Jun 30, 2015

Anything Could Happen

The campers are here! The campers are here! Y'all today was so insane and it's only day 1. The kids started arriving around 2 in a few different vans and buses depending on which city they were coming from. We were standing on the porch of the main house when the first van arrived and seeing these kids running towards us, hugging the Camp Hope veterans, so happy to see the faces they hadn't seen in a year - it was such a cool sight. It's weird not knowing any of the campers, especially after working with the same Street of Hope kids the past 3 years here. But I can't even explain how these kids faces lit up seeing all their old friends, the American counselors that became their friends, this familiar campsite, so excited for the week to come. 



Gable's Group
Go Fancy Snickers! I'm lucky enough to get to look over seven girls 16-17 years old this week. Y'all these girls are so cool, each of them have such a different personality, there's an artist, a singer, a clown, a quiet but sweet girl, one girl only smiles every now and then. The first day we bonded over creating our group name... Fancy Snickers... And had so much fun decorating our room for "most womanly" competition, hanging our bathing suit tops around our cabin and setting up nail polish up our stairs. A few of my girls went out and picked a few flowers to put on our pillows, literally I could have paid like $10 for the bouquets these girls put together. I love getting to know the girls in my group, and it's crazy seeing and hearing about their stories from back home, when they aren't at camp. Most of these kids come from really hard lives and camp is their escape and this can sometimes be really apparent. The girls hang onto me, hug me nonstop, sit with me without saying a word, decorate my bed, and I love every second of it. It's so crazy, one of my girls has come to Camp Hope for 11 years. All 11 years! I feel like such a noob.



Olivia's Group
One of the best parts of meeting all the girls in my group was asking them what their favorite part of Camp Hope was since it's my first year and they are all returners. A few of them said that they loved water day and hanging out with friends but one girl said she loved the "Big Tent" time because they got serious and really talked about stuff. This really meant something to me because even before I had seen it with my own eyes, I saw what an impact camp had had on her. Group time was special because they all opened up in their own way. Even if they only talked in Latvian, I felt blessed that they were opening up at all on the first night. I can't wait to get to know more about these girls this week! 



We had dinner, night discussion time, and then we had "tea time," where we get together with our group and talk about what Karlis discussed at the night meeting. We talked about the 4 steps of believing in God and creating/having a relationship with him. Our campers are all over the spectrum, some following and totally in love with Jesus, while others don't even believe in a God. It's interesting getting to hear how honest these kids are when talking about it. So many of them want to know God's love and want to be a Christian, but they are so confused as to why so many bad things happen in their lives. But that's what we are here for, to help them know that life isn't always going to be dandy and bad things happen to everybody, Americans and Latvians, everybody. But when we have faith in Christ and know that he is on our side and has our back, we can get through anything. I love sharing my testimony with my girls, it helps to create trust and a relationship with them that's real. 





Day 2 of camp has been eventful. It's crazy hair day and you can't even imagine the crazy hair we have seen from these people. Latvians are very resourceful to say the least. We started today with a staff meeting full of prayer, both in English and Latvian. It's pretty neat hearing prayers and feeling its power in another language, it's one of my favorite things. We spent all day outside playing gaga ball, swimming, singing and dancing, and at crafts they made tie-fleece-blankets. We have an ever so popular night game tonight, which in Latvia usually means running around in the woods at 11pm in pitch black night with your hands zip-tied to your team trying to find some sort of treasure. And lots of bugs. It gets really intense. So we will let you know how that goes. Over camp has been so amazing so far and it's only the first full day... The Texans are still alive and kickin, so that's labi. (That means good in Latvian)





Also, we have a camp-wide blog going written by our American AND Latvian team, and I run out of internet quickly, so you can check that out if you want to know more! (Red & Mansfield family) 
https://hopecamplatvia.wordpress.com

xoxo, Gāble un Olivija

Jun 27, 2015

Like Home

Well, we made it! Hardly though, Clark, you'd be so proud of us. We went through 3 different airports all by ourselves and didn't get yelled at or get too lost. We cut it close though - sat in the wrong gate for 2 hours and realized we were at the wrong place 30 minutes before take off so we had a little but of a workout speed walking to the right place. But we made it! We landed in Riga with the hopes that one of our friends would pick us up... after them joking around with us saying that we had to hike to Vilandes (the church that we stay at in Riga) and we never know what to expect with them.. But luckily we walked through the doors from baggage claim to see Tabita, Arvis, Girts, and little Amelija! We hugged, grabbed our suitcases and got in the car back to Vilandes. Home! 

