Austrian Christmas Vacation

Wow, it has been crazy here! I finally found some time to blog a little bit.  The campers are here and everything is in full swing.  It's a little bit different from our usual Young Life assignments….there are just so many more things to consider for a winter camp - ski and snowboard rentals, storing all the equipment, life tickets, sleds, etc.  Everyday looks a little different with different jobs, so we are just taking it day by day.  Our Work Staff is being incredible and so willing to serve… in fact the staff here are so impressed at how quickly and efficiently we work.

So anyways, let me back up a few days to when we got here way before we were even worrying about the camp.  John and I get into Austria after a long train traveling day! We were picked up at the train station by two Young Lifers and travel way up the mountain to Hotel Olympia.  It was not what I expected at all.  In fact, I let my expectations get the best of me.  This wasn't my finest moment and I'm actually embarrassed to admit it, but when we walked into our room…I started crying.  John laughed at first, and then realized I was serious.  I think I was just exhausted, hungry, overwhelmed by not really knowing what to expect, and a little sad to be missing Christmas at home.  Anyways, in the daylight everything wasn't so bad, plus we got to be with everyone from home - Buda's, Wilson's, JB, Pat Hurley Shiracks, and Mitchell's.  They were the little bit of comic relief and comfort I needed.  We travelled into the town of Innsbruck that day with everyone to visit the HUGE Christmas Market they have.  Christmas is a really big deal here and we loved it! We got some souvenirs, ate dinner with everyone, continued to shop and then a few of us stayed in town to hang out a pub called the Elverhaus…it was so authentic and definitely a highlight of the trip.

The next day, we skied. The Buda Boys were actually learning to ski here…in the Alps.  I was amazed.  They caught on quickly and loved it. Skiing here is unlike anything I've ever done, and I consider myself a pretty advanced skier.  I let John borrow my goggles, and we just happened to be skiing on the day that there was a huge blizzard rolling through. And my boots were two small.  These two problems equal me being really agitated and perhaps shedding a few tears in the middle of a slope.  At this point, I'm pretty sure John would have liked to put me on a plane and send me home.  It was my second crying episode in 2 days!!!  So after we got John his own goggles and traded my boots for a bigger size - it was a whole new world.  Skiing on powered is so different, hard to get used to but worth it!  I was a happy girl. We then attempted the 6(ish) km sledding run...Awesome.  

The days sort of run together here, so I have no idea what day of the week it is.  The next day we went to Salzburg.  We were going to do the Sound of Music tour, but it was going to take 4 hours.  We opted for the Salzburg Castle/Fort, then walked around their Christmas Market, ate dinner, ventured to a brewery hall in an old church and went back to Innsbruck.  

On Christmas Eve, it was pretty low key.  We started learning the process/schedule for camp…but then got bored and went sledding again twice, Mario Kart style.  It was a total race, to the point where JB would pass me and say "banana peel", Kirk picked up my sled at one point and tried to chuck it away from me, John was running to the finish line, sled in tow, and tripped in the middle of the road. It was a good time.  We had a nice dinner with the whole team at the hotel, and then met for our own little Christmas Eve service.  

It didn't even feel like Christmas here.  We were all busily putting all of the camp together preparing for the kids' arrivals.  I promise I didn't cry on Christmas though.  It was actually really refreshing when the Lord reminded me that I can sacrifice a holiday that celebrate HIS birth so that I can serve HIM.  It's kind of ironic that I almost said no to coming here… I'm so glad we're here now.  

Enjoy some pictures!  

John and JB watching a football game on the iPad.  A little too close?

View from our hotel room. Thank you God. 

Behind the hotel/slopes.

This is one of 2 of their McDonald's pictures.  They like to take American pictures in foreign countries. Weird.

That is the Salzburg Castle sitting up on the hill.

View from our room again.

Downtown Innsbruck

Me and my cup of Gluhwein!  It's hot spiced wine….so good!  It's like the thing to do around here in the winter - stand around the Christmas market and sip on some gluhwein.  My kind of place.

