Bare Feet and Freezy Pops

When I sat down to write this blog, my first sentence was going to be, "This summer has been the best I've ever had." But then I realized that that statement is not exactly true. I have had some awesome summers, but I would say the icing on the cake was last summer, which was complete with marrying the love of my life and going on the perfect honeymoon to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. All that aside, Summer 2010 is running a close second to Summer 2009- and it's not even close to being over yet.

Last week, I worked at Youth Leadership Forum camp in Chickasha, Oklahoma. While I had been looking forward to YLF, I was not exactly sure what to expect and therefore was not as excited as I get about other forthcoming events. However, YLF far surpassed my expectations, and I had a phenomenal week. Following staff training on Monday, the campers arrived on Tuesday morning, some of them 2 hours early because they were so anticipating the week. The first thing I noticed about my campers is that they were all extremely high functioning. After working for nearly three summers at a camp which accepts people with an immensely wide disability range, this was a surprise to me. I was even more shocked to find out that all of the campers were responsible for their own personal care needs- another big change from Camp Summit. Our group was shy at first (minus one boy, who I found out later actually lives on my street) but opened up as the week went by. I feel like we made good connections with all of the students in our group and gave them some valuable resources they can use in the pursuit of their goals. My favorite thing about this camp is that it is that it is a leadership camp for people with disabilities. I would venture to say that most people do not think people with disabilities have leadership skills. I loved sitting down with the campers at night, hearing the goals they have for their lives, and realizing that they could actually accomplish those goals. We got to go with the kids one day to the Oklahoma State Capitol, where they were able to sit on the House of Representatives floor and debate a bill. They got to be treated like competent, worthy adults. Here are two quick examples of what YLF is all about.
1. Duane
I know you're not supposed to have favorite campers, but Duane was definitely mine. Duane was loud, hilarious, and socially awkward, but most importantly, he was himself and everyone loved him for it. From his weak social skills and apparent lack of common sense, one might assume that Duane could not accomplish much with his life. After talking with him throughout the week, though, we learned that he has plans to become a robotic engineer- and honestly I think he could do it and love it. Duane had us all in stitches at various times throughout the week- singing EVERY WORD of a rendition of Hakuna Matata, racing around the dance floor instead of dancing, and introducing himself to everyone as "____ Duane ____, and I'll be a SENIOR at Durant High School!"
2. Diamond
For whatever reason, Diamond and I just clicked. We really couldn't be more opposite in many ways, but that didn't matter. Diamond wants to be a special ed teacher. As we were filling out paperwork, I noticed that Diamond has A LOT of difficulty with reading and writing. A lot. She said she has struggled all through school with this, so she will be able to understand kids in her class who are having difficulties. She has already been accepted to Cameron University, and I think she'll make a better teacher than me one day.
I'm not sure YLF holds the same place in my heart that Camp Summit does, but it is a great place nonetheless.

I was commended at camp this past week for missing out on all the hard work of moving. People asked me if I had planned that on purpose. I hadn't. We have unbelievable families and a great church family who made the transition seamless. I never thought we would be settled into our home a mere two days after picking up the U-Haul truck, but all we lack is hanging a couple of things on the walls! The past few days, I have felt like I am just playing house. Our new home is beautiful, and I am still surprised that it is actually ours. I pray that we will be good stewards of this place and use our home to reach out to our community.

Back to the "best summer ever", I will reevaluate that thought in August. Yesterday consisted of going to a job (which I love) in the morning, laying out by the pool with a friend, eating freezy pops, having dinner with church friends, and coming back to a new home with my sweet husband. That's a pretty good summer day, I'd say.

In Christ alone,
Mary Rachel

Sleep

Some interesting conversations about sleep, which I believe are worth repeating, surfaced on Memorial Day. My parents had some friends over for Memorial Day weekend while we were there, and the sleep conversation started when Patti (mom's friend) launched into a recounting of some recent dreams of hers that had us all (me especially) in stitches. Here are some highlights from the conversation:

-Andrew used to text message me in his sleep when we were dating. People sometimes ask me if I am kidding about this. No, I wish I could make up such interesting stories. The fact of the matter is that sometimes I used to wake up in the middle of the night to my text message alert going off. The text messages progressed from complete gibberish to my favorite, "You did it. You have everything. You found Uncle Abroge." When asked about these things the following day, Andrew would have no idea what I was talking about and would have to go through his text message outbox to verify that he did indeed send me text messages in his sleep.

-The man that married us, Doug, sometimes stands over people's beds and stares at them while they (and he) are sleeping. This can be rather unnerving when people wake up to find a tall, sometimes unknown, fellow standing next to their pillow.

-Patti had three crazy dreams in one night.
1. I was making rolls for your mom's party and when we got ready to go I opened them up and there were strings coming out of them everywhere. As I kept pulling them apart, more and more strings started coming out. I said to myself, "Hmm, I think they'll notice."
2. We were going to have a Memorial Day party and invite a bunch of people over; however, the party was not at our house. We had rented a house for the occasion. When I got there to take a look at the house and set up for the party, Kate (my daughter) was sitting on the floor scooping up bugs in her hands. Just piles and piles of bugs everywhere.
3. (Same house, later in the evening.) We began setting up, and I opened one of the kitchen cabinets to find a baby calf laying down inside. He was just calmly laying there with his bowl of milk in the next cabinet, as if this was a normal thing for calves to do.

-Andrew's sister once came upstairs in the middle of the night to find Andrew peeing (in his sleep) in the laundry hamper in the hallway. My cousin also found her husband doing the same thing once...in the refrigerator.

Sleep is a funny thing. I think it is bizarre that people think and do things in their sleep that they would never think or do otherwise.

As far as news in the Fenrick house goes, all is well. I have had more time lately to practice my piano, which I am becoming ever more convinced was perhaps the best investment (beside our house) I have ever made. I got to see my future classroom for the first time this week! It is quite large and is a safe room so that I will not have to move my kids with autism to another location in the event of a tornado or fire drill. People have been unbelievably generous in leaving things for me and letting me go through their teaching tools to find things I need to begin my own classroom. Memorial Day weekend was relaxing and enjoyable. We went down to Flower Mound to see my parents and some of their friends on Saturday. We came back for church on Sunday and then went to a wedding for our RUF friends, Kaitlin and Wes. Yesterday, we got to spend some time with Andrew's family, as well as our good friends, Derek and Erica. The days mostly consisted of food, good conversations, and swimming. This weekend, Tim (my brother) will be coming up to spend the night and then go to a wedding with us in Tulsa on Saturday. I will also get to meet Andrew's grandpa in Tulsa for the first time. We are both excited about a group of college students coming down from Indiana to help our church with some mission work here in Norman from June 5-11. We will have two students staying with us and are looking forward to getting to know them and helping them spread the gospel to people in Norman who desperately need it. The countdown to closing on our house is now at two weeks! Life is a whirlwind around here, but we wouldn't have it any other way. :-)

In Christ alone,
Mary Rachel

Oh, and I found University Fellowship Church's website the other day. Some of you may be interested to see where we go to church. There are already a couple of podcasts up!