I returned home from assignment last night. Wow...what a month. It was amazing, with many fun memories and of course some things I'd like to forget as well...ha ha ha. It was great. It feels so weird to be home. I just don't know what to do with myself. Good thing I am turning around and going right back to camp again tomorrow!!

Yep, at 6 AM tomorrow we leave for Saranac Village in upstate NY. This time around though I am taking kids. There will be 18 boys and 9 girls. (Including leaders.) Please pray for us - especially kids who do not know Christ. Camp is such a wonderful time to come into a relationship with the God of the universe.

My contact info for the next week:
Ashley Phelan (YLWJ leader July 10-16)
Young Life's Saranac Village
4014 State Route 30
Saranac Lake, NY 12983
518-891-3010

Two (of the many) highlights from this month were 1) my mom coming out and visiting me and 2) the sunflower field I saw today. My mom came out on a "spur-of-the-moment" trip this last Monday. It was nice to have her around and show her Champion. I'm very glad she was able to visit. Yesterday she left. Today I had to drop Amy off at the Philly airport. I was driving back to Flemington and came across a field just FULL of sunflowers. I didn't spot it yesterday because it was dark. It has always been a dream of mine to walk in a field of sunflowers. I know that may sound cheesy, but they are my second favorite flower. (First being gerber daisies.) Anyway, I had to stop and take some pics...but was in a huge rush (lots of stuff to do for camp today) so I didn't exactly get the chance to walk in them and take up-close pics. Hopefully sometime next week I can if they last that long. Anyway, what an INCREDIBLE sight!!

I have to get packing but wanted to post some pics and say "hi" since it has been awhile. Have a good week!!

Me with some work crew girls. 

Amy and I before we left for Champion 

Another week of camp done...whew! Time for some much needed rest and relaxation. About 90 kids became believers this week. We are excited. Don't we serve such a good God?

We are taking kids to the mall in Middletown, NY tonight. I am loving these girls and will have such a hard time leaving them. They are quality. In a way I have a big/little sister relationship with all of them. I am already dreading "good-bye."

I have to start posting pics of these kids online so you can see who I am talking about.:)

I now want to take this time to publicly thank Tammy for the funniest package I have ever received. She sent "herself" to me at camp. In a previous post I was talking about how sad I am that no friends or family will be visiting me. But Tammy made me a lifesize doll of herself and mailed it to me. I laughed so hard and felt really loved. Thanks Tammy for making my day!!!!

Have you ever smelled deer repellent? I never even knew that there was such a thing. But, it is, and they love to spray it around here. Let me tell you, it is not a pretty smell. I was told it is "elk." Whatever that means??? So it is pretty funny to see a bunch of people walking around either gagging or holding their noses. It makes me laugh...or at least chuckle while I am not gagging myself.:)

Campers left today. We just finished our first week of camp and it was great. There were 168 campers who gave their hearts to the Lord. Praise God!! This week we had about 480 campers. Altogether with the staff there were about 620. This week was the second largest week of YL camp, in YL camp history. (We were just 30 less then the most populated week of camp ever.) So needless to say it was large, but great!! The weather started off VERY warm and VERY humid but now it is cooler. I am wearing a sweater and jeans today so it is a nice change. It is really beautiful here. I even had a bald eagle fly right over my head. It was amazing!!

My work crew kids are so great. I am loving my time here. I am so blessed to have had two wonderful crews in a row. The girls and I are bonding and spending a lot of time together. They are like a bunch of little sisters. The boys are great too...but they thought it would be hilarious to pie me with leftover whipped cream...so now it is war...ha ha ha.;) But they make me laugh so I am always enjoying myself.

One of my girls who was on work crew last year came out and is spending the month here with me in New York. She is fun to have around. She came out early and I took her to NYC. She had never been to the EC before so it is fun being with her as she sees fun stuff like NYC for the first time.

I do have some prayer requests:
Please pray that more high schoolers will sign up for camp.
Please pray that more middle school kids will sign up for camp.
(It is hard recruiting kids and handling all this while I am away from Jersey.)

I do feel a little homesick. I am used to my family coming and visiting me while I am on assignment. (Or being able to do assignment with friends.) Everyone here will have someone visiting them at some point during the month...except me. That makes me sad. So please also pray that I will be able to get through the month strong and not feeling sorry for myself.

I have a meeting in 40 mins so I better get going. If you happen to be thinking to yourself, "Self - I am so bored!" You can always write me! It's so funny how much I love "snail mail" at camp. I think I posted my address in a previous blog.

Hope you all are doing well...enjoy your weekend! And dad - I love you and happy father's day! Wish I could be there with you!

Hello from Lake Champion!

I don't even know what day it is. Is that sad?? OK, so I just looked on my computer and it says it is Tuesday. It is weird because I totally loose track of time here. Anyway, will write more later but wanted to say that I am here and loving it. It's not Woodleaf and for that I am sad - but regardless I am still having a good time. The kids are great- the humidity I could do without.;)

I will write more later. But for now it is time for a much needed power nap.

I leave tonight for Champion! I will have email and cell phone access (although I may not be able to return your messages right away) so feel free to contact me!! Or snail mail at camp is always fun:

Ashley Phelan, Assignment Team
Young Life's Lake Champion
247 Mohican Lake Road
Glen Spey, NY 12737

June 8 - July 8 Lake Champion

Hopefully I will be able to keep posting while I am there. Enjoy your day!

