Changing the Present

We are living in a material world. It's true! This life is all about buying things for ourselves and for others. But what if, instead of getting your friend a gag gift, or a new purse that they really don't need, what if you got them 100 vaccines for children around the world? I found this great website: www.changingthepresent.org They have TONS of gifts that you can give, from vaccines for kids, to classes that teach parents in 3rd world countries life skills, to giving people medicine for HIV.


The best part about this site is that there are gifts for every budget. All you poor college kids listen up! For $26, you can give 3 bed nets to protect people from malaria carrying mosquitos. For $25, you can give a child malnutrition treatment. For $27, you can provide measles vaccines to 100 children. Yes, 100. And for just $10, you can provide one trachoma surgery that can end trachiasis, a painful and debilitating eye problem, and stop the progression to blindness. They have gifts for pretty much every cause your friend or family member could be interested in!

How awesome would it be to give your friend who crusades for women's health a certificate for 2 weeks of transportation to get women in rural villages the medical care, such as helping with childbirth, they need?

What about that friend in special education? How cool would it be to tell her that you donated sign-language books to families in Africa with deaf
children so that they can communicate with one another? One only costs $2 by the way.

Got a friend who is all about protecting animals and their environment? You can adopt a Snowy Owl for only $25!!

The possibilities are endless! And YOU have the power!! If we, the young people of this country, say we want to make a difference, we have to start somewhere. And why not now?

Hope

because we could all use a little hope...


"Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence."

Beauty

Sometimes we get so caught up in everything we have to do, we lose sight of what we are doing it for. We forget that the reason we are music majors is because we love it. We forget that there is something outside these university walls, something outside the classroom.

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.”

–Ashley Smith

The Band Perry

My latest discovery: The Band Perry

I found them when I was messing around on itunes. Bored, you know. Anyways I thought their picture looked interesting so I listened to some of their stuff. Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 After hearing to their songs “If I Die Young” and “Hip to My Heart” I immediately bought their EP. I just couldn’t wait until their first album is released on October 12!

The band is 3 siblings, Kimberly, Neil, and Reid Perry, from Mobile, AL. Kimberly is on lead vocals and guitar with her younger brothers Reid on bass guitar & Neil on mandolin, accordion, & drums. Both brothers also provide backup vocals. What I love about this group is that they are just country enough to have their band in that genre, BUT it's not so much that would turn people, like me, who normally don't like country away. They have tight harmonies, multiple instruments, and a fun, unique sound! Kimberly's voice is powerful, and doesn't have an overwhelming twang to it that so many country singers have.

Listen Listen Listen!!

• "If I Die Young"- my personal favorite. It's a slow, moving song that really shows off the band's harmonies and Kimberly's voice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NJqUN9TClM&p=7E60463A35C301BF&index=1
  
• "Hip to My Heart" is a more fun, upbeat song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cTI0gEZ_gg&ob=av2n
  

You should check them out. Especially if you like country or are trying to like it! For more information, check out their website: www.thebandperry.com

Disney World is not the happiest place on earth

Camp is. It’s true. The happiness you see at Disney pales in comparison to what I get to see here every day! Not that I don’t love Disney world and all, because I do. It’s great! But camp is something else entirely.

One thing that makes it so great: the four point pulley!! Here at camp we have a zipline that kids can climb up a flight of stairs to get to. At camp however, we have many campers who are in wheelchairs or have limited mobility. This is where the four point pulley comes in!! we use this device to lift kids out of their wheel chairs and straight up to the zipline! How does it work? There is a big triangular piece of super strong material that the kids sit on. From there we attach a few carabineers to get all hooked up right. This happens on the ground. On one of the ropes there is a special pull that the kids can use to get up there if their arms are strong enough. If not, we just pull them up! The four point pulley takes care of all the weight of the campers. Once they reach the top, the CTL staff at the top of the zipline hooks in all the different hooks and once the kid is in, they let him or her down the zipline! Because it’s on hydraulics, we can lower the kids straight in to their chair from the zipline. As one TBI camper once said on the radiothon: “My favorite activity is the zipline because it felt like I was flying”. umm…. awesome. it's pretty incredible to see kids get to do things they never thought they would be able to, or were told that they couldn't. and what's happier than that?

what is better than seeing a kid with spina bifida, who was told he would never be able to ride a horse because of his disorder, trot around the arena? what's better than seeing someone with balance issues, who was told they probably wouldn't ever ride a bike because of their brain tumor, tbi, etc, ride around the field on their own and get in to a kayak by themselves without it flipping over?

tonight is the talent show. what's better than seeing a bunch of kids step on to the stage with pride and assurance and see them show the camp what they love to do? and what's happier than seeing kids finally be able to act like normal kids?

I love watching the campers hang out together, but what’s really cool is seeing kids of different ages and from different camps saying hey and helping one another. Yesterday I was walking through the pool after TBI and some Wannaklot cabins had a session together, and I saw one of the W. teens standing next to, talking to, and helping one of the younger guys from TBI who has crutches. It was awesome!!

bottom line: camp is the best place on earth and exaCTLy where i want to be!! and YOU should volunteer at a camp to truly experience the awesomeness that camp twin lakes provides! www.camptwinlakes.org

this week

it's another week here at camp twin lakes!! once again we have 2 camps here: Camp Wannaklot, which is for kids with hemophilia and other blood clotting disorders, and TBI which is for kids and young adults with traumatic brain injuries. both of these camps are awesome!!!!

i have a wannaklot cabin this week with 14-16 year old girls. they're a fun group! also this week, one of my friends' younger brothers is a camper! and i had him at a session already. one of the things that's really cool about this camp is that they have a foreign exchange kinda program going on with germany, and a few of the campers (and a counselor) are from there!

