Arrival

We left Ohio on Sunday afternoon. It was so awesome to spend a day with Michelle, my friend from Africa. What a haven her place was. We didn’t drive for 19 hours! It was so great to just relax and reminisce about that summer in Benin. After leaving her place we were pretty ansy to get some miles behind us. We ended up driving through the rest of Ohio, through West Virginia, and into Pennsylvania.

It was night by the time we got into Pennsylvania but it was the first time we had totally clear skies on our trip. We could see the moon and a sky full of stars as we drove down old highways and interstates. Took a quick little jaunt to Punxsutawney to see Phil (Groundhog’s Day, anyone?) around midnight. Then we ended up crashing in the parking lot of a rest area (crashing as in sleeping. Not as in a motor vehicle collision).

Monday we drove through the rest of Pennsylvania. Stopped in Scranton, of course, and went down Mifflin Avenue (my favorite show, The Office, is based out of this town). It felt so great to arrive in New York, 12 states and 8 days after we set out on this road trip.

A week ago Mr. B (camp director) jokingly called me and told me he’d like a pizza delivered from Oregon. So before driving up to camp on Monday, we stopped in Greeneville and ordered a large pepperoni pie. Our intention was to deliver a whole pizza to Mr. B. However, we didn’t take into account the fact that we hadn’t eaten much of anything all day and it’s next to impossible not to eat a slice of pizza when it’s sitting on your lap in the car. So we split a piece and promised ourselves we’d save the rest for Mr. B. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as we planned (or maybe it was because we hadn’t planned…). I couldn’t totally remember how to get to camp, so we ended up driving around the countryside for a while. By the time we did get to camp there were only three cold pieces of pizza left. But nonetheless, we delivered the pizza as promised.

I can’t even express what a blessing it is to be at camp. The first summer I worked at Good Tidings I was 17. I remember sitting on a grassy hill, just looking at the magnificent view. This place felt like home for me. I remember writing a letter to my folks that summer, saying I felt like I belonged at camp (I think I scared them a little and they weren’t sure if I was coming back at the end of summer). But the timing wasn’t right. It’s so neat to see how God’s hand has been directing me and so amazing to see this dream of mine come to fruition (not really sure if this word fits here but I'm trying to sound smart).

For the most part, everything I own in the world (save for some books I left in Oregon) was packed tight in my Subaru. I didn’t have room for any furniture or dishes or lamps or anything like that. I expected to get to camp to an unfurnished trailer (mobile home-ish) and sleep on the floor in my sleeping bag. I was blown away when I walked into my new home and saw that it has everything I need. A comfy couch, a kitchen table and two chairs, two cots, some book shelves and lamps, pots and pans, and dishes! And Mrs. B brought me a trunk load of groceries to get me started (and a bouquet of yellow daisies). They also got me my own desk in the camp office and my own set of business cards. God is so good!