WL club on Tuesday. 

I was standing by the BBQ which is why the pic is kinda cloudy...lol Majority of our YL kids. Pic taken last night. 

Katie and me. 

Lake Champion this past weekend. Me and some of my leaders. 

Oh my goodness. I apologize for the delay in getting an update up on my blog. My laptop crashed (again) and it has been in the "shop." What an unexpected (and poor timing) mess that has been Ugh!!!! I don't know if you remember, but it crashed back in October. Luckily Matt was able to fix it (had to reformat my hard drive) but he got it up and running again (for free - so generous!!!). It has been great until a couple of weeks ago I started to hear the same noise it made back in October. Kind of a crunching-clicking noise in the back right hand corner. Anyway, I called our local computer repair shop and they told me that that was the hard drive and it was just a matter of time before my whole system shut down. I was sooo mad!! This laptop is just under two years old...it should not be facing this problem AGAIN! Anyway, I was able to save some stuff on it before I took it in. But, they called me yesterday and did have to replace the hard drive and currently my bill is $300. YIKES!! And, they aren't done yet. I should get it back tomorrow. But, I am just not happy about this whole thing because I certainly don't have that kind of money, I leave for camp in a week and I don't have time to reload everything on my computer but need to because I have to take it with me and I have been w/o my laptop at home for a while now. It has just been so inconvenient. ANYWAY...life goes on and here I am at work venting to you on my blog.;)

I hope you enjoyed your memorial day weekend. I went to a leadership camp with the other leaders (both Young Life and Wyld Life) at Lake Champion. It was fun. On the way home we stopped and saw Star Wars. It was pretty dark - but I am still glad I saw it. It pieces things together. But please don't take any young kids to see it. There were little ones in the audience and I just couldn't believe that their parents let them be there. Crazy!! Altogether it was a wonderful holiday weekend and a fun time of bonding with leaders.

Tuesday I had WL club and yesterday we had YL club. Whenever I have club my day is super hectic. But, thankfully last night was our final YL club of the year. (We still have one more WL club.) Now it's on to summer work!! I will post my schedule soon but can't now as I have to get back to work. Just wanted to let you know where I have been the past week. Hasta!

I found out today I was accepted into the Master of Science in Christian Counseling program at Philadelphia Biblical University. PTL!! I expect you all to attend my ceremony in two years so start saving...;)

I think this was two YL club's ago..."chubby chihuahua."

Last week at Wyld Life club.

There are 4000 stars. Each represents 100 people who died in the war. 

Me at the new WW2 memorial in D.C.  

Saw this in Alexandria, VA...lol...very clever!! 

What the junk? A high of 54 tomorrow??? It's May not February!! This girl has had enough of this COLD NJ weather.

I had my final interview for the Christian counseling Masters program tonight. I should know in a week if I got in or not. I want to be selfish and ask that you pray that I get in. I really want and need this. But overall I need God's will in my life...so I'll let you know what happens!!

OK, tomorrow I am for sure posting those pics I promised!:) Night!!

Oh my goodness. Another week has just FLOWN by. I cannot believe how completely crazy busy I have been lately. This summer is going to be the exact same way too. It is both good and bad at the same time. Wow. But through all of this I am truly enjoying how good God is and how He totally provides for me. Sometimes I still can't believe what an awesome job I have, and what a cool place I live in, and what amazing family and friends I have. (You!)

Here are two highlights from last week:

I organized a YL girls overnight. I made dinner and the girls came over here and we totally devoured the lasagna. Who knew Stouffers would be so popular? lol Then we went to Eastern PA for the night. Some of my YL girls are from PA and they come over here for club. (It is only about a 30 minute drive...see God is already preparing me to work with PA kids at some point.;)) Anyway, I told them that we could spend the rest of the night over there. So, they drove us all around, showing us the "happening" spots. We went to Quakertown for Starbucks, got chased by 16-year-old boys (I was ducking in the backseat laughing so hard I thought I was going to pee my pants...it was a total flashback, but one I could have done without!!lol) ,went and played on a swingset, went to a "haunted" old house, saw their "beer can" house, got a tour of their school and houses, and went on tons of back roads. One of the roads actually went through two creeks. We literally had to go through the water to get to the otherside. It was too funny. The water wasn't that deep - but that gives you a picture about how rural it is here (and there!). We then ended our evening by board games, telling stories and falling asleep. We woke up to pancakes and more talking. It was great to spend so much time with them...and to be a part of a slumber party.

My second highlight was this weekend. I went to Kristin's on Sat. after the overnight was over. (Yes, battled The Beltway once again - I swear the 495 is out to get me...) We had the best time. I'm sad we won't get to hang out again until later July. Anyway, we rented a movie, ate good food (Italian, Spanish and Mexican - oh we are so adventurous), went shopping, went to The District, and attended her awesome church. It was a much needed "mini vacation" for me. PTL!

The low-carb diet is going well - although I do go "on and off." I think I have lost 8 pounds so far. Not bad. Back to it again tomorrow!!

Well, I did my laundry last week and it is still not put back. So, I better get going. I told myself I needed to get my upstairs back to normal tonight. Then tomorrow I am tackling my downstairs (all those dishes!!). I feel like I am constantly cleaning up after kids even though I don't have any. Well, technically I don't.;)

I hear it is warm in CA! I am so jealous!! I am ready for some warm weather...I am still having to put my electric blanket on at night. What's up with that?

I'll post some recent pics very soon!