Wednesday, February 11, 2009

A Glimpse of Spring

Today it was 56 degrees outside....

(I can see your jaws dropping already)

56 degrees in February...IN NEW YORK!

What a fabulous day! I'm actually wearing shorts! :) I love snow but its starting to get old. I think everybody in New York is feeling the same way as me...the snow started in December and has just kept on coming. I feel bad for those poor WOLBI students up in Schroon! last year when i was up there for school, the snow didnt fully melt until i was already up there for Spring semester...anyway, I'm just thankful for this 56 degree weather because then our ice skating rink of a driveway will melt a little! Every time i set foot on my slippery driveway, i felt like i should have put on ice skates instead of shoes!

Unfortunately, this amazing weather is only lasting throughout today...enjoy it while it lasts!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

My sister gets to go to Disney.....

okay, I'm a little jealous and here's why: 1) I've always wanted to go to Disney World, and 2) I was just a day pass away from getting into the park last december.

last december i went down to FL to visit the FL BI and also see Sights and Sounds of Christmas (which was fabulous, i might add!). The day i had to leave, me, desiree, her parents, her grandparents, and the zerbini twins decided to visit Downtown Disney. At first I was thrilled. who wouldnt? hearing "Downtown Disney" seems like your going to go into the park. when we got there, i realized "downtown disney" was just a shopping area. Now it was cool place, and i had fun, but it wasnt the park! i even got a big button that said "first time at disney".....yeah downtown disney. what even made it worst was we went for a ride on this elevated subway thing and it went through some of the park. Seeing the inside of the park and not being able to get inside is like you Mom showing a little kid a juicy piece of candy and not giving it to him.

I probably sound like I'm whining but I'm not...I did have a good time even though I never set foot in the park. I was actually in Orlando, FL...somewhere I never thought I'd visit, but it still gets me down how I was so close to the park and not be able to enjoy it.

One of these days.....hopefully.

All I'm saying is I better get a souvenier! ;)

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Busy Bee

busy, busy...thats me. it's been awhile since my last post. well, obviously, now its 2009! last weekend I went to Word of Life for the Missions Conference. It was a great weekend, not just because the conference was so good, but I also got to see many of my friends I went to WOLBI with last year, plus I saw a few friends I wasn't expecting on seeing. :)....It was very weird to be up there and not be a student, but it was still good to have a few people there that I could hang out with. This week has been different work-wise. Instead of working monday, tuesday, and wednesday, I'm working everyday, Mon.-Sat.!! Luckily, a new girl has been hired to be the other page, so this is only a one-week thing, of course i would mind the extra money because me and my friend Bethany have decided to save up money to take a trip to Prince Edward Island, Canada...and with my new camera, I would have so much fun taking pictures there!

Hope all of you are having a great week! :)

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

A Year in review...

As 2009 is only hours away, I can't help but think of this past year and all that has happened in my life:

January:
Welcome 2008! The day after New Years I have to tavel back up north to Word of Life for the Winter Semester, and with the Winter semester comes SnowCamp: 8 eight weekends of no sleep, counseling teenagers ages 12-18, working outside for 40 hours in the snow and cold and on top of that, 20 hours of school every week, studying, homework and study hours....did I mention lack of sleep?....even though this seems very overwhelming, Winter semester was one of my favorites! people always say bible college students get too comfy in their surroundings but this bible college does the exact opposite during the winter semester. For 6 out of the 8 weekends I was an outdoor supervisor and the other 2 I counseled. I became good friends with a lot of my fellow classmates and Snowcamp brought us all closer as a team and as a family of God. It was at the end of January where I was one of the first to get the flu...it took me almost a month to finally get totally better.

February:
SnowCamp rolls on and my flu is just starting to disappear. The Giants go to the Superbowl and beat the "perfect regular season" Patriots. A lot of us WOLBI students watched the game on a projector in the Annex...good times...Things are going great on the Mega Tubehill....a few weeks before the end of camp, we supervisors decide to build a jump in between turn 2,3, and 4, which we affectionately call the Mega Jump....we had all gone off of it, even me, except one. we all told her she could do it and that it was fun, so she went for it....and ended up going to the hospital for a neck injury. Poor Danielle, and she was on the Collegians and they were heading for Florida for JBTM, the next day...Fortunately she recovered and was able to participate in the Easter porduction.

March:
The first weekend in March was the last weekend for Snowcamp...it was an amazing camp season...we saw 293 decisions made for Christ and hundreds, i think over a thosand, rededications....after snowcamp was over, we had one more week before going home for spring break. It was so good to relax after a busy semester. My birthday was on the 22nd...I turned 19. My Mom, Grandma, my sister and I went to a skating show like we do every year. that year a lot of my favorite skaters were there so it was extra amazing! After 10 or so days, its time to go back up to WOLBI. There's still alot of snow on the ground but you can feel spring coming...

April:
The snow begins to significantly melt and Schroon Lake begins to rise...a lot! This semester I am placed on a Ministry Team. Some of the things I did with my team was help at the Teens Involved Regionals, help out at a Father/Son Retreat on Campus, and then filled in for missing people in food services for a week.

May:
The snow is gone! Green is everywhere now! Its warming up and people are spending their free time or eating their meals outside. One weekend we have Campus Days and some of my FCG friends come! The last weekend in May is the Founders Conference. Harry Bollback, Harold Reimer, and more are present to help celebrate those who helped start WOL. Don Lough is put into the WOL Hall of Fame. Up on the stage with him is his oldest daughter, Alyssa. I had no idea that next month, I would become her discipler....The last big event of the WOLBI academic year is the Spring Banquet. It was so much fun to dress in my bridesmaids dress that i wore for Laura's wedding. During summer break, I see my cousin Scott get married to Ethel.

