With fall upon us, and Christmas just around the corner, we think this is the perfect opportunity to hold a Thirty-One products fundraiser to benefit next summer's Camp Creative. Thirty-One is a great resource for bags in all shapes & sizes, for men, women, and kids, and the best part, they can all be personalized! 20% of the sales go directly to Camp Creative. Here's the link for our online fundraiser (the fundraiser ends October 23):
www.mythirtyone.com/651239/shop/Party/EventDetail/8637391
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Sunday, October 11, 2015
What's My Intention?
It's not what I intended, really it wasn't. Getting wrapped up (actually strangled might be a better word) in life's busyness, barely stopping to catch my breath for the past 3 months, was truly not my intention. Yet here it is, 3 months since we've returned from our trip to Punta Gorda, Belize to bring Camp Creative to the kids, and I've barely taken the time to stop and reflect, let alone compose a response to my experience. While it's no surprise there--I've barely managed to blog on my reflections from any of my times working on Camp Creative (this is the camp's 4th year running)--it doesn't mean that I haven't had some of the best of intentions. Unfortunately, there is a big difference between intentional thinking and intentional living.
We started this art camp in 2012, just weeks before we moved back home to the States. This year was the third time I was able to help run the camp (in person). In a seemingly divine set of circumstances, my husband was able at the last minute to return with me to work and serve as well. Being there together, working as a team, was a very fresh reminder of life back in Belize when we shared that experience as a family full time. It was also a very fresh reminder of the one thing that seemed to be missing from our lives not long after we moved back to the U.S.--intentional living. Where did it go? How could I have possibly let that get away? Was it forgotten about? What I'm doing now is intentional living isn't it? Well, yes and no.
Recently, I was piddling around on the internet and out of curiosity decided to google my name. One of the first things I found was an online article written in October of 2012 (2 months after we moved from Belize) about our experience there. This quote jumped out at me, “Being removed from it [American culture] we saw a lot of changes and ways we lived differently that we want to hold onto, but have learned that it takes a lot more intentional living than maybe we were anticipating,” she said. “You have to decide to do things differently.” That 'she' was me. I said that.
The entire time I was serving in Belize this summer it was as if I could hear God telling me, "get off the hamster wheel, stop spinning your wheels with hardly a destination or purpose." When he means purpose, I don't think he just means the great big grand scheme of things, cause frankly, I think I do a decent job with that stuff already. It's the day to day, moment by moment even, experiences that he's asking to be lived with a purpose.
As much as I hate to admit it, it didn't take all that long after my family's return from Belize in 2012 to find ourselves back on that hamster wheel, spinning around and around forgetting to live each day with purpose. Going with the flow, getting caught up in the dailies of life, is just so darn easy sometimes. As I said in that article, I have to decide to do things differently because it's not just going to happen on its own.
I have a few friends of different backgrounds and faiths that I see doing this--that have a focus and a belief that guides virtually everything about their lives. That's what I want for myself. As a Christian, I feel that my purpose is to love God by loving and serving others. That doesn't just happen on it's own, I have to work to make it happen. Intentional living can only be successful when we try to weave it into all aspects of our life. I know it's possible to live counter culturally--and believe me, living intentionally is counter culture. I just have to resolve to wake up each day and do it myself. And when I falter, resolve to wake up the next day and try to do it all over again. Whenever I find that I'm doing that, sometimes the effort is hard, but the reward is always so great. I feel a greater peace, I have a lot less regrets, and I can some times even see the fruits of my labor (though that is never my reason for living purposefully).
If you're taking the time to read this, it's probably safe to assume that you yourself have great intentions. Now, I'd like to challenge us all to take it up a notch, to really live with purpose, all the time. Give that friend a call that has been feeling depressed. Take a son out to lunch to share some time together. Bring dinner or cookies to the elderly neighbor 2 houses down. Smile at the grumpy guy in the office across the hall. Most importantly, get rid of some 'time suckers' that are not rewarding or fulfilling--we don't need to be running all. the. time. just because it seems like a good idea.
I'm not suggesting that we all go out and try to save the world, or even necessarily that we all head to another country to serve the poor--although that seemed to be what I needed to kick myself into gear. I'm just suggesting that we all put a real effort into our day to day lives. Mother Teresa said "not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love." Let's put great love into what we do and see how the small things make this a better place to live.
