Men's camp

So, the last time I left you guys, I had left to pick up Anthony and Andrea Castle from the airport. Well, I lied…actually no I didn’t. We did pick them up and they are here in the house right now. Right now as I’m typing this blog. They have been an absolute blessing to us here. They have moved in to a town house not far from where we are living and are building relationships in that neighborhood. So our forces are taking on two neighborhoods at once.

Rob, Anthony, and I went to Men’s Camp a few days ago. What an experience. We are Men after God’s own heart. That was the theme of the camp. The thing that amazed me the most was that they willing put gun’s into our hands. Pistols, rifles, and shotguns. I didn’t get to shoot the rifles or pistols but I did get to shoot the shot gun. I almost fell over as well when I shot it. We were doing trap shooting. These guys were in a box and we say “pull” and these clay discs shot out and we had to shoot them. I only hit three out of the ten, but I would say that’s good for a first time. Anthony and Rob slept while this was going on. I wanted to get us signed up for the Tug-of-war tournament, but no one else was up for it. So I took my chances at Dominoes (I was knocked out in the first round) washers (I don’t remember my score but it wasn’t good) darts (I got 94 points) and a marathon (2 miles). This is what I was hoping to bring home a first place trophy in. I figured if nothing else I would win the marathon. There were a bunch of old guys and so I was one of the youngest and I think I’m pretty fast so I thought I had this one in the bag. When I realized we had to run at 8:00 in the morning I was less than thrilled, but I was not going to give up because I’m a shoe in for first. So after a breakfast consisting of biscuits and gravy and sausage I was set. I arrived at the flagpole and I start stretching. Then a few old guys show up and then a young guy shows up (he’s working at camp) and he looked like a track star so I figured this would be a close race. Then another young guy shows up and he looks very fit as well, so I’m thinking this is going to be a very tight race. And were off and running. And four of us started out a pretty good pace then one man fell behind. I kept going and pushing and running until after the first mile. We got by the first mile and I couldn’t kept up and I slowly started to fall behind, but I kept going and with a third place finish (12:53); I was three minutes behind these other two guys, three minutes! That’s a lot of time. They came in with a nine minute time that’s fast. I talked to the officer in charge, after I was back to breathing normally, and he said that Tim (the guy in first place) is like an entire track team all in one person. So there was no chance for me to get first place. Later that day I was talked to Rick (2nd place man) and I found out that he was a track star form Africa who runs in all sorts of meets in Kenya and South Africa so there was no chance of me getting second place, so I had to settle for third. I was happy with that. It was a great camp though. We put up a prayer tent and built a cross for people to nail names or requests to. We also got a chance to meet the new TC and we heard an amazing band from Austin, Texas “The Gospel Silvertones” and they were anointed by God. Now we are back home and playing with kids and sweating and getting them juice and having a blast.

I also just want to point out that i am 22 years and 2 months old. In case anyone is wondering.

Con men at age eight

I realized that my duties here in Charlotte involve being illegal for a just cause. A few days ago one of our next door neighbors was arrested. Her brother came to her house to get money to bail her out of jail but the house was all locked up (why wouldn’t it be). So he asked me to help him check the windows to open them. Unfortunately they were all locked. The locks on the windows in this neighborhood aren’t real great so when we found one that seemed to be the “weak link” we decided that was the target and with a little help form a screwdriver and a butter knife (reminds me of 705 in the Empress) we were able to pry the window open and I crawled through. This is better known as “breaking and entering”. So I unlocked the front door to let her brother in and that was the end…or so I thought. He constantly forgot things in the house so I constantly had to go to a different window (he left this one unlocked) open it and reach in to unlock the door for him. So I am guilty of performing a “b and e” four times within a one hour time period. Later on I was off to pick-up Mason (Cory Harrison’s son) form school. Jeremy anted to ride with me. Jeremy is a very interesting character. Like most of the kids around here he’s always doing things and trying to get out of trouble and treating everything as a joke. He’s a very manipulative person. He asked me to stop by a fireworks shop on our way back. That’s fine no harm in that. He started joking and saying that he was going to steal boxes of fireworks and he’s got big pockets and all that stuff and I laughed at him because he was joking, the only problem was I soon realized we wasn’t joking at all. I pulled a package of M-80 from his pocket and when he realized I wasn’t going to be leaving him out of my sight the rest of the time we were there he just got angry. He tried to scam free stuff form the cashier and ask for free fireworks because he bought something for a dollar. He’s a very manipulative person and will always press the envelope as far as he can to get his way. The strangest part is that he doesn’t feel the least bit guilty for anything he’s done. We got back in the car and a few miles down the road he pulled some other things out of his pocket that he didn’t pay for. I knew that I couldn’t make him take it back to the store because he would just sit in the car and I can’t force him to walk. It’s strange that someone who is fifteen years old can steal like he’s been doing it his whole life. All I could do was let him know that stealing wasn’t cool and not acceptable and I would punish him by not taking him for a ride anymore (he loves riding in a car for some reason). It sometimes makes me feel like these kids are too far gone, there hearts are too hard and no matter what we say or do we can’t change them, but I do know that love conquers all and never fails and there is power in prayer and we are commanded to pray continuously. That is my battle strategy. Now I am going to band and songsters practice and then I’m off to pick up a couple Australians from the airport. Hallelujah.

