Camp!

One of the things I got to do this summer was go up to Quaker Meadow!!! My church hosted a family camp over Fourth of July weekend, and I got to help run the children's program! It was so fun!

I went up later on for a week to help out the staff. I worked in the kitchen again, my home sweet home. Then I came home for a while, and then went back up for another week of helping out. Working at camp is what I love to do most. It makes me feel like I'm actually doing something productive with my summer!

I'm going back up to camp again today! I'm actually packing for the trip right this minute. I'll be leaving in less than an hour! I can't wait to be back up there!

Last time I was there, I got 3 new burns on my left arm. Hopefully I won't add to my burn collection this weekend!

I'm Back!

I realized today that I haven't blogged in a very, very long time, and I've decided to change that.

Nothing super exciting is happening for me right now, at least compared to the excitement I experienced in South Africa, but I can at least tell you about the ordinary things happening in my life.

I start school in 2 weeks, and I can't believe that it's going to be my last and final semester of college!!! I'm a little scared, but also looking forward to graduating. My books came in the mail today, which brought me back to the reality that I'll be reading them and writing papers very soon, so I need to enjoy the last couple weeks of summer that I have left!

This summer has flown by way faster than I expected. I thought that it was kind of a boring summer, but when I looked back on it, I actually realized that a lot of things happened! I'll post pictures and tell you all about it tomorrow!

New Blog

I told you I was going to make a new blog specifically for my time here in South Africa, and I have! I just made it a few minutes ago. It's called From South Africa with Love.

I won't be posting on here anymore for a while, so be sure to check my new blog to read all about my new home for the next few months!

11 Hours

I can't believe I'm basically leaving tonight for South Africa! It doesn't seem real yet.

I'm still not packed at all yet. That's my goal for this afternoon and tonight-get everything packed. I guess I don't really have a choice!

Last night I went to a commissioning service that the School of Nursing held for the 6 of us nursing students that are going to SA. The dean of the school and a couple other important ladies held it for us. The students that just returned from studying in SA during the fall semester also came. We had a lot of question and answer time with them. It was really nice and very encouraging. It made me really excited to go!

This morning the entire SA group had a meeting. One of the things we had to do was tell them whether or not we want to go bungee jumping and trekking through an "adventure cave." I chose not to do either. But I am interested in going shark cage diving! Hopefully we'll get to do that in Cape Town!

Tonight there's another commissioning service for the entire group. Our family and friends are supposed to come, so my parents will be joining me. We're going to go out to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant first! After that I can pack some more, and then it'll be time to meet at the school at 2:30am.

Please keep me and the rest of my group in your prayers as we travel for the next couple of days!


P.S. I'm going to start a new blog specifically about my time in SA. The nursing professors like to read what we're doing, so I'm going to start a blog for them. I'll post the link for it on here once I create it.

4 Days

Today I decided to tackle the chore of sewing APU's nursing patch onto the left shoulder of each pair of scrubs I'll be taking to South Africa. Unlike most of my family, I was not blessed with the gifted seamstress gene, so although I enjoy sewing, it's usually a long, difficult process for me.

I rented the new Sandra Bullock movie, "All About Steve," and worked on sewing the patch while watching it. When the movie was over, I was only a little over halfway done with the patch, and my fingers were dying with pain, so I asked my wonderful mother if she could do the second patch for me.

I finally got the first one finished, and in half the time it took me, my mom finished the second one. But, after adding the final stitch, she realized that she had sewn it on the right arm instead of the left! Now she's going to see if it can be sewn on with the sewing machine to save her talented fingers from another hour of agony.

Here's my finished result!


It turned out crooked- I told you I don't have the seamstress gene!

And just now my mom finished the second patch on the sewing machine. It only took about 5 minutes! Why didn't we think of that before?!?!

Question of the Day: What's the most space-efficient way to pack clothes in a suitcase?

Counting Down...

5 days until I leave for South Africa, and I have SO much to do between now and then! Ahhh!

Question of the day: Does anyone have any tips for surviving a 15-hour flight?

Pray for Haiti

In case you didn't already know, a 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti this afternoon, and it's estimated that a few thousand of people have died. Many buildings in the capital and surrounding area collapsed, and injured people are lying on sidewalks waiting for help. The country needs A LOT of prayer right now.

The earthquake hit in western Haiti, but was felt across the entire country. As far as I can tell, though, the area that I was in this past summer is fine. Apparently my friends in eastern Dominican Republic didn't even feel the quake, so they're ok too. I'm so thankful for that! But many of their family members were in Port-Au-Prince (the capital of Haiti).

Please keep the country in your prayers as people try to find their family members and bring help to those who are suffering.