who comes up with this stuff?

i'm always saying that the difference between dr pepper and mr pibb is that dr pepper went to school for longer, and hence learned more about how to taste good. (i hate the question "is mr pibb okay", which so many countless waitresses have had to ask me[ps, mr pibb is NEVER okay], one time i asked for dr pepper, and they said "we have mr pibb" and i said, "oh, i'm sorry for you, i'll just have water." [then i felt like one of those nasty customers you see in movies, so i gave them a good tip])

but i took a study break to look up what the 23 flavors were, and i just got so much more respect for my liquid heaven. who would have thought to put all these random things together and actually thought they'd taste good?

1. Amaretto(is that even a word?)

2. Almond

3. Blackberry

4. Black Licorice

5. Carrot(!!!!!!)

6. Clove

7. Cherry

8. Caramel

9. Cola

10. Ginger

11. Juniper(heh?)

12. Lemon(really?)

13. Molasses

14. Nutmeg

15. Orange(it's like they're taking from sprite and mountain dew and coke all at once i guess.)

16. Prune(ok. so whoever made this was really bored in the

17. Plum   grocery store and just took the first 23 things he saw.)

18. Pepper(SERIOUSLY.)

19. Root Beer

20. Rum

21. Raspberry

22. Tomato(not cool. this and pepper [and rum since i don't know what it tastes like] are the ones i can't taste no matter how hard i try.)

23. Vanilla

so, like with most things, i started thinking. and i thought, how in the world did they think that these 23 things would taste good together? especially when so many of them aren't even good by themselves. (tomato, pepper, prune, licorice...)

then i thought of camp. of course.

30 some college girls, all thrown together for a summer. all with different personalities, different passions, different points of view. there's always one or two that don't seem like they'll work out. then the campers come. and when you see everyone working together, you realize that when he mixed all these "flavors", God knew what he was doing.

just like the guy who made dr pepper.

everything i needed to know about college, i learned from camp.

besides being one of the most incredible ministry opportunities you'll ever get, camp teaches you things in a way that nothing else could. the summer of 2008 was probably the most surreal learning experience i've ever had. besides having my view of camp completely changed(only from behind the scenes can you see its true beauty), it forced me to grow up. and while i learned a lot about just plain old life, i think the first two years prepared me for college more than anything else.
spending up to three weeks at a time there taught me how to live away from home(not that i anticipated this as a problem).
the whole atmosphere in general taught me how to live with people. (i've always heard that if you've grown up with your own room, getting along with a roommate is harder for you, but i had no problem.[in the case of my csu roommate, it was all her, and even then, it wasn't that we fought])
weekends taught me how to be an adult, even though i was only 16 when i started.
i learned pretty much every kind of responsibility, how to live off of very little sleep, and what i was meant to major in.
yeah, my life would be an epic fail without camp.
236 days until i am home.

ok, off topic. i'm in one of those moods where i just have to ramble a little.
i love camp. i miss camp with all my heart. as much as i refer to ciu as home, it's not. true, i'm only a teeny tiniest notch happier at camp than i am here, but that still makes all the difference.
i'm different there. my heart lives there. it's the only place that i'm fully and completely alive. God made me for camp. i can never feel totally at home anywhere but there.
i miss waking up and praying for each of my girls as i go around the cabin waking them up. i miss the questions they ask. i miss sitting in the sun on fridays, moving from one umbrella to the next, and crying harder with each girl that leaves. i miss the ones that hug me and beg not to go home, whether it's because home is just that bad(oh, cricket...) or camp is just that great. i miss knowing that i'm being someone's elizabeth teal. and of course, i miss my staff. i miss talking to jenna until she kicks me out, then standing at her door and talking until i notice she's fallen asleep. i miss sitting on the cit bed with amber, laughing with our girls and taking turns sweeping. i miss winning cabin capers. i miss random worship sessions with hope. i miss sharing times on fridays. i miss getting notes. i miss encouraging people. i miss being forced to nap. i miss hanging out with missionaries, and their awesome kids.(tonight we had some from kenya come and speak, it made me miss explore groups)
i miss summer. i want it back.