Well, I survived a week at workcamp - working in the blistering hot sun, eating cafeteria food, sleeping on the floor and showering in a middle school gym.

Actually, I didn't just survive. Contrary to the thoughts of many, I thrived. I had the best time. My youth were absolutely fabulous and I think we grew closer as a group. The camp was in Ithaca, New York (this organization does them all summer across the country). We drove up on Sunday morning in about 3 hours (should have taken a BIT longer but...well, the rental minivan could really haul!)and were the first group there. The six girls and I ended up with our own room (the geography room to be precise) and the two boys and David ended up rooming with two boys and an adult from Canada. More on the Canadians later, eh?

All of my apprehension disappeared when we drove up that morning. And when we learned there was a/c in the school and hot showers...welllllllllllll, I was just set! We had lunch at the Commons in Ithaca and then headed back to settle in some and get ready for our first meeting.

We met our crews that night - you don't work with your own youth group which I think is a banner idea! So I was placed with five kids I didn't know. Two were from Maryland, two from Virginia and one from Huntingdon Valley. We did some getting to know you type activities and got our worksite assignment.

The next morning, we loaded up and headed out to Enfield. Our site address was 666 which alarmed some (!!) We pulled down an unpaved, winding driveway to find a mobile home in need of some repair. The first thing I noticed was all the animals. The family had seven dogs, at least that many cats (including an attack kitten), turkeys, hens, roosters, two horses, guinea hens (annoying creatures), geese and who know what else. But all of that made me feel better. I knew I would be missing the kitties, so seeing that just made me happy.

Our mission was to paint the entire outside of this house, fix and paint a wall inside and build skirting around one side where they just had boards lying up against the outer walls. It was dreadfully hot and I developed a gatorade addiction...but I guess THAT is a story for another time!