so far i have had a pretty good mix of sessions with the different camps, and i've gotten to meet a ton of kids. one of the older guys from TBI loves the CeeTLes (and life in general) and is always really excited when we play and jumps up and down and it's really awesome! i just hope he doesn't get too excited and jump into the drum set. he's come close! haha. i would LOVE to have a music therapy session with him! that kid's smile just makes my day whenever i see it.

last night was the pool party for TBI and they had a band from Songs for Kids come. the band was awesome. the kids were having fun in the pool and dancing by the band. there is no way you could leave that place with a frown!! after the band finished, we told them how awesome they were (of course!) and i had noticed the one guy's son playing this round pad. so i asked to look at it. I AM OBSESSED!! it's called the hand sonic 10 and it is the coolest toy ever. it's a round pad (on a stand) that has buttons kinda like a keyboard. you can set it to different percussion themes, like drum set, african, etc, and each button on the pad is a different sound. and the buttons are super sensitive. you really only have to touch them to make a sound. there is another part that is at the one edge where you wave your hand over it to make noise. it's so cool!!! and i need it. they guy who owned it told me to just play with it, so we put it on different stuff! i can imagine the music therapy sessions using this thing...... epic.

after pulling myself away from that incredible toy, i went to wannaklot's dance!! super fun as well! by the time i got there it was just the teens left, too!

i love camp!!!!!

My heart has been stolen….

…by an eight year old boy. Actually I don’t know how old he is. He looks about the size of a 6 year old, but one of the things the one camp director told us that a lot of kids look smaller than average for their age because of the kidney disease. He has a scar on his head and doesn’t really talk much. Anyways this little boy is adorable. He air drums beside me when the CeeTLes play sometimes, or just smiles at me. Once I let him hold down the hi hat while I played. I just had to! All week he has been running up and giving me hugs, following me instead of his counselors, telling me I am sitting by him at meals (I have a different cabin), and just all around being precious.

Last night was the dance and I saw him by the window and said ‘Let’s dance!’ So we start walking to dance and then he says, “No!” and starts air drumming and said ‘you, too’. So I do, and then I told him that to really be a drummer you have to move one of your feet to play the bass drum so he started doing that too with a HUGE smile on his face. Later he put his glow sticks together to make a ring and we threw it one another. and by that i mean he threw it mostly in my general direction. many times it hit people. but he was smiling and laughing the whole time! a few times he would throw it between us and i would get to it before him. i'd always say 'i win!' so he started telling me to come get it when he was close to it. then he would pick it up and say that! whenever he would throw it though he would motion for me to back up so he could throw it farther.

both camps left today, and it was pretty hard to not keep him here at camp!! haha

790 the Zone Radiothon for CTL

Today is the Radiothon!!!!!! It is happening right now on the gym stage and will be until 7:00 tonight.

What is the Radiothon? It’s to raise money for Camp Twin Lakes and is done by AM 790 the Zone. On the air all day long they will be interviewing campers from all different camps, some staff, campers’ parents, etc, all to give you a better idea of how awesome camp is!! Earlier this morning Mark Richt (coach of the UGA football team) did an interview on the air about his involvement with camp. John Smoltz was on just a while ago as well!

Some other cool things they are doing:

• the College Challenge!- when people call in and donate money they can out it toward their school's total! unfortunately Florida is the current front-runner. but there's still plenty of time!! also.... Auburn is ahead of Alabama. can't have that!
• they have prizes!- people can bid on certain prizes like... a Coach Richt signed football, braves tickets and a signed baseball...

This radiothon is so important for camp! It helps us send kids to camp in improve the facilities. And every cent really counts!! If you have been reading my blogs then you know how much i love camp. it gives kids of all walks of life, disabilities, illnesses, trauma, to have a week to be with other people who understand what's happening. they get a chance to really be kids with medical staff who can deal with anything that goes wrong asap. they don't have to be super careful when playing sports. they get to hang out with other people like them. they're not the only one with access sites for dialysis. it's awesome and i love it. i can't imagine my life without cancer and camp twin lakes in it!

tune in to 790 am to listen, or call 877-479-2267 to donate!

this week...

This week brought two more camps to Rutledge: Independence and Horizon! Independence is for kids with kidney disease and solid organ transplants and Horizon is for kids in foster care. Both camps are absolutely AWESOME!

I am paired with a Horizon cabin of 9-10 year old boys. What’s really cool about this camp is that each camper has their own counselor that they try to bond with that week. My cabin is great and so are their counselors! There is one boy in my cabin who asks to do “the wave” at every meal. “the wave” is a chant that we do where a bunch of people go to one end of the dining hall and say “we’re gonna do the wave, we’re gonna do the wave. We’re gonna do the wave, we’re gonna do the wave. 1-2-1-2-3- woo!” and we try to get the wave going (there and back) across the entire dining hall! on Sunday, one of the counselors in my cabin made coffee. Now the camper paired with him makes him coffee at every meal! It’s cute.

Today is a pretty light day for me, so this morning I hung out with some kids in dialysis! The kids that have dialysis have to be hooked up to these machines that clean out their blood for about 3 hours. So I played uno with this one boy who had quite a bit of attitude, and then I played it with one of the older girls in there. The one boy asked me about silly bands, so I went and got my bag full of them and handed them out to the three campers who were awake (the other 2 sleep through their treatment).

tonight's evening program is wacky olympics. BOTH camps are doing it in two different places, so it's gonna be pretty crazy! but i'm excited. i love camp! both camps bring so much energy and excitement. i just love it!!

tomorrow is the radiothon that raises money for camp twin lakes on 790 the zone! tune in!!

let's make this last forever

I don’t want camp to end this week!!! I don’t want Krazy Legs and Cadi to leave! They are small enough to just stay for the rest of this summer. This week has just been awesome. I love having the camps so small because you get to know all the kids by name!

