This is one weekend you definitely want to read about.

So. You've read my brother's and Josh's blog posts about Middle School Winter Camp this weekend; now it's time for my perspective.

Let me say first of all that I am a hermit at heart and I was incredibly drained after Elementary camp last weekend, so you might be able to imagine how dead I still am from this weekend. But that's getting ahead of myself.

The weekend started off nicely: a fun 3-hour drive up to camp with some awesome tunes and some awesome friends. If you know me at all, you know that if there's music, I'm happy. You also know that if my friends are there, I'm even happier. And to top it all off, my brother was there. Yikes.

Everything went well, activity-wise, on Friday night. We had fun at the pool and I got some amazingly hilarious footage on my camera of Holding Out playing water-basketball [poolsketball]. I'd never really met them before, except the Dave of course, but [not to worry] I was prepared for what I witnessed thanks to my brother. So that was all fun. We got back to camp around midnight and my girls were all in bed with the lights out by 1AM.

That's when the fun started. I couldn't fall asleep. I literally did not get one blink of sleep the en-freakin-tire night. So at 4:52AM, I'm laying there in bed and I started thinking. Why don't I stop whining in my head and do something productive? So I started praying. I prayed for everybody I could think of, even people I had just met that night. I had an amazing time, just me and God in the cabin conversing. All of a sudden, my heart sunk as I realized what God was doing. God was saying to me, Is this what it takes for me and you to have a serious conversation? Do I have to deprive you of sleep for an entire night for you to listen to me and only me? And why the heck did it take you 3 hours and 52 minutes to start talking to me? Of course, I pray regularly and I read my Bible and I walk the walk as best I can, but I realized at that moment that I haven't been completely undistracted and focused on God alone in a long time.

I kept praying, for a long time. It was me and God, chillin' out in the cabin at Arrah Wanna, just havin' a chat. He started telling me things He's been trying to tell me for a long time, but I haven't been listening as closely as I should have. I prayed about everything and for everyone until I came to a screeching halt when one person's face appeared in my mind's eye.

A little over one year ago, I filed charges of attempted date rape against a guy, for an incident that happened in the Fall of 2003. At this point, if you don't already know who he is and what happened, I don't want to tell you over the internet. Ask me in person and I would love to sit down and tell you all about it and to share my heart with you, if you'll share yours with me. Anywho, the image of this person appeared and I stopped. I couldn't keep praying, because I couldn't pray for him. Scenes started flashing through my mind, and I re-visited the day of the trial last February and the pain leading up to it and the pain following it. I started crying, and that's when God started talking to me again. Among other things, I realized that it was the first time I'd cried about that whole ordeal. While it was happening last year, I was so numb to the situation and so determined to get to the end of it and bring him to justice, that I never felt any emotion. I did cry once after the whole process was finished, but only because I knew I should cry, and I cheated in that I started out by making myself think of Keves and Rivka, my dogs that I had to leave in Africa, and then I switched my train of thought once the floodgates were open.

So back to me and God in the cabin, we battled for a long time and he started the process of breaking me down, piece by stubborn piece. I say "started" because I haven't been able to pray for "the guy" yet, or maybe I just don't want to, but God is still working on me. And for any of you who are reading this, now you have something you can pray for me about. So, long story short, it was a powerful night, all while everybody else was sleeping.

Before I knew it, daylight started creeping in the windows and the notorious Snow Disaster Day of Saturday began. If you know me at all, you know that I do not do well if I don't get at least 9 hours of sleep each night. Oy.

My brother and Josh already went into detail about the snow trip disaster, so I'll spare you another recounting of the same situation. I was on the first bus up with the girls that left at 11:30AM, and I was freezing and tired all day while I sat in the lodge in misery. I did my best to be chipper so as not to ruin everybody elses' day but inside, I was low low low. Oh, and did I mention? Due to the fantabulous timing of Middle School Camp, I had horrible cramps all day Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and now Monday. So I wasn't feelin' too hot.

Finally, late in the afternoon, Tim the Awesome Busdriver came back up the mountain with the boys. As soon as I saw the expression on Tim's face, that's when God started talking to me again. Or, should I say, that's when I started listening again. Tim, the man who drove the bus back and forth and back and forth all day long through horrible conditions, had the most joyful expression on his face. I seriously almost cried [again] when I realized how selfish I was being. So right there, I decided to be happy. And I was, genuinely.

Saturday night, we all sang some silly songs and then the guys from Holding Out came up with the idea to play the awesomest song game EVER, which I had never played before. To finish out the night they put on a rockin' concert for us, which was awesome of course.

That night, I slept like a corpse. [I was gonna say, "I slept like a baby," but when you think about it, babies don't sleep through the night. They scream and cry and deprive their parents of sleep. A corpse, on the other hand, does not wake up.] Sunday morning, we had an amazing worship time and then we packed up for the drive home. We stopped in Salem for a few hours for JESSICA'S BIRTHDAY PAR-TAY!!!!! and then continued on our merry drive down I-5.

Until we ran out of gas.

Around 7pm, two exits before Albany, the van started sputtering and eventually, we coasted to a halt. While my brother hitchhiked his way to a nearby gas station with come awesome Asians who pulled over for us, Josh, Anna, and I waited in the van. We took some photos made some videos to document the situation, all of which can be seen at DevilishDuck.com.

The plot thickened when Anna and I decided that we really needed to poop. Of course, having grown up in Africa, I'll do most anything. So I took the trash can that Mrs. Fish [from whom we borrowed the van] keeps in the vehicle at all times, and Anna and I stepped outside the van to take care of business. She took pictures, while I pooped in the trash can. It was quite a poop, too, nothing small, and I felt very relieved to have it out of me.

Until a State Trooper pulled up behind the van, lights flashing.

Holy shhhheeeeeetttttttt!!!!! I pulled up my pants as quickly as I could while Anna blocked me from the glare of the Trooper's prying headlights. While I put the trash can [filled with my crap] in the van and tied it off, Josh got out of the van and started talking to the Trooper. At the same time, Anna was laughing so hard that she actually made herself puke. "Is she okay?" asked the State Trooper, "Because she looks like she's puking." Uhhhhh... "No, um, I think she's alright..." and I explained our situation. Soon enough, we were all laughing again and the State Trooper bade us farewell and went on his way.

While Josh and Anna got back in the van, I found a roll of Charmin and was finally able to complete my previous task by wiping. I spare you no details, because I have no shame. Just before my brother finally got back with some gas, I dumped the trash bag in a nearby field. The only other thing in the bag [besides my poop] was the leftover devotional papers from that weekend. Ironic, I think.

So anyway, all things combined, it was an unforgettable weekend. If I forgot anything, I'll probably update this post tomorrow or Wednesday with links for pictures, people, and related blogs. There are actually pictures of me on the trash can crapping, but those pictures aren't available yet [HINT-ANNA-HINT]. So check back later. I'm going to bed.