Living with intention takes effort, it takes time, but imagine how much better our lives would be, our communities would be, if we would just take the time to do that. Let's stop doing what's in front of us, and start doing what we were truly created for--our purpose.
Peace,
Julie
We started this art camp in 2012, just weeks before we moved back home to the States. This year was the third time I was able to help run the camp (in person). In a seemingly divine set of circumstances, my husband was able at the last minute to return with me to work and serve as well. Being there together, working as a team, was a very fresh reminder of life back in Belize when we shared that experience as a family full time. It was also a very fresh reminder of the one thing that seemed to be missing from our lives not long after we moved back to the U.S.--intentional living. Where did it go? How could I have possibly let that get away? Was it forgotten about? What I'm doing now is intentional living isn't it? Well, yes and no.
Recently, I was piddling around on the internet and out of curiosity decided to google my name. One of the first things I found was an online article written in October of 2012 (2 months after we moved from Belize) about our experience there. This quote jumped out at me, “Being removed from it [American culture] we saw a lot of changes and ways we lived differently that we want to hold onto, but have learned that it takes a lot more intentional living than maybe we were anticipating,” she said. “You have to decide to do things differently.” That 'she' was me. I said that.
The entire time I was serving in Belize this summer it was as if I could hear God telling me, "get off the hamster wheel, stop spinning your wheels with hardly a destination or purpose." When he means purpose, I don't think he just means the great big grand scheme of things, cause frankly, I think I do a decent job with that stuff already. It's the day to day, moment by moment even, experiences that he's asking to be lived with a purpose.
As much as I hate to admit it, it didn't take all that long after my family's return from Belize in 2012 to find ourselves back on that hamster wheel, spinning around and around forgetting to live each day with purpose. Going with the flow, getting caught up in the dailies of life, is just so darn easy sometimes. As I said in that article, I have to decide to do things differently because it's not just going to happen on its own.
I have a few friends of different backgrounds and faiths that I see doing this--that have a focus and a belief that guides virtually everything about their lives. That's what I want for myself. As a Christian, I feel that my purpose is to love God by loving and serving others. That doesn't just happen on it's own, I have to work to make it happen. Intentional living can only be successful when we try to weave it into all aspects of our life. I know it's possible to live counter culturally--and believe me, living intentionally is counter culture. I just have to resolve to wake up each day and do it myself. And when I falter, resolve to wake up the next day and try to do it all over again. Whenever I find that I'm doing that, sometimes the effort is hard, but the reward is always so great. I feel a greater peace, I have a lot less regrets, and I can some times even see the fruits of my labor (though that is never my reason for living purposefully).
If you're taking the time to read this, it's probably safe to assume that you yourself have great intentions. Now, I'd like to challenge us all to take it up a notch, to really live with purpose, all the time. Give that friend a call that has been feeling depressed. Take a son out to lunch to share some time together. Bring dinner or cookies to the elderly neighbor 2 houses down. Smile at the grumpy guy in the office across the hall. Most importantly, get rid of some 'time suckers' that are not rewarding or fulfilling--we don't need to be running all. the. time. just because it seems like a good idea.
I'm not suggesting that we all go out and try to save the world, or even necessarily that we all head to another country to serve the poor--although that seemed to be what I needed to kick myself into gear. I'm just suggesting that we all put a real effort into our day to day lives. Mother Teresa said "not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love." Let's put great love into what we do and see how the small things make this a better place to live.
Living with intention takes effort, it takes time, but imagine how much better our lives would be, our communities would be, if we would just take the time to do that. Let's stop doing what's in front of us, and start doing what we were truly created for--our purpose.
Peace,
Julie
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Recap of Camp Creative 2015 part 2
Recap, recap, anyone, Bueller? Crickets.
Well, life has slowed down a tiny bit and I'm finally getting some time to finish up the recap of Camp Creative. I imagine you've already ready about some of the things we did through Wednesday so I just briefly wanted to let you know how we finished things up at camp.
Thursday
Thursday was our music day. The team from Baylor had several projects designed to bring out the "musician" in each camper. The younger kids began by making several musical instruments. They made harmonicas from popsicle sticks, kazoos with our leftover toilet paper tubes, and shakers with paper plates.