Yesterday Cadi went camping! They cooked outside (which I ran up to enjoy!) while Rainbow was having a barbecue, so only Camp Krazy Legs was in the dining hall. Then I ran down for the CeeTLes (we still rock by the way) to give CKL their private concert. Those kids are so awesome. A lot of them are in wheelchairs this week, but they still dance plenty!! After dinner I had dimensions with Cadi at ceramics where we got to glaze all the stuff they made Monday. It's fun just talking with the campers! After that I went to CKL pool party! some of the kids asked me to and it just looked like so much fun! plus i never get to the pool. They are such an excited and happy group. One of the girls in that camp that I have gotten the closest to said "It's you!" when she saw me, then whispered, "your drumming is way better than J's" or whoever the drummer in the band was. Kinda made my day. After that I ran back up to camping with a bunch of other CTL staff to have s'mores and sing around the campfire with Cadi! our evenings are pretty full this week!

today i had a movement and dance session with becky for CKL!! it was awesome. her project for her internship had to deal with wheelchair yoga, so we did that, and then i got to do some movement and teach dances that i modified for wheelchairs! woo!

at meals i sit with my Cadi cabin and yesterday (and today) i told them that they should come to my improv session. a bunch did! and when i got there they said "i told you i would come". once again... awesome session. i love improv because it allows the campers to be silly and have fun in a different way than usual.

one of the Cadi girls was supposed to practice with the CeeTLes so she could play guitar with us, but she got sick right before rest hour. :( 2 Krazy Legs campers will be joining us tonight, though! also with the band.... we have been doing lots of switching instruments this week! taking turns on drums, guitar, singing, etc. it's so fun to change it up! AND i got to sing a song with Joanna! (that never happens because she usually plays keyboard and i am on drums) but the keyboard is broken this week.

tonight is the dance for CKL or as melissa made the sign, it's the sigma beta (their fraternity) and the kappa lambda (for the girls!) prom!! it's also Rainbow's carnival, and the talent show for Cadi. another busy night!!

i have had some rainbow camper sessions (really i have had one boys' cabin 3 times), but other than that i have been busy doing stuff with my cabin!

i am loving camp. i never wanna leave. ever. and i don't want the campers to leave either!

happy 4th!!!

Happy Independence Day America!!

today has been quite exciting. went back to the sunflower festival, spent more money, and took pretty pictures this morning! two camps came in today, Camp Cadi, which is for girls who have been sexually abused, and Camp Krazy Legs, which is for kids with spina bifida. both camps are pretty small, and in honor of our independence day some CTL staff people decorated like crazy in patriotic-ness! We also ate dinner outside by the flagpole and had an awesome cookout. and the CeeTLes played outside! and after opening ceremonies we played the game 'America'! (we made it up) haha. and after that we watched fireworks on the big blowup screen by the flagpole while i turned on some patriotic tunes through the radio. and then the kids got sparklers and snack! woo!

some info on the camps this week:
another camp is coming in tomorrow, Camp Rainbow. It's for kids with cancer and rare blood disorders and their siblings out of MCG in augusta.
i've heard that Krazy Legs is a super spirited and excited bunch! a few of our guys on staff are staying in cabins because they did last year and it was so awesome!!
this week i am buddies with a Camp Cadi cabin. and my other CTL buddy is my roommie hannh!! talk about excited!

i'm really looking forward to another week of camp. this week is pretty light, so it will give me an opportunity to hang out with my cabin buddies more. can't wait to get started!!

it's the CeeTLes at the sunflower festival!!

the sunflower festival

yesterday (and today) is the SUNFLOWER FESTIVAL!! this festival is always held over 4th of July weekend in Rutledge, GA. they expected to see 10,000 people this year!

i absolutely love this festival. it's $5 to get in, and it's full of local (and not so local) vendors selling everything from jewelry to window art, games to clothes, and pottery to food. and there's live music. why is it called the sunflower festival? you may ask. because on the property of this festival is a HUGE sunflower field where you can pay $10 and fill a huge vase with them AND you get to cut your own flowers. Some of these sunflowers were taller than me and bigger than my head!

this summer my parents came to enjoy the festival!! we wandered around together looking at all the different vendors (and buying stuff). i got some awesome food mixes, one for salsa, this white mustard sauce, and a creme brulee pie filling. yum. also at the festival every year they have a featured artist! this year it was elizabeth, who does the ceramics activity at camp! it was so cool to see her real stuff and her metalworking.

but what really made the sunflower festival special for me this year is that the CeeTLes were asked to play in the kids section! and Morgan Sheperd joined us on bass!! (he was one of the founding member of the CeeTLes with me two years ago). we did two sets, one at 10 and one at 3. it was definitely a different setting than normal, but it was still fun!! the stage they gave us was long and skinny. luckily jamie's drum set was mini because otherwise it would not have fit up there! all the instruments were on stage and our two singers were standing on hay bales in front. haha. despite some MAJOR technical difficulties in the morning set, my parents really enjoyed it. for the very last song we did 'brown eyed girl' and i got to sing (!), Jamie played drums, and Grace played guitar. it was awesome to change it up like that!! also at our stage we had some friendly faces come see us! one of my old counselors, SIssy, came with her family, one of my friends who was a counselor this year, a former camper, and a counselor from last week all came to check out the festival and see us!

thanks to all of the family members who came out to support us, and also to all the friends from partner groups who came out. it was awesome to see all of you!!

today we have 2 camps coming in. happy 4th of july!!

it's july

so i pretty much never know what the date is but holy crap it's july!!!!

