I just arrived back to my family's farmhouse in Alberta!

Just in case you don't know; I've been away for 5-6 weeks to help build a Bible Camp in the Northwest Territories. While I was gone, Alberta has been suffering terrible droughts, hailstorms, gas shortages, and other problems that I was unaware of until a few days ago. I spent the past few days at my Grandparent's farm near Edmonton, visited my Grandma who is recuperating from her leg snapping in two places, and got to meet my eldest brother's three new ferrets. My eldest brother drove me home an hour ago, and now I'm trying to figure out what to do with myself.

I was really enriched by spending my summer up in the Northwest Territories- more than I could have ever expected before I went. Inside, it made me realize how much I've been depraving myself of my physical, mental, and spiritual needs back home. Even more important: I got to know new people from diverse walks of life- people from Africa, people from the US, from Eastern Canada, and the Natives up north. I got to learn that there is more going on than I could have ever thought, and that I should continue to be expectant of miracles.

Now that I'm home and on Ye Computer of Old, I can't help but think of how... strikingly depressive the atmosphere is in this basement. The minute I came in the house, certain family members are STILL having trouble with bickering with each other. Honestly, guys. All of those times I would stand back and attempt to ignore these sorts of things flooded into my mind again. I don't want to become the person I used to be... Ack. What in the world... I know it's partly culture shock from being away from home for so long, but I'm just boggled. This house is not in good shape... How was I so oblivious and uncaring before?

It's definitely not going to be easy, but... I'm going to try my hardest to sort out the huge messes in the house. I can see they've already tried to start sorting file boxes, but there's only a couple moved over here and there. (We've been struggling with this huge load of boxes and garbage everywhere in our house for 5 years, and it's rather disturbing to fresh eyes.)

Enough about the disappointments... There's a lot to look forward to here. Especially if my family is motivated to help me out. And after all, if there's things that need drastic improvement, that just means we have more opportunities to cooperate!

Hooray! My ferret Jetta is in good shape! I'll definitely visit the horses tomorrow morning too. :> (OH WHAT THE? D:\ It would only get dark at midnight/1AM in the NT, but it's only 10 now and it's dark out! XD)

I also apparently have a Tablet now...? Eheh. There's a brand new one beside my computer, and so I guess my mom must've been thinking about me while I was gone. (Even though I'm perfectly happy drawing with a mouse or traditionally.) *confused huzzah?* I'm not sure if I'll have much time to practice with it, because I have bigger concerns on my mind right now. But it'll be interesting to use when I do get the time! (I've never tried one before. xD; )

I knew that once I got home, I would feel very questionable... but this is bigger than I anticipated. I just have to keep my Lord's will in mind for my actions, even when it feels like everything wants me to sink back into my old routine.
(I guess being on this computer isn't helping my case right now. Still, it helps to write things out to gather where I'm at.)

All right... here we go...

Hay from Hay River! I've been up here to help build a Bible Camp for the summer!
I'm sorry I haven't really been keeping up with you guys. I don't have quite the dedication to my favourite websites as I used to, which is good for me in a way. But I feel I've sort of... cut you off by doing that. Please know that I still want to talk with you guys, and don't ever think otherwise.

I am really excited to talk about things that have been going on here.
So, I'm going to type out my adventures to you in my very rambly manner. If you read quickly, you might be able to get through alive. Also note there is no automated spell-check on this computer. Gasp.

The Dookster is currently located in the Northwest Territories right now. Hay River is like a bigger and more industrial version of my farm-towns, and it's the hub to the 9th largest continential lake (the Great Slave Lake) in the world. It's where the train track ends going into the Northwest Territories. There's a whole lot of rocks, trees, and water. (But you could say that about most parts of Canada, eh?)

I've been here three times now, but the third time has been the most charming.
"Man, it's great to be back up here. You can just step a few feet from town and you're in the wilderness! ...Oh, hey there mosquitoes! ...And sand flies. And Bulldog-flies. Please stop biting me in swarms and crawling up my nose constantly. :3 "

Nahh, it's not that ba-- Okay, it is pretty bad. It's rainy/hot bug mania season, and I've been bitten more times in the past two weeks than I have for a combination of summer camps in Alberta. But it's great all the same, and you get used to it after a while. ...Okay, you don't get used to it, everyone here just perseveres. It's awesome! (Or they wear bug nets. XDD)

Besides the bugs, there's so much more to this place than I'd ever thought or expected. Did you know there's massive, beautiful waterfalls up here? It's just a few miles out of town. The river that goes into the Great Slave Lake is just a few houses away from me right this moment, and it is beautiful. I've seen about two or three bears/a couple moose/foxes/porcupines/beavers just on the drives around here. And ohman the fresh fish from the lake-- it's the best fish I've ever had.

