oh summer, i miss thee

i would say that i had one of the best summers of my life.. :) i met and worked with some of the greatest people. i worked for the salvation army camp grandview. :) 
i was a counselor, and my co Gabriella and i were probably the best counselors ever, hah, im not biased at all. :)  

God has shown me that i have a passion for inner city kids, and kids that are less fortunate and are having a hard time. never once did i see myself having such a love for those little kids. the very first week of camp i had 19 little 9 year old girls. and i know you're not supposed to have favorites but i did. secoriah is her name.  

secoriah was quiet at first but she seemed to really open up to me after awhile. she would always sit next to me at meals and would be incredibly willing to help clean up after the meals. i called her my bug. <3 in the middle of the week she was crying one night and i went to talk to her, she was missing home, so i let her write a letter home, which i was supposed to send but i forgot too. anyways. on thursday the night before they were leaving she was crying again and i tried talking to her but she didnt want to talk to me. i didnt understand why and i was really concerned, especially since right before that she was leaning on me at our night program. finally i got her to nod, when i asked her questions. i said to her "are you crying because you're going to miss me?" and she shook her head yes, and that broke my heart. i cried when saying goodbye to her and i told her i'd never forget her. well the next week i was looking through my backpack and found her letter to her mom, i decided to read it, and after i did it just broke my heart. she had asked her mom if she even loved her..i just broke down and cried. i'm so glad i got to love on her for the week. :) 

Cydney was from week four. she is probably the cutest little girl in the world, okay not true, all of my girls were the cutest. but cydney was so scared of bugs and while it annoyed us, it was also cute. i didnt learn that much about her as i would have liked but i did enjoy having her in my cabin. :) 

week five brings me to my dear little chase. such a cute girl with an even cuter name. :) she was the quietest girl ever. i only heard her talk a few times. all week i kept asking her if i could take her home and she would always say yes, :) the headband im wearing, she gave to me. we never had to yell at her which was a good thing because all six weeks i think we always had to yell at the girls. i'm not really sure why i loved chase so much but i did, and i think about her a lot of the time. i have this picture framed and in my dorm room, i dont know why but she left an impression on me and i fell in love with her. 

which brings me to week six..week six was a stressful long week. i was emotionally and physically tired and i 


even got sick the second day. :( which i didnt like being away from my girls, and the little moments of them being concerned and missing me were the best moments of my life. 

Teriyana was thee most annoying obnoxious little girl of the whole six weeks. yet she was the one i liked the most.

which is weird being she annoyed me the most. she would call me miss sickness, yet she would always hold my hand and hug me. i had talked to my friend patty about her and she was like yeah she was in my cabin last week and i think theres something wrong cuz shes so clingy. i remember thinking oh great i dont want that. she was obnoxious to demarco and would kick him and stuff. one day it was chilly and i let her wear my old navy zip up sweater. on the day we were packing for them to leave i asked for my sweater back and she gave it to me and for some reason i just felt like i should let her keep it, so i did. i gave her it. her face lit up like a lightbulb and i was so confused as to why she was so excited to keep my sweater, after i gave it to her i just felt good and that i did the right thing. i'm glad that i got to give her it, because maybe she doesnt receive gifts like that, and im glad i could be the one to show her love. 
so my summer was really rewarding and i wouldnt change anything about it. i want to work there next summer or another salvation army camp but we'll see where God leads me, after all He's in charge. :)