Camp Imadene - My Journey Through Time

At the end of my summer, after 2 weeks of holidays over Alberta and BC on a lovely road trip tagging along after my parents, I somewhat hastily offered to help out at a youth summer camp that was as unfamiliar to me as beets are to bears....ask me some other time about that comparison.
I heard they were in need of a few more female cabin leaders (counsellors) and that they also needed some help with the fun and often hilarious videos that the leaders make to tie together the night games to some sort of plot in order to get the youths all riled up and raring to play.
So Sophie moped and sulked while she watched me (over) pack up my suitcase and all my computer gadgets and cables. Off I went to Camp Imadene, ready for a week of adventuresome fun and relaxation.
At this point I should pause to inform you of all my previous camp experiences. I have been a long-time, almost life-long, attendee and volunteer of Nanoose Bay Camp. I have done all sorts of various job at Nanoose; nursery worker, kid's camp counsellor, teen camp counsellor, worship team back-up singer, team head coach.....but most recently, I have helped Nanoose Teen Camp by way of the video/tech team. We ran all the media and filmed, edited and created daily videos of sports and other activities, including at least one funny video creation, and produced Camp videos for the end of the week.
The only other camp I have ever attended was Lakelse Lake Camp in Terrace, BC, one year at the age of 9 for a week of Kid's Camp. Though I have fond snippets of memories from that time, I do not remember much about what the camp was like, nor even the type of programs that were run for the week.
Let me pull you back to the present as I drove my brim-filled small red car up island towards the mystical and well-liked fable camp that is Imadene. I have heard nothing but good comments regarding the facility and the events that go on at Imadene, so I expected to have at least an enjoyable experience on the grounds no matter what my cabin full of youthful teen aged girls held in store for me.
Well....let me tell you.....camp Imadene is B-E-Autiful!!!!!
They are situated on the small Mesachie Lake, south of Lake Cowichan, with pristine green lawns and fields sloping towards both the swimming area and dock, complete with slide and diving board, and to the ski dock, where two shiny boats awaited it's passengers to indulge in tubing, wake boarding or surfing or water skiing.
The buildings are small, but cozy and very well-kept. The chapel and dinning hall fit the entire compliment of campers and counsellors with the remaining staff to eat on sheltered picnic tables outside. To get to the circles of camper cabins, you must wander through a forested area that has been liberated of any choking underbrush, bushes or grasses, so walking through there late a night in the dark is not problem as long as you have the general direction in mind. The cabins, though a bit rustic with gaps between walls and roof are well-built and very large to accommodate 12 youth and 2 leaders. There are also other areas of the camp I didn't venture too much into, such as the Dryshed, an indoor gymnasium or sorts, the canoe dock and probably other places I didn't even find while on my first visit there.
I arrived Saturday afternoon with the other cabin leaders. We had a great time getting to know one another with games and chatter and a run through of rules and expectations for the week. I was one of only 2 leaders who had never been to Imadene before so I did feel a little out of the loop, but luckily my fellow cabin leader for the week was Amy who I had met from a few getogethers out of my church in Victoria. We decorated our cabin with blinking Christmas lights and hid our stashes of sugary treats to dole out over the week to come.
Sunday morning we, the leaders and staff, had our own chapel time where Andy, the speaker for the week and our own Student Ministries Pastor/Director, spoke to us about trying to reach into the lives of these youth to encourage great potential.
After lunch we all get decked out into our superhero costumes to welcome the campers to our Superhero Academy-themed Camp.
Soon we had a cabin full of talkative teens all getting their bunks settled with a few parents lingering and saying their goodbyes.
My cabin consisted of: myself and Amy with our campers - Jaimie, Marley, Julia, Hilary, Olivia, Kaitlyn, Marie, Claire, Emily, Dorothea and Meghan.


I simply cannot recall all that went on day-today over the entire week but I will say that the games were fun and crazy and full of running and glow sticks and water, with a few bumps and bruises along the way. The chapels were encouraging, well-thought out, touching, meaningful, deep, honest and reached my girls on all different levels. The meals were excellent, delicious, scrumptious and great!!! The activities and free time were full of fun with canoeing, skidock, swimming, soccer, dodge ball, Bead Tent (crafts, jewelry and book binding), rock climbing and many more I can't remember.

My cabin, as did all other cabins, went through the Challenge Course but in exceptional time with such wonderful teamwork and encouragement!!
We had the Spiderweb Challenge and I wish I had more photos, but here's one example. We had to lift, carry, push and cradle everyone up, over and through a wall of rope webbing, through all different sized holes, without touching the wall, the ropes or coming back through once over. Sound simple? I assure you, it was not! However, I am so very proud of the group my girls for what they accomplished!!

Friday morning we packed up our gear, hugged, exchanged contact info and began to head out our own separate ways back to our homes.

I had an exceptional week and loved every minute of it! Although I was extremely tired and store from a few too many crazy night games and um....the late night dance parties in our cabin!!

I love you all, my fellow Imadene-ers and I can't wait to help out in some way next summer.....maybe.....if I can....I'll try!!!!

Below are a few photos of our week....
some are self-explanatory...
some are a little on the crazy sized and I don't want to explain!!!

Sad to see everyone go home and to leave Camp!

Happy to go home and sleep in our own beds!!

PS - THANKS to Julia and Marley - I borrowed some photos from your Facebook to help make this blog post look better! I can't believe I didn't take more photos!! Next time!

HM+Van+Vic=BUSY!

Oh what busy weeks these last few have been.
Where to start, where to begin?