But anyway, my older sister Naomi moved up here last year, and has been a nurse for a good chunk of her life. She came up here because God called for her to. So she works at the local hospital and lives by herself with her two adopted dogs most of the time. I don't get to see her as much as I used to, but now I get to live with her in her house for the summer! She knows a lot more than I do about the Northwest Territories, and I am excited to learn more about it too!

ANDD THENN... Summer camp! Whoa. You'd think an old couple living on the land at the end of a river-bend would want to have a nice restful life, eh? But they're starting a camp for the youth in Hay River. I've heard from natives here that many of the youth are troubled and don't have much to put their energy into, so they confide in substances. I hope lots of those youth come join us! : D

I know there's a group of 10-15 formerly-in-jail youth that were some of the first booked to come. This will be for the older teen week- the first week- which has the most helpers coming up. (A large group is coming from Calgary, AB for that week to help be there for a good 35 or so campers. So we are expecting 60 or more people in camp altogether.)

I think this will be the start of something great... God works through whoever has faith, it doesn't matter what he/she has done before, or how good or bad people are thought to be.
I am so excited about the people here. Everything is a little new to me still, but they've been extremely helpful to me.
On my second time up here, I met someone who originally learned about the "neat little stories" in the Bible from a prostitute- and that person had a huge impact on my life.

Then I met the couple providing land and starting the camp, who work on the Hay River radio, and can't even begin to tell you how sweet they are. Gahh... <3

I also met a carpenter, who lives in a HUUGE LOG HOUSE just a minute away from the camp. He has been helping the camp out, and he has been teaching me how to do carpentry for the buildings, too! I just learned recently that he and his family had lived in a bus for seven years... (I got to see the inside of the bus, too. It's run-down now, but it's so cool. It had two levels in it. They had to crawl to move around in their master bedroom. He said it was great fun watching his young kids grow up to be too tall for the upstairs roof and have to start crawling. XD) Anyway, he told me how he had no money for those seven years living in a bus with his family, but he had faith that God would provide for him... And wow, did He ever!

And there's a young man working for camp for the summer with me, he calls himself a "city-slicker", but he has guts I tell you. He bought a truck with all his money and drove up to Hay River from Alberta to work here for the summer, all because of God's Spirit. His family doesn't believe, even... that's something I have never had to deal with. So yeah... We've been a team of newbie construction-workers for the past few weeks, and he is a blast to work with. (I learned that he used to play WoW, too... XD Awesome.)

Yesterday I was talking to another one of the carpenters during supper; an apprentice of the carpenter that I mentioned earlier. He was talking about how he and his wife had lived in a cult for over 17 years. He told me how the leaders held the participants on a tight leash, just because they were making a religion on the way they interpreted the Bible. He told me about the ways they would force people to go to the front and admit what things they had done to sin, which caused everyone there to put on a mask so that everything looked fine and dandy. >: Underneath that mask- he said- they could do nothing but go back to that very sin they were taught against for an escape.

He eventually grew fed up with that place after so long, but didn't have the words to describe what they were doing wrong. He couldn't stand up and talk about it with them without a precise message. After he read something in a documentary about religious cults, his mind was opened, and he printed out dozens of copies to give to everyone there. The organization split months later, and he began looking more and more into the Bible to see what it really says- and not what was interpreted.

Everything started to get a little clearer as he learned from the Bible that often striving to make ourselves perfect is what makes us fall. We get prideful and eventually we stop giving because it is a joy to give... and only becomes something we can count up on our "I did THIS good thing!" list at the end of the day. It becomes more and more about our own strength, and less about the fact that: Christ did not come into the world to judge the world, but that anyone who believes will be saved through him. If he did come to judge the world, we would be judged by the perfect standards we so often put ourselves up against. I know I am not righteous by my own strength any one bit, but by willingly stepping out in faith and not judging by sight, he makes me anew. With jubilance, and helps me through my struggles. All of them. Every piece of my heart. I may not know everything in the world... but I know that is the love I want to have for everyone.

ANYWAY, that guy was awesome to talk to, too. 8D

I know I probably sound like a kid who goes "...AND THEN... AND THEN... AND THEN..." but Vernon from Psychonauts talked a lot like that too! BONUS!

