Day (22)

We got so much cleaning done yesterday that all we had to do was support runs, water drops, make the event bracelets, bag t-shirts and a few other random things. Not a whole lot went on today, did some inventory calculating and then Chris and Carlos showed up around lunch time which was really exciting-i like to say they were coming home :) I went back to see Jared for his support run that afternoon, they had been haulin' so they had actually been waiting on us for 45 minutes even though we were 30 minutes early. we had a nalgene chugging contest with jared and some people from his group, Jared won with a time of 13 seconds...impressive!

Day (21)

Hiking Day one! Even though everyone is leaving for the week, I get really excited watching how the groups interact this morning especially. Some are excited, some are nervous, there's tons of chaos but still the organization to keep things flowing. Its a more calming morning- it seems like for once other people are more frantic than Mary Walker and I are. I was also pretty excited to get to drop a group off today, I love getting to see them off. I dropped Jared's group, "Seal Team 17" off at Dickey's Gap-the route "Space jam"- and got to do a few other car pick ups later on that really helped break up all the cleaning mom and i cleaned both new staff bath houses when we got back; more gross in the girls bathroom if you can believe it...it was fun to get to have that last little bit of time with my mom before she left, even if i was really tired and not that much fun to talk to. mom stayed for lunch and then had to head home :( The rest of the day was pretty quiet, i was glad to have Becky and baby Moki on support this week, i haven't gotten to play with a little kid for so long and they bring so much joy to everyone.

Day (20)

I'm so excited for today because my mom is coming up to trail to help Malker and I in the kitchen; she's never really been to Trail which i've always hated that my parents haven't experienced it but i'm really glad to get to show her everything that goes on, especially during the retreat. Mom got here around 10:00 when we were taking our group photo on the porch and i got to show her around for a few minutes before we had to start the Individual foods. Mom really liked getting to see all the kids come to me and get everything ready to go out on the trail tomorrow! She was big help to me when it came to restocking and making all of the support bins for each group-usually i do them by myself and they take a pretty long time. I think i was most excited for mom to see the skits and to do the walk to the outdoor chapel that night; it's always a favorite spot and is just exciting to share with someone.

Day (19)

Well, Pink eye again. Fantastic! Otherwise, today is retreat day one so I had to figure out what to do about my eye before I would be too busy. Got an appointment somewhere in Abingdon but when i got there, it was where the tornado's had come through and there wasn't anything left of it. I found somewhere else thankfully and got medicine, maybe it'll work this time...got back in time for Meet and Greet, Longs Chapel from Waynesville was our first group in, I always love seeing their excitement to be here-Jared would be hiking with them this week; Zack has real hiking shoes this year and we're hoping he wont cut his foot with an axe this time. Thankfully evrything is going pretty smoothly today with preparation, for the first night dinner- Chicken Parm! We remembered eggplant this time for the vegetarians, which i actually ate instead of the chicken..i've gotten really sick of eating what we've been cooking. After dinner was worship and first night group meetings like usual, the support team met with the BCP's for the week to go over what we would be doing this week- we have two little kids staying at the property which is a little different. AmyBith brought her 4 year old son Mario who is a little wild to say the least and Becky and her 1 year old son Moki. we had our usual staff meeting later after everyone was in bed; we had a really good discussion on how we were working together as a staff and our dynamics. We need to take the time to seek each other out individually because right now there are groups within our team but we can get to the point where we really do have 13 best friends! We all felt really good about the talk and how it would cause our leadership to grow.

Day (18)

Junior Staff Day! Most of our JStaff were already here on the layover, but two more came, Mary-Holland and Jonathan. We had our usual lasagna dinner and instead of having worship at the wooden church, we went up to the lookout and got there just in time for a beautiful sunset! We came back from the lookout and played extreme 4-square...the new rules being, if you get out in the 1st square, you have to "Move it Like Bernie" all the way around the lodge, the second square you had to do "star jumps", the 3rd square you had to "scream like a banshee" and the Kings square you had to run a suicide like a Monkey-sound effects included. We got pretty into it..and pretty worn out after playing for two hours, so we voted on watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding...slept though the entire thing. After that nap I was pretty energized so patrick, ashley and I stayed up and watched a movie while a bunch of people went to the Adirondack for awhile. Stayed up way too late but it was fun since we don't always have a lot of time to hang out!