anyways... camp this week is AWESOME! my cabin is absolutely hilarious and adorable and all good things, although i have heard that they are trouble makers.... whatev. i still want to keep all of them! last night was the carnival!! it was a joint one, meaning that both CBE and CTB went to the same one! i spent the first half hour at the game 'booger toss' (lovely name, right?) and then just walked around and hung out with my kids! the carnival had a bunch of games, TWO blow up slide/bounce house like things, AND a group of people who ride motorcycles came to entertain the kids.

the CeeTLes get to play twice a day every day! it's pretty awesome. we're constantly adding new music and stuff, and yesterday we signed autographs. yes, autographs. i have a group of kids that surround me while i play the drums and talk to me the whole time. they ask questions and tell me to play different drums on the set and all sorts of other things. it's pretty cool except when they start to try to play the hi hat while i am playing it. doesn't work that way! haha. every time i see one little boy he asks me when and what we re playing! being a camp musician is awesome. all the kids get so excited when they find out that i'm the drummer AND leading their sessions, or vice versa!

one of my activities, drumming, is at the super awesome tree house!! a lot of times we end the session early so the kids can explore. yesterday i had little boys, so of course they wanted to play, and a little girls' cabin ended their nature walk session so they were there, too! the itty bitties are so cute, and one of the little boys, N, wanted me to go down the slide after him so i did! big mistake!! after the little ones saw me they all wanted me to push their swings! haha. they are quite entertaining. i did get to talk to one girl who was feeling homesick. i tried to tell her about how awesome the rest of the week was going to be! i think we mostly got it sorted out. then N threw a small cup of water on me and i squirted him back with my water bottle! haha good times at the tree house. the tree house is like a playground almost. inside there is a second level with chairs at the top, a trap door to the swings below in the drumming circle, a slide, a cargo net to climb up, three swings, and a tire swing! it's a pretty cool place.

tonight is the dance!! i can't wait. the CBE dance is one of the best all summer!!

a new day

from here on out things at camp will be different. because we have at least 2 camps every week now!! this week is Camp Breathe Easy and Camp To Belong. AND the CeeTLes will be playing twice a day every day!

CBE is for kids with asthma! My cabin is 10 and 11 year olds in CBE. they are pretty wild and their counselors definitely have their hands full!! these kids are awesome so far! Last night when we were playing I had a group of CBE boys crowded around the drum set just watching. one of the youngest pretty much directed where i was going to play. he would say "play that one" so I would. and then he would laugh. i always asked him if i was doing it right.

the other camp this week is Camp To Belong. This camp is for kids in foster care who have been separated from at least one of their siblings. we reunite them for a week! what's also different about this camp is that even though they sleep in cabins, they go to activities in their family groups. i haven't led an activity with them before and i am super pumped!!

today marks the first full day!

kids are the best fans

over halfway through the week of sunshine junior!! it's absolutely great. these kids are awesome in every way!

i am cabin buddies with the girls i had last year! woo! they are 12 now and it's their last year at junior week. some highlights from so far:

monday i had a radio session with just one camper, this boy named B that i remembered from last summer. we just hung out with his LIT and listened to music and talked. he's such a cool kid! at radio we figured out how to play songs from youtube through the radio, that way we can play whatever songs the kids request.

one of our staff members is sick, so i took her climbing session yesterday. i went up to the top of the wall to cheer the girls who were climbing on. this one girl got over halfway up and wanted to come down because she was scared, but i got her to see how close she was to the top so she kept going. when she was almost there she started to cry and said "i'm almost there! i'm reaching my goal!" it was pretty awesome to be a part of that! now every time she sees me she says hey!

at ceramics i met this one girl, C, who has one of my old counselors! anyways she is on treatment and in a wheelchair and has this spray fan that she used outside. she got her whole hat signed by the UGA football players! i was helping her with her ceramics stuff. later that night at wacky olympics i saw her again spraying that fan! i said man it's hot! and it was. and HUMID. she shooed me away but then turned the fan up to my face and sprayed the water on me. such a sweetheart!

last night after dinner the CeeTLes played again! we are preparing for next week and also for The Sunflower Festival in Rutledge which we will be playing at! all the little ones crowded around the stage and a TON of them crowd around the drums. it's so much fun playing with them all looking at you wide-eyed and singing! if you haven't played in front of kids before, you are missing out! this one little girl stopped the cymbals for me when i needed it. after the first song, i don't know if they expected me to be bad or something, but some of the boys were like, that was awesome, cool, etc, AND i got thumbs up! after we played all our songs, i turned around and B was standing behind me. he said, "that was awesome!!" and gave me a high five. it was so sweet! and last night when we played, i played everything on the drum set at LEAST once! this is a big accomplishment!

these kids and their smiles are why i work here. a lot of people think that kids with cancer are sad, depressed little kids but they are wrong. these kids are awesome, having a blast, making jokes, and having fun! some of them may be weaker than others, but they are ALL having the time of their life!

Georgia Gold

this song is for Camp Sunshine written by a good friend of camp, Jon Allmett. it pretty much embodies camp:

Georgia Gold

v. Oh sunshine makes me happy
There is no place quite like you
All the picture perfect mornings covered in dew
I'm a fiend for you affection
You're a country coated smile
With your doors wide open, I'm happy to stay a while
But before I move on give me

c. One more moment
Give me just one more day
There is no place else on earth I feel this way
It covers the gray
You're and endless sunrise
And you just won't let go
You're a piece of heaven
Wrapped up in Georgia gold

v. I've seen the Rio de Janeiro
And the southern coast of Spain
But they could never hold a candle to your flame
And even as those buses round that corner
Comin for to carry us back home
I keep you deep inside my heart so I never feel alone
But before I am gone give me

c. One more moment
Give me just one more day
There is no place else on earth I feel this way
It covers the gray
You're and endless sunrise
And you just won't let go
You're a piece of heaven
Wrapped up in Georgia gold

