The above statement being made with a tiring (yet fulfilling!) weekend at Youth Haven Ranch in mind.
Hello Reader,
I am currently in the process of recovering from one of the most tiring weekends of my life (as already previously stated). First, let's go back exactly one week, to Wednesday the 1st of December.
On Wednesday last, I barely got a wink of sleep. My thoughts were consumed with the daunting list of various tasks I needed to complete before the week's end! These thoughts kept me up until 2:00 A.M. Wednesday morning, leaving me with five hours in which I tossed, turned, and worried about the day ahead.
The first thing that popped to mind, was my Brit. Lit. Analysis. This particular Analysis had been postponed by my wonderful educator (Mrs. Vincent), over the Thanksgiving holiday. Regrettably, it was now due this upcoming Tuesday (which happened to be yesterday). Because I would be gone from Friday until Sunday, that left me two days to write up this bothersome paper. I'd been putting off writing up the 3-5 page Analysis for four weeks (I guess you could say I'm the "Master Procrastinator"...) and I wasn't exactly looking forward to writing it up over a two day period... Nevertheless, it needed to be done.
Here's were the complication arose. The second that popped to mind, was my Eagle Scout Rank Application, which was due that very day.
HOLYPURPLEFLYINGCOCKERSPAINIALSBATMAN! Was my immediate reaction... If I didn't have ALL of my paperwork typed up, filled out, signed off, etc., by December 1st, I couldn't be an Eagle Scout by this year. I had no other choice except to hold off on writing my Analysis one more day.
From morning until late afternoon, I worked on finishing up my Application and Workbook. When finally finished at 4:15, my mom drove me over to the Scout office to turn in my paperwork. Might I note that my paperwork totaled 25 pages? You heard me correctly, in order for one to become an Eagle Scout, the final step is to write up a lengthy amount of paperwork. Anyways, mom and I dropped off the paperwork just in the knick of time. When had only 10 spare minutes before the office was set to close. Talk about cutting it close!
This only meant one thing, I needed to write up my entire Literary Analysis on Thursday. *Sighs* another full day at the computer working on dreadful paperwork.
Undoubtedly, Thursday last was one of the longest days of my life. Pumping out 5 more pages of paperwork was no easy task.
Thursday came and went (AMEN).
FRIDAY, I woke up on a cheerful note, knowing that the past two days of vigorous work were about to pay off. In a few hours I'd be at HPA rehearsal, and directly from rehearsal, I'd be headed off with Isaac to go to Youth Haven.
Fast forward through HPA. When Isaac and I got to YHR, we unloaded our gear from the back of their vehicle and placed it under a pavilion. One thing I quickly noticed about the Ranch, was that every building had its own peculiar name. The dining hall is called, "The Deer Lodge", the gym is called, the "Chicken Coop" (maybe you get the idea now... Hahaha). Upon entering the dining hall (*Cough* "Deer Lodge"), I paid a Ranch employer named Rick the $50 fee, and met up with my group. MY group consisted of seven other people, Colleen H., Katherine L., Stephanie E., Melanie D., Adam D., Chris W., and Greg W.. Melanie and I were the only two from our group that had never volunteered at YHR before, and I'm pretty sure I was the only one in our group who didn't know for sure what to expect.
From the dining hall, the 8 of us ventured over to the gym (*Cough* the "Chicken Coop"). There, we played different sorts of games, interacting with the kids for the first time. Okay, really quick, for those of you who aren't familiar with Youth Haven Ranch, its essentially a ranch for underprivileged kids between the ages of 9 and 12 to come and spend a weekend (or week, in the summer) in a safe, fun environment where they're free to play games, have fun, and learn about Jesus.
After the games, Rick split us all up into "Teams." Now, for those of you who have ever been to Camp Barakel, a "Team" is the equivalent to a "Tribe." Within a Team are between 8 and 10 kids, a Team Leader, an L.I.T., and a Volunteer (at least, that's how it worked for this particular weekend). I was assigned to a group with 6 kids, a Team Leader named Paul, and an L.I.T named Josh.
To describe the entire weekend in detail seems impossible to me now... I thought that along the way I would be taking mental note of everything important that happened, but now I realize that to type all of it up would be... Overwhelming. There is such a large list of things I could write about, that I simply do not know where to begin. I suppose it would be best to expand on the highlights.
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As you can tell, I started this blog post a while back. In the past few weeks I have been busy as ever... I very much desired to complete this post a while ago, detailing my adventures at YHR, but to be completely honest, I can only recall bits and pieces from that weekend. Indeed, the paragraph last I appeared to have an endless list of things to discuss, but as of now, I am having a challenging time remembering parts of my time there. *_*
Summary: I love spending time with kids. Kids in general are pretty downright hilarious. What I find heartbreaking, is the fact that the kids I went to serve, came from underprivileged homes. Going into the weekend at YHR, not having volunteered before, I really did not know what to expect. What troubled me most was that I wasn't sure how I should treat the kids. How strict was I supposed to be? How lenient was I supposed to be?
Thankfully, my questions were answered as the weekend progressed. Some of the kids were well behaved, while others needed extra attention in order to keep them out of trouble. Fortunately, volunteering wasn't nearly as challenging as I'd built it up to be in my head to be. With a little determination, I was able to encourage the kids in a variety of ways.
In my time spent with the kids, I learned to appreciate what I, myself, had. These kids helped me put my world back into perspective and realize that each day should be treasured. I have it so good here at home, and these kids might not have it the same. Disheartening, but true.
I'm thinking I'd like to be a counselor this summer... We shall see.
It has taken me roughly three weeks to finish this post! Oh my, that is NOT cool. The most over-used excuse in my library of excuses is "I got busy." Also disheartening, but equally true. Life lately has been a whirlwind of busy, busy, busy, busyness... Thankfully, I am now on break, but that does not mean the busyness of life has gotten any LESS-busy (and for the sake of overusing the word "busy" in one paragraph, let's use it a few more times, shall we?).
BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!
This has officially become rambling, and I SHOULD stop. Will I? No.
Recent events include:
An amazingly wonderful senior and alumni HPA Lansing breakfast the other day.
An equally amazing white elephant party my family held later that day.
Grandma coming into town for a visit (whilst showering us with thoughtful Christmas gifts [comforters, ornaments, pocket knives, electric toothbrushes, etc])
BTA and the Asian brothers stopping over for a visit.
A lunar eclipse which is set to take place tomorrow morning at 3:30 A.M. (first one in 372 years ya know).
ALSO, I recently started a second blog page where I'm showcasing my poetic works. I've only posted once so far, and will continue to do so over the weeks to come, but I just wanted to make you aware if you weren't already. Here is the link: http://mellmeds.blogspot.com/
I'm hoping to receive feedback on my works as I post them. If I fail to receive a substantial amount of feedback, I shall be forced to delete the blog page... The whole reason I created it in the first place is so I might receive criticism (positive or negative). I would encourage you to read my posts from the very beginning! It gives a fine statement for why I am posting what I am posting.
For those of you who read this all the way through (Hahaha, Ferg), thanks! Sorry if I bored you with my ramblings. The next post will be better! I promise!
Thank you for reading!
~Jacob
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