Wrinkled Hands

Saturday November 8, 2008

So did I mention that we don’t have a dish washer??
I feel like much of my time is spent doing the dishes, doing the laundry, and just keeping our humble abode neat and tidy – boy do I sound like Mom!

While washing up tonight I realized this is my first real experience living in a house outside of home, if that makes sense. Senior year we were in a suite but it didn’t have a stove and the washer and dryer were upstairs . . . Over the summer we were in a house but that was only for three months and it didn’t have a washer or dryer either :-P
I guess this isn’t technically a “real house” either but pretty close! We have a kitchen and a laundry room and a living room area and a table, although we barely use it.

Anyway . . . This week – Wednesday through Friday:
The Group: Clairgate Primary School (Public)
The age: Year 5 and 6
Numbers: 6 groups, 90 campers, 5 teachers

It was pretty neat to have the opportunity to work with a public school group! No way would that happen at home; a public school coming to a Christian run organization for camp and on top of that having Christian Discovery (CD) which includes discussion groups and serious ministering to the kids – pretty cool!!

Some of the kids had a church going background but many didn’t so I had a few of those tricky “how do we know God is real?” questions and “how do we know the bible is real?” and “didn’t they find Jesus’ bones last year?” . . . I can’t help but think back to when I was a sixth grader and the people that were answering those questions for me – wow, so weird to be on the other side of those questions and eyes and ears now. Still accepting that fact and convincing myself that I am qualified for this!! Lol.

I had a pretty good group. As per the age, the biggest issue was getting them to be quite and listen but other than that it was a nice group of kids. Wednesday involved the 4K hike to and from the jetty before lunch and then another 4k+ hike in the afternoon. I was prepared for a lot of complaining but they were actually pretty enthusiastic! We went up past the abseiling cliffs to a look out along the ridge called pulpit rock. I had never been there before so was a little worried about getting lost but it was quite straight forward. On the way back I had them each pick or spot or hear something interesting then at the end we shared our interesting things and talked about how we can see God in nature and how only God could have created something as unique as a banksia tree – which has these odd cone/ flower things!

The group also did archery, orienteering, and canoeing. I ran my first archery session here. Allison was there so she watched and helped but I covered pretty much everything in my briefing so that was good. It was my first time briefing canoeing as well. Again, I remembered pretty much everything and the session went fairly smoothly, considering it was quite a windy day.

Having had a year 9 group and a year 3 and 4 group last week, it was interesting to have a year 5 and 6 group this week just for comparison. They really are right tin the middle. Still listen to you without too much attitude yet starting to define themselves and not as “willing and eager to please.”

Yup, so all is well here; a pretty low-key weekend. I went up to abseiling today with Mel to watch / help her set up for a weekend church group. I watched her set up the 6meter drop then she helped me set up the 10m. It was good practice. I stuck around for the session, part out of interest part out of nothing better to do at home! Had some nice chats with people from the church while they waited for their turn . . .

Talking with Mel on the way back down, we discussed how much people rely on you, the belayer, for constant encouragement and reassurance as they go down. They are really putting their trust in their belayer, we are their safety as they go down this cliff backwards – kind of a strange thought and a big responsibility!