When possible, we try to purchase supplies for the art projects in country and the beans for the paper plate shakers were no exception. Unfortunately, what the Baylor team had to learn the hard way, was that beans purchased at the local (Chinese run) grocery stores, known as the chiney, do not carry very fresh beans. By the time we went to work with them on Thursday, the supply of beans were full of bugs! Good thing were weren't trying to cook with them. For the most part, we just roll with the punches and we used the beans anyway. That's what going with the flow is all about. :-)
After the campers finished their instruments, it was time to test them out. The service group did a great job with leading the kids in song and even in a story of the 3 Little Geckos and the Big Bad Jaguar (a version of the 3 Little Pigs). These were some great opportunities for the kids to get out a little bit of energy too. Since the musical instruments were some simpler projects, the kids had extra time at the end of the morning to get out the paintbrushes again and work on their inner Picasso. Painting is almost always a favorite activity of our campers.
The older campers got to use this day to work on some projects suited for them. They used toilet paper rolls & pipe cleaners to design their own insects. They also got to work with scratching tools to make designs on crosses and their very favorite--God's eyes--made with yarn and popsicle sticks. Year after year, the older kids love working with yarn. Once they got the hang of it, several of them enjoyed making multiple God's eyes.
Friday
The last day! It's always bittersweet when we get to the last day of camp. We're usually pretty worn out by then but knowing we've come to the end of an extremely successful week is really what brings me joy--and making it to Friday is safe to assume it's been a success. Things ran pretty smoothly on Friday. The youngest campers started off making sea turtles with egg cartons as shells. Then they moved on to paper plate masks. The older campers got to work on soda tab bracelets again this year. Making the bracelets usually takes the kids a little bit to get a the hang of it but once they do, it becomes a great opportunity to work together. The kids show each other how to make them until everyone knows what they're doing.
We spend a lot of time on Friday finishing up with things. We make sure each group has a selected 'artist of the day' and 'best behaved camper' who then get a certificate and first pick from the Prize Pile. After that, we make sure every camper gets a turn to pick from the prizes. This year book bags and plastic tiaras were the hot items to get, followed closely in second by Spiderman & My Little Pony Happy meal prizes. I like to collect flip flops every year and include those in the prizes. It may have taken me until this year to fully realize that, while flip flops are extremely useful and necessary, they're sort of like a kid getting underwear for Christmas; not exactly the most desired prize to take home. Needless to say, of the 50 pairs brought down, every pair found a home.
The highlight of the last day for everyone (for many, the highlight of the week) was snack. Each camper got an ice cream cone! We did this last year too and in the days leading up to Friday, we had many kids asking if we were going to have ice cream again this year. It really seemed like a nice way to wrap things up.
Having the team from Baylor down to help this time, along with Andy, really helped to free me up for other business tasks. This year, we were able to do something we've never been able to do before. At the end of camp on Friday, we were able to debrief with our volunteer teachers and my camp co-coordinator, Faye. This seems like commonsense but we've just never been able to do this in the past--there's always been too much work to do just to clean up and clear out on the last day. Getting feedback from the teachers was amazing because they are the ones who work more closely with the campers than myself. We gained so much insight from them and moving forward, I am confident that we have some plans and tools in place to really make Camp Creative become even better.
As camp wraps up, the leftover supplies get divided up among the volunteer teachers who in turn can use those supplies & project ideas in their classroom the next school year. This is an important element in our goals for Camp Creative--to help keep the arts going throughout the year & to enable others to benefit their community.
This year we also collaborated with the Baylor team over lunch at camp's end. We got a lot of wonderful feedback from them too. They really were instrumental this year in making camp such a tremendous success. They helped with so much of the planning, the supply gathering and the work. They came in with a shared vision of what this experience should be for the service team and more importantly, the camp as a whole and we are forever grateful for the ways in which they helped to transform Camp Creative to be even more successful.
The highlight of the week for me was when we went to dinner that night with some missionary friends and I saw a camper of ours adorned in her homemade beaded necklace and flip flops that she got at camp this week--I'd call that a success.
That's it for camp!
We're already gearing up for next year and we look forward to working with the teachers and, especially the children, in Belize again.
Well, life has slowed down a tiny bit and I'm finally getting some time to finish up the recap of Camp Creative. I imagine you've already ready about some of the things we did through Wednesday so I just briefly wanted to let you know how we finished things up at camp.