Give me that Sunday afternoon
I wanna stay all year
Give me that fishing rod and reel
Don't let the sunshine disappear

Forever let the sun shine on...

good day sunshine

this week was great. crazy busy!! but absolutely great. my cabin was AWESOME. i got a pack of princess silly bands (from my mommy!) and i gave all my girls one, so the last day they made me a huge pink crown as a thank you! the counselors i had were great, too! yay sunshine teen!

let's talk about the weather last week. i don't think i have ever been to camp where it has rained 4 of the 5 days!! it was ridiculous! it rained, no POURED, the first three nights and then thursday afternoon. we could feel it coming and put all the ropes course stuff up, and as soon as we were done the heavens opened up! trees down, power out, radio malfunction.... here's hoping the weather is better this week!

i met some awesome kids this week! those two guys who wrote that rap the first day got to perform it at the prom!! it was great and i absolutely love them. and the prom....... it was technically disco themed but all ctl staff dress 80s! it was great fun.

so saturday saw the teens leave us for the summer. there is no goodbye worse than the CS teen goodbye! goodness everyone was crying, young and senior alike. it's good practice for when i am a professional! but when one camp leaves it's only so another can come!!

SUNSHINE JUNIOR!!!!

Silly Band Diary

• I bought a Disney princess pack (best decision ever) and my mom sent me a TON of silly bands in the mail. yay mommy! those packs included: love shapes, the best of which are two halves of a heart that fit together (one pink and one blue), rock star shapes (of which i took a DRUM SET!), religious, princess, and music!
• My Belle didn't last long as I gave her to one of my campers!
• one girl in Grace's cabin asked if she could have a cross sill band (of course!) so i gave her that one AND an angel
• there are two senior campers at sunshine teen who are awesome musicians. one plays the guitar (and is incredible) and one plays drums (also awesome!). they have played a song together with scott for as long as they have been at teen week, so commemorate that i gave m the drum set and b this awesome silly band where a guy is rocking out!
• i also gave the other two drum set silly bands to scott and dave (the guy filling in for scott on drums while scott sang and played guitar). it was the best way to thank all those who have helped me on the drums!

So this week was a lot of me giving some away because i got so many!

Remembrance

Two posts in one day? Ridiculous! But really. I decided that the remembrance ceremony needed its own post.

Today during rest hour was the remembrance ceremony. We had it in the tree house. This is where anyone who wants to can go and remember people in the Camp Sunshine family who died this past year. It starts off with a reading of the names of all those who are no longer with us. After that, campers and staff alike are invited to share memories that they have of the people we are remembering.

Is it sad? Yes. There is a time to be professional, and for me it is NOT during the remembrance ceremony. I wish I could be one of those people who didn't cry during something like this but, alas, I am not. I am that person who starts to cry when other people start to cry, and once I start I can't stop. What really gets to me though, is the kid who you would never expect to cry barely being able to get through their memory because they are so choked up. These campers are remembering friends, the staff are remembering campers, friends, patients, etc. And even though it is sad, this ceremony is such a release. Not only do I cry because I am sad, but also because I am happy I got to know these people. I miss my friends, but I am also glad they don't have to deal with all the cancer and hospitals and doctors that they were.

While people are telling their stories about their friends who have passed, we pass around a treasure chest full of stone hearts with a hole in them. Some kids put them on their bracelets, some just hold them, some like me put them all on a necklace. They are just another way to represent how you are feeling.

Every ceremony ends with the pueblo blessing:

Hold on to what is good...
Even if it is a handful of earth.

Hold on to what you believe...
Even if it is a tree which stands by itself.

Hold on to what you must do...
Even if it is a long way from here.

Hold on to your faith...
Even when it may seem easier to let go.

Hold on to my hand...
Even when I have gone away from you.

Oh sunshine makes me happy

this week is... (drum roll please) CAMP SUNSHINE!!!!! teen week. in the words of two boys I had at songwriting, 'this right here is my camp'.

so at teen week, the campers are all 13-18 year olds who have or had cancer. It's a good mix of those who are still on treatment, just declared cancer free, and those who had been off for ten years! this camp definitely has the biggest span of ability levels. there are kids who have fake legs, in wheel chairs, no hair, and those able to run and jump. it is definitely a wide variety. my cabin this week is a cabin of 16-year-old girls. i just love them. some of them have been together since they started camp, some are new to the cabin but not camp, and one girl is brand new to sunshine. of course both the counselors in that cabin are awesome, too!

this week i am not only on arts and music, but also outdoor adventure! let me tell you that belaying is just like riding a bike. you never forget how once that rope is in your hands again! today especially has been an OA day for me. I had an awesome climbing session where everyone climbed at least once, and two boys made it to the top of the agro crag! The agro crag has a side of the wall that juts out at an angle. pretty awesome. i decided that we need to make CTL shirts that say 'I climbed the agro crag' and sell them at the end of camp. because that it QUITE an accomplishment. I have only done the flat side of the agro crag (still hard!!)

in addition to climbing, I had Group Initiatives with the senior girls cabin. It was probably one of the best GI sessions ever. They took everything I threw at them, handled it beautifully, and then requested to do the trust fall! not all GI sessions go so smoothly. All of the activities in the woods require everyone to really work together as a team to accomplish the goal.

yesterday was equally awesome, but my best session was definitely songwriting. the radio broke (probably the best way to put it) last week so we didn't have any equipment to record so the activity yesterday turned into songwriting! no worries it works again! but anyways, I had two 16-year-olds from the same cabin come in and write a rap together about camp. what really made it the best session is not that their rap was so good. it was that one of the boys was brand new to camp. he and the other guy just met the day before, AND they were so proud of their rap that they requested to perform it in the dining hall in front of everyone! it was all about how much they love camp, the friends they make, etc. Them performing it was one of those moments where you tear up because it's just so awesome that they're doing it and because of the looks on their faces. those 2 boys are definitely ones that i will remember for a LONG time.

