And finally sleep

OO-Ahhh!
It's been a busy past 4 days. Actually make that 5. Let's begin at Friday...

Friday:
Morning off I went to Newtown, just cos I could and had been thinking about it for the past few years, to look for a nice floppy hat. It's a sleepy suburb, turns out most stores dont open till about 11am. So hat mission, failed. Aside for the numerous eateries, Newtown's not as interesting as I was expecting. Or maybe it was the early hour and my lack of direction.
I stopped by Parra to continue the hat search. Was tempted by cd's but I managed to refrain (the thought is still there though...maybe I'll go back...hmm). Unsatisfied with the hat collection I went home empty-handed once again. Except for some fabric that took me literally 20mins to select. Oh decisions.
As soon as I got home, it was onto the baking of shortbread!
No time to rest yet. Onto the combined Girls and Boys Brigade and local youth group beach camp at Anna Bay it was! I'm so glad that I didnt have to drive. The car would have struggled and I would have been weary.
No dramas getting there, just once we got there it was stinking hot and some tents were being a tad rebellious. Got them setup eventually thanks to the boys and hit the sack (or my 1cm thick bedroll rather) round 1am? Some obscene late hour. It was a long day, but not as long as Saturday...

Saturday-Sunday:
Good morning, rise and shine...at 7am? Some obscene early hour. The short of it: breakfast, beach, lunch, beach. It was a beach camp after all. Second time round to the beach was good, it had been a tad overcast earlier. We played a game similar to Tips running round and over sand dunes. Great game.
All hot and sweaty after running around like a mad rabbit? What better way to cool off than going into the water. Which I precisely did. What better way to be put off staying in the water than being caught in a rip and scared your lungs off? Which I precisely did.
My goodness, I was in there a mere 5mins as I walking in with Kate. Something above waist deep, the next wave I seemed to be a couple of metres away from her.

"Hmm I'd prefer to be closer to shore, but it's still ok" I thought, as I looked to where some other friends were further out.
Next wave coming. Breathe in. *whoosh* Breath out.
"Hmm, this is getting a tad too deep for my liking, think I'll start to head back".
Another wave. Breath in *whoosh* Breathe out.
"Erm everyone seems quite far."
*Kick, kick. Feet struggle to touch the ground. Help please*
Breathe in *whoosh* Breathe out
"Help please somebody. You're close James"
Breathe in *whoosh* Breath out
"Struggling muchly. Thanks for the attempted shove but I'm not getting any closer to shore"
Breathe in *whoosh* Breath out
Breathe in *whoosh* Breath out
"Help!" *wave arm for lifeguards*
Breathe in *whoosh* Breath out
"Help! I'm trying to kick my legs as you're telling me, but these legs, they do nuting. Please help" *wave*
Breathe in *whoosh* Breath out
Breathe in *whoosh* Breath out
"Why is no one coming? Thanks James" *wave*
Breathe in *whoosh* Breath out
Breathe in *whoosh* Breath out
Breathe in *whoosh* Breath out
"Struggling. Extremely disheartened. Thanks" *wave*
Breathe in *whoosh* Breath out
Breathe in *whoosh* Breath out

I eventually made it back with wobbly legs after what felt like forever, even though I know it probably went for a minute or so. Without the help of any life guards mind you. They did have their boats out not long after. I didnt stop being short of breath once out of the water either. My poor Year 8 girls, some of them had been caught too, would have been soo scary for them too. Same for some of the younger boys too. It'd be dramatic to say that it was traumatic, but I dont think I'll forget the experience for a long while to come. I'm not scared of the water, but I will definitely be cautious in venturing too far next time. Thanks James, my super dooper hero!
And so the group went back to the caravan park... to the pool. I watched.

Later prompted by the haphazard sprinkling from the sky, I hit the roll at 8:30. Sunday was not to come yet however. Sharing a tent with the other leaders, Leanne, Aleesha and Kate, it was all action. They did a great job running out to the girls, making sure they had enough dry clothes and were ok. Like when they came back drenched from a walk along the beach at 9pm. Like when all 5 of the girls tents collapsed and/or leaked at 3am. So windy and wet, many had to resort to sleeping in cars! I awoke again at 6:30am, helping others pack away all the tents in the rain, shoving clothes into bags and eskies. Many bags had pools of water in them, so all the mobile phones that shouldnt have been present were ruined. We were gone by 9am and I got home by 1:30pm.
Sooo cold. Sooo wet. But otherwise it had been a good weekend really.
Dry off, sew up gift bags.
And off to church at 6:30, looking after the oh-so-cute kiddies.
Finally 10:30, sleeeeep.

But wait there's more, Monday:
Met up 7:30am with my church youth leader peoples, and off to the Youth Ministry Conference at Moore College in the city . The soreness hit me. All muscles that I moved had a whinge. Having sore butt muscles was an unusual feeling I must say. Pain from laughing created conflict. Learn from my mistake, next time you go running round sand dunes on a camp, make sure you stretch afterwards! Basically at the conference we: listen to talk, morning tea, listen, lunch, listen, arvo tea, listen & talk, free time, dinner, mini listen. 9:30 got home.
Note the eatings. That was a lot of food (good food) for people that were being completely sedentary, thus much fullness. And of COURSE you had to fit in dessert - a berry and cream cheese pastry thing that I'm sure of the name of, mmm. The sedentariness was for a worthwhile purpose though, our minds were being filled with much useful info about how we can connect with today's youth so then we can be more equiped to tell them about God's love for them. A main point that I got from it was to do things through love. You dont try to be like the world to tell them about what Jesus did, but rather, being distinct through how you live eg. opting to go to church, so you can see how others are going and encourage them, rather than staying home to watch a footy final on tv. The former being the loving thing to do... Hope that makes sense. That's an extremely brief summary. You're free to ask me other stuff, I'll try not to waffle too much :)
Other thing that I was awed by, was the numerous amount of people that are so willing to go out there and tell the youth about God. Tops. And the freedom we have in Australia to just go out there and do it, and the training we can get. Very lucky.

Back home, I still had to decorate the shortbread for my Yr 8 Girls Brigade girls, write up a short tag thanking them for coming this year and how they each contributed. It certainly was great having these girls. Hope they did learn and grow in Christ. And then finalise a cd with photos they had taken during the term, with a slideshow that I made for them.
12am: sleeeeep

Tuesday:
Early start again. Still sore but lessened. Listen, morning tea, Dealing with discipline worshop (was handy), Teaching time workshop, lunch, listen, 3:30 head home. Wrap girls' gift. Off to Girls' Brigade for our party night. 9pm, all over.

Finally I rest. *happy sigh* I dont mean to sound like I'm boasting my busyness. Just find it quite exciting really. Thanks God for giving me the strength to get through these few days, actually this entire year and not be too stressed with the various commitments. They were quite enjoyed, surprisingly.
I've still got stuff on each night till Sunday, but at least I've got the daytime to recover. I am on 'holidays' after all. Oh and well done if you managed to get through this bulk. Haha.