Christmas Vacation Part Deux

So we rode the Chunnel into Paris (it’s the train that goes under the Channel – it’s not as exciting as it sounds. You don’t even see the water before you go under it, it just feels like you’re in a tunnel, but nevertheless it was an experience).  We get to the metro station and we’re trying to figure out what trains we need to take, where we need to switch trains, and how to buy a ticket. NO ONE was helpful. NO ONE spoke English.  It was rough.  I kept saying I want my mom and John kept saying I want to go back to London.  So word to the wise – learn the basic French words if you go to Paris.   When we finally figured it out and made it to our hotel (they have Best Westerns in France!!) we were shocked by the size of not only our room, but the hotel in general. It was tiny. We had to basically ride on top of our suitcases to fit the two of us into the elevator.  Each floor had maybe 4 rooms. The tub and nozzles were located under the sink’s counters (I have pictures of it that I will post when we get home).  It was actually a really nice room, and ended up being all the space we needed…we just weren’t used to it.  Once again, it was an experience.  So for that night we quickly just went to all the hotspots just to get pictures  – The Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel), Arc de Triumph, Champ de Elysee, Musee de Louvre (<--how’s that for French?!).  We got dinner at a cute French café and had a crepe for dessert. 

The next day we went to the Louvre again, but the line was outrageous and we really didn’t want to waste our only full day standing in line to see the Mona Lisa, so we just walked through the gardens at the Louvre, got more crepes of course (I got nutella and banana, and john got strawberry jam), toured Notre Dame, went up in the Eiffel Tower (I thought I was going to die it was so cold), went back to Champ de Elysee, stopped for dinner at another cute café, and went back to the Louvre after the gallery was closed. You were allowed to enter through the glass pyramid, which was probably more exciting than seeing the Mona Lisa and we just walked around in the underground mall there where we stumbled upon a McDonalds and the Apple store, so John felt like his day was complete after that. 

Before we left the next morning we got up early and went to the Musee d’Orsay. They have a ton of Monet, Manet, and Van Gogh paintings.  I thought John would hate it but he actually enjoyed it.  He said he liked the Van Gogh paintings because he felt like he could do just as good of a job.  We both loved the impressionistic paintings, especially Monet.  We really wanted to go to the L’Orangerie museum, but we got the days it was closed mixed up and ran out of time. 

I think we actually accomplished a lot in the small amount of time we were there.  But honestly, I would have been fine with just walking around. Everything there is GORGEOUS.  Your eyes really never stop being fascinated with the beautiful buildings.  There are some creepy and rude people there, but it was amazing.  We went to the same bakery twice to get the same pastries because they were SO good.  We both had a total of 3 crepes each (not all at once!!).  I’d love to go back in the spring or summer, just because I’m sure the flowers and sun would paint everything in a more beautiful light. 

So now we are in Innsbruck, Austria!  It has already been very interesting.  To leave you a cliff hanger, we went sledding today down a 3-4 mile run…had to take the bus back up the mountain.  Sledding in the Alps…awesome.

(Sidenote: When you travel with two people, picture taking is rough, it's either of one person, or self taken because asking foreigners to take pictures of you is just embarrassing and awkward sometimes)

Au revoir! 

John throwing up the WV sign in front of Notre Dame

The Louvre at night.  I never realized how BIG the Louvre actually is.

Arc de Triumph

Illegal picture of the inside of the Musee d'Orsay.  You're welcome.

European Christmas Part I

For those of you that haven't heard, John and I were asked to be Work Staff bosses at a Young Life camp that is in Austria for kids from families in the military. The "camp" is actually in Innsbruck, Austria…it's in the village where the Olympics were hosted back in the 60's and 70's (I think…more on Austria when we actually get there in a few days!).  Anyways, the camp starts on Christmas day, and since we were flying over here we decided to lengthen the trip by making a few pit stops. First to London then to Paris.  