We dropped our bags off at the church, changed out of our 17 hour travel clothes, met up with Valters, another of our Latvian family, and walked to Old Town for the only reason we actually come to Latvia. Pelmini. Heaven. Kidding, not the only reason we come, but I'm totally serious when I say the only reason we kept positive during our travels was knowing and telling each other "pelmini was at the end of the tunnel." 


We woke up Saturday morning, had some coffee at Coffee Inn, breakfast at "the muffin man," and went to pick up the rest of the American team from Virigina from the airport. It was crazy and wonderfully different because we knew no one coming through the doors and there are thirty-five of them. If I could verbally italicize that too I would. Thirty-five! But of course, thirty-five amazing people. It's amazing to see the love that I have for this country and for these children reflected back at me in thirty-five people's eyes. (Thirty-five!!) God is good. These guys are Camp Hope pros. They've put on an astonishing 11 camps and from what I hear, they are life-changing weeks. 




The only thing you really need to know about the camp grounds is that we have yet to be able to pick our jaws off of the ground. Beautiful is an understatement. We are surrounded by a lake on all sides and there are cabins for us and all our future campers. You will all see pictures but I assure you, they will not do this place justice.




Tomorrow we look forward to a day where we can sleep as late as we want (something I have never heard on a trip to Latvia before!) We will spend the day setting up camp until our Latvian leaders arrive tomorrow evening. Currently we are trying to tell our brains that it is bed time despite the fact that it is still very light outside and it's 11pm. The sun just can't get enough of us.


xoxo G&O

Jun 24, 2015

Here We Go Again

You bet I used a Demi Lovato song to title this post. Because HERE WE GO AGAIN!

Today's the day! Finally after almost a year, I get to hop on a plane with one of my very favorite friends, Olivia, and head to my very favorite place to see some of our very favorite people all the way across the globe. If you know me or have read my other posts, you would know that I have been going to Latvia since 2010, and this will be my 6th summer going over there. People ask my "why Latvia" and "what do you do there?" I'm not going to get too into it because I have a whole post about my passion for it, but simply put - This country and its people are the definition of beauty and the kids that we work with are absolutely amazing. The next 18 days we will be camp counselors at Camp Hope. This is the 11th year of the camp, but the first year that Olivia and I get to be a part of what goes on in this organization. The first week is teen camp, where I have been assigned eight 16 year olds, and the second week is kids camp, where I will have a group of 7 year olds. We're going to be meeting up with a group of around 40/50 more American/Latvian leaders at the camp on Saturday, so hopefully we can control all these kids! This year is kinda nerve-racking for us, the rest of the group that we're meeting up with from America is traveling from Virginia, and they've been doing Camp Hope since the beginning. It's going to be weird for me and Olivia being the only ones from our Texas group going, but we're way ready for what's to come. There's a lot that's going to be the same about our trip, but there's so much more that is totally changing, even already before we've left! Im saying goodbye to people the same way, taking our normal route through Frankfurt and Helsinki, getting picked up by my crazy Latvian family in Riga, and heading to Vilandes the same way as always. But this year we will only have a day to get ready for camp, and then it's on. We've got a lot of mental and physical preparation to do. 2012 and 2013 camps were just day camps which were still extremely exhausting, taking care of and playing with kids sunup to sundown. Last year we took the kids to a campsite for 4 days, making the days even longer through the night. But this year we have 10 straight days of camp. It's going to be an experience at the least. Pray for my mental sanity and physical abilities considering Latvian children love piggyback rides and they're way too cute to say no...

My family always complain about not hearing from me or knowing what I'm doing these few weeks I'm in Latvia, so Olivia and I thought it could be fun to try to keep everyone updated with a little blog. Not really sure how much we'll have to say, how often we will have internet access to post, or really anything. That's how these trips go though, we get there without much of a plan.. well... the American team doesn't know much of the plan, and our Latvian friends kinda just surprise us with who knows what and we do it. I love it - it's spontaneous and so different than our everyday lives. I mean heck, I get to go back to summer camp... but in a different country! Anyways, I'm going to try to keep updates coming, they'll probably be a bunch of pictures and maybe some stories from the day. Mom and Dad, we hope you appreciate this. 

So here we go again! Off to the land of potatoes, dill, rain, more potatoes, and lots of gigantic biting flying bugs. And pelmini of course.


xoxo Gable & Olivia

Jun 9, 2015

Happy Best Friend Day.