Well, after sweet little Hunter was born the next Sunday was his dedication along with his cute little cousin Sienna. I had been asked to video the event and you can see the lovely moment on Hunter's parent's blog here.

Then the next week was busy for me at work. I was getting ready to head off with the Youth group to Youth Convention, or as they call it now - HistoryMaker, 2007 held in the new location of Chilliwack.
Again I was having trouble sleeping with a lot on my mind...what to pack, what to bring, what not to forget...I ended up staying up until about 3:30 am on the Friday night before we left with my mind racing about the weekend.
The morning arrived, and after a couple hours of sleep I headed to the church for the pancake breakfast (but did not partake as I was not hungry for a heavy breakfast!). I was asked to go for the weekend to video the event and our youth in order to make a video to watch after.
I don't know about you, but I absolutely love road trips! I was so very ready to go on one, even if it was on a school bus with 60 teens and only to Chilliwack, the smelliest town this side of the Rockies. :)
Road trips for me are an escape from the mundane, a time to see new things, to get out, to let someone else take you somewhere different from your everyday life. Of course, I packed my trusty mp3 player in case conversation or noise rose above my threshold of tolerance and filled it with all my favourites like Snow Patrol, Avril, OLP, Garden State OST, as well as some fun extras like Dane Cook's comedy.
The trip went by all too quickly and soon we were navigating (quite haphazardly) around Abbotsford and Chilliwack to find the arena and our hotel. We had to wait to check in so we headed next door to Castle Fun Park, a veritable cornucopia of Chucky Cheese-type arcade games and activities, such as batting cages, mini golf, bumper cars (SO FUN!) and go karts. Though the place was smoking hot and smelled of sticky children, we had fun winning tickets and prizes and going on the inner-tube bumper cars and wearing hairnets on the go karts......don't ask......
The hotel (Ramada in Abbotsford) was lovely, and the area for the conference was large enough and our seats were great. The first worship band was Leeland, a young up and comer in the Christian band biz with a unique lead vocal with a Coldplay/U2/alternative type sound. Very God-focused and great to worship with. The speaker that night was David Nasser who amused and challenged us.
Once back at the hotel I took a jaunt with some of the youth and leaders down the road to whatever was left open that late for a snack. We ended up bombarding a small Panago Pizza and got a few yummy late night eats.

The next day we heard Desperation Band, more from David Nasser and enjoyed an afternoon in the park...int he rain.....well some of us did. Others of us maybe stayed at the hotel and enjoyed a quiet afternoon...um, maybe...yeah.
I did enjoy a small dance party with some fun females which included jumping on beds, iPod music and waiting for-ev-er for our dinner pizza......fun times!!

The evening service on Sunday brought us the star studded, concert-like worship from Starfire...I mean Starfield and a surprisingly funny and talented speaker - Reggie Dabs. A big black guy from the south, Reggie taught us some new slang ("Love the black man!", "A'ight!", "Awwww, yeah!" and "My G-O-D....is B-I-G!!") and played his saxophone for us. Weird, yes, but fun and unexpected which, I think, caught everyone's attention and captivated us through his stories to hear life-changing messages brought to us through Reggie direct from our G-O-D. I know it was an awesome night for many. I was particularly touched by the way Reggie had the Youth Pastors and their spouses surround the alter and the back for when youth and adults alike came forward to meet with God over serious issues. Many heard the truth about how God can release us from things that hold us in bondage and away from Christ. Even I had a wonderful and heart-wrenching 'God moment' and dealt with some things I needed to let go and to hear from God. Twas a good night.
I had an earlier night after patrolling the halls a bit to keep the noise down amid complaints from the floors below...heh.
Then at the final service on Monday morning, Reggie had us up on our feet rapping along with the other 3500 people in the arena. Me! Rapping! Wow!
We had a good end of the service as we got together as a youth group in a large circle and Andy led us in taking Communion together. I know many of our own youth still don't realize the seriousness of the communion symbol, or even realize what Christ actually did for them, but I was just glad some of them were there and able to see by their leader's examples what a positive impact God can have on their life.
The ride home was, in a word, short for me. Angus, who was driving his van full of all our luggage, drove me to Langley to my brother-in-law's music Store (www.act1music.com) where my sister was picking me up for 2.5 days of relaxing fun with her.
We hung out, watched a movie or two, went to Ikea twice (looove the bargain bins!!!!) and looked around at a few other neat stores. I found a sectional couch I want, actually I found two, but for now they are really out of my price range. "A girl can dream, can't she?" (-old funny family saying.)
Anyway, Angie came with me back over to Victoria, our ferry was uber late getting home since the 'ramps had malfunctioned' or something. And work for the last two days of the week was super busy as I tied to catch up on a few things my days off had me postpone.
Then Saturday I had an eye exam to update my prescription. Isn't that the creepiest thing to do? Sit in a dark room with some weird contraption against your face with some strange man right in front of you!?! Crazy! But my new eye guy was really nice and my eyes are apparently "a really good-looking set".
After the exam, I applied a bit of eye makeup (by the way, I LOVE my new MAC liquid eye liner!!! I'm afraid that I am hooked!), and had a lovely girl's only lunch with Angie and Mom at Mattick's Farm at Adrienne's Tea Garden. (just a tip, if you want their chocolate mousse for dessert, make sure they set aside some right away or else often they are out by the end of the lunch hour rush! Sooo goood!) Oh and the little shops are so lovely out there...so many cook cards and gifty things!

Anyway, my days have been busy but I am carrying on.
I hope you all out there are doing well and looking forward to many sunny days this season. I know I am!