(I've been rambling off and on for the whole day... Naomi wants a turn on her computer. XD It'd be great if you guys still want to talk to me even after so long. : D I know you're busy with summer stuff too, though. ALL RIGHT! G'night! I'll probably be back out at the camp after sleepytime, and staff training starts this Friday! Then everyone else comes! Woo!)

I've been waiting to tell you about my time at LAJ (for like two weeks XD) because I wanted to show you guys some of the pictures of the lambs. The photos were on another computer that my older brother took to college, and they just got back. Sooo... Let me introduce the sheep that accompanied us during the week of LAJ!

Every year we have a blast naming the lambs. We usually name them after obscure characters- or whatever fits their personality. This year- well, here, I'll show you:

My lamb is named after Clueless, the goat muppet in Muppet Treasure Island. As you can see, they have a fair resemblance: [link]
Clueless was skittish at first, and she loved bounding around and head-butting everyone (ATTACK SHEEP!). But sometimes she would lay in my lap happily. (See here: [link] )
She would even sleep in my lap for a few hours while waiting for the next performance. x3

My little brother's lamb was named after Mister Burke: [link]
I'd say they share an incredible resemblance. It's that sinister grin, I tell you.
But yeah, Burke is a sweet little lamb. She seemed to like humans more than her fellow sheep.

Oh, oh! Here's a video of the lambs running around! [link] : D
(Yes, they have to wear diapers. It's policy! xD )

The week went very well; all of us had bad colds, but we managed to trudge through.
On the first night after practice, I came down with a bad fever... my stomach and head felt horrible, and I was all pale and shaky- but my parents were there to take care of me. I'm so glad they were.
And y’know, Levi (our donkey: [link] ) wasn’t bad. He just gets really stubborn with not wanting to go out to the front of the stage, but he was better with some practice.

And yeah, we did two full-stage practices Mon/Tues, a full performance on Wednesday, two full performances on Thursday, a full performance on Friday, and one on Saturday.
All of those performances are two acts, and over two hours long. We usually got home at around 12-1 AM, depending on the day.

It was worth it.

Anyway, you can see more of the pictures here: [link] if you want! xD

I'm sure you've heard this like three times already, because I do this every Easter, but yeah. Doing my Burrowkeeper thing with my Donkey on the stage in front of a few thousand people this week. For the past four months, the cast has been doing rehearsals in a college gym every week. From the costumes to the backstage cues, it's a miracle the 2-hour musical comes together with just a bunch of volunteers. Even the orchestra is full of volunteers!
Best of all, the show has been running for nearly 40 years. (I think it's the 38th year now? x3 )
The people who volunteer are usually the ones paying for the tickets, too.. to give them away to people. It really is about the message of love and hope.

...Anyway, 'tis something I love being a part of, though it takes a good chunk of my time out. I grew up in this play. Both sides of my family grew up in it. Even though I've heard the songs a million times, I get swept up in them every time. And I'm just the dusty little sheep/donkey caretaker. *happysigh*

Let's hope my donkey (named Levi, he lives on our farm, and was originally trained by my older sister) doesn't get too cranky this year. xD It's kinda nerve wracking. Little person trying to lead big animal on big, scary stage. Though he's done this longer than I have, so... yeah. Eheh. I just have to work hard. Woo. I'll make sure to keep him happy.

Since we don't keep any sheep on our farm (sheep + grain farming = big troubles), every year my little brother and I pick two bottle-fed (AKA motherless) lambs from my aunt Kathy's sheep farm. We bathe them, dry them, feed them, play with them, etc. They're so adorable, they definitely steal the show when they're with us on stage. And even AFTER the show they steal the show, because we *show* them to the audience. We have our little setup right beside the handicapped entrance, so they get first dibs on petting the lambs. Hehehe. :3
Last years' lambs were named Souvlaki and Gruntilda II (I named the latter).
2007's lambs were named Yue and Suki. <3 (I'm such a geek.)

Sometimes we get to see our lambs grow up to be successful herd leaders in my aunt's farm... one example was Olive, a black sheep from 2004-2005(I think?). They grow up to be extremely friendly because of all of the special attention.

Anyways... I'm getting the sheep tomorrow or monday, and Jubilee Theatre rehearsals start on Monday. Sooo... I'm gone starting tomorrow. See you in a week! Or 8 days or so... something like that.
I'm hopefully going to finish up on the doodles I've been working on, and put them up before I go. xD

It's my sixteenth birthday tomorrow!
Happy April Fools!