this past week....

WOW....this last week has been absolutely amazing on multiple fronts. I don't even know where to start, because there are so many things that I want to say. Maybe we should start with Camp Rainbow....this year my placement for JLH was the American Diabetes Association Camp for kids with juvenile diabetes (and their siblings). It was possibly the best thing I have ever volunteered for. Here is one of the reasons...these girls:

There were about 40 girls that were in the placement, and these girls were in my group - the blue group called the rockets...so appropriately named since the theme for this camp was "every day is a holiday at camp rainbow" and our holiday was July 4th. And don't think that everyone else's flag was as good as ours...no, theirs wasn't -- because they don't have an AWESOME person named SD in their group who would totally bling out their flag. it was FANTASTIC.

Anyway, these girls are just so amazing. I mean AMAZING. I couldn't have asked for a better group of girls -- they were all so laid back, easy to get along with and so freaking funny. We probably spent more time laughing than anything else, and we all just meshed so well together. Everyone comes from different backgrounds and has a different "life" but there was just something about these each of these ladies that just made me adore them...SO. VERY. MUCH. And we all just worked so well together -- everyone just stepped up at the right times and there was never a bad (or dull) moment. And everyone was willing to pull their weight and never complain - which I appreciated even more (because there were some groups where that was not necessarily the case!) I just don't know that I could say enough about how much I HEART these girls and how truly amazing they really are.

And our kids....WOW. They were so cute and so sweet. I wish I could post a picture of them -- but I don't think I can -- but all 21 of them truly hold a special place in my heart. They were so excited to be there and you would have never known that most of them were diabetic until they had to check their blood sugar or had to take their insulin. They just didn't let their diabetes stop them (or even slow them down) in any way, shape or form. And it didn't stop them from running around like banshees or trying to soak me during the water tag game or doing cannon ball after cannon ball trying to soak the counselors sitting on the sidelines. The great thing about this camp was that they all had diabetes (or were siblings of those with diabetes) and were all in the same boat. You would hear them comparing stories, or talking about their insulin pumps or how much they wanted the Pod. They would ask each other if they were feeling low or high and just genuinely check up on each other. They were just so stinking cute.

The other great thing....meet Steve....or that is what the kids named him.

The best thing about Steve was he pissed off the local peacock. (Yes, there were LOTS of animals at this retreat site. ) I wish I would have taken video...but I didn't think about it soon enough. Here is a picture of the chase:

And when I say chase, I mean, they chased after each other for HOURS. The kids got such a kick out of trying to find them and then watching them chase through the bushes, around the building and even more when the peacock would catch the chicken and peck at him. SO funny. 

The great thing was that this time allowed me to clear my head, and take some time off of work, away from stress and just play. I had no responsibilities except playing with my kids, no blackberry, no nothing - all day long. And it was absolutely fantastic. I also stayed with my friend RH and got to play with her family and didn't have to worry about cleaning my house, or washing or anything remotely resembling "normal life". I also got lots of hugs and kisses from WHH - which I LOVED. I taught him lots of great sayings like "Auntie Karen is my FAVORITE". He is like a broken record right now, repeating everything you say so it is so cute to just say things and hear him repeat them over and over again. 

I also got to spend a lot of time with God this week....and it was exactly what I needed. Some things happened this week that, well, were exactly what I didn't want, but ironically, God showed me that they were exactly what needed to happen. Had I not been in such a good place, I would have cried for days. But not this time -- I prayed about it a LOT and it was one of those amazing times of praying and crying and all of a sudden it was like my prayers were answered and I was overcome with an immense peace. It's happened before, and I can only say that God would have had to make that happen, because when I get that upset, well, I can't calm myself. Trust me, I have tried. 

And in a way that only God can, in addition to the peace that God had given me, the biblestudy that I am doing had studies that night and the next night that were EXACTLY what I needed. They reminded me that God was doing things in my life that were apart of his plan and that I just needed to trust in Him. 

And that is exactly what I am doing. Trusting in Him. I see all of the joy that He has brought into my life in the last week and even though He also brought pain and a friendship that is now lost forever, I know that this is all part of His plan and His plan is way better than my plan will ever be. And therefore, I will just keep on trusting in Him.

And to just top off the week, I stepped on the scale and had lost another 5 lbs last week (and that 5 lbs of elusive water weight thats been coming and going for a while-- for a total of 10 lbs). Yeah, thats what packing your lunch and eating good snacks and dinner can do for you. And drinking at least 150 oz of water every day...and sweating your butt off outside while chasing after 21 kiddos. And in case you were keeping count...that was 19% of my beginning body weight. 19.4% to be exact. And if that isn't the best thing to end such an amazing week, I don't know what would be!