swim in Lake Michigan. After running into the water and cooling off, these two ugly, smelly dogs come surround me in the water and I did my best to escape but they licked me like I was a lollipop. Instead of the owners trying to get their dogs, they just sat on the beach and laughed. Well I guess dogs just love me!  

Party on the beach with counselors 

Spa Night 

Every Sunday night there is a different event for the campers to participate in and so we put on a spa night. Anticipating all the girls to get involved we brought supplies for them but interestingly enough all the boys joined in and had mask put on them and their nails done.The campers even put a mask on me and did my nails!

This weekend I had to say goodbye to some of the campers who are only staying three weeks which was sad but it made me proud to see how far they have come. One of the campers even wrote me a note which included all the things that I like. As far as she knows, I am a crazy salsa and cinnamon lover who says "yup" during the day. 

Awesome note I received 

After the most rewarding yet draining week, I opened my bible and a little bible verse card fell out that said "Be STRONG in the LORD and the strength of his power!" Ephesians 6:10. This was a great reminder that I need to be strong but the only way that I am going to be is through the power of the Lord.