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!

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...

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!

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

Tradition

With the Christmas season in full swing, I always look forward to all the traditions we do every year.

A few years ago, we started going to Nations Tree Farm out in Schagiaticoke. It's huge and even has a back field which we always end up going to because we can never find a tree up in the front! We always seem to get our tree 2 weeks before Christmas, sometimes a week and a half, but this year we got our tree the first week in December! It's great! It's all lighted and decorated and looking pretty! Now we don't have to worry about huge snowstorms coming! Bring it on, Weather!

Ever since we started going to Oakwood, we've always gone to the Christmas Program. A few more years and we probably won't since Dave graduates in 2010. It's bittersweet since I've participated in ALOT of those programs...

Then, of course, there's the family Christmas parties! I always love these! I feel so blessed because pretty much most of my extended family lives in NY and we can get together around the holidays! It's one of those things I'm thankful for: that I can have relationships with my extended family because not everyone does....at these family festivities when we were all little, "Santa" would come to visit us at the Wallace Christmas party, but Grandpa always seemed to miss him by a minute...now we're all grown up so "Santa" doesnt make his appearance much anymore because now we're all smart and know that there really isnt a Santa Claus....but then again, there's some little guys (and a little girl on the way!) now, so maybe we should give "Santa" a call and tell him to drop by soon...

Christmas Eve comes and every year we go the Christmas Eve service at church...a few years, Laura, Mike, and I were on the Teen Mission Team and we did the service...once I was in the teen choir and then 2 other years I was working in the Tech booth...i remember the one year we incorporated some scenes from "It's A Wonderful Life" and how quick we all had to be in the tech booth to fade out the scene....Jake Russo said, "Anybody who thinks that was hard, raise your hand."....we all did!.....After the service, we'd go home and pig out on appetizer foods, veggies, chips and dip, and cheese and crackers....just recently the harry and david dip and sausage cheeseballs have made it into the menu! While we feasted, we would pop in A Christmas Carol (with George C. Scott) and watch it all night until it was time to go to bed. We've done this ever since I was little and it will be weird when I don't anymore...but I'm thinking too far ahead....for right now, this is my family's Christmas Eve tradition.

As for Christmas Day....we'll we do what everyone does....eat breakfast (specifically the sour cream coffee cake Mom makes for every Christmas)...and then we open PRESENTS! the Grandparents from both sides come to our house and then later in the day we have a big turkey dinner!

My favorite tradition is that we've always had family around for Christmas....not one Christmas has gone by without family being there (except for that one Christmas Dad and Mike were in Texas, but that's where the great invention of the phone comes in! haha)

So as Christmas gets closer, I pray that you will be able to spend it with family... and lets not forget why we celebrate Christmas!

Christmas challenge: Read the book of Luke and celebrate the reason why we celebrate this joyous season!