Day (17)

Everyone left today bright and early, as groups had some really long drives back to Florida. KayLee left today with St. Pete- we were sad to see her go but also excited to see what we could do and would do on our own next event. We cleaned our assigned areas with the junior staff and helped put all the boxes from the US food order up; good thing we had so many people, 215 boxes takes a long time to put away! The JStaff left with Michael and MJ to go to Pirates Paradise...it sounds mean, but to us this was heaven. To just have 3 hours or so by ourselves, just the staff and not have to work was amazing. We all stood on the porch and yelled and screamed once they had left and a lot of us went to take naps. Patrick and I set up our hammocks in the yard (the Boone crew knows whats up) and jack just passed out in the middle of the lodge on a mattress. I was dreading them coming back because this was my first moment of relaxing, and with just the staff again-the next retreat starts tomorrow so it was the first and last time for awhile :(

Day (16)

Happy Git Back Day!! Got up nice and early to start on the legendary cinnamon Rolls for when the first group arrives back at the property! We had been missing the staff so much, especially not seeing them on support at all. Even though we ended up spending almost 15 hours straight in the kitchen, it was back to being cheerful and excited as we got to hear about different groups' weeks and the funny stories within them. Everyone went to play the Wiffle ball game at Weaver Field after lunch-while we cooked dinner. I definitely am having a hard time with things like that, i'm missing getting to play with everyone, group games, 4-square and just actually getting to sit down and eat dinner with everyone. I did enjoy seeing the second time group skits, Noah's was definitely the best with a whole song about Harry Potter to the tune of "Like a G6"; starting off with "Gimme them chocolate frogs...every flavor beans, i've got my permission slip...i'm going to Hogsmeade! ohhh yeah, Hufflepuff say whats up.." Winnnnner. Had our staff meeting later on and told stories of the week to each other :)

Day (15)

Jared's birthday! We wanted to bring something to him out on the trail, but his campsite was really far in, so we just waited until hikers got back to give him a cupcake. Today Terri Ulrich taught us how to watercolor paint a tree and they actually turned out pretty well! it was our first moment of relaxation on support and it was hiking day 4. All I wanted was a 30 minute nap and to stop working for a few minutes, so watercolor was such a nice time with everyone. Malker and I had to take our big trip to Bristol to go to Sam's and get things for our new meal, Fajita Night at closing retreat! we were excited to get away from the property for a little while and even got to eat at Cracker Barrel:) So fun in Sam's because we fill up carts and carts of bulk food and get to go around to all the people giving samples of things. Stopped by Food City on the way back and found out we had a huge list of things to do when we got back, which just kind of hit the breaking point for the week...exhaustion was to the max and all we needed was a quick nap, but like support runs, not allowed. Like some other people have been talking about, its been really hard so far to find the joy in the jobs you have to do and to know that it betters our ministry I'm tired of feeling like a grump and a complainer, so hopefully lifted spirits next week.

Day (14)

Not a whole lot happened today, finished up some work in the lodge and watched a movie while we worked. Our baby mouse (James) that we found died :( We had kept him alive for so long, and he was so young that it was amazing he even stayed alive as long as he did. it sounds stupid but Mary Walker and I really loved taking care of him and playing with him. We were trying to feed him milk with a dropper and he kept opening and closing his mouth so i thought i should give him more...he just froze all of a sudden and wasn't moving...I think i might have accidentally drowned him. Malker and I took him out back and sang "if i die young" to him and put him in the woods.

Day (13)

Feel really bad for all the hikers today, we woke up and it was cold and dumping sheets of rain. times like these when you really think about how each group is doing and hope that their spirits stay positive. today our only goal was to make a complete book of instructions and schedules for the retreat days and ordering instructions. it seems like it wouldn't take very long but we literally worked on typing and printing this thing all day long. we threw in the Parent Trap and watched that while we worked because we've seen it so many times we didn't even have to watch to know what was happening. A couple stopped by in the afternoon, on a roadtrip and just were curious as to what Wilderness Trail was. A little strange at first but they seemed to think this was a pretty cool thing we were doing for kids. Took my first big food order to food city to place and hopefully got all the numbers right...i'm a little anxious about everything i ordered but i hope its going to turn out well! Prayed for each hiking group during our campfire, and had a light show for Jennie's group at Elk Garden.

Day (12)

Mine and Shannon's birthday! Today hikers head out after everyone gets packed up and has breakfast. its so fun to watch everyone get so excited about the day and the Git Gone Day music blasting wakes everyone up! The staff looked nervous but excited, and i was a little sad watching everyone go but i know how much fun they will have and how different their group will be when they get back! Cleaned up everything in the lodge and around the property once everyone got back from dropping groups and then mary walker and i had kind of a hard talk with KayLee about how things were going and what needed to be fixed. We got everything straightened out but i don't know how much better i really feel...its hard to just get thrown into a job you know nothing about . KayLee and Shelby helped me do inventory in the loft and figure out what i need to order from Food City. I fell asleep while writing name tags for group t-shirts...i needed a nap so bad. we finally got to go on our bike ride, we went down to the little wooden church and back, it was really nice to get some time away from the property and exercise! we tried to go to Dip Dogs for my birthday but it ended up being closed :( Not the dast of days, but on the bright side, we get to sleep until 8:30