John and I left at 4 A.M on Friday morning and got to London at 10 pm.  We stayed with some of our Young Life friends Brooke and Tate Johnston and their kids Asher and Reuel.  They were AMAZING hosts.  They live about a 40 minute train ride outside of the city in a refinished, but authentic farm house.  So after we got there and chatted it up with them way past their bed time (since it was only 5 pm to us!), we tried to go to bed. The next morning was rough, but we were up and moving by 8:00! We made it into the city, immediately went to Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace (where we saw the changing of the guards), Harrods, The British Museum (where we saw the Rosetta Stone and pieces of the Parthenon), rode a double decker bus to the London Eye, and then rested for a cup of tea and a cupcake at a cute cafe before heading back to meet Brooke and Tate for dinner at their local pub.  It was a WHIRLWIND of a day! I had a blister on my foot since John's pace is about twice as fast as mine. I was basically running to chase him the whole time.  London was so great! I really think it is my favorite city, but then again I haven't fully experienced Paris yet….we shall see.  We are in Paris now in our tiny hotel room with a spotty internet connection ….more to come on Paris later. 

Cheers! (And as John says in EVERY country he is in "Good day, mate!")

Shawna and John

Here's some pics of London so far….  

Behind us is the London Eye. It has huge glass bubbles that hold like 20 people each, and you can see the entire city. It was awesome.

John with a Lego Buzz at Harrods.  

View of Big Ben, Parliament and a little bit of Westminster Abbey from the London Eye.

Me at Tea Time!  

Westminster Abbey 

More to come. I took a lot of pics on my camera, but forgot the cord!  :(

bobby OMYgodwin

So, I don't know if I'm just getting sentimental since Bobby is getting married in like 2 weeks, or I am simply just procrastinating for my midterm on Tuesday...but I thought this monumental time is worthy of a ......... TOP TEN LIST!!!!!!  Here is the Top Ten Memories of my step-brother Bobby Godwin. (Side note - some of these memories may overlap with Connor's Top Ten list)


10.)  The first time I met Bobby, we were in Krogers. He was bending down next to the baby food talking to David about what baby food David might like....but he was talking in a creepy baby voice and I was frightened that that was really what his voice sounded like.  He keep called David "David Ryan Boo Boo Bunny", which now goes with an infamous song.... but then..it was just weird.

9.)  After my mom and Derek got married, I gained 2 additional brothers.  They were all about video games, sports, fighting, etc.  I often felt left out...so how did I cope? I tried to be a boy. I wore Bobby's hand me down clothes .... yep, you would often find me in basketball shorts and a some sort of sports shirt.

8.) I don't remember what year it was (probably because I would be embarrassed to reveal how old I was) but we can all thank Bobby for finally spilling the beans to me about Santa Claus.  We were at home on Christmas Eve talking about tracking Santa's sleigh on the computer, and Bobby was joking a little too much about the existence of Santa Claus...and that's when I put two and two together....

7.) Overlap memory:  Making Connor sleep in the bathtub while we were in Hawaii. Bobby and I were at that age where we thought we needed like 12+ hours of sleep and we were not going to let Connor ruin that.

6.) I have an unfortunate amount of memories of Bobby and Joey Payne. I don't even know where to start. I'll just say that they were inseparable for most of high school.

5.) Again, with me having 3 brothers...it was rough.  Bobby went through a phase where he would punch anything and anyone in his way....unfortunately that happened to be me more than a few times.  I tried to fight back once...it didn't go over so well.

4.)  As rebellious teens, we would often stay out past our curfews in high school. Luckily, when one of us did...the other one was home to come and unlock the front door.  Here's how our middle of the night phone conversations would go...(Ring) "What", "Come unlock the door", "Bye"...I would then go unlock the door in silence and march back to bed.

3.) Going along with the rebellious teen theme...one time Bobby and I co-hosted a party while Mom and Derek were out of town. We got caught...shockingly.

