Photo-evidence!

I finally have pictures up you should go check them out right now!!!

The reason why I just now am getting photos up is because today we were in Stayton most of the day, so I had a stable internet connection where I could upload photos.

Also today, I went for an amazing run this morning on the road leading to camp. I pass waterfalls, I smell the trees, I stop to poke slugs in the middle of the road. No wonder people are so motivated to work out in Oregon, just going for a run is an experience.

Before I organized medical files and researched bottle rockets online, Coyote and I were in charge of home-steading a garden. Stayton is real neat and has public land set aside for anyone who wants to have a plot of ground to garden in. Plants like squash, peppers, cabbage, and tomatoes (what we planted today) actually grow and will be used for the camp. It was great getting dirty and smelling the warm earth, I can't wait to see the results granted we didn't screw up too much!

When we got back to the office, we were greeted by pizza (veggie for me mmhhmm) and finished out our day by doing various paperwork. Before we left, Grasshopper called and let me know I had a letter waiting for me when I got back home! I was giddy with anticipation until we returned back to camp.

Tomorrow we go to Portland!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leadership Camp (May 25-28)

Yesterday wrapped up my first camp week, and I had some awesome campers. This week's camp was called Leadership Camp, it was for individuals that will have the opportunity to come back this summer and assist those that are mild to severely disabled. It was a small group, and out of the six, four were very high-functioning. All of them had such kind hearts and were definitely not afraid to share what was on their mind :)

Such examples: (keeping in mind Upward-Bound is a Christian-based camp)

"Lori" is a girl deep in the faith. She always carries around/quotes her Bible and isn't afraid to belt out any gospel song that is currently on her brain. One day as I was talking with another camper, she noticed my St. Joan of Arc necklace...

Lori: "What kind of necklace is that?"
Me: "A necklace with a saint on it."
Lori: "Like a Catholic saint?"
Me: "Yes...like a Catholic saint"
Lori: "Are you Catholic?"

At this point, I tried to go back to the conversation I was having with the other camper to avoid conversing about denominations, but Lori was incredibly persistent.

Lori still searching for her answer: "Hummingbird, are you Catholic?"

Me: "...yes, I'm Catholic"
Lori: "Oh...that's okay." She said somewhat disappointed.

She never brought it up again, and didn't seem bothered by it. However, on the last day, right before she left, in front of the camp directors, and her foster parents, as she was leaning in to give me a hug she asks:

"Are you really Catholic?"

Me, flooded with embarrassment: "Yes..."

Then I proceeded to give her a hug.

I am such a HEATHEN.

I'm learning just how touchy religion can be at a Christian camp. One day, a counselor went on a rant about religion while there were campers at the table working on a craft.  He turned to me and asked, "So, what denomination are you?"
I shrugged my shoulders and told him, "I'm a follower of Christ, and that's all you need to know."

The other counselor in the room joined in and said that that was a good answer, and told interrogative counselor in the most polite way as possible to can it because UBC is non-denominational.

People, I don't care what you believe. Denominations mean nothing to me, it's your life. Just be a good person and be able to sleep with yourself at night. Seriously.

ANYWAY.

Learning continued into the world of individual care...one of the moderately disabled women "Daisy" kept us up for most of the first night by being very verbal in her sleep. Kiwi luckily had Muskrat come around midnight to give her another dose of melatonin. I'm so grateful Kiwi came all the way from Corvallis to help out this weekend. She's in pre-nursing and was a counselor last year. She get's the job done the first time and was awesome to have around. She's a rockstar.
I definitely learned to be more patient for campers to come through Daisy. She has dysphasia, so she had to be fed. One meal as Kiwi and I were taking turns feeding her, she sneezed a mouthful of food all over our own plates. The next morning as we were dressing her, as soon as we took off her night pants she relieved herself on the floor. It's moments like that when you have to smile and be grateful she decided to urinate AFTER the fact your face wasn't by her ankles.

One activity (out of several thousand) that we did this week was "three headed monster"; when three people stick their heads out of one sheet. The object of the game is to complete sentences and ideas by one person saying only one word at a time. Three counselors demonstrated at first, campers asking questions, then campers had an opportunity to be a three headed monster. One question that was asked was what their favorite verse in the Bible was. They did really well (let's face it, these people know more scripture that I do) and quoted John 3:16. Everything went smoothly until... "For God so loved the world that everyone who believes in Him..." and one girl said, "will",  as in "will not perish" However, the camper that was to say a word after her, ever so deep in his reverent thought with his eyes closed said, "Shall" as confident as can be.

So it sounded like, "For God so loved the world that everyone who believes in Him will SHALL"

Everyone cracked up. :)


We won't have campers for a while on the mountain, but I'll be training in the coming few days!

God Bless Oregon

Oregon rocks. It's like Colorado, and Louisiana, and Ohio combined. Except it's not, because it's Oregon.

