Confessions of a Teenage Drama Counselor

Here are some things I learned my first week of church camp this summer:

1. I don't like plunging toilets full of others' excrement.

2. Jesus wants me to be willing to do things that I don't like for Him - even if it is plunging toilets.

3. I hope I will have the strength to grin and bear it as life throws toilets in need of plunging my way.

4. No amount of washing your hands can make you feel clean after you plunge a toilet.

5. If you want a broken doorknob fixed, grad a Phillips and do it yourself.

6. I wonder why it took me until the last day to figure out number 5.

7. When you are a foster parent of a high-energy child, you indeed can get more rest at camp...even when you are the counselor for senior high girls.

8. Teenage girls don't go to sleep at "lights out" now any more than they did when I was that
age...and I still don't think they should.

9. Horses on trail rides can get spooked even when the man leading the trail rides assures you it will most likely not happen.

10. The trail leader was right when he said to keep weight on your legs because you WILL fall
off the horse if it gets spooked and takes off when you don't have said weight in your legs.

11. Kids you had to convince to get on the horse don't take it well when their horse gets spooked and multiple others fall off their horses - hyperventilation can and most likely will occur under these circumstances.

12. Young girls caught up in their Judge Judy skit won't stop their skit if they're "not finished" until you clap them off the stage.

13. Some adults care about cabin cleanup as much as the campers and I am not one of them.

14. Grown ups can grow just as much spiritually as the kids at camp.

15. The verse on the mirror the counselor was asking if you noticed and/or read is not "Please do not flush sanitary products down the toilet."

Kealanish

I will now write a dialogue full of things you might hear Kealani say. If you need it, there will be an interpretation throughout.

Kealani: I need to eat some Ramen noodles with hot sauce. I am on the counch (couch) looking for the remoke (remote). When I find it we are goin to the cah (car) where we gonna put on our seek belks (seat belts). We gotta go to Wal Mark (Wal Mart). We already been there twice times today. I hope we don't see a tormato (tornado). Turn on the radio Big Banilla Head (Joy)...please! Now my name is Kealani and when I get done sangin (singing) I'm gonna point to you and then it's your turn to sang. If you don't sang I'm gonna...

Joy: Watch what is coming out of your mouth little girl!

Kealani: ...I'm gonna say, "That's okay." *Musical interlude...I wanna go together (to heaven), I wanna go together (to heaven). You got stank bref girlfriend. Can we go to sebun elebun and get an I-S-E-E, I see (icee)? Don't forget to cook me some Ramen noodles with hot sauce. Can I go swimmin? I'm savin up my money to buy my mom a house.

Joy: How much money do you think you would need to buy a house?

Kealani: Twenty or thirty dollars.

Joy: It would take a little more than that.

Kealani: Okay. Thirty-one dollars.

:)

Don't Forget About the Duck in the Water

Over the past couple of months I have tried to provide my ward with fun and memorable experiences. We have been to Texas, shopping, to the park umpteen times, to the movies, had a tea party, had many other fun activities, and been many other exciting places. However, I have found that the simplest things are what she enjoys the most. We could swim all day every day this summer in our pool for free and she would be perfectly happy.

Today before my friend Jill picked her up to hang out with her brother for a while, we walked over to said pool to see if anybody was swimming. We didn't find any people in the pool but there was a pretty little mallard duck that looked as content to be in the pool as Kealani herself. She was so thrilled at the sight of the duck in the pool that she squealed with glee. *Both she and I were much happier to see the duck in the water than the snake we found last week. Shortly after the duck sighting, she went with her brother and Jill. She didn't mention it again once she got home a couple hours later.

When bedtime approached we popped in the Disney classic Pollyanna and she quickly started falling prey to Mr. Sandman. As I eased away from her once she was unconscious, the jolt woke her ever so slightly and as clear as day she said, "Don't forget about the duck in the water." The simplest and most forgettable event of the day (to me anyway) was the one thing her mostly asleep little brain thought of before she dozed back off again.

As adults, we get so bogged down with the busy little details in life that we don't think about the little things which excited us as children. So I would like to pass the same advice onto you that I got from a sleeping seven year old sage...Don't forget about the duck in the water!

Have a blessed day!