2.) This memory is the funniest to me... I don't know why.  On New Years Day 1999, VH1 had a non-stop marathon of Prince's 1999 music video.  Bobby and I (and every now and then, David and Connor would join in) stayed in the basement ALL DAY (no joke) and made up dances and sang to the song. Remember Bob, "I was dreaming when I wrote this forgive me if it goes astray....When I woke up this morning could have sworn it was judgement day." HAHAHA

1.) After I met Rachel (Bobby's soon to be wife) for the first time, I told him a few days later that he needed to marry her. He agreed, obviously. So my number one memory will be watching him get married in a couple of weeks! I'm so excited for them!

If only we knew that the following year, Bobby would need to be wearing a WVU shirt too....

At the WVU bowl game in Charlotte...I'm pretty sure this excitement was staged.

HAHA we always laugh at this picture because Bobby looks like such a creeper!

Love you Bob!

Bathroom Renovation

Let me tell you a story about the downstairs guest bathroom in this house.  When John first moved in and for the following two years before I moved in, the downstairs bathroom was the only bathroom. To close the door once you were in the bathroom and ready to do your business, you would have to lift the toilet seat to close the door because the toilet was too big (WHO DOES THAT?!?)  As soon as I moved in, this bathroom was my main concern.  The toilet was replaced immediately...because GROSS - who wants to touch the seat every time you need to shut the door! I tried to doctor up the bathroom as much as possible as you can see here....

I wish I had a before-before picture when it was still a bachelor pad.  I painted the cabinet, hung a coordinating shower curtain and put up paintable wallpaper and painted.  It wasn't so bad, but soon the cast iron bathtub drain started rusting meaning there was a leak therefore we just decided to rip out the entire bathroom and start from scratch.  

As you can see here, there was about 6 inches of mortar-concrete crap behind the hideous tile.  John did not have an easy time getting all of this out. Also, the walls were plaster, not drywall.  And don't forget - the tub was CAST IRON.  Navigating it through our small hallways and outside was not easy.  

Here it is completely gutted - sans tile, tub, everything. 

New tub, new walls, new tile.

And before you get the final reveal....give it up for this guy - my handy husband.  He is the best!  He did all of this work himself, with a help of a few of his friends for the heavy lifting stuff.  

This is what he looked like after each day of work.  And let me just say, I was not easy to work with.  Beware - renovations can cause marital stress. But the finished project was well worth the wait and the stress!



The Reveal! 

I love it!  Guest are now welcome with a full functioning bathroom! Come visit! 

 We did this all on a budget too! The vanity was on clearance at Lowes. I reused the shower curtain. The tiles both mosaic and side walls were on clearance. I reused the paint color from our kitchen. I had a gift card at Target for the vanity mirror.  I chose the neutral tones because they will be great for resell whenever that may be.  

In the midst of this renovation - John had a case of ADD and also started building a patio, planting about 10 trees along our property line for privacy and redoing our deck.  The deck and trees are done, the patio is still in process. Pictures of the other projects to come soon!

Curtains

We're home from Michigan...but it is short lived. We leave on Sunday to go BACK to Timberwolf for Wyldlife camp (middle school kids).  Pray for us...we are exhausted.

Anyways, while John was working hard this month as a Work Crew boss...I tried to keep myself busy.  I brought my new sewing machine to camp (thanks for the inspiration, Bethany!) and made curtains for our bedroom.  For a while, I decided against curtains in the bedroom because we have those nice, thick, wooden, white blinds...but I had a vision for the window bench area of the bedroom.  I looked at patterned fabric that would go nicely with our duvet, but newsflash...fabric can get pricey!  I found curtain panels for 14 bucks at Marshalls....sold!  They were kind of thin, so I just bought blackout liners to sew onto the back.  

With the window being over the window bench, I had to hem them a lot.  I also decided that since it was such a skinny area...I could use one panel on each window in the bedroom and save some money.  So I split the panel hemmed those sides and then sewed on the liner.

I was kind of worried with how that the teal color would clash with our grey-blue walls..but it works perfectly with our duvet...so I'm pleased for now!  I plan to sew a window seat cushion and create some pillows (buying fabric for pillows will be much cheaper than buying fabric for curtains).  I love the grommet top, it's easy to open and shut so we can keep the sun out!  (Hint - black out liners also keep the heat out, which is nice for our house because it's so old.)