Right before my plan touched down I saw so much GREEN. EVERYWHERE. I love it.

This is how my first drive went:

As Grasshopper, Muskrat, and I made our way to Stayton, we passed by a farmer, who according to Grasshopper, "just had cows", which apparently is SUPER out of the ordinary in Oregon. Grasshopper and Muskrat let out a groan of pain and said, "Oh do you smell that?!"
I have to admit, I did not smell a thing.

Also on our way back, I noticed this plant with yellow flowers that blanketed everything. Apparently, it's called scotch broom and a horrible, terrible, noxious weed. Even the weeds in Oregon are pretty.

After leaving Stayton for camp (about 30 minutes up the mountain) Grasshopper took the winding, scary roads in the rain uncomfortably fast for this chick. Of course, speeding up winding roads in torrential downpour is the norm here, duh.

We passed views National Geographic would kill for, beautiful mountains, trees, rivers, and waterfalls. They have WATERFALLS on the way to their house.

So yes, Oregon is a beautiful state and I can't wait to see more of it when the sun finally decides to make an appearance. But on a more materialistic side: today I went to my first outlet grocery store. Oh. Ma. Gosh. If only those were in Hays for poor college students like myself. Fun fact: there's no sales tax in Oregon. Also, they have various snacks and beverages that I've never seen or have heard of, which makes this whole "foreign" experience that much more exciting. I plan on picking up a bag of sweet onion kettle cooked chips and all natural energy drink next time. AND turns out Oregon is very vegetarian friendly as well.

Tomorrow campers finally arrive! I'm more excited than Ty when people come. Send me prayers and positive thoughts as I officially begin my job tomorrow!

Beginnings! (no, not the Chicago song, but you should go listen to it anyway)

Right now I'm sitting in a barn in Oregon listening to music from Les Miserables with Coyote and Kumquat. :) 

 I just finished picking out music for singing around the campfire, eating lunch of tuna sandwiches and apples, and it just started raining again. In the 24 hours that I've been here I have not seen the sun once.  

I landed on time in Portland and fumbling made my way down to the baggage claim (thank goodness for signs). With my first time flying alone, I have realized that an airport is like one river that flows into eight rivers, and those eight rivers are divided into 16 more rivers. Yeah, this is the way an airport is set up. So I find it even more miraculous that I heard my name called on the intercom. Well, not really MY name (it sounded like Magolation Zody, I heard the "Zody", luckily) The intercom instructed me to pick up the nearest white phone and listen for a message. I found a white phone and eventually received the message that I had lost my driver's license on the plane and an officer would bring it to the baggage carousal from where I called. My angels were totally looking after me. Soon after I avoided cardiac arrest, I was picked up by camp directors, Grasshopper and Muskrat. They are awesome people and I'm so incredibly excited to work with them. Why am I excited? 

- We went to Wal-Mart after leaving the airport, and Muskrat immediately went for the garden center. It didn't take her long until she spotted the clearance, inch from death plants. This is where she made her selection for plants to take home, the ones that were looking like they didn't have a chance. This is the kind of person she is. 

- Muskrat is very tolerant of my vegetarian lifestyle, and is pretty meat-free herself. She informs me that several consolers that have yet to come are vegetarian as well. Plus, Muskrat loves spicy foods and wears crazy big earrings like me. How cool is that? 

- They have a three cats, and a DOG. It is a GOLDEN RETRIEVER. 

- Not only Grasshopper and Muskrat, but their entire family is deeply rooted in their faith. It's clear to see with their kindness. 

Plus, they just sincerely care about everyone they come into contact with. 

You may be wondering why I'm using such fascinating names; with every consoler that comes to camp, you choose a nickname for yourself. Mine, as of yesterday, is Hummingbird. 

After driving an hour from Portland, we stopped in Upward Bound's office in Stayton. I started work immediately by doing looooots of filing and getting acquainted with the office staff. 

Today is my first full day at camp, and we're now just preparing for campers that will arrive tomorrow! 

A little info about this blog: I will update it as often as I can. Up here on the mountain we have veeerrrryyy slooooow satellite internet. Which means, unfortunately, I can't upload any photos/videos or I'll crash the system. I'll still take lots of pictures and share them when I get back, but for now just imagine me in a very green forested area and you're not far off. :) 

If you want to contact me: e-mail/Facebook is about the only way, and don't expect an immediate reply. I'll check voicemails/text messages about once a week when I go into town. OR send me snail-mail! 

My address is: 

Maggie Zody 

36155 N Fork Rd. 

Lyons, OR 97358

Leaving again so soon?!

Sunday was my last day in Kansas for two months, so naturally, I went out to the farm to get my fix of the "Little House on the Prairie", life.

Kansas didn't leave me dissapointed for its last day, it was gorgeous weather. A known rarity for anyone familiar with the climate. My cousin was promoted from eighth grade this week, so Sunday he had lunch with the family at the farm.