June:
After summer break, the summer camping season begins and so does all of the WOLBI student's "Final Exam". Of course, my desination for the summer is the Family Campground! where else?!...I, along with 3 others, am a Food Prep supervisor. The first few weeks were really rough, but after a while, the newbies began to get the hang of it. On top of being a supervisor and a discipler, I am also given the privilege of being a small group leader for the monday night meeting for the staff....Being these 3 different thing took me out of my comfort zone, but I knew it was good for me and it helped me grow spiritually.

July:
Happy Fourth of July. Schroon Lake hosts their annual 4th of July bash and all of us FCGers go to see the concert on the beach and of course, fireworks, and we all gave eachother firework personalities. Camping season goes on, and some days are better than others. It's at this point where I begin rethinking about going to 2nd year and the culinary program. The Staff has a dodgeball competition on the tennis courts. I find myself on the team called "The Porch Players". we're all dressed up in 80s garb and get this, we actually win the entire competition! Me and a bunch of my friends go to my house on our day off and relax and watch Alaadin and old staff videos...and of course, we went to Wal-mart! thats where everyone goes on their day off!

August:
Camp is almost over and graduation is closing upon all of us WOLBI students. The Staff Banquet this summer is 50s themed so all of us scramble around trying to put together costumes...thats where the Share Shop comes in! The banquet is a success and we all have a blast! There are pictures of it and the dodgeball competition on my facebook page. August 16th-Camp Ends. We say goodbye to eachother, mostly the STCers who leave that very day. its a sad day for me because I say goodbye to some of my closest friends who I wont see for a year and some, maybe never again.
The next day, I and my fellow classmates graduate. I should be estatic, but I have a cold and all I want to do after the ceremony is go home...now, don't get me wrong, I was happy that day, but when your all congested and keep blowing your nose every 10 minutes, you just want to go home. Finally, I'm home and a WOLBI graduate but I'm only home for a few days and then we're off to Gettysburg, PA. After the family trip, I start the next Monday working at the local library.

September:
As this month came, I couldnt help but think of all the students that would be traveling to WOLBI for either 1st year or 2nd year. I was still thinking about 2nd year at this time but I never bit the bullet and didnt decide in time. Laura's birthday was on the 5th. She turned 24. Grandma W. also celebrated her birthday this month as well. Dave started his Junior year. I'm enjoying working at the library. It's now that I decide to at least go back to the FCG for next summer.

October:
Many many birthday this month: my Dad, Grandpa W., Uncle Norm, Renee, Aunt Mar (I think), and now baby Ethan. I start driving to and from church on Sundays. Fall has started and we are able to go apple picking once. I help Mom make apple pies and still think about the culinary program.

November:
Me and Mom go to the United Tour that Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman performed at. Amazing! Me and Bethany Opalka hang out one Sunday and we go see Fireproof....amazing (x2)!!....I'm loving my job at the library and love the ladies I work with. They are all so funny! I finally decide that I want to go back to WOL for 2nd year and try to get into the culinary program up there!!!!! Me, Laura, Nick, Mike and Dave go to the Troy Turkey Trot. They ran but I just watched with Lauren, Mrs. Marchese, and Mr. Marchese. got some good pictures of them! me and my family spend thanksgiving at our house. Grandma and Grandpa Wallace come as so Sarah and Jeremy with Landon. It was great food and fellowship and after the meal we all looked at Black Friday deals from the paper. me and Laura go out on Black Friday, and I get lots of shopping done.

December:
Merry Christmas! what a month! busy busy busy with work parties and family parties and then of course, we all got slowed down by the Ice Storm of 2008. thanks to NYSEG for restoring the power! the ice storm showed us whats important, especially at this time of year: Family.....

2008 was crazy but it was a growing year for me, mostly spiritually.....I hope that 2009 will be even better than 2008, and I pray that all of you will have a happy and healthy new year....GOD BLESS!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Snowy Days

Here's some snow action that we had today! lucky for me...now i have to go shovel it! at least its light snow...

Friday, December 19, 2008

Let it **SNOW**

This weekend we're expecting ALOT of snow! Actually, its snowing right now! Its also a Friday...this brings me back to WOL Snowcamp last year....we all return to a winter wonderland...as only Pottersville can be at the beginning of January...i havent been back half an hour and i already see people slipping and sliding and some even falling and i can't help but think over and over..."I will not fall down!" amazingly, I only fell down once and that was towards the end of camp....at the beginning of camp we didnt have a lot of snow...I remember the first weekend, we had to move a bunch of snow around so we could operate the mega tubehill. it was a lot of hours of moving snow with hands and shovels and in the end, we all had bonded...actually we bonded a couple times since we had to move snow more than once....I thought we'd be doing this every weekend, and since I was an outdoor supervisor, I was required to be at the tubehill every weekend unless I was counseling.....man, was I wrong!...the second week of camp was when it started...God opened up the skies! one second we thought we'd be moving snow and then we go on a 10 minute break during class and find out that its snowing...more like blizzarding! we were all so excited and couldn't wait for class to end so we could go outside and play in the snow! fixing the mega tubehill was a breeze after that! all we had to do was pat down the snow to firm up the walls and have all of us supervisors and workers to grab a tube and go down the tubehill to get the snow packed down and ready for the campers...and God was so good to bless us with snow every Friday for the rest of the Snowcamp season...I had a blast being an outdoor supervisor on the Mega tubehill and I hope who ever the supervisors are this year will have as a great a time as us last year...but nothing beats the Liz/Danielle/Josh/Eric/Sondra/Dan team!!!

Happy Snowing!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Christmas Song...

I found this great Christmas song by Third Day....hope you like it! i did! its a great reminder of why we celebrate Christmas.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfyBEk_R2aQ