Voila! With the window seat cushion and some pillows...this will look nice and cozy!

A Week at Camp...

Ok... I'm going to attempt to highlight each day at camp.  We have been here 4 weeks! Each week we get a new group of campers (400-500 kids from all over). The days are referred to as Day 1, Day 2, etc., which in turn means that I have no idea what day of the week it is when I am here.  Every second of camp is exciting...however I will only highlight the really important/fun stuff!

Day 1 - Campers arrive! In club, campers hear about the misconceptions and first impressions that they might have of Jesus. Buda (the speaker) asks them to come into this week with a unbiased heart and just listen to what he has to say about Jesus.   The night ends with an intense obstacle course through the woods. Complete darkness. Completely muddy. Complete madness.  The obstacle course is a way to set up the leaders in a leading position, and help knock down barriers kids have towards each other and their leaders.

Day 2 - All Camp Volleyball Tournament!  Leaders have secretly brought uniforms for their cabins (i.e. bumblebees, princesses, avatars, etc.) to dress up and battle each other in volleyball.

Day 3 - Rodeo!  After playing games where the camp is split into "families" (i.e. Hatfields, Clampets, Bodeans, McCoys), they are paired off for a real square dance!  They are then herded back to the clubroom for a Hoe Down.  

Everyone dressed in their hillbilly outfits for the Hoe Down.   From left to right: Laura Tuel, JT Buda, Clinton Bruck, Ted Tuel, Ben Tuel and Chris Buda.

Day 4 - Lumberjack Night! Campers go to club before dinner on this night...when they come out of club there is a tableau set up. It's supposed to look like an 1890's scene. When they shoot off a gun, the people unfreeze and engage in 1890's activity.  They shoot the gun again and they freeze...it's hard to explain but looks really cool! The campers are then told to go back to their cabins and come dressed as best they can like 1890's lumberjacks!  Dinner is served in a cast iron skillet with potatoes, carrots and beef...very authentic!

Tableau scene.

After dinner, the kids go back into the club room for a big production of the program they have been seeing everyday.  The premise - there's a TV show that is being cancelled and needs to be saved so it can stay on the air.  Best part...John is in it!  He plays a police officer who has to arrest Gary the Label Guy (Ben Tuel) for going into Wal-Mart without a shirt on.

Oh yea...and he has to ride a tricyle...hahaha! He makes his own siren noise into the mega phone.

He then proceeds to make his prisoner drive himself to jail so he can ride on the back.

A couple scenes later he then plays the judge, with a questionably short robe and large boots..haha

The wig is really meant to be worn as pig tails.

Day 5 - Breakfast in bed day. John loves this day because he gets to sleep in.  This evening in club, the kids hear about how Jesus paid the penalty for their Sin and died a death that we deserve.  After Buda shares this heavy news, the kids are asked to spend 20 minutes by themselves outside, just to give them time to process and deal with what they just heard.  After the 20 minutes, they come back into the club room. The work crew (high school kids who volunteered to work at camp for the entire month) do what is called a "Cardboard Testimony".  One by one they walk out on stage and show a poster board that says who they were before they met Christ and then flip it over to show who they are now.

"Rejected"

"Embraced"

Since John is a Work Crew boss, he gets to participate. You can't really read his here, but it says  "Looking for purpose in life"

"Found purpose in Jesus Christ"

I didn't take pictures of everyone's but some of them are really powerful.  One kid's said "Almost took my life..." and then "God took it instead..." Another one's said, "Abandoned by my dad..." and then "Found by my heavenly father.." 

Day 6 - Last day for the campers.  In club, the kids are invited to stand up and "say so" if they have decided to start a relationship with Jesus.  If you don't do this, it doesn't mean you didn't start a relationship with Christ...but there is something really powerful about owning up and saying out loud this life changing decision.  