Thursday
Thursday was our music day. The team from Baylor had several projects designed to bring out the "musician" in each camper. The younger kids began by making several musical instruments. They made harmonicas from popsicle sticks, kazoos with our leftover toilet paper tubes, and shakers with paper plates.
When possible, we try to purchase supplies for the art projects in country and the beans for the paper plate shakers were no exception. Unfortunately, what the Baylor team had to learn the hard way, was that beans purchased at the local (Chinese run) grocery stores, known as the chiney, do not carry very fresh beans. By the time we went to work with them on Thursday, the supply of beans were full of bugs! Good thing were weren't trying to cook with them. For the most part, we just roll with the punches and we used the beans anyway. That's what going with the flow is all about. :-)
After the campers finished their instruments, it was time to test them out. The service group did a great job with leading the kids in song and even in a story of the 3 Little Geckos and the Big Bad Jaguar (a version of the 3 Little Pigs). These were some great opportunities for the kids to get out a little bit of energy too. Since the musical instruments were some simpler projects, the kids had extra time at the end of the morning to get out the paintbrushes again and work on their inner Picasso. Painting is almost always a favorite activity of our campers.
The older campers got to use this day to work on some projects suited for them. They used toilet paper rolls & pipe cleaners to design their own insects. They also got to work with scratching tools to make designs on crosses and their very favorite--God's eyes--made with yarn and popsicle sticks. Year after year, the older kids love working with yarn. Once they got the hang of it, several of them enjoyed making multiple God's eyes.
Friday
The last day! It's always bittersweet when we get to the last day of camp. We're usually pretty worn out by then but knowing we've come to the end of an extremely successful week is really what brings me joy--and making it to Friday is safe to assume it's been a success. Things ran pretty smoothly on Friday. The youngest campers started off making sea turtles with egg cartons as shells. Then they moved on to paper plate masks. The older campers got to work on soda tab bracelets again this year. Making the bracelets usually takes the kids a little bit to get a the hang of it but once they do, it becomes a great opportunity to work together. The kids show each other how to make them until everyone knows what they're doing.
We spend a lot of time on Friday finishing up with things. We make sure each group has a selected 'artist of the day' and 'best behaved camper' who then get a certificate and first pick from the Prize Pile. After that, we make sure every camper gets a turn to pick from the prizes. This year book bags and plastic tiaras were the hot items to get, followed closely in second by Spiderman & My Little Pony Happy meal prizes. I like to collect flip flops every year and include those in the prizes. It may have taken me until this year to fully realize that, while flip flops are extremely useful and necessary, they're sort of like a kid getting underwear for Christmas; not exactly the most desired prize to take home. Needless to say, of the 50 pairs brought down, every pair found a home.
The highlight of the last day for everyone (for many, the highlight of the week) was snack. Each camper got an ice cream cone! We did this last year too and in the days leading up to Friday, we had many kids asking if we were going to have ice cream again this year. It really seemed like a nice way to wrap things up.
Having the team from Baylor down to help this time, along with Andy, really helped to free me up for other business tasks. This year, we were able to do something we've never been able to do before. At the end of camp on Friday, we were able to debrief with our volunteer teachers and my camp co-coordinator, Faye. This seems like commonsense but we've just never been able to do this in the past--there's always been too much work to do just to clean up and clear out on the last day. Getting feedback from the teachers was amazing because they are the ones who work more closely with the campers than myself. We gained so much insight from them and moving forward, I am confident that we have some plans and tools in place to really make Camp Creative become even better.
As camp wraps up, the leftover supplies get divided up among the volunteer teachers who in turn can use those supplies & project ideas in their classroom the next school year. This is an important element in our goals for Camp Creative--to help keep the arts going throughout the year & to enable others to benefit their community.
This year we also collaborated with the Baylor team over lunch at camp's end. We got a lot of wonderful feedback from them too. They really were instrumental this year in making camp such a tremendous success. They helped with so much of the planning, the supply gathering and the work. They came in with a shared vision of what this experience should be for the service team and more importantly, the camp as a whole and we are forever grateful for the ways in which they helped to transform Camp Creative to be even more successful.
The highlight of the week for me was when we went to dinner that night with some missionary friends and I saw a camper of ours adorned in her homemade beaded necklace and flip flops that she got at camp this week--I'd call that a success.
That's it for camp!
We're already gearing up for next year and we look forward to working with the teachers and, especially the children, in Belize again.
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