After a lunch of hot dogs and hamburgers, and anything else you can put on the grill, I climbed one of the tall cedar trees in the backyard (with the help of my dad spotting me). We all got a kick out of this tom cat underneath the tree. He kept looking up at me when I was climbing and didn't leave once. All of us figured he thought I was very large, strange bird. Poor confused kitty.

I descended from the tree and rode out to the pasture with my mom to search for wildflowers. We spotted around four kinds initially, lots of skullcap, but I was on the lookout for Indian blanket. I had gone riding with my cousin the week before and had seen clusters of Indian blanket scattered throughout his land.

When we left the first spot and drove further out, we discovered a western meadowlark nest on the ground. There was a single egg nestled into a tightly woven nest protected by tall prairie grass. Mom continued in that direction, and I went the other way to look for more flower. It didn't take long after that when I crested over a hill and came upon a HUGE patch of Indian blanket. There were so many brightly colored Indian blanket and dozens of butterflies that were enthusiastically flying with the joy of thier find; similar to how I felt standing in that field of flowers and cow patties and singing birds.

Get to Heaven on a Swing-set.

This past weekend was both FHSU's and HHS's graduation. It was a beautiful weekend for graduating! I had several friends graduating, and I am so proud of them. They are terrific friends and great people; I'm so excited to see where they go next in life, I have only positive expectations for them.

I had the opportunity to play for both of FHSU's commencements (masters and undergrads). I can't tell you how amazing it was to be playing music in a large ensemble again; especially on my primary instrument. I really took that for granted since I started playing music, and I'm so grateful I'll have many opportunities to play so much music this fall.

On Sunday I went party-hopping with my sister to some HHS's graduates' parties. One in particular stood out for me. A friend of Livie's had his graduation party a few miles north of Hays on Buckeye Rd in the building of a once schoolhouse. It's crazy how you can live in the same place for all of your life and never realize places like this. I think people under appreciate small towns for this reason; they don't know there is something new to discover everyday.

We arrived around 7:30pm with the windows rolled down and my right hand out catching the wind and the sunlight from the soon-to-be setting sun. We arrived at this new-found location and did the typical graduation party thing of congratulating the graduate, grabbing as much free food as possible, and making awkward conversation with strangers.

When we walked out of the building, the sky had become even more beautiful than only fifteen minutes ago. The storm clouds looked even more deep and mighty with the sun breaking through. I was drawn to the old playground equipment in the back of the old schoolhouse blanketed with the sun's beams. There were several little kids playing on the teeter-totter and monkey bars. I couldn't help myself, and found myself seated on a swing. Livie hesitated with the dried-on bird crap state of the swings, but I forced her to plant her behind and begin pumping her legs.

We were facing west, and that open Kansas sky wasn't covered by anything. Another thing I took for granted until living in a big city: seeing the sky. There's a lot in the sky you don't realize until you can't see it, the sun, moon, clouds, and stars.

There's only a few occasions in my life when I have experienced anything that I would expect Heaven to be like, and this was one of these moments. Everything was so peaceful, yet full of life and power. The children playing, birds singings, distant conversation going on, the sun blanketing everything it touched. The dark clouds brought out the sun so much more dominately. It's strange how bright things become even stronger when put up against darkness.

As I became synchronized with swinging, I began thinking surely, this is what Heaven is like. I imagined loved ones swinging next to me, lost pets of the past playing in the nearby field. Everything felt right. I believe that God provides beautiful moments in time like this while we're here as a "preview", and He's really good at doing it.

I Went Back Over the Rainbow.

I'm done. Finished. Complete.

I have never been more joyous to close a chapter of my life, and open a new one with this much enthusiasm. Ten days ago I wrapped up my freshmen year of college, easily the most difficult school year of my life. It was a trying one. I won't go into boring details, but I do want it to be clear that I don't regret my decision. My choice to attend college out of state, my decision to transfer, and any other paths I decided to take in between.

Even with this year being as hard as it was, I recognize my individual growth. I have learned so much not only about myself, but the people I want to associate myself with. This past month I've been really disappointed by the actions of people I really trusted. However, that merely has given light to those solid people in my life that are there for me time and time again. This year was one of "tough love," but I can look back and know that I wouldn't be near the person I am today, and the person I will be tomorrow, had it not been for that experience.

Yet everything feels almost dreamlike, like this year never happened. It's been an incredibly smooth transition coming back. The night I got home, I rolled into town and was immediately greeted by friends. Some people I had known since junior high school. Needless to say, I felt right at home.

But it didn't end there. For the past week I've been hanging out at Malloy Hall, and when I'm not there I'm hanging with people that are in the music department. These people are awesome. I feel like I'm in this huge, beautiful family, that includes students and teachers. For the first time in a really, really long time I feel like I belong. I can't express how grateful I am for the amazing teachers I will have in the fall. They have offered me nothing but support and generosity. So glad to be here.