the great thing about camp twin lakes is that every week is different. last summer their slogan was 'the best week of your life'. Well we try to make it that for every kid who comes in: the best week of your life, no matter how long your life is. some of these kids won't be back next summer, and some of them are about to head back into the hospital for more treatment, so that's why this is so important. for a week all these kids and teens just get to be themselves and not worry about their illness or disability because everyone else here has it, too! that's why i got my camp sunshine tat. because it reminds me of the best weeks of my life!!

everyone's a drummer.... kudzu week 2 highlights!

this week was a big one. i debuted on drum set thursday night with the CeeTLes. aah it was so crazy! of course we sounded awesome and all, but i was really nervous. not only was it the first time i played drum set in front of people, but these people are also used to scott playing, and he is awesome! afterwards, one of my favorite campers (a 11 yr old boy, call him B) came up to me and said, "Leelee, you rock!" That pretty much made my week right there.

i would have to say that this week my favorite activity was improv. i was scheduled there a lot, and i got some really awesome cabins to hang out with! it's so great to see kids to come out of their shell and just have fun. one of the cabins i had was B's cabin. they were an interesting group of boys, but every time they saw me they said hey! another group i had the last day. also boys, they were the group who wrote a song to my cabin. meliss had a girls cabin at her kayak session at the same time and asked us to do the bean skit for them, so i taught it and everyone embraced it wonderfully!

my cabin was great this week. they were 12 year old girls and by the end of the week we all really clicked! i had to fight back tears when i was saying goodbye.

Silly Band Diary

• kudzu day 2: added a microphone
• kudzu day 3: traded the elephant for a penguin and the crown for a hedgehog!
• meliss traded her absolute favorite sill band, an alabama A (roll tide!) for the coolest one ever: marshmallows on a stick
• saturday: my lovely roommie hannah brought back even more silly bands, so i added a tepee, an elephant, and an ostrich to my collection!

Cabin 7 Love Song: by Cabin 24 (to the tune of Soul Sister)

v. Your cabin stays
On the girls' side but we just can't wait
For the mealtimes when we can make you
Shake your booty yeah

c. Hey Cabin 7
We know that you're from heaven
On the radio, right now you know,
Tellin all the world it's so
Hey cabin 7
My blood sugar's 11
Won't you share your juice with me
Tonight?

v. If you'll be mine
We can meet together at free time
We can watch the band forever
Put our hands together
Yours and mine

The 7 Rules of Romance
These were written by adorable 10 year old boys about what to do. When asked if the were rules, one responded: They're the law

1.Make her happy
2.Get to know her
3.Act cute/Smell good
4.Date her
5.Marry her
6.Have babies
7.Love forever

boys: take note!! these are rules that all males should follow!

bottom line: kudzu week 2 was awesome! now ready for camp sunshine teens!!

silly band diary

who hasn't heard of silly bands???? no one? good. EVERYONE has them here at camp and a lot of us trade or give them to campers. I decided today that I am going to record where my silly bands go, what i end up with, and what others give. woo!

kudzu day 1:

• I started with a dollar sign (my absolute FAVORITE), a rabbit, a hook, and a crown. After opening ceremony I traded the dollar sign for an elephant with one of my campers whose sugar was high
• Somehow Caley managed to get the coolest silly band ever: a kite! he got it from a camper who traded the kite for caley's unicorn
• becca b (my co-parent for this week) gave one of her silly bands to a camper in our cabin because she didn't have any. yay becca!!
• my other roommate hannah had the "groovy" pack, and she gave me the love and peace silly bands!

that's all for now! it's going to be interesting to see where all my silly bands end up and what i finish the summer with!

D-I-A-B-E-T-E-S

so.... I did a really bad job of updating last week! i apologize.

who's ready for camp kudzu week 2??? I AM!! it's always great to meet a new set of campers every week. I've got cabin 7 so I'm thinking they will be about 13 yr old girls. maybe?

Some more of what happened last week:

What do a certain group of professional cyclists and kudzu campers have in common?? Type 1 Diabetes. 5 of the cyclists from Team Type 1 (made up of cyclists with the betes!) came last week and stayed for two days. they talked to the kids about how not to let diabetes hold them back! they also stressed how important it is to manage their blood sugar well so that they can live their dream of becoming pro cyclists. then they just hung out with the kids and went to activities! one of my favorite things to do is watch adults who get thrown into camp do all of our songs and dances. it was pretty cute. the youngest one (who was 2o. younger than me!) really concentrated to get it all down pat! by the time they left they were experts at ctl life.

thursday night was...... the dance!! remember my camper who had a date monday at breakfast? well she ditched him and picked up a new guy to take to the dance. a few of my other girls had dates too! oh to be young and have camp love...

speaking of dancing, i had the dance activity at least once a day. i was pretty nervous to do it, but it turned out to be AWESOME! every cabin that came wanted to learn the 'Hoedown Throwdown' (thank you miley) and even the one group that kinda got bored, the counselors wanted to learn more line dances. i have lots of those btw, which is weird since i do not like country music. but hey, there's a first time for everything, right? and 'callin baton rouge' is one of my absolute favorite songs at the moment. one cabin at dance, cabin 3, was so cute and enthusiastic. they ALL wanted to tell me there diabetes stories and how when they were little they would take glucose tablets from where their mom hid them because they tasted so good, etc. and one of those girls gave me a headband she made!! She had two, and I said that i loved them because they were adorable, and she practically forced me to take it. we had an argument. and you just can't argue against a 10 year old girl. they will win!! another girl in the same cabin saw my tattoo and said 'you have a sunshine tattoo?' of course i said yes, and then she asked if i had cancer and what type i had. i was pretty caught off guard because most ten year olds don't know what the other camps are for, let alone ask questions about it!