After club and the "say so", the back doors of the club room are opened and all the campers are cheered out by the Work Crew and Summer Staff.  It always makes me a little teary eyed, because it's like their new brothers and sisters are being welcomed into the family of God!

 So that was a quick day-by-day camp highlights blog. It really is incredible.  

On a side note, I've been playing around with our camera trying to learn how to take good pictures....

Timber Wolf Lake YL Camp

For those of you who are not familiar with Young Life camping, do not be fooled by the term "camping".  Brace yourselves for the following pictures...a Young Life camp, is more like a resort.  When campers arrive at camp, they have their beds already made with sheets and blankets, and a towel with a bar of soap and a chocolate on the foot of their bed. The cabins are immaculate (and here at TWL, they are air conditioned!) Young Life is all about the "WOW" factor.  They want campers to be amazed the second they step off the bus.  The landscaping is magnificent; every seat in the dining hall is set exactly the same (the plate an inch from the edge, the cup right above the knife, every serving utensil in the exact same spot on each table...).  The meals are served family style...each table has an individual server that brings your food to you. I'll be blogging more in the next few days about how the camp is run...this is just a quick "camp tour" if you will. Check it out...

The buildings you see in the distance are the campers' dorms.

See what I mean about the landscaping?! It's beautiful! This little creek runs throughout camp and ends in the lake. 

The gym (which is connected to the snack bar, camp store, office and dining hall)

The dining hall aka where John spends his days.

See how all the tables are perfectly set, exactly the same? The servers will change out the table cloths napkins according to the 'theme' for the meal.

The Club Room...where all the fun happens.

Inside the club room. You can't really tell here, but the carpeted area are stairs for stadium seating.  They pack this place out for club. The structure up front is the stage.

This is a view (from left to right) of the gym, snack bar, store, office and dining hall)

Timber Wolf has a lot of grass area.  There is a HUGE field that people just hang out on during the day playing frisbee, football, etc.  

This is a view of the island on the lake.

The majority of the lake.  It kind of curves around to the right just a little bit further. There is a sidewalk all the way around the lake (0.8 miles long) that I run every day. It's so nice!

On the island there's access to canoes and kayaks. In the distance you can see the go-carts.

On the island, there is the blob (the big pillow thing in the water on the left) and a rope swing (right).


  

This one of the camper dorms. There are about 8-10 cabins inside of here, each with their own bathroom (a couple sinks, stalls and showers). They each have a pretty big lobby with couches to hang out in.  You old people are probably saying "Welp, camping sure ain't what it used to be..." Welcome to Young Life.

This is where we live! It is called The Bunkhouse. There are 10 suites inside of here.  A suit contains 2 bedrooms (One with a queen and one with 2 twins; each with their own vanity) and a bathroom.  This is where all the families who come here for a month at a time live to serve the camp.  We are about 50 yards from the lake!

This is the living room inside of the Bunk House.  

View from the other side of the room that includes the kitchen (2 fridges, 2 dishwashers, 2 microwaves, etc.)  We all hang out here throughout the day and night.

This is our bedroom.  Not bad eh?  It kind of has a Pottery Barn feel. Not to mention that I brought my Keurig coffee pot and set it up on our dresser.  My mornings consist of a good cup of coffee and an episode of Friends without even leaving my room!  

 So that was a camp tour...and I promise it did not do it justice.  Timber Wolf is a fairly new camp...it was fully finished within the last 5 years, so everything feels fresh!  I love the rustic feel it has.  There's an adult guest lodge here (and at every YL camp), so if you ever want to experience camp as an adult...you can!  You won't be treated as a camper (unless you want to). But I highly recommend it. The accommodations are immaculate! There's a hot tub....I'm just saying.

Some other things that are here that I don't have pictures of are the ropes course, the zip line (starts in the trees and ends in the water), a whiffle ball field, outdoor basketball courts, sand volleyball courts, tubing, and a 3-person death swing.  Each Young Life camp has unique characteristics, but they are all amazing!

Stay tuned for some programatic pictures/info of specifically how the days are run here at TWL!