I AM the CYYAM

well...

hahahaha I AM THE CYYAM today. meaning that i am the only one in the office on this cold rainy Friday. Sounds fun doesn't it! The heat is on and the music up. What might I be doing today? good questions. I'll get to sort through files of all the summer staffers of 08 and see who needs to take CPR or FA classes. I'll enter this information into a doc. and then from that make more lists! YEAH.

I love my job. It's great. I work with amazing people who give so much time to making montreat that special place. It's ridiculous how organized we have to be with all the minutes taken, travel plans made, applications in, and meetings taking place. It is funny, sometimes I feel like we have a meeting to talk about a meeting. silly being presbyterian sometimes. Like my last job I was kinda thrown into the middle of it all but growing up a Bannerman I was ready to hit with my feet running. Taking minutes for meetings, running to the rec room to get beach balls and dice, being the point person for different conferences, and making posters is nothing new for me. I will also say this. It makes the world of difference to work with people that are happy and love their job. That's a gift and it makes working with them a breeze. We are the CYYAM and every person here is a MVP.

Yesterday I got to pick the place to eat out for lunch. Of course we went to the bakery. But a really cool thing we do after is we all pilled into Bob's car to go on a field trip. YEAH, a field trip. How fun is that? We try to go places that most people haven't been to in Montreat/Black Mountain. We went to an overlook and on the old US 70. We all had a great time.
well since I AM the CYYAM today I guess it's time to get back to work. You have a great day too!

Happy Valentine's Day

Graysen Pack took these pictures and I love them. Hope you enjoy them too.
Happy love day to all. I send lots of love to friends and family. My day has been filled with seeing old friends and homemade cookies so far. It's very different from the old school days coming home with a backpack full of red suckers and valentines. I miss those days but can't complain. Have a wonderful night what ever it my bring.

All you need is love!

NEW JOB!!! - Update

• Starting this Thursday I will be working full time for the center for youth and young adult ministry-CYYAM (aka Bob Tuttle's office) I'll be working as an intern with him and others. I am very excited to start this job but even more excited to move into my own apartment! They will give me housing while working for them. Yes, we all know the shape of Montreat housing but I will still be able to call this my own. That's a big change but one I think I can deal with (wink). I hope to move in by the end of this week once we gather that it's ready and safe for me to live in.
  
• I will also be working for Regina editing her pictures and hopefully more soon. I'll get back to you on that one.
• At the end of May I will be switching over from the internship position to working on Summer Staff. Don't know what job I have yet but will let you know when I find out. Not sure about housing yet. Still trying to put a plan for that together.
  
• School- yes that's right. School is also making it into my mind as I think start to think after the summer. Randolph Community College has made it's way to the top of my list to apply for. They have an excellent photography program that I am looking into. I just got the application in the mail the other day. That's a big step but before I even start to write in my name I need to go visit the site and check things out for myself.
  

and there you have a full update on me! Hope this helps to answer some questions you had or thoughts. please leave a comment if you have any questions. It's great to be back home and I have been fully enjoying it. Between the ice, snow, supper bowl & birthday parties I've been one hoppin girl and loving it.

One more note. I played a new game that I have LOVED called Blokus. You should look into it. I bought it at Target but they also sell it at Barnes and Nobles. Here is the official web site: http://www.blokus.com/ Check it out! It's great fun but takes some brain power and it's good to always have 4 players or more. Thanks for taking the time to read! Love to all!

Back home in the cold

Now welcoming: Megan the EEL TRAINER!!!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHA
they are still really scary to me and i've only picked one up once. These are just the babies. Yes that's right and the full ground 100 year old ones are as big as me. CRAZY. I will miss them. We've had some good times together. So long my dear friends.

making the most

of my last few days here.

I went on a tramp! It was a good steady long one hike. I packed my lunch that morning and headed out. The trail hugged the side of the mountain and followed the river. I was a hot muggy day but the sand flies finally showed me mercy and weren't around. I think that has to do with how windy it was. The trail wasn't that challenging yet it wasn't easy. There were lots of creeks to cross. You go on this hike knowing that you will have wet feet. There's no rock hopping over them. You could spot some water falls along the way too. It was fun because the river I followed was the same river that I went rafting down. It's also the same land we flew over in the helicopter so I know the area well by having the chance to look up and down apon the trail. I stopped at one of the creak crossing and had time to play around with my camera and take some pictures. Another thing to note is that you have to cross a few slips as well. Those were scary to walk across. This is looking down to my right. ...like i said. scary.I highly enjoyed the day. Today it has done nothing but rain. Went into town for a bit and that was fun. We call it the magic city but don't really know why. The river has flooded again but this time will continue to rise over night. I'm excited to see how high it will be in the morning.
Last full day tomorrow and a big dinner tomorrow night. I hope not to be packing all day tomorrow but it will take a while. and now it's bed time. peace

Rafting trip

Well. My rafting trip was amazing. I loved it. It's been awhile since I've been rafting but it's something that you pick back up on with ease. I went with a family of 5. 2 boys and a girl all under 14 so we took it easy but the rapids were still levels 3 and 4.

okay so they hand you a wetsuite and tell you to put it on. I didn't know it was inside out. That's the black one. Mine was tight getting it on so I wasn't very happy when I was told I had put it on wrong. But it makes for a good laugh.

Here you see I have it one the right way. The water was cold so I'm glad I had it on. Some of the river was glacier fed. The color of the river was a deep green and blue tint.

The helicopter ride was also amazing. It lasted about 7 to 8 minutes but was really really cool to see the river we would raft down. This in fact, is the only rafting trip you can do that. You start at the lodge by being picked up by the helicopter and then raft back down to the lodge. Very cool. The trip was an all day even and not rushed at all. It was very well done. Josh and Ben were our guides and they were top class. Ben was in the raft with us and Josh was in a kayak ahead of us taking pictures and making sure no new logs were in our way. We would stop when ever we saw a good rock to jump off of or to look at the landscape. We stopped at a sandy beach area to eat lunch and feed the eels. We got back to the lodge around 5.
sadly no matter the amount of sunscreen I put on I still turned red. My hands and my face got the most sun and I was red. It was funny to see the lines on my hands. I'm fine now. But it was really really fun and I'm glad I got to go.