one of my best sessions last week was definitely radio. i was paired up with my dear roommie Grace and we had a cabin of ten year old boys. they were probably the funniest cabin at camp. they wanted to do a radio show and have me and grace be their guest callers. not to mention that their song requests were epic! they told grace that her character was named penelope (haha). both of us talked with funny accents. mine ended up coming out a jamaican-hispanic mix. but the kids thought both of us were hilarious, which is what it's all about!! one of the things we are striving for with the radio is to make everything more camp-centric, so when we called in, both grace and i pretended to be moms of campers at kudzu. my kid, i think i named her amelia, was new and does injections, so i asked how she was being taken care of there and helped. those boys were the best advocates for their camp. they talked about how great it is. they talked about the pump palace and how everyone helps everyone else learn to manage their diabetes better. it was pretty adorable and awesome and everything that we strive for at camp.

this week i checked my blood sugar for the first time!!! i even pricked my finger myself. next step=pump site. one of the girls in cabin 11 who comes back for another camp told me that she would bring extra sites just in case any ctl staff doesn't get the chance to get a pump site this week! woo! i'm pretty nervous about it actually, but that's okay!! for those who don't know, pump sites involve needles, and i am not too comfortable with those. it's great to get a bit of the experience that all these kids go through every day!

gah i can't wait for another great week at camp twin lakes!!!

we're brothers and sisters at camp kudzu!

this week is off to a great start!! my cabin is ballin, the dance dimension is pretty much the best workout ever, and kudzu is awesome!! not to mention a helicopter landed on the ball field today......

wait, what? yes. that is correct. a helicopter landed ON the sports field yesterday, and not for a medical emergency but for two (almost) famous people! the first was Jordyn Shellhart, an up and coming country singer from nashville. She was actually quite good and had one heck of a voice for 16! her songs were taylor swift-esque. the other was Chase Elliot, son of a nascar driver, and a driver in his own right. (I don't really know much about nascar...) both of them were adorable, and the kids today thought the whole helicopter thing was awesome! poor kid, chase pretty much became every tween girl's object of affection after that! After lunch, Jordyn gave camp a concert in the gym. the weather was crazy flip floppy so the safe bet was DEFINITELY inside. every kid wanted an autograph or picture with her and she made sure they all got them! look her up on www.jordynshellhart.com or http://www.myspace.com/jordynshellhart !!

where to start when talking about my cabin? well.. they are 11-year-old girls that were originally supposed to be in cabin 4, but the air conditioner is broken so they are in cabin 28, right by the oldest boys!! they got here midday sunday, and by breakfast yesterday, one of my girls already had a date for the dance! well... she had one, but broke up with him and now has another. haha i love them. my cabin is crazy... just the way i like it!!

this week i also have the dance dimension with JoJo!! Dimensions are for teens only and they get to pick an activity that they do mon, tues, and wed night. Three of the girls were really into it and the two that weren't didn't come back! So we pretty much learned choreographed stuff the first day and then let them make up their own dances. We also learned the beginning of "Thriller".

that's all for now!!

Chuch in the Tree House

So another week is starting at Twin Lakes with Camp Kudzu which is for kids with juvenile diabetes. My cabin is great (11 year old girls) but that is not what this entry is about. It’s about something new to staff: Church in the Tree house. Reminds me of that old tune “Church in the Wildwood”…

As staff, we typically have to meet on Sundays around 11-11:30 am to get schedules and stuff for the upcoming week. Unfortunately, all the churches nearby start their services around 10:30. Too late for us to go! So some people decided, why not do our own kinda church? And that’s what we did tonight. With no lights in the tree house and starting at 9:45 at night, it was dark and a little creepy walking out there. But when we got there I found that I really enjoyed the little light that we got from flashlights. It all seemed more reverent to me.

It is so easy to just get caught up in everything that is going on around us. Even at camp there is so much to do, and in the back of all of our minds there is so much to worry about. Tonight was perfect. Too often we don’t have time where we can just breathe and be at peace, and for me that’s what it was. Not only was it wonderful to hear everyone else’s thoughts and stories, it was a great time to relax and just remember that we aren’t alone. I am the type of person who if you push me to do something I will just push back harder, and it was good for me to have a relaxed evening to slowly let my doubts fade.

Because church can be anywhere and with anyone as long as they believe.

feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme

Camp Braveheart ended today. It was a good week though! Like every camp should, it ended with the dance, probably the highlight of everyone on staff's week. I mean I loved dances as a camper, but they are SO MUCH BETTER a adult. Why? Because camp dances are full of young love and heartache and crazy dancing. Girls getting flowers, boys dressing up to impress the ladies... all at a camp dance. At least one couple cried because they had to leave each other this morning. :( Adorable as always, we said goodbye to the kids after a last song set by the CeeTLes after breakfast.

So I promised more info on the CeeTLes... basically we are the coolest band ever. At the moment there are 5 of us (although special guest performers are always welcome). We are: Jamie on guitar, Joanna on keyboard, myself on the djembe, and Melissa and Grace singing! Jojo and I sing too sometimes! Thank you Beth for giving me the confidence I need to pursue my drumming love. Look out next fall for me to take over drumline! Haha jk, jk. So I learned this week that little kids LOVE, i mean, LOVE djembes. And they want them for themselves. I had to distract/fight off/etc multiple little girls from stealing my drum! One 7-year-old was PARTICULARLY difficult. During a few songs I got her to play with me, but sometimes she was a little too crazy! Got through it though. I'm glad I play such a popular instrument! But anyways, we play camp songs (our own versions and remixes) and try to play the songs that are most popular among the kids! We mostly succeed.