I'm just going to assume that if you're reading this, your probably have social media, being that the only possible way of finding my blog is through some sort of social media or my website. So I'm going to go ahead and also assume that you saw that yesterday, June 8, was #NationalBestFriendDay! How cuuuute. I got the assignment of getting to research fun/bizarre holidays on the calendar, pick a few, and create some social media graphics for them that DMag could post on Instagram and Facebook. So I came across this splendid holiday of memories of pillowfights, wine stories, whine stories, and way too many inside jokes, and I came up with this cute lil graphic! - I'm kinda proud of it.

Anyways, so obviously this "holiday" is meant to give thanks and to brag about your best friend. I can honestly never say that I have never had just one best friend. I have always been lucky enough to have the problem of not being able to name just one. Since elementary school, I always felt bad just choosing one, so I just decided that I would have as many best friends that I wanted.

Yeah yeah, the whole day is such a cliche, and this post is such a cliche, but I really am endlessly thankful for the girls that I have been able to have in my life, because I can honestly say that I don't know if I would be the girl I am today. Each and every one of my best friends has had a special role in my life - the clown to make me smile, the sweetheart to always lend me her shoulder, the bitch to always have my back, the smart one to always tell me what to do, the one who is going through similar situations, the one that's just a phone call away from telling me it'll all be fine. Every single one of my best friends is that. They're all crazy, they're all funny, they're all smart, they're all compassionate, and they all care about me and about each other.

I have been lucky enough to remain very close to the girls I grew up with. If you have that, treasure those friends until the end of time. They were there through the awkward stages, the family issues, the first crush, the first detention, the braces... These girls know me like the back of my hand, and that is something to truly hold onto. With these girls I was so lucky, but I am even more grateful for the amazing women I met throughout high school, and especially my years at college. They weren't there through my awkward stages, but they definitely find the time and the pictures to make fun of me through it. They weren't there for my first crush, but they were there for my first heartbreak. We've taken road trips, vacations, adventures, sat on couches for hours on end, have way too much blackmail on each other, way too many stores to share, and way too many videos to watch without being embarrassed. My sshz (our inside thing, you wouldn't get it) are who have shaped me into who I am today.



We have definitely seen each other at our worst, but that's why you're my bests. I love you girls.

Jun 1, 2015

J.V.

"If you work really hard, and you’re kind, amazing things will happen." -Conan O'Brien


Listening to:
Helena Beat - Foster, the People
Ditmas - Mumford & Sons
Someone Else - Miley Cyrus
Lean On - Major Lazer & DJ Snake

Background story. Jac Vanek is a girl who I used to envy. She was a simply a girl who got out of the Orange County bubble of cheerleader bows and popularity, and got to live a life fueled by her love of music. She started out as a photographer, blogger, writer, designer, really anything she could think of to get involved in the male-dominated world of music business. She made her big break starting her own clothing company that all began with simple rubber bracelets with a word or short saying printed on it - I had two - "Trainwreck" (Demi of course) and "Stalker" (a gift from my good friend Taylor, my fellow band stalker). Basically she got into the music business and became friends with all the bands that I wished I could hang out with. As I said... envy. Anyways, she posted this the other day on her blog, and I wanted to share it.



Now I envy her for her words and her wisdom. Jac has a blog, that she doesn't update too often, but when she does she says some pretty neat things. This stuck out to me the other day. I saw her post it on her Instagram and I instantly took a screenshot. I don't write this blog to get all ooey-gooey deep thoughts blah blah bloggy on you. I really keep this thing going so that I have something to do when I'm bored or want to give my online-self/resume a personality. I don't even care if people read this - these posts are something for me to look back on and remember moments and thoughts. But I just wanted to share this passage that Jac wrote, because for me there's something about it that's so true and essential to the way we are as humans. The past is a terrifying place to be stuck in. It's full of memories, both good and bad, and when we get stuck dwelling in those memories, we just end up stuck in a place we were, unable to get to where we are supposed to be. No lie, I've been stuck. I'm guilty of creating this "distorted version of reality," holding on to that one little twisted tale that led me right back into the past. And there's nothing wrong with holding onto a good memory, but the best part of a memory is that it's just that, and there are so many more to make if we can get past the past. I love these words - "The only way to let go of this self fulfilling black hole of shit is with a burning desire to chase the good around us with brave eyes and a kind heart."

This chick is smart, and has a great taste in music. And she has really cool handwriting. So before I get all ooey-gooey on you, just check out her website and blog. There's some pretty cool clothes and goodies on there too. But really, J.V., I don't think you could have put it any better, so thank you for being so wise and cool and stuff.