Here's a rundown

Here is what has been happening for the past few days. I play with kids, I stop fights, I watch kids throw rocks, stop them form throwing more rocks, and get them snacks and drinks. I am a camp counselor and I have no DYS.
Things that have been out of the ordinary: We finally have a picture of the man with a shot gun on the 614 Charlotte blog. Look and be amazed. Last Saturday I woke up at around ten in the morning and walked over to the Dolby house to get some breakfast, like I do every morning, and Heather asked me if I heard the gunshots this morning. I said, “No” and Heather just stared at me with disbelief. She said, “The house they came from is closer to you than it is to mine and the shots woke me up. It was practically right behind you and you slept through it?” So I currently hold the record of sleeping through the most gunshots. The record stands at six. On Wednesday night this past week I was laying in bed and I heard a man not far from the window yelling for someone I know so I sat up and took a peek to see who it was. Bad idea on my part. The man was urinating in my front yard. I thought of yelling something strange and slightly offensive but he was drunk and I was tried. If I had a camera I would have considered it a photo opportunity and bloggable. I don’t think the blogging world would be too thrilled with it though. Needless to say I tried to go back to sleep as soon as my mind would let me. Today after church and after CiCi’s and after playing with kids and laughing and then putting away all the toys and while everyone was winding down, only then did it decide to rain. It had been looking like it would all day, but it didn’t start until seven thirtyish. All the kids started running home except three. Then the all Hail broke loose. We had hail the size of peas coming down. My response was oh course “OH HAIL NO!!” Then one little girl (Lele she’s 4) decided that would be a good time to run home. She ran out the back door and when we noticed she was gone I looked out and saw her stopped about a third of the way home standing in the rain/hail crying. I guess that’s when she realized that hail hurts. So I ran picked her up and carried/sprinting her the rest of the way home. I felt a bit like a superhero. Then the hails stopped and the rain stopped and everyone else went home. Now the Liquor House (the house next door to mine) is open for business and there are thirty four cars parked in my front yard and I don’t drive a single one of them.

R&R

This weekend was very relaxing. In a couple of ways I was able to relax without expecting to. On Saturday Heather and I went with Cory Harrison and his family to a drive-in movie theater. I had never been to a drive-in movie before so this was a very new experience for me and it was a double feature which made it even more exciting. First feature was for the kids the movie was “The Wild” very much like Madagascar. It seemed to be a mix of Madagascar, Finding Nemo, and The Lion King all in one. It wasn’t as funny as I had expected, but it was worth seeing. Then we saw Mission Impossible III. It was a thriller. At the beginning of the movie all I could think about was what Cory had told us about Tom Cruise wanting to eat his baby’s placenta. So for two minutes straight I saw Tom Cruise+ placenta. Placenta kept popping into my head; it wouldn’t stop (placenta, placenta, and placenta). Eventually I was captivated by the booms and explosions and fire and shooting and I forgot all about the placenta (I’ve seriously typed that word more in this blog than I ever thought I would in my entire life). I go to be very unhealthy for dinner (not that I have been healthy recently) it consisted of Nachos with Cheese and Jalapenos, and Twizzlers, popcorn and Sierra Mist. It was wonderful. The movies ended at around one o’clock and Heather and I didn’t get home until about 2:30. I slept. I awoke to a knock at my door. It was Heather. Word of advice; always remember to turn on your alarm after you set the time. If you don’t it doesn’t work. All the kids were in the van and ready and I hadn’t gotten out of bed yet so I went into hyper mode and was ready to go in record time. I would doubt that I spent any longer than seven minutes getting ready. The kids thought it was hilarious. So we were off to church and then to CiCi’s Pizza. The Captain preached a very good message on marriage. He emphasized that a marriage should be based on covenant rather than feelings and love. It was a good word. Then we went to lunch (God bless CiCi’s Pizza). Then we went home and all the kids went to there homes and I went to my home and I definitely laid on my bed and was listening to music but I think I fell asleep with my eyes open because I don’t recall closing or opening my eyes at all, but I don’t remember thinking about anything either for a long gap of time. So I’m currently missing two hours of my life and I don’t know where they went. I think I can live without them though. Now I will sleep more.

He's Lost

I lost Rob and I don't know where to find him. Has anyone seen Rob Dolby I can't find him anywhere, ROB...ROB...where are you?