Continuing on this drumming tangent of mine... Tuesday night we had Drum Cafe come to camp. they. were. awesome. As a percussion lover myself, I quite enjoyed the festivities even though they arrived late. It was 3 guys, one from South Africa, one from Jamaica, and an older guy from West Africa. For starters... their drums were SO COOL!!!!! and I want one. The two younger guys had these jumbo djembes (love the alliteration) and one had a shaker attached to it, and the older man had three drums attached to each other that he played with sticks. The coolest thing about this was that everyone, every camper, counselor, staff member, etc got to play their own drum. Throughout the night they added in some different instruments as well. The kids who were awake for it thought it was pretty cool. The drummers talked a lot about how drumming is used in Africa and how anyone can make music and be a drummer (everyone's a drummer mt friends!!) It was a great evening program this week. After it was over, a few of the CTL staff hung out on stage with the guys to help them pack up and just talk. Of course, music nerd that I am, I ran on stage and thanked them and told them how cool their drums were. And I very sneakily touched one! haha. They would be so cool to just jam with. I would very much like to do that one day. The older gentleman told us about all the different places he had been to all over the world. It was pretty cool to hear those stories. i can't wait for them to come back! maybe i will muster up the courage to ask to play one of those drums... for more info: www.drumcafeatlanta.com

bottom line.... music is the best and it brings so many people and different abilities together!

Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamp!!

Yay summer! Wow I have not been on here in a while. Not much internet access at camp! So now that I am at camp…. I am going to make all my updates about that! No camper names will be mentioned (for confidentiality purposes). Not only is this for me to keep a record of everything that happens, but also to let everyone know how awesome it is!! And, well I really suck at keeping in touch with people over the summer. Not much free time! But that’s okay with me!!

What camp do I work at? Only the best: Camp Twin Lakes!! A camp for kids with life challenges and serious illnesses. There’s a new camp pretty much every week! We cover kids of all shapes, sizes, and disabilities. I am at the Rutledge site, but I went to Will-a-way during staff training!

What do I do? I am on the arts and music staff leading drumming, radio, ceramics, improv, and dance sessions. I am also in our ballin band, the CeeTLes playing drums (yes drums. Right now just a djembe) and whatever else. A post dedicated to the band will follow!

What’s new? My nametag says “LeeLee” not Lelia. Let’s face it, it doesn’t quite look like it sounds and this is MUCH easier for kids to say! And lots of them say it all the time!

This week is Camp Braveheart, which is for kids with congenital heart defects and transplants. The campers are between 7 and 13 years old. They got here Sunday and tonight was the TALENT SHOW!! Let’s just talk for a moment about how incredibly cute all the kids were doing their respective talents. Outside my cabin buddies (cabin 8 what what!) I have to say that my favorite act was a group of 7 year old boys doing magic tricks! You could not take the smiles off their faces throughout the whole thing! There is a girl in my cabin who is always in her own little world (I have 12 year old girls this week) and when she got up to sing, it was a whole new person! Everyone was in shock. She was hamming it up like nobody’s business. I could go into exact details about every act that I remember, but to sum up the talent show I will say this: Justin Bieber’s “Baby” or whatever it’s called is OFFICIALLY the most popular song of the summer.

More later, but for now I leave you with the saying on the back of our 2010 staff shirts: There’s a camp for that. And there is at CAMP TWIN LAKES!!

Song of Songs

Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
For, lo, the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away

le mo ghrása mise agus liomsa mo ghrá
i am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine
-Song of Songs

Goethe

A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart.

-Goethe's "Faust"

state radio

gosh I love music. it just has such amazing power to make you feel differently and think differently. lately many band have taken a more political stance to their music. I call it 'when good bands go political' because not many do it well. they just don't have the power and ability that bands did in the 1960s. well I found one that does. More than political, they sing about personal experiences, injustices that they have witnessed, problems in the world, etc. and they actually DO something about it.


if you have heard of dispatch (which I have and LOVE) and were upset when they broke up, it's okay!!! the singer of dispatch, Chad Urmston, started this new band: State Radio. they have a lot of the same style of songs as dispatch. every style. Their songs range from ska and reggae to alternative, from slow to "raise yer pints" drinking songs. and EVERY song is about something they have seen, heard about, or known. the music: chad's voice is great. clear, not whiny, strong and powerful- this is the kind of voice that should be the head of a band. not only does he have a great voice, but he can change his style of singing to fit the style of the song. the other two members, Chuck Fay and Mike Najarian, of the band are talented as well. The band has 4 albums out now, and all can be found on itunes!! All of the links below are to songs that I don't just like but love! If you are more of a pop fan, I suggest listening to "Right Me Up" more than the others because I think YOU will like it the best.

• "Knights of Bostonia"- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OcaK2THE-Q&feature=related
• "Right Me Up"- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jza3P3PBeQ4
• "Gang of Thieves"- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvm3FqtrmJw&feature=channel
• "Camilo"- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BkvRnUZJys&feature=fvw
  

the message: like I said earlier, most of their songs have some political motivation behind it. DO NOT let that make your opinion. They make wonderful songs; great music, and when it comes down to it.... that's all that really matters anyway. "Right Me Up" is about a friend of theirs with a disability, and "Camilo" is about another friend who served in Iraq.

the activism: this band practices what they preach!! not only do they talk about injustices in their songs and say that they support things, they do them. On their last tour they made it a point to do a service project in every town they stopped in, whether it be serving food at homeless shelters or building a playground! And they always want their fans to do the same. They encourage them to not only hope for and want change, but to BE the change they want to see. for more info: www.stateradio.com/about

bottom line: CHECK THEM OUT!!! it will really be worth your time!